Welsh singer Charlotte Church has been accused of singing a song calling for the “annihilation of half the world’s Jews” by the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
Ms Church led a rendition of ‘From the River to the Sea’, which is widely considered to be antisemitic and is used in Hamas’ 2017 constitution, at the Bedwas Workmen’s Hall near Caerphilly, Wales during a fundraiser for the Middle East Children’s Alliance.
Following the singing of the song, Ms Church has been forced to clarify that she is not an antisemite after a fierce backlash.
Taking to Instagram Live on Monday, she defended her position, saying: “Just to clarify my intentions there, I am in no way antisemitic. I am fighting for the liberation of all people. I have a deep heart for all religions and all difference.
“It was a beautiful, beautiful event. But unfortunately, the powers that be can’t have that. [They] can’t have such a powerful symbol of resistance as what we worked towards on Saturday.”
However, the Campaign Against Antisemitism issued a withering assessment of the singer’s choice to partake in a rendition of the song.
The organisation accused her of being at best “tone deaf”, but suggested she may have been intentionally stirring up tensions.
In a statement, the group said: “The genocidal chant ‘From the River to the Sea’ refers to the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea, and only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state — and its replacement with a Palestinian state.
“It is a call for the annihilation of half the world’s Jews, who live in Israel. Since 7th October, when Hamas committed their barbaric terrorist acts, we have heard this chant on the streets of Britain during anti-Israel marches, accompanied by all manner of anti-Jewish racism. Singing ‘From the River to the Sea’ is not standing up for human rights.”
“At best Charlotte Church has been tone deaf, but at worst she is using the voice for which she is so well known to fan the flames of hatred. You cannot stoop lower than using your stardom to teach kids to sing extremist lyrics in a village hall. We will be writing to the Charity Commission to ask them to investigate how this was allowed to take place on a charity’s premises.”
On February 26 Ms Church appeared on Owen Jones’ YouTube channel to discuss the incident. She called the chant “a beautiful song of freedom for Palestine and oppressed peoples all over the world”.
When asked by Mr Jones what the chant meant to her, she replied: “What it means to me in the way that I always hear it sang or chanted in any of the protests or any of the events that I’m apart of is, it’s always about calling for equality.
“It’s about Palestinians having freedom, having the same rights as everybody else who is inhabiting Palestine. It’s just a call for equality for inhabitants of Palestine and Israel.”
