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Fans Walk Out of Hozier Concert in New York After Irish Singer Accuses Israel of ‘Genocide,’ Calls for ‘Free Palestine’
Andrew John Hozier-Byrne, better known as Hozier, is performing on the first day of the EstereoPicnic festival in Bogota, Colombia. Photo: Daniel Garzon Herazo via Reuters Connect
Some audience members at Hozier’s concert on Tuesday night in New York reportedly staged a walkout after the Irish singer commented on the Israel-Hamas war by accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide.”
The “Take Me to Church” singer, whose real name is Andrew John Hozier-Byrne, made the remarks during a performance at Forest Hills Stadium, one of four consecutive sold-out shows at the venue, as part of a tour for his new album “Unreal Earth.” He performed at the stadium on Tuesday and Wednesday and will perform again on Friday and Saturday, becoming the first artist ever to play four consecutive sold-out shows at Forest Hills Stadium.
During the introduction to his song “Nina Cried Power” during his Tuesday night concert, the Grammy winner told the crowd: “We wouldn’t want to see anybody subjected to the kind of violence, indiscriminate bombing, that we are seeing on our TV screens. The kind of assault that Rafah’s facing and the genocidal violence that Rafah’s facing. And in the same way that people are showing up at the moment, saying, we would want to be represented to our democratic representation — we want to be represented in that compassion, and in that human witness and in that law.”
Israel began its military operation in Rafah early last month and has been targeting Hamas terrorists and compounds in the southern Gaza city. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has been taking measures to minimize the risk of civilian casualties, which include evacuating one million Palestinians from Rafah and establishing a temporary refuge outside the Rafah corridor for Gazan civilians.
“And we wouldn’t want to see us, our tax dollars, enabling that kind of violence — enabling that kind of war,” added Hozier, according to videos from his speech that were shared on social media. “We wouldn’t want to see that for anybody, it doesn’t matter where you come from. Whether you are a Palestinian or you are an Israeli citizen. We want anybody to live in peace, security, and safety. And that would also mean seeing Palestine free from occupation, free to pursue meaningful self-determination and statehood.”
Hozier also applauded the anti-Israel protests taking place at colleges and universities around the US.
The Mirror reported that although the majority of the crowd at Tuesday night’s concert cheered on Hozier’s comments, other attendees who were upset by his remarks walked out before the show ended. Videos from social media show that Hozier made similar remarks during his concert on Wednesday night.
The “Too Sweet” singer has made pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel comments at his previous shows as well, again accusing Israel of “genocidal violence” and talking about the alleged “onslaught that Palestinians are facing in Rafah.”
Hozier’s native Ireland has been one of the harshest critics of Israel since the war began last October.
Last month, Spain, Norway, and Ireland officially recognized a Palestinian state. Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris has repeatedly condemned Israel’s military actions amid its war against Hamas terrorists.
The post Fans Walk Out of Hozier Concert in New York After Irish Singer Accuses Israel of ‘Genocide,’ Calls for ‘Free Palestine’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Smotrich Says Defense Ministry to Spur Voluntary Emigration from Gaza
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
i24 News – Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday that the government would establish an administration to encourage the voluntary migration of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
“We are establishing a migration administration, we are preparing for this under the leadership of the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and Defense Minister [Israel Katz],” he said at a Land of Israel Caucus at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. “The budget will not be an obstacle.”
Referring to the plan championed by US President Donald Trump, Smotrich noted the “profound and deep hatred towards Israel” in Gaza, adding that “sources in the American government” agreed “that it’s impossible for two million people with hatred towards Israel to remain at a stone’s throw from the border.”
The administration would be under the Defense Ministry, with the goal of facilitating Trump’s plan to build a “Riviera of the Middle East” and the relocation of hundreds of thousands of Gazans for rebuilding efforts.
“If we remove 5,000 a day, it will take a year,” Smotrich said. “The logistics are complex because you need to know who is going to which country. It’s a potential for historical change.”
The post Smotrich Says Defense Ministry to Spur Voluntary Emigration from Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Defense Ministry: 16,000 Wounded in War, About Half Under 30
A general view shows the plenum at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – The Knesset’s (Israeli parliament’s) Special Committee for Foreign Workers held a discussion on Sunday to examine the needs of wounded and disabled IDF soldiers and the response foreign caregivers could provide.
During the discussion, data from the Defense Minister revealed that the number of registered IDF wounded and disabled veterans rose from 62,000 to 78,000 since the war began on October 7, 2023. “Most of them are reservists and 51 percent of the wounded are up to 30 years old,” the ministry’s report said. The number will increase, the ministry assesses, as post-trauma cases emerge.
The committee chairwoman, Knesset member Etty Atiya (Likud), emphasized the need to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy for the wounded and to remove obstacles. “There is no dispute that the IDF disabled have sacrificed their bodies and souls for the people of Israel, for the state of Israel,” she said. Addressing the veterans, she continued: “And we, as public representatives and public servants alike, must do everything, but everything, to improve your lives in any way possible, to alleviate your pain and the distress of your family members who are no less affected than you.”
Currently, extensions are being given to the IDF veterans on a three-month basis, which Atiya said creates uncertainty and fear among the patients.
“The committee calls on the Interior Minister [Moshe Arbel] to approve as soon as possible the temporary order on our table, so that it will reach the approval of the Knesset,” she said, adding that she “intends to personally approach the Director General of the Population Authority [Shlomo Mor-Yosef] on the matter in order to promote a quick and stable solution.”
The post Defense Ministry: 16,000 Wounded in War, About Half Under 30 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Over 1,300 Killed in Syria as New Regime Accused of Massacring Civilians
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with Sky News Arabia in Damascus, Syria in this handout picture released by the Syrian Presidency on August 8, 2023. Syrian Presidency/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – Over 1,300 people were killed in two days of fighting in Syria between security forces under the new Syrian Islamist leaders and fighters from ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect on the other hand, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday.
Since Thursday, 1,311 people had been killed, according to the Observatory, including 830 civilians, mainly Alawites, 231 Syrian government security personnel, and 250 Assad loyalists.
The intense fighting broke out late last week as the Alawite militias launched an offensive against the new government’s fighters in the coastal region of the country, prompting a massive deployment ordered by new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
“We must preserve national unity and civil peace as much as possible and… we will be able to live together in this country,” al-Sharaa said, as quoted in the BBC.
The death toll represents the most severe escalations since Assad was ousted late last year, and is one of the most costly in terms of human lives since the civil war began in 2011.
The counter-offensive launched by al-Sharaa’s forces was marked by reported revenge killings and atrocities in the Latakia region, a stronghold of the Alawite minority in the country.
The post Over 1,300 Killed in Syria as New Regime Accused of Massacring Civilians first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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