To the Israeli government, the Krafts, the Ellisons and all the other billionaires who are trying to use the hammer of "antisemitism" on all people speaking out against the ongoing genocide of Palestinians everywhere, your ploy is not working. On the contrary, your trying to silence anyone speaking out against Israel will create more anti-Israel comments.
As so many others and I have pointed out, anti-Israel is not the same as antisemitism. In fact, there are many American Jews who are against what Israel and Israelis (on the West Bank) are doing, in large part to keep Netanyahoo out of prison.
100% correct. Not only is Ed Sheeran a coward but he is also hypocrite by ceding to the Krafts. "Apolitical" people do not brown-nose billionaires who support Netanyahu's genocide in Gaza. Music comes from the heart. Taking a stand for other people's right to live takes even greater heart. Ed Sheeran's lyrics will never sound the same to me.
I had no idea these particular billionaires were Jewish, I'm judging them by what they are doing. Ellison is clearly carrying water for fascism so why shouldn't I oppose him? And I won't forget what the NFL owners did to Kaepernick.
In fact forcing the players to attend to the National Anthem, rather than kneel, is to me akin to coercing the audience to attend to Macklemore’s antics.
You call Macklemore's call for an end to Israeli ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people "antics?" That makes you no better than Netanyahoo and all those Israelis who participate in it.
I also had no idea these billionaires were Jewish. I am not in the habit of asking or reading up on people as to what religion they are, because I simply don't care. As Thomas Moore said, I also judge them by their actions and/or intolerance, nothing else.
It sounds to me like he has a special animus toward criminals and sexual abusers such as Robert Kraft. I did not know they were Jewish until you mentioned it. Why? Because I don't care about the religious affiliation of criminals. So now that I know they are Jewish because you identified them, am I supposed to behave differently toward the disgust my morals feel because of their actions? Why in the world does it matter that they are Jewish, or Norwegian Lutherans, or French Catholics, or Ethiopian Christians, or Indian Hindus? Why??
I’m not au courant on the sexual abuse charges against R Kraft. But the whole point that Meredith Blake makes in her opinion piece depends on knowing that her targets of ridicule—the Ellisons and Kraft—are Jewish. Otherwise her complaint about “supposed antisemitism” motivating their reactions to artists’ expressions re Gaza (Macklemore and Ruffallo) makes no sense. She’s arguing that antisemitism is a bogus concern and these bad Jewish billionaires are using it as a pretext to “chill” political speech. If you didn’t get that, her piece went over your head, though you passively agreed with the premise concerning the non-existence of antisemitism, at least on the left.
Who gave you the right to attack me? Who gave you the arrogance to assume that because I don't use throwaway French phrases in my conversation, I may not have the same high IQ that you possess? Who gave you the right to assume a superiority that your writing betrays?
You don't know me, and you don't own how I interpret what is written by a 3rd party. You are offensive, and I demand an apology!
Cool leap from "trying to use the hammer of "antisemitism" on all people speaking out against the ongoing genocide" to "Jewish". Do you not hear YOURself?
So interesting that your string of deplorables in the first sentence of your comment just happen all to be Israel and Jews, as are just “billionaires.”. Such a coincidence. As for Macklemore: his “call” is just a pr stunt for a washed-up rocker/rapper; he’s done zilch for the Palestinian people. The Ruffalos, Bardems, Waters, Rooneys, SJPs, JVPs are stymying, not advancing, the well-being of the people actually living in the conflict zone. As for genocide: see https://substack.com/@marciakupfer/p-207839141 and https://substack.com/@marciakupfer/p-211050935.
Like everyone else, you are entitled to your opinion. If you choose to interpret my comment the way you do, that's on you.
Just one question: are you saying all billionaires are Jewish? I didn't know that either and, as I said before, I don't care what any religion anyone is.
And do you really think I am going to read substack posts by anyone who accuses me of being antisemitic?
Your original statement is SPOT ON, and if these USING antisemitism as a buzzword instead of realizing that’s EXACTLY what bibi, his cohorts in his sham government, and his buddy djt are doing‼️ Equating the genocide in Gaza and everywhere else these jerks are attacking to antisemitism is what is WRONG in the world — what happened to caring about our fellow humans??? marcia and others, stop playing the “victim” and realize the true victims are those who aren’t even safe in their own homes, that war solves NOTHING except currently keeping bibi and djt out of jail, and use your mouthpiece for good‼️‼️‼️ BRAVO, MACKLEMORE‼️‼️‼️
Let me get this straight: you’re reading a piece of opinion journalism on a site dedicated to controversial current events. Current events like Ruffalo’s epistolary attack on the Ellisons, their response, and the Hollywood reaction; like concert-goers discontented by being blindsided by an act they didn’t mean to attend or pay for; like Robert Kraft of the “blue square” campaign (you know, the Super Bowl commercial) and the revelation of his intervention in the concert programming. All those stories, whatever your news source, are about how or even whether aspects of antisemitic attitudes come into play. And the article you commented on flatly, categorically denies the legitimacy of concerns on the part of Jews that that they are reduced, day-in-day-out, to libelous representations of genocide and corrupting influence. But, hey, you didn’t know the targets whom Blake ridiculed were Jewish. Hmmm. Curious.
No. Just no. Macklemore is in fact an anti semite. Jewish audience members were horrified at the New Jersey concerts and didn’t feel safe. Many left. Unacceptable at a concert. Politics does not belong everywhere. Plus his statements show ignorance and your reaction to Bob Kraft shows ignorance. He owns the venue. Why would he let his customers be endangered? I don’t like Kraft for many reasons but so glad he stood up. Do some actual research. There is no apartheid in Israel. There is no genocide not famine in Gaza. Israel is the only Democracy in the Middle East. Israel is the only diverse country in the middle East. Much of its population are indigenous or Jewish refugees from Arab countries who expelled them. 20% of Israel is Arab with full civil rights. UN reports show that Gaza has a lower rate of food insecurity than the other Arab countries. Why are you taking the lies as truth?
Dale, the Israelis are in fact committing genocide (even the UN says so) and to say there is no famine in Gaza is just an outright lie. I will always support Israel's right to exist but I despise the Netanyahu regime and everything it represents, and I believe the Palestinians deserve their own country just as much as the Israelis do. I suspect many people feel exactly as I do.
Ya know, there are some questions all the Jew-haters out there refuse to answer.
The list is long but the most basic one is, if Israel going to war after 10/7 wasn’t justified, if the response was disproportionate, what should Israel have done?
What would you expect your government to do in such a case?
While you’re at it, answer this. What does disproportionate mean in this case? Are you implying Israel should have retaliated by doing the same thing Hamas did?
Are you suggesting that Israel should murder thousands of people in cold blood, rape women, children, and Holocaust survivors, and abduct hundreds of people from their beds?
Kindly tell me, what would have been your proportionate response from Israel to October 7th?
Why can’t any of them answer this?
You think Israel was wrong? Then what was the right thing to do in your eyes?
What should Israel have done?
Ok, here’s a bonus question for all you haters out there.
According to you, Israel dropped over 200,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, right?
Sounds terrible.
According to you, Israel killed 70,000 people in Gaza? Is that the final number you made up? No? It’s higher? 100,000? 200,000?
Let’s go with 200,000.
Now, kindly explain to me how 200,000 tons of bombs killed 200,000 people.
A ton of explosives killed one person?
That sounds a lot like a precision bomb to me. Or maybe Israel went to unprecedented lengths to minimize civilian death? Or both.
Otherwise I’d like an explanation how YOUR numbers add up.
How did 200,000 tons of explosives not kill millions of people, especially in a place as densely populated as Gaza?
If Israel was looking to commit genocide by indiscriminately killing Gazans, why did your 200,000 bombs not erase Gaza completely?
If you still believe Israel committed anything even remotely resembling a genocide, tell me please how this math, maths.
Or tell me how the population in Gaza has increased during this so-called genocide.
Or tell me why Israel drops fliers warning civilians to evacuate before it attacks. Why would Israel do that if it wants to kill civilians?
If you think “settlements” are the obstacle to peace, why did the disengagement not lead to peace? Israel forcefully evacuated 10,000 people from so-called settlements and handed Gaza to the Arabs who then proceeded to turn Gaza into a terror base governed by rapists and pedos.
If Israel is an apartheid state, why are there Arab Muslims in the Israeli parliament?
If Israel is interested in ethnically cleansing Arabs, why are there 2,000,000 Arabs living in Israel with the same rights as Israelis?
If Israel is starving Gaza, why is it sending in millions of trucks of aid and why is every single adult Gazan obese while they show kids who are “starving”? Why won’t these parents give their food of which they clearly have plenty to their “starving” kids?
If the so-called occupation is the problem here, why were Arabs massacring Jews before there was any “occupation”? Why did Arabs kill Jews in Hebron in 1929? The state of Israel wasn’t even established then.
Why did Yasser Arafat start the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1964? What was he liberating? The “occupation” started in 1967, remember?
If all they want is their own state, why didn’t they make one when the UN offered them one in 1947 or when the Jordanians controlled Judea and Samaria?
If it’s about anti Zionism and not about Jew hatred, why are Jews being harassed and assaulted across the west? What does a random Jew in Paris or Montreal have to do with Israel or Gaza?
Can any of you morons answer a single one of these questions?
No, no you cannot because you are brainwashed and indoctrinated to believe this crap about Israel even though a whopping 0% of it is true.
Here’s the truth.
Israel wants peace, Israel has always wanted peace.
This is an incredible overreaction to an article about one artist suppressing another artist's free expression. That's all it is. And then, in response, you submit this? Your response, together with those from Marcia and Marilyn are quite instructive about your sensitivities and hot buttons. But we all get a vote too.
Just like the Nazis? You mean they’re setting up death camps with poison gas, rounding up everybody who’s even 1/16 Palestinian and sending them to death camps? Is that what you meant? Exterminating everybody with even one drop of Palestinian blood? Because that’s what the Nazis did to the Roma and the Jews. And when you make that comparison, when you try to flip that mind numbing atrocity around as a weapon to discuss Israel’s war crimes, which are real but are NOT the equivalent of a industrial extermination effort, your argument becomes grotesque.
Acute Malnutrition: The proportion of children under five experiencing acute malnutrition (wasting) stood between 0.2% and 0.8% in surveyed zones, registering significantly lower than reported figures in regional neighbors like Egypt, Jordan, and Syria
Did you know that Hamas steals the food so that people like you will yell famine in Gaza? It's about time that folks like you understood what Hamas stands for and how they subject Gazans to torture, murder and starve them.
Re: UN--like I said above, "This is the same UN that aided and abetted Hamas in the murder and kidnapping of Jews. This is the same UN that had Hamas on its payroll."
It's okay for Kanye West to perform in Florida and Texas but not Macklemore? The GOP and MAGA claim the Left cancels culture but that's yet more misdirection. Kanye is okay because he spews MAGA racism. The establishment supports the oppressor--Macklemore supports the victims.
Excuse me. The Jews were and continue to be victims of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah. When did Macklemore support Jews. He, like Greta, is a full blown anti-semite.
Disagree wholeheartedly. Macklemore has had antisemitic issues in the past, and as far as I know, Robert Kraft does not have to endorse genuine antisemitism under the guise of support for Palestinians. I disagree that entertainers supporting Palestinian rights have been cancelled. Why is free speech a one-way street on this issue? And it doesn't have to be "pro-Israel" or "pro -Palestine." There is lots of room for discussion which can't exist when everything one side disagrees with is automatically "cancelled," or SEEN as cancelled.
' being apolitical is not really an option for an artist with a global platform...'. This article misses a fundamental point: Sheeran is mot apolitical, he is simply lying. By giving in to Kraft, he is being political, period. Moreover, as Zeteo reports in a much more serious article, in March of 2022, he headlined Concert for Ukraine, and explained: “I felt like I wanted to do something. I literally just shot a music video in Kyiv three months ago, I was literally just there…I just wanted to come and do something.” He admitted openly that he was political, only he acted on what he knew was socially and politically acceptable. In the case of Gaza, a far more clear case of ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide, he claims he is not political - only because the cause will bring you in trouble in the US and most of the Western world. To be more clear: speaking against Holocaust would not have made you political, only possessing a moral codex. Defending the right of Palestine to exist and be free is not a political act, just as defending a victim when witnessing a rape is not a political act, but one of civic duty. One last comment. It is high time to use a proper language when it comes to this issue: defending Palestine and/or accusing Israel cannot make you an antisemite by definition, since Palestinians are semites according to this terrible language that nazis popularised more than anybody else. You should speak of being anti Jewish if you wish, but never anti semite - which of course is simply crazy and stupid. Criticising the US policies and politics does not make you anti American. Criticising nazis does not make anti German. Criticising Iran government does not make you anti Iranian etc etc. It is shameful to even mention anti Jewishness when one speaks against genocide.
I must add this: calling a critic of Israel policies a Jew hater is in itself a shameful act of anti Jewishness, for it denies the Jews the right to individuality, the most basic human right. Nobody has the right to represent Jews generically, surely not a bunch of war criminals around Netanyahu who has to commit crimes against humanity, among other reasons, to avoid being jailed in Israel for a never ending list of law violations.
I also believe there was the Holocaust. That does not make it so - it is the other way around: there was the Holocaust which is why I believe in it - based on evidence. There has been ongoing genocide in Gaza which is why I believe in it - based on daily evidence that any serious scholar agrees on, including top Jewish, and even Israeli ones.
There are some Jews who would agree with you and many who would not. We can each cherry pick those who would agree with us. So far, there is no evidence of genocide in Gaza. Therefore, it remains a belief.
I have meet occasionally people who negated Holocaust, and would find deeply painful and disturbing. These days I meet every now and then people who say there is no Gaza genocide, also deeply disturbing and painful - for here is so much more evidence today. How one can manage not to see it is mind boggling to me, and it breaks my heart. Unless of course one does not believe that Palestinian lives matter. .
I could bear, somewhat, with this article if The Contrarian was as opinionated about the anti Jewish demonstrations such as at Columbia University and the threats against Jewish students in many universities. I don't recall Contrarian outrages at the cancelling of Jewish authors, performers, and athletes around the world. I don't recall articles publishing the percentage of hate crimes that are perpetrated against Jews worldwide. This is as one sided as it can get. You would be better off adding Marcia Kupfer to your stable of articles to provide another viewpoint. As for what the United Nations says??!?! Israel has been its whipping post since the establishment of the state. Genocide in Africa? Yughurs tortured in China? Nah. Let's blame the Jews instead; there's so much company for this campaign. Shame on you.
It's funny how Meredith Blake equates "being political" with expressions of hatred, pure and simple. Macklemore dressed up in an antisemitic costume in 2012, for which he never apologized, but for Blake his antics rate as "supposed antisemitism." Those old photos have recently resurfaced, so I'm sure Blake has seen them. She's just chose not to mention it, deliberately suppressing the full record. Either that or she's not a very good journalist. People should be coerced into listening to some dumb singer they didn't pay to hear. Meanwhile it's no problem to boycott Israeli academics, cancel Jewish or Israeli adjuncts, trash Jewish artists, disrupt lectures or classes by Jewish professors, mount a boycott against the 92nd Street Y until it acquiesces to antizionist demands. It's disconcerting and personally deeply painful to see how the Contrarian has devolved, straying from its original mission as a venue for protecting our democracy to cheerleading the criminalization of Jewish identity. Articles in this space manage to see antisemitism on the right but constantly, I mean constantly, glaze over it on the left. As if there is only goodness and virtue poring out of the mob screaming "Free Palestine." As if there's actually a meaningful difference between the hatred Jews for their connection to Israel on the right and the hatred of Jews for their attachment to Israel on the left. Would it hurt the pro-democracy movement if just once the Contrarian could publish an honest, frank evaluation of the sewer of antisemitism that the Dem Party has become? And please spare me the "we love Judaism but only hate Israel" talk of not a few Dem nominees. I have studied the strategies and tropes of such splitting for decades. According to Blake, everywhere we go, we need to be subjected to mob incitement, subjected to classification as Zionist or antizionist, as pro- or anti- something. Jews can no longer go to an eyebrow-threader (Alexandria VA), or a coffee shop (Oakland CA), or a Vietnamese restaurant (Denver CO) without having to hide or renounce their identity. Oh and that restaurant owner is a DSA member. Some democracy to look forward to. The whole culture is just one big MAGA-verse.
As Hillary Clinton said, I hate Netanyahu’s policies but love Israel & I hate Trump’s policies but love America. Thank you Meredith Blake for this excellent article!!
To my fellow Boomers: Imagine, if you can, the 60s if CSNY, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Black Sabbath, Joni Mitchell, Dylan, Joan Baez had decided to take "a different approach to being an advocate for change"? Yeah, I can't imagine it either, because their art was their statement of life. They stated that we embraced as our statement. And that statement was that "You," the American Government, are killing us with your wars, evil, and greed. More power to Ed if he wants to be the King of Bubble Gum music, but get the hell off the stage during these very serious times of artistic expression that is deeper and more important than Bubble Gum Rock!
Great article, Meredith.
To the Israeli government, the Krafts, the Ellisons and all the other billionaires who are trying to use the hammer of "antisemitism" on all people speaking out against the ongoing genocide of Palestinians everywhere, your ploy is not working. On the contrary, your trying to silence anyone speaking out against Israel will create more anti-Israel comments.
As so many others and I have pointed out, anti-Israel is not the same as antisemitism. In fact, there are many American Jews who are against what Israel and Israelis (on the West Bank) are doing, in large part to keep Netanyahoo out of prison.
Ed Sheeran, you are a coward.
100% correct. Not only is Ed Sheeran a coward but he is also hypocrite by ceding to the Krafts. "Apolitical" people do not brown-nose billionaires who support Netanyahu's genocide in Gaza. Music comes from the heart. Taking a stand for other people's right to live takes even greater heart. Ed Sheeran's lyrics will never sound the same to me.
Seems like you have a special animus towards Jewish “billionaires”. Do you not hear yourself?
I had no idea these particular billionaires were Jewish, I'm judging them by what they are doing. Ellison is clearly carrying water for fascism so why shouldn't I oppose him? And I won't forget what the NFL owners did to Kaepernick.
In fact forcing the players to attend to the National Anthem, rather than kneel, is to me akin to coercing the audience to attend to Macklemore’s antics.
You call Macklemore's call for an end to Israeli ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people "antics?" That makes you no better than Netanyahoo and all those Israelis who participate in it.
I also had no idea these billionaires were Jewish. I am not in the habit of asking or reading up on people as to what religion they are, because I simply don't care. As Thomas Moore said, I also judge them by their actions and/or intolerance, nothing else.
It sounds to me like he has a special animus toward criminals and sexual abusers such as Robert Kraft. I did not know they were Jewish until you mentioned it. Why? Because I don't care about the religious affiliation of criminals. So now that I know they are Jewish because you identified them, am I supposed to behave differently toward the disgust my morals feel because of their actions? Why in the world does it matter that they are Jewish, or Norwegian Lutherans, or French Catholics, or Ethiopian Christians, or Indian Hindus? Why??
I’m not au courant on the sexual abuse charges against R Kraft. But the whole point that Meredith Blake makes in her opinion piece depends on knowing that her targets of ridicule—the Ellisons and Kraft—are Jewish. Otherwise her complaint about “supposed antisemitism” motivating their reactions to artists’ expressions re Gaza (Macklemore and Ruffallo) makes no sense. She’s arguing that antisemitism is a bogus concern and these bad Jewish billionaires are using it as a pretext to “chill” political speech. If you didn’t get that, her piece went over your head, though you passively agreed with the premise concerning the non-existence of antisemitism, at least on the left.
Who gave you the right to attack me? Who gave you the arrogance to assume that because I don't use throwaway French phrases in my conversation, I may not have the same high IQ that you possess? Who gave you the right to assume a superiority that your writing betrays?
You don't know me, and you don't own how I interpret what is written by a 3rd party. You are offensive, and I demand an apology!
Same error.
Cool leap from "trying to use the hammer of "antisemitism" on all people speaking out against the ongoing genocide" to "Jewish". Do you not hear YOURself?
So interesting that your string of deplorables in the first sentence of your comment just happen all to be Israel and Jews, as are just “billionaires.”. Such a coincidence. As for Macklemore: his “call” is just a pr stunt for a washed-up rocker/rapper; he’s done zilch for the Palestinian people. The Ruffalos, Bardems, Waters, Rooneys, SJPs, JVPs are stymying, not advancing, the well-being of the people actually living in the conflict zone. As for genocide: see https://substack.com/@marciakupfer/p-207839141 and https://substack.com/@marciakupfer/p-211050935.
Like everyone else, you are entitled to your opinion. If you choose to interpret my comment the way you do, that's on you.
Just one question: are you saying all billionaires are Jewish? I didn't know that either and, as I said before, I don't care what any religion anyone is.
And do you really think I am going to read substack posts by anyone who accuses me of being antisemitic?
Your original statement is SPOT ON, and if these USING antisemitism as a buzzword instead of realizing that’s EXACTLY what bibi, his cohorts in his sham government, and his buddy djt are doing‼️ Equating the genocide in Gaza and everywhere else these jerks are attacking to antisemitism is what is WRONG in the world — what happened to caring about our fellow humans??? marcia and others, stop playing the “victim” and realize the true victims are those who aren’t even safe in their own homes, that war solves NOTHING except currently keeping bibi and djt out of jail, and use your mouthpiece for good‼️‼️‼️ BRAVO, MACKLEMORE‼️‼️‼️
Let me get this straight: you’re reading a piece of opinion journalism on a site dedicated to controversial current events. Current events like Ruffalo’s epistolary attack on the Ellisons, their response, and the Hollywood reaction; like concert-goers discontented by being blindsided by an act they didn’t mean to attend or pay for; like Robert Kraft of the “blue square” campaign (you know, the Super Bowl commercial) and the revelation of his intervention in the concert programming. All those stories, whatever your news source, are about how or even whether aspects of antisemitic attitudes come into play. And the article you commented on flatly, categorically denies the legitimacy of concerns on the part of Jews that that they are reduced, day-in-day-out, to libelous representations of genocide and corrupting influence. But, hey, you didn’t know the targets whom Blake ridiculed were Jewish. Hmmm. Curious.
When all else fails just play the anti-Semitic card, right Marcia? Pathetic.
No. Just no. Macklemore is in fact an anti semite. Jewish audience members were horrified at the New Jersey concerts and didn’t feel safe. Many left. Unacceptable at a concert. Politics does not belong everywhere. Plus his statements show ignorance and your reaction to Bob Kraft shows ignorance. He owns the venue. Why would he let his customers be endangered? I don’t like Kraft for many reasons but so glad he stood up. Do some actual research. There is no apartheid in Israel. There is no genocide not famine in Gaza. Israel is the only Democracy in the Middle East. Israel is the only diverse country in the middle East. Much of its population are indigenous or Jewish refugees from Arab countries who expelled them. 20% of Israel is Arab with full civil rights. UN reports show that Gaza has a lower rate of food insecurity than the other Arab countries. Why are you taking the lies as truth?
Dale, the Israelis are in fact committing genocide (even the UN says so) and to say there is no famine in Gaza is just an outright lie. I will always support Israel's right to exist but I despise the Netanyahu regime and everything it represents, and I believe the Palestinians deserve their own country just as much as the Israelis do. I suspect many people feel exactly as I do.
There is so much bullshit in Dale's reply I can’t be bothered to respond to it all .
The UN DID NOT say so. The genocide accusation is political theater only.
Sorry but you are wrong. See news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167790.
Nope. I’m not. The article you linked to is the infamous “independent commission”, which carries no legal weight.
Ya know, there are some questions all the Jew-haters out there refuse to answer.
The list is long but the most basic one is, if Israel going to war after 10/7 wasn’t justified, if the response was disproportionate, what should Israel have done?
What would you expect your government to do in such a case?
While you’re at it, answer this. What does disproportionate mean in this case? Are you implying Israel should have retaliated by doing the same thing Hamas did?
Are you suggesting that Israel should murder thousands of people in cold blood, rape women, children, and Holocaust survivors, and abduct hundreds of people from their beds?
Kindly tell me, what would have been your proportionate response from Israel to October 7th?
Why can’t any of them answer this?
You think Israel was wrong? Then what was the right thing to do in your eyes?
What should Israel have done?
Ok, here’s a bonus question for all you haters out there.
According to you, Israel dropped over 200,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, right?
Sounds terrible.
According to you, Israel killed 70,000 people in Gaza? Is that the final number you made up? No? It’s higher? 100,000? 200,000?
Let’s go with 200,000.
Now, kindly explain to me how 200,000 tons of bombs killed 200,000 people.
A ton of explosives killed one person?
That sounds a lot like a precision bomb to me. Or maybe Israel went to unprecedented lengths to minimize civilian death? Or both.
Otherwise I’d like an explanation how YOUR numbers add up.
How did 200,000 tons of explosives not kill millions of people, especially in a place as densely populated as Gaza?
If Israel was looking to commit genocide by indiscriminately killing Gazans, why did your 200,000 bombs not erase Gaza completely?
If you still believe Israel committed anything even remotely resembling a genocide, tell me please how this math, maths.
Or tell me how the population in Gaza has increased during this so-called genocide.
Or tell me why Israel drops fliers warning civilians to evacuate before it attacks. Why would Israel do that if it wants to kill civilians?
If you think “settlements” are the obstacle to peace, why did the disengagement not lead to peace? Israel forcefully evacuated 10,000 people from so-called settlements and handed Gaza to the Arabs who then proceeded to turn Gaza into a terror base governed by rapists and pedos.
If Israel is an apartheid state, why are there Arab Muslims in the Israeli parliament?
If Israel is interested in ethnically cleansing Arabs, why are there 2,000,000 Arabs living in Israel with the same rights as Israelis?
If Israel is starving Gaza, why is it sending in millions of trucks of aid and why is every single adult Gazan obese while they show kids who are “starving”? Why won’t these parents give their food of which they clearly have plenty to their “starving” kids?
If the so-called occupation is the problem here, why were Arabs massacring Jews before there was any “occupation”? Why did Arabs kill Jews in Hebron in 1929? The state of Israel wasn’t even established then.
Why did Yasser Arafat start the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1964? What was he liberating? The “occupation” started in 1967, remember?
If all they want is their own state, why didn’t they make one when the UN offered them one in 1947 or when the Jordanians controlled Judea and Samaria?
If it’s about anti Zionism and not about Jew hatred, why are Jews being harassed and assaulted across the west? What does a random Jew in Paris or Montreal have to do with Israel or Gaza?
Can any of you morons answer a single one of these questions?
No, no you cannot because you are brainwashed and indoctrinated to believe this crap about Israel even though a whopping 0% of it is true.
Here’s the truth.
Israel wants peace, Israel has always wanted peace.
The Arabs do not, they want dead Jews.
They say it proudly!
Read their charter for God’s sake.
Dead Jews.
You’ve been duped.
Wake up.
This is an incredible overreaction to an article about one artist suppressing another artist's free expression. That's all it is. And then, in response, you submit this? Your response, together with those from Marcia and Marilyn are quite instructive about your sensitivities and hot buttons. But we all get a vote too.
You’re the one that’s been duped. The genocide is real. The Israeli army are just like the nazis.
Just like the Nazis? You mean they’re setting up death camps with poison gas, rounding up everybody who’s even 1/16 Palestinian and sending them to death camps? Is that what you meant? Exterminating everybody with even one drop of Palestinian blood? Because that’s what the Nazis did to the Roma and the Jews. And when you make that comparison, when you try to flip that mind numbing atrocity around as a weapon to discuss Israel’s war crimes, which are real but are NOT the equivalent of a industrial extermination effort, your argument becomes grotesque.
Agree with all of this except the first sentence. Take that out, and there's a framework where we can de-escalate and work together to effect change.
A https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/new-smart-survey-provides-updated-assessment-child-and-maternal-nutrition-accessible published in mid-2026 found that acute malnutrition rates among young children in accessible areas of Gaza ranged from 0.2% to 0.8%, which is comparable to developed nations and lower than several neighboring Middle Eastern countries. [https://www.meforum.org/mef-observer/united-nations-report-debunks-propaganda-of-child-starvation-in-gaza, https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-904834]
Survey Findings and Regional Comparison
Acute Malnutrition: The proportion of children under five experiencing acute malnutrition (wasting) stood between 0.2% and 0.8% in surveyed zones, registering significantly lower than reported figures in regional neighbors like Egypt, Jordan, and Syria
Did you know that Hamas steals the food so that people like you will yell famine in Gaza? It's about time that folks like you understood what Hamas stands for and how they subject Gazans to torture, murder and starve them.
Re: UN--like I said above, "This is the same UN that aided and abetted Hamas in the murder and kidnapping of Jews. This is the same UN that had Hamas on its payroll."
It is my understanding that Netanyahu's government helps fund and support Hamas. Why would they do that? What a tangled web, eh?
Yes. He did help fund Hamas in order to weaken the PA. Awful. He is in large part responsible for Oct. 7.
It's okay for Kanye West to perform in Florida and Texas but not Macklemore? The GOP and MAGA claim the Left cancels culture but that's yet more misdirection. Kanye is okay because he spews MAGA racism. The establishment supports the oppressor--Macklemore supports the victims.
Excuse me. The Jews were and continue to be victims of Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah. When did Macklemore support Jews. He, like Greta, is a full blown anti-semite.
Disagree wholeheartedly. Macklemore has had antisemitic issues in the past, and as far as I know, Robert Kraft does not have to endorse genuine antisemitism under the guise of support for Palestinians. I disagree that entertainers supporting Palestinian rights have been cancelled. Why is free speech a one-way street on this issue? And it doesn't have to be "pro-Israel" or "pro -Palestine." There is lots of room for discussion which can't exist when everything one side disagrees with is automatically "cancelled," or SEEN as cancelled.
Sheeran can start to redeem himself by refusing to perform in Kraft’s arenas, or those of any fascist-leaning organizations.
Great piece, Meredith....and much needed today
' being apolitical is not really an option for an artist with a global platform...'. This article misses a fundamental point: Sheeran is mot apolitical, he is simply lying. By giving in to Kraft, he is being political, period. Moreover, as Zeteo reports in a much more serious article, in March of 2022, he headlined Concert for Ukraine, and explained: “I felt like I wanted to do something. I literally just shot a music video in Kyiv three months ago, I was literally just there…I just wanted to come and do something.” He admitted openly that he was political, only he acted on what he knew was socially and politically acceptable. In the case of Gaza, a far more clear case of ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide, he claims he is not political - only because the cause will bring you in trouble in the US and most of the Western world. To be more clear: speaking against Holocaust would not have made you political, only possessing a moral codex. Defending the right of Palestine to exist and be free is not a political act, just as defending a victim when witnessing a rape is not a political act, but one of civic duty. One last comment. It is high time to use a proper language when it comes to this issue: defending Palestine and/or accusing Israel cannot make you an antisemite by definition, since Palestinians are semites according to this terrible language that nazis popularised more than anybody else. You should speak of being anti Jewish if you wish, but never anti semite - which of course is simply crazy and stupid. Criticising the US policies and politics does not make you anti American. Criticising nazis does not make anti German. Criticising Iran government does not make you anti Iranian etc etc. It is shameful to even mention anti Jewishness when one speaks against genocide.
I must add this: calling a critic of Israel policies a Jew hater is in itself a shameful act of anti Jewishness, for it denies the Jews the right to individuality, the most basic human right. Nobody has the right to represent Jews generically, surely not a bunch of war criminals around Netanyahu who has to commit crimes against humanity, among other reasons, to avoid being jailed in Israel for a never ending list of law violations.
There is a lot of negative comments to make about Netanyahu and his Likud Party. Like the WH felon he should be in prison.
One can be a critic of Israel policies. However, there is a fine line between criticism and Jew hatred. Too many people today have crossed that line.
I also believe there was the Holocaust. That does not make it so - it is the other way around: there was the Holocaust which is why I believe in it - based on evidence. There has been ongoing genocide in Gaza which is why I believe in it - based on daily evidence that any serious scholar agrees on, including top Jewish, and even Israeli ones.
There are some Jews who would agree with you and many who would not. We can each cherry pick those who would agree with us. So far, there is no evidence of genocide in Gaza. Therefore, it remains a belief.
I have meet occasionally people who negated Holocaust, and would find deeply painful and disturbing. These days I meet every now and then people who say there is no Gaza genocide, also deeply disturbing and painful - for here is so much more evidence today. How one can manage not to see it is mind boggling to me, and it breaks my heart. Unless of course one does not believe that Palestinian lives matter. .
I could bear, somewhat, with this article if The Contrarian was as opinionated about the anti Jewish demonstrations such as at Columbia University and the threats against Jewish students in many universities. I don't recall Contrarian outrages at the cancelling of Jewish authors, performers, and athletes around the world. I don't recall articles publishing the percentage of hate crimes that are perpetrated against Jews worldwide. This is as one sided as it can get. You would be better off adding Marcia Kupfer to your stable of articles to provide another viewpoint. As for what the United Nations says??!?! Israel has been its whipping post since the establishment of the state. Genocide in Africa? Yughurs tortured in China? Nah. Let's blame the Jews instead; there's so much company for this campaign. Shame on you.
It's funny how Meredith Blake equates "being political" with expressions of hatred, pure and simple. Macklemore dressed up in an antisemitic costume in 2012, for which he never apologized, but for Blake his antics rate as "supposed antisemitism." Those old photos have recently resurfaced, so I'm sure Blake has seen them. She's just chose not to mention it, deliberately suppressing the full record. Either that or she's not a very good journalist. People should be coerced into listening to some dumb singer they didn't pay to hear. Meanwhile it's no problem to boycott Israeli academics, cancel Jewish or Israeli adjuncts, trash Jewish artists, disrupt lectures or classes by Jewish professors, mount a boycott against the 92nd Street Y until it acquiesces to antizionist demands. It's disconcerting and personally deeply painful to see how the Contrarian has devolved, straying from its original mission as a venue for protecting our democracy to cheerleading the criminalization of Jewish identity. Articles in this space manage to see antisemitism on the right but constantly, I mean constantly, glaze over it on the left. As if there is only goodness and virtue poring out of the mob screaming "Free Palestine." As if there's actually a meaningful difference between the hatred Jews for their connection to Israel on the right and the hatred of Jews for their attachment to Israel on the left. Would it hurt the pro-democracy movement if just once the Contrarian could publish an honest, frank evaluation of the sewer of antisemitism that the Dem Party has become? And please spare me the "we love Judaism but only hate Israel" talk of not a few Dem nominees. I have studied the strategies and tropes of such splitting for decades. According to Blake, everywhere we go, we need to be subjected to mob incitement, subjected to classification as Zionist or antizionist, as pro- or anti- something. Jews can no longer go to an eyebrow-threader (Alexandria VA), or a coffee shop (Oakland CA), or a Vietnamese restaurant (Denver CO) without having to hide or renounce their identity. Oh and that restaurant owner is a DSA member. Some democracy to look forward to. The whole culture is just one big MAGA-verse.
Thank you Marcia for adding your voice to this travesty. I could not agree more.
Not an apology. A rationalization without an ounce of credibility
He did apologize.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/may/20/macklemore-adl-antisemitism-row-costume
Sheeran can hire Pink to open.. or maybe Kid Rock, with Ted Nugent on guitar.
Cancel culture comes for those who stand for Palestinian rights more than just about anyone.
Silence is approval.
Kraft had to stick his oar in? You are all out of time.
So clear, thank you! This helps me with my ways to communicate with puzzled acquaintances…
As Hillary Clinton said, I hate Netanyahu’s policies but love Israel & I hate Trump’s policies but love America. Thank you Meredith Blake for this excellent article!!
To my fellow Boomers: Imagine, if you can, the 60s if CSNY, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Black Sabbath, Joni Mitchell, Dylan, Joan Baez had decided to take "a different approach to being an advocate for change"? Yeah, I can't imagine it either, because their art was their statement of life. They stated that we embraced as our statement. And that statement was that "You," the American Government, are killing us with your wars, evil, and greed. More power to Ed if he wants to be the King of Bubble Gum music, but get the hell off the stage during these very serious times of artistic expression that is deeper and more important than Bubble Gum Rock!
Thank you for such a beautiful analysis of the controversy that has gotten so much deserved attention!