What Two Hebrew Words Reveal About Israeli Democracy
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Macklemore hasn't had a hit in a decade. Thanks to the backlash, he's now the most talked-about musician in the world. What should Jews have done instead?
What started as Macklemore’s hijacking of Ed Sheeran’s concert tour via a Free Palestine message has spiraled into international news, reigniting the Israel/Palestine debate, and almost canceling Ed Sheeran’s tour altogether. Patriots owner Robert Kraft tried to silence Macklemore. Ed Sheeran tried to remain silent. And Jewish singer/songwriter Pink inserted herself into the debacle commenting on social media via her Jewish experience.
But whose efforts helped the situation and whose made everything blow cataclysmically out of proportion? Most importantly what do we have to learn in this ever-increasing controversy that is as personal as it is political?
If you’re somehow not familiar with the events, here is a quick summary. At Ed Sheeran’s concerts on September 4th and 5th, rapper and master of poor fashion choices Macklemore delivered an extended political message about the war in Gaza, saying “Free Palestine,” playing his pro-Palestinian protest song “Hind’s Hall” while images of the destruction in Gaza played on a big screen. After the first night, Patriots owner Robert Kraft talked to Ed Sheeran, accused Macklemore of hate speech and insisted he not repeat the stunt. But on the subsequent night, Macklemore proved he wouldn’t be silenced.
Shortly after, Robert Kraft rallied other stadium owners leading to Macklemore being kicked off the tour. Macklemore accepted the ban, made another statement on social media announcing he was donating his salary for the tour of $1 million to Gaza charities and challenged Kraft to do the same. Kraft didn’t just meet the pledge he doubled it, saying the $2 million he ultimately pledged "to aid in the region" didn't come from Macklemore's dare at all, but from a private call in which Sheeran asked him to match Sheeran's own $2 million commitment.
Sheeran put out a statement saying it was not his decision to drop Macklemore but that he wouldn't abandon the tour. He insisted it was not a sign of being “complicit” and that there was suffering “on both sides.” This even but moderate response quickly led to Sheeran being in hot water. Opening acts of this tour as well as his touring band dropped out in solidarity with Macklemore, Sheeran became the focus of intense ridicule and criticism, and lost hundreds of thousands of followers on social media. He finally made another statement at his Philadelphia show condemning the suffering in Gaza (we’ll unpack that later). So what to make of it all?
Macklemore is going to be Macklemore. I think he cares more about looking noble than the suffering of Gaza. His qualifying statement about “To all my Jewish brothers and sisters” essentially said, as long as you don’t support Israel, you’re okay, so don’t call me antisemitic. And I think he used the popularity and publicity of someone else’s tour to elevate himself.
But this article isn’t about criticizing someone so self-righteous and opportunistic. It’s about how to react to the willfully ignorant statements they make.
Officially, the Messina Touring Group made the decision to pull Macklemore from the show. But the real pressure came from stadium owner Robert Kraft, and that's where the public blame has landed. A wealthy, visibly Jewish public figure organizing a boycott to silence someone speaking about the most popular political movement of the generation was about the stupidest thing anyone could have done.
Macklemore hasn't had a hit since the mid-2010s, but for the moment, he's the most talked-about musical artist in the world.
The war that followed October 7th has always been fought over public opinion as much as territory, and Hamas has won that fight at nearly every turn. In part by reviving the oldest conspiracy in the book, the idea that Jews secretly control governments and media. Kraft's organized boycott didn't invent that narrative, but it handed it something that looked, to a casual observer, like real evidence: a rich and powerful Jewish man personally deciding which artist gets to speak.
Macklemore hasn't had a hit since the mid-2010s, but for the moment, he's the most talked-about musical artist in the world.
Robert Kraft
Kraft could have used ownership of the literal platform to educate. As Jessica Tarlov said on the September 19th episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, “Bob Kraft could have made a public point of this and gotten some of the dialogue that we desperately need to have about the facts on the ground about what’s going on in Gaza and what Israel is doing… made it more of a teachable moment so we could at least be talking about it versus everyone going back to their [camps].”
We need more truthful information, nuance, and clarity. Not silence.
This controversy thrives on misinformation and disinformation. Why he isn’t using his considerable resources and literal platforms to give his follow Jews the education to stand up to the accusations of genocide and apartheid is beyond me. We need more truthful information, nuance, and clarity. Not silence.
Ed Sheeran tried not to choose a side. He should be able to hold a concert to appeal to everyone, and not force a political message down his audience’s throat if he doesn’t want to. But because of Macklemore, Sheeran found himself in the midst of an international litmus test.
He tried to say he wasn’t complicit, but in that space said nothing substantive or meaningful. I imagine he has some awareness of the Israel side of the story as he once met with former hostage and survivor of the Nova Festival, Noa Argamani. And though he claims he wants his art to be apolitical he has held concerts to raise charity for the Ukraine War. However that was his decision to make, not something he was forced into.
Saturday, September 19, he made a tearful statement at the opening of his Philadelphia show first saying that this was the “most complex political issue on the planet,” acknowledging the horrors of the October 7th Nova massacre, but the suffering in Gaza was “catastrophic and unjustifiable” and described the situation in the West Bank as “systemic injustice.” However, he stopped short of saying, “Free Palestine” or calling Gaza a “genocide.” Most reactions online were that it wasn’t good enough, and memes made its rounds on the internet that he was drying his tears with hundred-dollar bills.
What should he have done? Ultimately it was a lose/lose situation. Sheeran seems to want to offend as few people as possible, and when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. It would have been nice to have talked about meeting Noa Argamani and describe some of the nuance of the war. It would have shown some of the backbone he was criticized so much for lacking, but it would have ignited a storm he wasn’t ready to deal with. As least he didn’t capitulate to calling the war a genocide.
On September 6th, Pink shared a post from StopAntisemitism demanding an apology, refunds for concert attendees, and insisted the genocide was false as well as many other pro-Israel post on Instagram. She was met with considerable backlash, as to be expected. But then, on the Eve of Rosh Hashanah, she shared a very personal and thoughtful message. She acknowledged that she reacted strongly and the posts weren’t necessarily what she would have said herself. “... the comments came, and I did what I do when I’m hurt, which is post snarky memes and act like I’m fine. That’s on me. But I’d rather be disagreed with for what I actually said than hated for what anybody else wrote, so let me say it.”
From there she opens up in a very personal and intimate way, sharing her experience with her Judaism. She shares her honest feelings about the war and Hamas as well as her humanitarian efforts with Unicef. But then she shared what angered her most about Macklemore’s diatribe:
…he stood in front of a stadium full of music-loving families, with violent images from a war on the screens, dedicated a song to the movement of his choice, and then took the mic to tell all of the Jews in the stadium that it wasn’t about them. You don’t get to decide that for us…. What I need is to be able to say, as a Jewish mom, “that scared me, and it scared people I love,” without being told our fear is just propaganda, and without being told I’m somehow cool with genocide because I noticed?
These were, to me, the most important words of the whole controversy. Not an attack, just an honest account of how she felt. As much as the other side can reject, diminish, or try to turn it against you (and they have - Javier Bardem is backing a petition for Unicef to remove Pink as an ambassador), if the statement is honest and sensitive, their reactions don’t matter. What matters is that Pink’s words speak to the struggle Jews are having to face in every space that used to be safe. College campuses, coffee houses, hair salons, hotels, and concerts.
In a tense argument one of the best ways to dial it down is to use statements such as, “This is how this makes me feel.” It doesn’t condemn the other person; it shares your part in the conflict. It turns an enemy into a human.
This is the sincere expression Ed Sheeran never gave the public. Robert Kraft did eventually offer something close to it: "I would welcome the opportunity to sit down with Macklemore and discuss the facts, because ultimately our goal is the same — peace for all people, an end to suffering, and an end to all hate." But the offer came after he'd already organized the boycott, not before.
And it's a shame, because who came out on top on all of this? Not Pink. Not the children in Gaza. Not any Jew who doesn’t want to condemn Zionism or Israel.
Macklemore. With every single reaction, he became more and more popular. Like the Burger King employee who got fired for saying “Free Palestine” and got a mural on some wall in Gaza, Macklemore knows the more offensive he can be, the more notoriety he gets. And the more backlash Jews lob at him, the more he is honored.
But in that three-minute speech on Ed Sheeran’s tour, he didn’t have a shred of the honest authentic heart that Pink had in just one of the sentences of her Rosh Hashanah Eve post to Jews everywhere.
After 30+ years with Aish, I write out of arevut (shared responsibility).
I believe Aish is at a crossroads.
Chronic fixation on antisemitism doesn't change the hearts of those who hate us; often, it grants them the publicity they crave. It shifts our focus from our primary duty: to live Torah. As Psalms 34:15 says, "Turn from evil and do good."
We have focused enough on the "evil"—it is time to prioritize the "good."
Constant exposure to inflammatory headlines also harms our spiritual health, breeding fear rather than the menuchat hanefesh (peace of soul) needed to serve Hashem.
I urge Aish to return to its core mission: teaching the beauty of our heritage as the true solution to the world's ills.
We need more light, not just more analysis of the darkness.
Far better than getting involved in the culture wars is doing mitzvot and especially keep Shabbat.
You are spot on! But don't be surprised when Unicef will decide to cancel Pink. All those "UN" organisations are so biased it makes me wonder why people are scared of AI but natural stupidity does not.
Earlier this year, Hamas finally distinguished between civilians and combatants when it announced that the families of the 50K killed combatants would receive compensation. This leaves 23K civilians in a population of 2.2M Gazans, or 1% over the two-year period. By comparison, 1.6% of the US population died during the same two-year period. In short, there has been no genocide. Genocide is when 60% of European Jews are extinguished in gas chambers, including over 95% of Jews in Poland, not when 1% of the civilian population dies over a 2-year period.There are currently 57 Muslim countries covering 5M square miles. The Jews just want their one tiny state covering 0.0084M square miles. But all faiths are welcome in Israel, where there are over 400 mosques in an area the size of New Jersey.
💯! Well said!
It was so sad to hear an entire hall in Venice applauded a propaganda film before seeing it. Just because it pretends to show damaging messages against Israel - headed by Yuval Avraham, tight with his genocidal Hamas' Euro-Med buddy since 2019 (reported in JPost, 9/14/26) known to distort realities at least since his 2020 work (revealed by Regavim, 9/14/26)
Much (most?) of the world hates Jews and always has. Christianity declared war on the Jews from the time of Paul. Mohammed declared war on the Jews when they would not convert (same as Paul). Both of these religions have tirelessly infested Jew hatred into their populace, and, after thousands of years of this, many people are predisposed to hate Jews. Hamas HAS won the publicity war. Some of it is Israel's lack of entering the publicity field, but the National Socialist press, bought and paid for by Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood, owns the narrative and Jew hatred is uber alles. Social media is, if possible, even worse. All it takes is for many sewer rats to spew their hatred across the net, and millions are brainwashed. The bottom line is that many many people are Nazis.
As an American Liberal and life-long Democrat I always supported a Two-State solution, but tragically Maga Jews and Progressive Jews are like two scorpions in a bottle. It's ALL or NOTHING and both Israeli's and Palestinians are now on what Sun Tzu called "death ground".
Bernie Sanders Progressive followers have even now rehabilitated Liberal Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt as a "Progressive Democratic Socialist",and the Japanese Interment Camps as a mere 'error' of judgement. All this because FDR was on record back in 1944 opposing a Jewish State. Which is exactly what he needed to tell Arab leaders so they would NOT side with Germany.
"We Jews, we think we're so smart but we're not so smart,we never saw Hitler coming." - Shimon Peres
You misunderstand. "Palestinians" have been offered the two-state solution repeatedly. They refuse. They want everything for themselves, and for Jews everywhere to be put to death, for Israel to be wiped off the map. They have said this over and over. Believe them! Don't understand why any Jew would vote for a Democrat. Look at their policies! They have become largely a death cult. Donald Trump has been the best president for Jews and Israel ever!
American Jews are fighting a vicious war among themselves. The Bernie Sanders led faction is demanding "from the river to the sea!" What is a Liberal Democrat like me who is against Bernie Sanders' Progressive Democratic Socialist suppose to do about that? You tell Jews NOT to vote for Pro-Israel Liberal Democrats, but it's OK to vote for anti-Israel "Independents" like Bernie Sanders! American Jews are divided between Bernie and Bibi who want a 'Boss Battle' where a Two-State solution is OFF the table. If Bernie's Jewish led Progressive movement stops supporting the "Day of Resistance" coalition it would wither and die in a day. I'm just going to back off and let American Jews knock each other into senselessness. I can't help folks who refuse to help themselves. 🙁
You are describing a phenomenon affecting the whole world. The looney left go further left, the rabid right go further right and we are losing the sensible centre.
2 state solution was always a stepping stone for the islamists to try to get it all. You cannot live sandwiched between two people who dream of killing you
Am I crazy in thinking that Bernie Sanders has been THE driving force behind the "Free Palestine" movement?! Why does Sanders get an easy pass from even the most Pro-Israel American & Israeli Jews? What power does this guy from Vermont have over you? Before Bernie's 2016 campaign all the talk about "Apartheid" or "BDS" was fringe stuff. Putting on my tinfoil hat I'm thinking that American Zionist think that it is inevitable that they will win this fight, & thus actually WELCOME a rise in American antisemitism, like a fever that cures the infection. Everyday that American Zionist pay even lip service to a 2 state solution allows Israel to become stronger. So why the dash to a full on confrontation? Bernie & Trump will be gone soon, so I pray we can begin the return to normalcy
I think it was Gwyneth Paltrow who said she felt politically homeless in the USA. I've been very disillusioned by Bernie as well. Ten years ago he raised his voice at a Town Hall "Israel has a right to defend herself". Now he capitulates to party politics. Jews are easily exploited. I even stopped donating to the ADL because of the capitulation to the extreme right's antisemitism. Then again, we're in a rough spot. A dichotomy. We hear how we "own everything", but yet, we are also easily "dropped" for political leveraging. Obviously if we had "all the money", we wouldn't be leveraged. My loyalty is to Jewish people and Israel first. I lean left politically, but I know Hamas doesn't want any 2 state solution or otherwise. I know their media choices aren't "non-bias". Hamas' goal is clear.
Sanders did NOT capitulate to any "party politics" because he is an Independent! As a Liberal & Democrat I believe Israel has a right to self-defense & secure borders (Obama said the same thing when he visited Israel). "from the river to the sea.." is an insane demand that was brought into the Democratic Party by BERNIE SANDERS. (Bernie handpicked Cornel West as his Rep for the 2016's DNC platform, and that's how BDS was normalized) In America Progressive Jews are the loudest voices for Open Borders, and MAGA Jews are the loudest voices for mass deportation. "We Jews are always blamed!" a dumb way of thinking from Jews who feel the need to "center" themselves in every highly divisive social issue. Bernie is trying to eject Senator Schumer in favor of pro-BDS Ocasio Cortez : (
I receive emails from Bernie on behalf of the DCC because he caucuses for the Democratic party. I know this well, because I am a lifelong Democrat. A lifelong Democrat who knows what Hamas and other terrorists want. I also know why Hamas overthrew Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. I haven't centered myself, the party has. I stick by my morals more than some party. Ten years ago they protected us from Unite the Right, Proud Boys, and Oath Keepers. Not now. Just different sides of the coin.
“Oh God, in any other country, Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party, but in America, we are.” - Ocasio-Cortez
"The only reason I’m doing it is to get access to Act Blue, so I can raise money.” - Graham Platner on why he is a Democrat
“Surely we can badger and beat one person up. Surely we can get enough protesters to make that person uncomfortable enough they’ll just say, ‘OK, I’ll vote for anything,’ just quit. But guess what, I’m from West Virginia. I’m not from where they’re from where they can just beat the crap out of people and think they’ll be submissive. Period.” - Joe Manchin responding to attacks from Bernie Sanders,
Bernie caucusing with Democrats means NOTHING because he drove out Manchin and now targets Fetterman & Schumer.
Your first mistake was believing in a two party system. Dude seriously just stop. MAGA and you crazy liberals are two sides of the same coin designed to keep you a slave. Both sides are THE problem!
"Our society is illuminated by the spiritual insights of the Hebrew prophets. America and Israel have a common love of human freedom, and they have a common faith in a democratic way of life." - Lyndon Johnson
"This government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional government thereof. The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel." - Harry S. Truman
"It is in U.S. national security interests to assure that Israel’s security as an independent Jewish state is maintained." - Obama
Calling Bernie's Progressives Democratic Socialist "Liberals" is as crazy as calling American Conservatives "Fascist".
There are two states already, just like there were two before the '67 war - Israel and Jordan were both created out of Palestine. The easiest, but least likely solution is to give the Arab bits of the West Bank to Jordan and the Jewish areas to Israel - two functioning governments.
Just remember - the PLO (PA) was created in 1964 to liberate "Palestine" and they did NOT want to liberate the West Bank from Jordan!!
Many in the media have also a vocabulary problem, such as in terming Macklemore "pro palestinian." Since he hurled the horrific accusations at least he is extremely Israelpphobic.
That is even without his 2014 nazi salute and nazi cartoonist nose.
But, he is promoting the pallyweid buzzwords "apartheid" (initiated by Ahmad Shukeiri in 1961, he who wrote in 1969 they all cheered for Hitler and had rationalized the, Holocaust with Jamal Husseini in 1946) and the second pallyweid: the "genocide" lie, (initiated mainly by PLO's Farouk Qaddoumi May/1974 as Israel responded to Ma'alot massacre. He who said in Dec 2013 , they supported the Nazis as both objected Zionism). Approp. called now the genoLIE, pushed on day1 when victim bodies of genocidal racist Arab-Islamist Oct 7 atrocities.
I think you're stuck looking at this through perpetual victimhood blinders. Israel’s government is committing atrocities, and crying bias every time that’s pointed out doesn't change reality. This isn’t complicated: you can support human rights without condoning terror, and opposing state-sponsored war crimes isn't hatred, it's basic humanity. I'm American and can separate my government's actions from its people; it’s time you start applying that same standard instead of hiding behind manufactured outrage.
1. The bigots who are on a campaign to belittle the Holocaust, have been pushing the Gaza genoLIE when real genocidal Palestine Oct 7 victims bodies were still warm. 2. Check and you won't find a single group or noted individual promoting the genoLIE who hasn't already propagated the first pallyweid buzzword, "apartheid" - before Oct 7.
Israels givernment is not. We the Jewish people in Israel are fighting a war of survival launched against us time and again--this round beginning on Oct 7th, 2023 in the most humanitarian way possible to survive. My 3 boys serve in reserve duty. I am a lawyer deeply familiar with all rules for allowing opening fire, even in self-defense!! Please, I extend a personal invitation to come and see and hear for yourself. It is awful to live in constant fear of arab attacks on innocents -and also awful to hear how they use their own brethren as human shields. That is how they end up with civilian casualties on their side!! I know this sounds like my word against yours (and lots of antisemetic paid-for media propoganda) but again, please come and see for yourself!
try living in a state of perpetual war and then speak from authority. Let me know the next time you wake your babies to take them into the shelter as missiles rain down on them. Been going on for decades
Amein
There is also a reality that cannot simply be ignored: many Israelis view laying down their weapons as carrying an existential risk. The fear is that if Israel were to completely disarm while armed groups remained committed to its destruction, the result could be catastrophic. That historical fear—especially in light of the Holocaust and the October 7 attacks—is part of the context that I believe is missing from much of the discussion.
There is an age old saying:
If the Palestinians laid down their arms there'd be peace.
If Israel laid down its arms, there'd be no Israel.
War is bad - there are always atrocities in war. That's why Hamas shouldn't have started it. But they knew what would happen and counted on this to get them sympathy
I was in Gaza and Syria doing aid work in 2018. I loathe how ignorant af this world is right now! None of these so called “humanitarians” have ever even been to the west bank yet they tell the world of stories like they know that no one will ever go there and see for themselves. This is the evil af UN and their campaign of hate. hasatan is in charge of the UN as you should well know already! So this is a fight we are never meant to win. Turn the other cheek means don’t fall for the trap of revenge and violence. Respond with honesty and heart felt emotion. Like we say in Cali… “keep it real!”
An excellent analysis. Jewish people get ‘damned’ if they do, and ‘damned’ if they don’t.
It’s best not to bother correcting people that are not wise enough to learn the facts.
Typo: his ‘fellow’ Jews, not his ‘follow’ Jews.
'People.'
Why is this story newsworthy? It is well known that "Esau hates Jaccob". Those who hate the Jewish people are catapulted temporarily to fame and fortune. As Rashi says in Ki Tavo, we will always be the subject of global conversation, usually in a negative way. We are alone, created to be alone, and should not care at all about their culture. Their culture is empty and vapid, worthless and stupid. We must constantly remind ourselves that we are G-d's chosen and beloved nation. We don't need their approval or popularity. Creating a deeper personal relationship with G-d should be our only focus and let the Mucklemores and the Sheehans have their brief moments of fame and fortune, and then sink into obscurity. Am Yisroel Chai!
💯 👏🏼 well said
Very well said.
Great article.
It sure strikes me how much people just tend to "follow along". No critical thinking. Just mob mentality and heaps of confirmation bias. I have tried to calmly ask two questions when people have gone off on me. "Are you hearing anything from Israel? Because Hamas does not allow Israeli media in Gaza, nor do they allow open conversation." To me, even if everything else seems equal (which it certainly is not equal) but even if so, where's the other side? And "Why did Hamas throw Mahmoud Abbas out of Gaza in 2007?"
Robert Kraft realized what Jessica Tarloff and other Jewish apologists fail to realize, that one cannot educate antisemites.We cannot go back to 1933.
I don't see it as Kraft trying to silence this moron. Why would he invite someone into his place of business that espouses the views he does?
as you can see from Bardem's reaction these are not people eager to be educated. firstly because it's not about facts its about idealogy and feelings. Oppressors and oppressed. And secondly because if they accept different facts as truth and then change their position they will then be attacked the same way. The price is greater than the reward. Forget spewing facts and trying to get people who hate you to like you. Unapologetically do what you and those you love need you to do as Israel has learned to do.
The really scary part is the crowd's roaring reaction of approval to Macklemore's speech
This is why I believe that when you play with fire, you get burned. When people knowingly involve themselves in a conflict this complicated and dangerous without understanding its history, its consequences, or what people on the ground have actually experienced, they should not be surprised when their words and actions have consequences.
Thank you for writing such an eloquent essay. I do not believe for one minute that Ed Sheeran wrote any of the words in his speech. Also, I had previously read that he and Macklemore had been friends for a decade. If that were true, then wouldn't Sheeran have been aware of Maklemore's antisemitic views?I saw a picture of Maklemore dressed in costume, wearing a a long fake nose. That phot was worth way more than 1,000 words. I sincerely hope that people will vote with their wallets here. Yes, I know Sheeran has already made tons of money and a a decrease in ticket sales is just a drop in the bucket for him. However, maybe this experience will teach him to be more careful in choosing his friends.
Agreed, but Sheeran is a talented performer/musician, but absolutely clueless about the big picture of Islam vs. the rest of the world.
I agree. Except the part about him being talented. He's a hack. End of story.
You have a right to hope.