Star-studded Wembley concert in aid of Palestine raises £1.5m

A foundation lawsuit astatine Wembley Arena has raised £1.5m to enactment Palestinian-led organisations moving connected the frontline of the Israel-Hamas war.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Riz Ahmed and Richard Gere were among the stars lending their dependable to Together For Palestine connected Wednesday, organised by songwriter, creator and activistic Brian Eno.

It comes days aft a two-year UN probe recovered Israel has committed genocide successful Gaza, which it denies.

High-profile names from crossed the globe and spanning the generations were there, with musicians, actors, sportspeople, journalists and poets contributing to the show.

Actress Florence Pugh spoke connected stage, telling the crowd: "Silence successful the look of specified suffering is not neutrality, it is complicity. Empathy should not beryllium this hard and it should person ne'er been this hard".

Hollywood histrion Gere was joined connected signifier by medics who person served connected the crushed successful Gaza, urging the assemblage to usage their voices by "speaking the information with generosity and love, that's however you alteration things".

Bridgerton prima Nicola Coughlan called connected different artists to talk up too, saying: "There are galore artists that I love, and I cognize you love, who person hundreds of millions of followers, and they're saying nothing."

Broadcaster Louis Theroux spoke movingly astir his clip making a documentary successful the West Bank, saying the radical of Palestine were "subjected to a benignant of slow, grinding, relentless violence".

Music-wise, a unrecorded ensemble featuring Damon Albarn, Paul Weller, Adnan Joubran, Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor and Nadine Shah performed a specially composed philharmonic piece, and Neneh Cherry, Greentea Peng, and Bastille vocalist Dan Smith agreed for a rendition of Cherry's deed opus 7 Seconds.

A pre-recorded mentation of Annie Lennox's Why was played, with revised lyrics to bespeak the horrors of the Israel-Hamas war and determination was an exclusive filmed show by Bristol set Portishead.

From the sports world, shot prima Eric Cantona called for a planetary boycott of Israel passim football, asking clubs to garbage to play Israeli teams, saying: "It's clip for everyone to get disconnected the sidelines, who volition travel me?"

Poetry and prose were besides work out, and Palestinian creation was showcased passim the concert.

Money raised from the performance - which was arranged conscionable 7 weeks agone and saw tickets merchantability retired successful hours - volition beryllium distributed to Palestinian-led organisations specified arsenic Taawon, Palestine Children's Relief Fund and Palestine Medical Relief Service.

It's the archetypal large-scale euphony lawsuit to amusement enactment for Palestine, pursuing idiosyncratic shows of solidarity from respective artists, immoderate of which person provoked backlash.

Electronic euphony set Massive Attack projected a Palestinian emblem connected signifier astatine 1 of their concerts successful Bristol past year.

Kneecap subordinate Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs nether the sanction Mo Chara, was charged with supporting a proscribed panic organisation aft being accused of displaying a emblem successful enactment of Hezbollah astatine a gig successful London successful November past year.

In June, punk duo Bob Vylan led chants of "death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)" during a acceptable astatine Glastonbury Festival. The BBC, who livestreamed the set, were forced to apologise, and a constabulary probe is presently underway.

Health officials successful Hamas-run Gaza accidental astir 65,000 radical person been killed successful the 2 years of the warfare - a fig that doesn't differentiate betwixt fighters and civilians.

The warfare began aft the Hamas panic onslaught connected Israel connected 7 October 2023, which killed astir 1,200 and saw 251 taken hostage. Forty-eight hostages stay successful Gaza, but less than fractional are thought to inactive beryllium alive.