Macklemore criticizes Biden in new song supporting pro-Palestinian student protests

CNN
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In a surprise new songRapper Macklemore praises US students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza, vowing he will not vote for President Joe Biden in November.

The song, released Monday, is called “Hind’s Hall,” referring to the temporary new name that pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University gave to a building they occupied on campus.

With his release, the Grammy-winning rapper becomes one of the first major musical artists to explicitly condemn the U.S. government’s continued aid to Israel and praise students protesting their universities’ financial investments in related companies to Israel on US campuses.

“It’s not the protests that’s the problem, it’s what they’re protesting,” Macklemore raps. “This goes against what our country funds.”

Macklemore echoes the sentiments of pro-Palestinian protesters who say they will refuse to vote for Biden in this year’s presidential election because of his continued support for Israel. Democrats fear that losing support from young voters frustrated by Biden’s handling of the war could cost him the election and see former President Donald Trump return to power.

The song also criticizes the police sent by universities to disperse protests on college campuses. Several of the schools that called police to intervene said their encampments were illegal and that administrators attempted to negotiate with student protesters before police intervened. When protesters refused to move to the University of California, Los Angeles, police appeared to use rubber bullets against them. At the University of Arizona, law enforcement used pepper bullets and rubber bullets on protesters.

Across the United States, pro-Palestinian protesters are occupying campus lawns and buildings, with many demanding that their universities divest from Israel. Several protester encampments were raided by police, leading to more than 2,300 arrests at schools across the country.

Most of those arrested during the university protests were students, some of whom have been banned from their campuses and face expulsion.

Some of these campus protests have inspired widespread counter-protests in support of Israel.

Hind’s Hall, the name given to Hamilton Hall in Colombia by pro-Palestinian protesters, is named after Palestinian child Hind Rajab, who was found dead in Gaza after being trapped in a car with six of her children. relatives.

They were fleeing fighting in northern Gaza when their vehicle came under Israeli fire, CNN previously reported. Hind and everyone else in the vehicle, including her uncle’s four children, were killed, along with two paramedics sent to rescue them.

Macklemore’s words refer to the more than 13,800 children who have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. The song asks listeners, as well as politicians, university leaders and fellow artists who have not spoken out against the violence in Gaza, to think about the human cost of the war: “What if you were in Gaza? What if they were your children? What if the West acted as if you didn’t exist?

Macklemore calls music industry complicit, says supports ‘free Palestine’

In “Hind’s Hall,” Macklemore accuses the music industry of being “complicit in (his) platform of silence,” he sings.

He is probably the only major artist to have written a song about the conflict. Several notable musicians, however, signed the Artists 4Ceasefire letter to Biden, including Dua Lipa, Jon Batiste and Selena Gomez. Scottish singer Annie Lennox also verbally called for a ceasefire while performing at the Grammys in February.

Macklemore said on his social media that when the song was released for streaming, all profits would be donated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.

Macklemore has been a staunch supporter of the Palestinians since last year. Less than two weeks after the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of at least 1,200 people and the taking of more than 250 hostages, he shared a message in which he deplored the loss of life in Israel and in Israel. Gaza.

“My heart aches deeply for the Israelis who lost loved ones to such an abomination,” he wrote of the October 7 attack. »…But killing innocent humans in retaliation as collective punishment is not the solution. This is why I support people around the world who are calling for a ceasefire. »

Later in his message, he wrote: “I stand for a free Palestine and an end to the impending genocide of its people. »

In the same message, he referenced the controversial claim that criticizing the Israeli government is anti-Semitic. “I can love with all my heart (sic) my Jewish brothers and sisters while simultaneously condemning the Israeli government for its massacres and apartheid. »