Irish songwriter and activist Bono demanded that Hamas release the remaining hostages and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be removed from power during a speech at this year’s Ivor Novello Awards.
“Hamas, release the hostages, stop the war. Israel, be released from Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right fundamentalists that twist your sacred texts,” the U2 musician said.
Statements made by Israeli leadership indicate that only 20 of the remaining 58 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023, are still alive.
He also called for the protection of aid workers, stating that they are “the best of us. God, you must be so tired of us, children of Abraham, in the rubble of our certainties. Children in the rubble of our revenge. God forgive us.”
Bono's latest public statements
Bono’s latest comments follow those made in an interview with the Associated Press last week, where he expressed concern that the world is heading toward World War III.
U2 has previously expressed sympathy for the Israeli youth murdered by Hamas and changed the lyrics to the song “Pride” to pay tribute to those killed at the Nova music festival.
The change in lyrics was condemned by Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters.
“Anybody who knows Bono should go and pick him up by his ankles and shake him… until he stops being an enormous s***,” said Waters in an interview with Qatari news network Al Jazeera.
“We have to start saying to these people, your opinion is so disgusting and so degrading… sticking up for the Zionist entity,” he added. “What he did a couple of weeks ago in the Sphere in Las Vegas, singing about the Stars of David, was one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen in my life.”