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British band Massive Attack dedicated Tuesday’s performance in the Lebanese city of Byblos, their only concert in the Middle East, to the children in Gaza, and openly condemned Israel’s “massacre” of Palestinians.
The band played in the city, only a few hundred kilometers to the north of Gaza, as music-lovers swayed all night holding up Palestinian flags.
In an interview to the AFP, the band’s front-man Robert Del Naja said, “This bombardment of an area that is one of the most densely-populated on earth, where civilians aren’t allowed to leave, is just beyond belief”.
“In order to protect yourself, do you really want to massacre another people? In the 21st century, it’s beyond belief”, he said, referring to Israel.
Del Naja also slammed the inaction of global leaders over Israel’s actions.
“The politicians, they stay silent. It’s perverse, it almost suggests they’re not fit for office”, he said.
During the concert, the band had accompanied its tracks with messages on a huge screen, expressing their solidarity with the Palestinians, Syrian refugees and Christians forced to flee Iraq by extremists.
“Gaza has been occupied or under restrictions since 1948”, the screen flashed, as the band played its popular track ‘Unfinished Sympathy’.
“8 July Israel starts Operation Protective Edge. Population of Gaza: 1,816,000. Israeli death toll 60. Civilians 7. Palestinian dead 1,200. Civilians 864”, the screen read.
The band has a long history of activism – it had very publicly opposed the UK and US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
“Far from making the world a safer place, it was the complete opposite”, Del Naja said.
The concert vowed several thousands in audience in the port city of Byblos to the north of Beirut. Before the concert, the band had visited the Palestinian camp Bourj al-Barajneh in Beirut. Part of the proceedings from the concert will go to the Al-Nakab Center for Youth Activities, an organization working in the camp.
