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Israeli Concertgoer Gets Full Refund After Complaining About Anti-Israel Messaging at Massive Attack Show
Khalid Abdalla being introduced to speak on stage ahead of the Massive Attack headlining concert at the LIDO Festival in London’s Victoria Park on June 6, 2025. Photo: YouTube screenshot
An Israeli concertgoer received a full refund of his ticket to see the British group Massive Attack headline London’s LIDO Festival last week after complaining to festival organizers about the “really hostile” environment at the largely politicized, anti-Israel performance, the UK’s Jewish Chronicle reported.
The Israeli, whose identity was not revealed, told the JC he felt “ambushed and unsafe” during the show at London’s Victoria Park on June 6 as part of the two-week music festival. A longtime fan of Massive Attack, he attended the performance with four other British-Israeli friends.
“When we arrived at the festival in Victoria Park, we saw a lot of ‘Free Palestine’ pins and T-shirts. We didn’t make anything out of it,” the fan said. “I wanted to hear Massive Attack, as someone who grew up on their music. I had no idea about any of their political views … They lost me as a fan.”
Before Massive Attack began their performance, pro-Palestinian activist and “The Crown” actor Khalid Abdalla took to the stage to talk about Palestinian solidarity and lead the audience in chanting “free Palestine.” Abdalla, who was introduced as a patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), claimed in his speech that the pro-Palestinian solidarity movement is “the civil rights movement, the anti-apartheid movement, [and] the anti-genocide movement of our time, and that is why so many Jewish people all over the world are at the core of this movement, fighting for a world in which ‘never again’ means never again for anyone, and in which this brutal Israeli occupation ends.”
Massive Attack also displayed on large screens by the stage a montage of anti-Israel videos, including real-life footage of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar – the mastermind of the deadly terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 – as he walks in a Hamas tunnel. Another video called for the release of convicted Palestinian terrorist Marwan Barghouti.
“The concept of giving terrorists a stage is beyond me,” the Israeli music fan, who had friends murdered in the Oct. 7 attack, told the JC. “When we see Sinwar walking in the tunnels, it means we see our families and other Israelis in the tunnels. For us, it was glorifying him.”
The Israeli audience member said the crowd at the Massive Attack concert felt “really hostile,” so he and his group of friends ultimately decided to leave the set. During their exit, they met others who “also felt intimidated,” “scared” and “very threatened.”
In total, around 15 people exited the concert, the JC reported. They approached festival promoters, expressed their concerns, and gave their contact information. The Israeli man said later that same night, he received an email from promoters with an apology. He also received a full refund for his ticket to the LIDO festival, travel expenses, and the amount he spent on drinks at the venue.
The Israeli music fan accused LIDO Festival organizers of false advertising for not warning ticket holders about the political nature of the event.
“Massive Attack have a right to do the show as they want to, but the fact that no one told us PSC were going to be on stage – that it would be an orchestrated political event – it’s not about me being pro-Palestinian or not,” he said. “I didn’t know I was going to see propaganda on stage. It caught us off guard completely. It was about organizing a political event. Massive Attack and PSC were selling official merchandise, T-shirts designed for this festival, allowing PSC to be on stage, allowing them to put videos on the big screen – it’s not a fluke. It was well coordinated and organized.”
A Bristol-based band, Massive Attack has participated in a cultural boycott of Israel since 1999 and are longtime critics of Israel, regularly accusing the country of war crimes, apartheid, occupation, and genocide. In a released statement, they claimed videos shown at the LIDO Festival do not glorify or celebrate “any of the featured subjects,” and were taken out of context.
The post Israeli Concertgoer Gets Full Refund After Complaining About Anti-Israel Messaging at Massive Attack Show first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.