Macklemore leads 'F*** America!' chant at pro-Palestinian concert



“F*** America!”

So went the chant led by rapper Macklemore at a pro-Palestinian Seattle concert on Saturday night. While the audience responded with glee, others, including Elon Musk, later condemned the "Thrift Store" artist's anti-American rhetoric.

The jarring moment occurred as Macklemore — whose legal name is Ben Haggerty — performed at the Palestine Will Live Forever Festival at the Seward Park Amphitheater in Seattle, Washington.

'It's a genocide, absolutely, and it has been since 1948, and don't get it twisted.'

According to the official Instagram page for the festival: "We resist when we fight, we resist when we educate, we resist when we organize. Our people living under the brutal occupation of the settler colonial project resist in every breath they take. Despite the pain and suffering, our people in Falasteen find a way to LIVE."

Proceeds from the Palestine Will Live Forever Festival went to various groups providing aid to Palestinians, including the controversial United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

Welcome to the terrordome

Last month, the United Nations admitted that 19 United Nations Relief and Works Agency staff have been accused of being involved in the Hamas terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when roughly 1,200 people were killed and another 250 were taken to Gaza as hostages.

Nine of the accused were fired while the U.N. stated that "appropriate measures will be taken" for the remaining 10 employees.

During the Palestine Will Live Forever Festival, Macklemore admitted that he "didn't know" much about the decades-long hostilities between Palestine and Israel until the terrorist attacks on Oct. 7.

Apt pupil

Regarding how he got involved in "the movement," Macklemore told the audience at the festival, "October 7 happens, and I started paying attention. I started learning. I started listening. I start going back and learning the history."

The rapper — who is best known for his 2012 song about shopping at a thrift store — proclaimed that the Israel-Hamas conflict "is actually not that complicated." Macklemore then accused Israel of committing genocide.

"It's a genocide, absolutely, and it has been since 1948, and don't get it twisted," Macklemore told the crowd.

Video shows Macklemore saying, "Straight up. Say it. I’m not gonna stop you. I’m not gonna stop you. Um, yeah, f*** America." The crowd thunderously cheered the anti-American remark.

'What a tool'

There were hundreds of online commentators slamming Macklemore for the disrespectful jibe, including Elon Musk, who said of the rapper, "What a tool."

Others called for boycotts of Adidas and TaylorMade Golf — which have sponsorship deals with Haggerty.

The rapper performed his “Hind’s Hall” song at the festival.

The song praises anti-Israel protests that took place on college campuses. The song is named for the actions of pro-Palestinian activists who occupied Hamilton Hall at Columbia University and renamed the building "Hind's Hall," in honor of Hind Rajab, a young Palestinian girl who was killed in Gaza City during the Israel-Hamas War.

In the song, Haggerty pushes leftist tropes such as: "f*** the police" and a "system that was designed by white supremacy."

The entertainer said all proceeds from the song go to the UNRWA.

Haggerty recently released "Hind's Hall 2," which is another anti-Israel anthem.

The chorus of the song states: "From the river to the sea. Palestine will be free."

The "from the river to the sea" anti-Semitic phrase calls for the establishment of a Palestine state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea while completely eliminating the state of Israel.

The rapper warns Vice President Kamala Harris that she won't win Michigan in the 2024 presidential election if she doesn't "stop sending money and weapons" to Israel.

The song's lyrics include: "Capitalism killing us that's something we can't afford."

The 41-year-old rapper's net worth is reportedly $25 million.

In August, Macklemore canceled an October concert in Dubai over the United Arab Emirates' alleged role "in the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis" in Sudan.

Macklemoron

In 2014, Macklemore wore a costume at a Seattle concert that some deemed anti-Semitic and "deeply offensive" because it appeared to be a caricature of a Jewish man.

Haggerty apologized by saying, “I wasn’t attempting to mimic any culture, nor resemble one. A ‘Jewish stereotype’ never crossed my mind.”

“There is no worse feeling than being misunderstood, especially when people are hurt or offended,” the "Same Love" rapper said at the time.

Macklemore claimed it was “surprising and disappointing” that photos of his “disguise were sensationalized leading to the immediate assertion that my costume was anti-Semitic.”

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WATCH: Jerry Seinfeld brilliantly shames woke heckler as the crowd roars



Even after 40 years of doing stand-up comedy, “You never really knew [Jerry Seinfeld’s] political beliefs,” says Dave Rubin.

However, that has since changed. After Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel last October, Jerry, who’s Jewish himself, traveled to Israel and “basically said ‘Jews have a right to defend themselves’” — a statement that has made him “public enemy number one for all these pro-Hamas people.”

At a show in Sydney, Australia, last weekend, the comedian utterly destroyed a protester who started chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

“We have a genius, ladies and gentlemen. He’s solved the Middle East. ... It’s the Jewish comedians. That’s who we have to get!” he quipped.

The demonstrator continued his chant as security escorted him out, but Seinfeld wasn’t quite finished.

“They're going to start punching you in about three seconds, so I would try and get all of your genius out so we can all learn from you. It’s a comedy show you moron. Get out of here.”

When the chants didn’t stop, Seinfeld added, “You’re really influencing everyone here. We’re all on your side now because you’ve made your point so well. ... You’ve come to the right place for a political conversation.”

“Tomorrow we will read in the paper, ‘Middle East 100% solved thanks to man at the Qudos Arena stopping Jew comedian’ ... and everyone in the Middle East went, ‘Oh my God, let’s just get along.”’

“You have to go 20,000 miles from the problem and screw up a comedian – that is how you solve world issues,” he jested.

Dave, who’s long loved Jerry’s brilliance, applauds his willingness to call out the lunacy.

“Why are you going to a Jerry Seinfeld stand-up concert and doing that?” he asks rhetorically, adding that the woke protesters “are trying to ruin everything” because “they think they own everything.”

To see Jerry Seinfeld put a pro-Palestine protester to absolute shame, watch the clip below.


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Musk says 'from the river to the sea' implies genocide, and people advocating genocide will get suspended from X



Elon Musk has declared that the phrase "from the river to the sea" implies genocide and those who promote genocide will be suspended from X.

"Yes, 'decolonization' necessarily implies a Jewish genocide, thus it is unacceptable to any reasonable person," Musk tweeted earlier this week. Then, on Friday, he retweeted that post and wrote, "As I said earlier this week, 'decolonization', 'from the river to the sea' and similar euphemisms necessarily imply genocide. Clear calls for extreme violence are against our terms of service and will result in suspension."

"At risk of stating the obvious, anyone advocating the genocide of *any* group will be suspended from this platform," Musk also tweeted.

— (@)

While "from the river to the sea" is widely regarded as a call to wipe the Jewish state of Israel off of the map, Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan has claimed that it "is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate."

Musk has been facing backlash for agreeing with comments someone posted on X: "Jewish communties [sic] have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them. I'm deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest s*** now about western Jewish populations coming to the disturbing realization that those hordes of minorities that support flooding their country don't exactly like them too much," the person wrote in a tweet.

Musk replied, "You have said the actual truth." In another post, he wrote, "The ADL unjustly attacks the majority of the West, despite the majority of the West supporting the Jewish people and Israel. This is because they cannot, by their own tenets, criticize the minority groups who are their primary threat. It is not right and needs to stop."

— (@)

The White House issued a statement of condemnation in response to Musk's tweet agreeing with the other individual's remarks. "We condemn this abhorrent promotion of Antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms," spokesperson Andrew Bates declared in a statement.

— (@)

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The potential silver lining of allowing people to chant 'from the river to the sea'



Isn’t it ironic that we live in a country where flagrant anti-Semitism and celebration of terrorism is permissible in the name of free speech but in which a gag order on a presidential candidate, unabashed Big Tech censorship, and cancel culture that seeks to ruin people who speak unpopular opinions are allowed?

Something doesn’t add up.

“You can call for the murder of a president while we sift through the sedimentary layers of that same presidential speech to prove he was calling for an insurrection,” sighs Glenn Beck.

“Meanwhile, hordes are on our street; they’re marching to that catchy tune ‘from the river to the sea,’ but I thought inciting violence was out?” he continues, pointing out the brazen hypocrisy.

However, perhaps there is a silver lining to allowing Palestinian/Hamas supporters to exercise their right to free speech.

Only then can we “see who they really are,” says Glenn. “That does not mean we support them. It doesn’t mean we ignore them. It means we listen carefully,” which can be “an advantage.”

If we do that, we’ll realize that “from the river to the sea” means “all of Israel,” which “is a call for genocide.”

“So you should be allowed to say it,” says Glenn. However, “If protests turn to burning cities down or breaking into capitals, those committing the violence are to be punished.”

“Opinions sometimes are really despicable, but opinions are opinions; it's not violence,” he adds.

However, “many of us accept that some speech is dangerous, [so] some needs to be silenced.”

The problem is, where do we draw the line? Who calls the shots on what’s dangerous speech and what’s safe to say?

“America, and after it the West, used to be justly admired for one of its greatest innovations: peaceful transfers of power — a democratic, republican process resting on none other than free speech, an open marketplace of ideas, an even playing field,” explains Glenn.

“Transfer of power used to involve violence, wars, revolutions, coups,” he continues, “but we found a better way so that when a Trump or a Biden enters or leaves the White House, no tanks are needed, mostly, but that only works with an even playing field, an open market. If one side can get their thumb over the other for ‘safety,’ then that all goes away, and the alternative to free and open debate is just like the alternative to peaceful transfer of power: violence.”


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Douglas Murray says something that keeps even Piers Morgan quiet



It’s a rare day when Piers Morgan lets someone else have the microphone.

But that’s exactly what happened when British author and political commentator Douglas Murray went on a justified tirade about the inexplicable tolerance for pro-Hamas, pro-terrorism rallies occurring in Britain.

“As for the actual marches, look, I’m afraid the rules on this are very, very clear – you are not allowed to glorify terror or call for terror on the streets of Britain, and that existed before the 2006 Terrorism Act banned glorification, and it certainly exists now,” he told Morgan.

“If you stand on the streets of London calling for jihad, you are calling for terror, and that is actually a place where free speech is at its limit and is no longer permissible,” he continued.

At this point, Morgan attempted to interject, but Murray had more to say.

“Let me finish one other case,” he said, silencing Morgan. “You’re not allowed to stand on the streets of London and call for the murder of Jews or any other minority, and yet people have been getting away with this, and are the police arresting people? No, no they’re not.”

“Hundreds of thousands of people are out on the street who have been misinformed, and the education system and the cultural attaché has completely failed them so that they think up is down and good guys are bad guys, and they're celebrating this medieval barbarism,” says Dave Rubin, echoing Murray’s words.

“When you say ‘river to the sea,’ it is calling for genocide. When you target Jewish businesses or you go to specifically places where you know Jews or Israelis are, what should a liberal society do at that point? That is the precarious spot that we are at right now,” he laments.


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Harvard president condemns the phrase 'from the river to the sea'



In a message directed to "Members of the Harvard Community," university president Claudine Gay condemned the phrase "from the river to the sea."

Gay wrote that "our community must understand that phrases such as 'from the river to the sea' bear specific historical meanings that to a great many people imply the eradication of Jews from Israel and engender both pain and existential fears within our Jewish community. I condemn this phrase and any similarly hurtful phrases."

"Antisemitism is destructive to our mission. We will not solve every disagreement, bridge every divide, heal every wound. But if we shrink from this struggle, we betray our ideals," Gay said.

"We will implement a robust program of education and training for students, faculty, and staff on antisemitism broadly and at Harvard specifically. As part of this program, we will provide education about the roots of certain rhetoric that has been heard on our campus in recent weeks, and its impact on Jewish members of our community, to help us all better recognize antisemitism in daily life and interrupt its harmful influence," Gay wrote.

The expression "from the river to the sea" is widely viewed as a call for wiping out the Jewish state of Israel, but Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who shared a video earlier this month that included the phrase, has claimed that the saying "is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate." The House passed a censure resolution targeting Tlaib earlier this week.

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Jeffries notes that 'from the River to the Sea' is widely considered a call for Israel's destruction



House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) issued a statement in which he noted that the phrase "from the river to the sea," is broadly viewed as a call for Israel to be destroyed.

"Echoing slogans that are widely understood as calling for the complete destruction of Israel - such as from the River to the Sea - does not advance progress toward a two-state solution. Instead, it unacceptably risks further polarization, division and incitement to violence," Jeffries said in the statement marking the one-month anniversary of the heinous Hamas terror attacks perpetrated against Israel in October.

"There are millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza who legitimately aspire to peaceful self-determination and economic dignity. The continued presence of Hamas undermines that cause, further making clear that the ongoing effort to decisively defeat this brutal terrorist regime must succeed," Jeffries noted.

Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan shared a video last week that apparently included clips of crowds saying "from the river to the sea." In another post, Tlaib claimed that the phrase "is an aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate."

Even before she had made the controversial posts, Tlaib was already being targeted by a censure resolution put forward last week by a Republican. Though that resolution was tabled last week, the Democratic lawmaker is being targeted with censure resolutions put forward by Republicans this week.

"It's a shame my colleagues are more focused on silencing me than they are on saving lives, as the death toll in Gaza surpasses 10,000," Tlaib said in a statement on Monday. "Rather than acknowledge the voice and perspective of the only Palestinian American in Congress, my colleagues have resorted to distorting my positions in resolutions filled with obvious lies. I have repeatedly denounced the horrific targeting and killing of civilians by Hamas and the Israeli government, and have mourned the Israeli and Palestinian lives lost."

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'Squad' member claims Rashida Tlaib is the victim after she promotes Hamas rallying cry, but the truth gets in the way



Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) asserted Monday that Rep. Rashida Tlaib's life is endangered by critics who oppose the Michigan Democrat's vehement anti-Israel rhetoric.

Last Friday, Tlaib promoted the Palestinian nationalist slogan "from the river to the sea" and whitewashed its meaning, claiming it is an "aspirational call for freedom, human rights, and peaceful coexistence, not death, destruction, or hate." Promoting the slogan led to new backlash against Tlaib, including from Democrats in her home state.

But Bush did not respond to that criticism. Instead, she singled out Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who accused Tlaib of "calling for the genocide of the Jewish people."

According to Bush, a member of the "Squad," Blackburn's response makes Tlaib a victim because it somehow threatens her life.

"This is a lie. This rhetoric is dangerous and needs to stop," Bush responded. "This endangers the life of Rashida and Palestinians standing up for their liberation everywhere."

— (@)

Unfortunately, Bush did not say how exactly Blackburn's response is life-threatening, nor did she explain how it is a "lie."

According to the Anti-Defamation League, the slogan "from the river to the sea" is a rallying cry used by those who want Israel not to exist.

The ADL explains:

This rallying cry has long been used by anti-Israel voices, including supporters of terrorist organizations such as Hamas and the PFLP, which seek Israel’s destruction through violent means. It is fundamentally a call for a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, territory that includes the State of Israel, which would mean the dismantling of the Jewish state. It is an antisemitic charge denying the Jewish right to self-determination, including through the removal of Jews from their ancestral homeland.

The only way for a Palestinian state to exist from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River is, of course, to erase Israel from the map. And, unfortunately, there is only one way to do that, which Blackburn highlighted with her on-the-nose criticism.

Blaze News reached out to Sen. Blackburn's office seeking a response to Bush's accusation. A representative did not respond by press time.

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Ben Shapiro’s two-word question is the PERFECT response to 'free Palestine'



While the students who debate Ben Shapiro are typically indoctrinated with woke ideology, you have to at least give them some credit for their boldness. It takes some courage to challenge one of the most well-read, articulate men alive. These kinds of Shapiro vs. progressive student debates usually end quickly, as it takes Shapiro mere seconds to dismantle his opponent’s argument.

In this case, a two-word question was all it took to put a pro-Palestinian student to shame.

Dave Rubin plays the clip of the interaction.

“You can't take the benefits [of capitalism] and then reject the downsides; I don't think it works that way,” Shapiro said.

“Thank you, and free Palestine,” the student responded.

“Which part?” Shapiro brilliantly asked.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” the student said.

But she wasn’t going to get off that easily.

“I saw you say 'from ‘the river to the sea,’ so you can just say it out loud,” Shapiro pressed.

“Yeah – from the river to the sea,” she retorted.

“I appreciate the idea that the Jewish state should be wiped completely off the map, with the concomitant loss of life,” Shapiro sarcastically remarked, “but we're worried about climate change and the humanitarian aspects of climate change over the course of the next 100 years – sure, okay.”

Ouch.

“She doesn't know what she's saying,” sighs Dave Rubin, admitting that he sympathizes “with these kids whose brains have been so obliterated.”

“What you want to do is kill 8 million Jews in the Middle East?” he asks. “And you'd probably have to kill about 2 million Arab Israelis who are peacefully living there as well.”


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