Charlotte Church says her family have been threatened by “some pretty scary people” over support of Gaza
Charlotte Church has revealed that her family have been threatened by “some pretty scary people” over her support of Gaza.
On February 26, the singer played at Bedwas Workmen’s Hall in Caerphilly at a concert to raise money for the Middle East Children’s Alliance, which supports children in Gaza. To end the show, she led a choir of 100 singers in a chant of “from the river to the sea”.
She received backlash for the use of that phrase as it is politically charged, with some, including the Campaign Against Antisemitism, believing that it calls for the destruction of the state of Israel.
Church addressed the backlash in an Instagram livestream stating: “Just to clarify my intentions there, I am in no way anti-Semitic. I am fighting for the liberation of all people. I have a deep heart for all religions and all difference.”
Now, the singer has revealed that her loved ones have received various threats over her pro-Palestine stance.
“I have been called many things in my time, but not until this week have I received so much imaginative and violent hate – I’ve never before been called ‘traitor’. The threats to me and my family’s safety by some pretty scary people have resulted in the police coming round to check in on us,” Church wrote in a statement on her website.
Church continued: “I do not believe that the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ is in any way a call for the ethnic cleansing or genocide of Israelis. Certainly, when I have used it or heard it used by other people, it has always been as a call for the liberation of Palestine. Often it is accompanied by the phrase ‘We are all Palestinians’.”
“A call for one group’s liberation does not imply another’s destruction, and those suggesting that it does are leveraging a grotesque irony given it’s that first group which is currently being murdered in their thousands,” she added.
Church has a long history of political activity, including speaking out against Jeremy Clarkson’s rant against Meghan Markle last year, and several years of campaigning against the Conservative government.
Last summer, Church spoke to NME about her decision to bring her famed Late Night Pop Dungeon to an end and what to expect from her next material. She embarked on the final UK tour for the project in 2022, before giving the Pop Dungeon one last outing at Liverpool’s Eurovision village in May.
On the decision to end Pop Dungeon, Church said that it was more of a “hiatus” than a finale, as she was building up a “landscape” of new original material that she “just can’t ignore” – hoping to “synthesise” all the ground that she’s covered over the years and the lessons she’s learned while running her wellness retreat The Dreaming and nature-driven education initiative The Awen Project.
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Anagricel Duran
NME
