To feel sorry for Ed Sheeran.....

I think you’re confusing me with someone else.

No. I was referring to you.

What mistake did I make?

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel_in_2025 (last updated Nov 2025, last noted attack, Nov 2025)
2. There are no Israeli citizens in Gaza. Hamas invaded Israel in 2023 to murder, rape and kidnap civilians. Now that is attempted genocide.

Even Ed agrees that the attacks on Gaza are completely disproportionate. He said so on stage tonight.

Sky News:

Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft barred the rapper from performing in the Massachusetts venue, saying he would not "provide a platform for hate speech".

Sheeran was consequently forced to play a solo set at the Lincoln Financial Field Stadium on Saturday, and he began the concert by addressing the week's events.

He said: "I've had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes and I'm so, so sorry for them.

"I don't want to disappoint fans, and I've never wanted to be an activist musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet."

Sheeran insisted that he has tried to avoid becoming a "political commentator" during his career, and that he wants his music to be "about unity, not division".

He added: "This is a humanitarian issue, and I cannot hide about how I feel about it anymore.

"What happened in Israel and at the Nova music festival on October 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain.

"What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate. My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians' lives, children's lives."

Sheeran went on to thank fans for coming to the show.
He added: "I am honestly so grateful that you're here tonight with me.

https://news.sky.com/story/ed-sheeran-breaks-silence-at-first-concert-after-macklemore-palestine-row-13589979

There's no "even Ed" about it ... he seems a balanced person who does not blame just one side.

He can see both sides - both the "horrific" events of October 7th that "compounded centuries of Jewish pain" and the "catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate" response.

A more balanced approach than that displayed by Macklemore and others that like to present the war as one sided and ignore the Hamas role in it.

So since as you said "Since all that Palestinians need to do to stop Israel attacking them is to stop killing Israelis, it doesn’t fit any serious definition of genocide."
And in the just under 12 months since Israelis were last attacked around 300 children/900 people were killed by Israel does that mean your argument holds no water at all ?And that actually just like giving up the hostages and probably disarmament too nothing will stop Israeli forces killing Palestinians (like what a genocide is)

I think Ed's comments last night tie with what I was trying to say earlier in this thread. He can believe that 7th October was horrific and recognise Jewish pain, while also believing that what is happening in Gaza is catastrophic, unjustifiable and disproportionate. Those things aren't mutually exclusive.
It's also why I'm still a little disappointed that nobody engaged with the Pink statement I posted about earlier in the thread, because I thought she articulated this particularly well. She wasn't saying people couldn't criticise Israel or say Free Palestine, and she explicitly talked about Palestinian humanity and aspirations. She was asking people to listen when Jewish people explain how something feels to them without immediately deciding what their entire politics must therefore be.
Her phrase “I refuse the binary” probably sums up my feelings about this whole discussion better than anything else I've read.
I've just realised that the full statement can no longer be read on her Instagram post because she put the second half in the comments, which disappeared when commenting was switched off. Variety reproduced the whole thing here if you scroll halfway down the article: https://variety.com/2026/music/news/pink-explains-macklemore-social-media-post-palestine-jewish-1236859273/

The US administration clearly didn't think about the consequences. Trump ignored the counsel of his more intelligent and informed officials.
Hamas were responsible for a very brutal attack on Israel. They did not trigger a war. The Israelis chose to respond by committing genocide and then expanding their aggression to other areas too.
I've no idea why you are trying to make a direct comparison between the world hegemon of the last 80 years and Hamas. Do you think of them as being similar?

Hamas did effectively trigger a war. The evidence is what happened as a direct result of 7/10/23 - the Gaza war.

Pink's statement is very powerful @KeepOnCleaning thank you for posting it in full.

She seems a very decent person and I hope she's ok - imagine she will get a lot of online hate for speaking up (as well as a lot of love of course).

Wow, that was quick even for you!
No, Hamas did not trigger a war. The genocide currently being committed by Israel is very different to a war, where two sides both continue to take part in hostilities.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/war

See Ed's done a U-turn here.

I'm not even going to talk about Israel and Palestine. Foreign conflicts are not my concern.

Interested to see if this U-turn is enough to appease his detractors though.

Possibly not. This is what you get for being a fence-sitting, nice middle-class boy, go with whatever's trendy now, piece of flotsam, Ed.

On a personal level, I hope he gets hoisted by his own petard. Banal crap music writer that he is with his 'edgy' tatts.

So glad he went on to perform and didn’t give in to all the noise. Well done Ed 💯

Exactly. People on here will insist black is white. And of course its exactly what Hamas intended.

Yup they can insist all they want that the Gaza war is not a war or that Hamas didn't start it ... the facts say different.

He hasn't done a U turn and is entitled to sit on the fence as much as he wants (or get off the fence if he wants) as isn't a spokesperson for the war or a judge, but a musician.

The whataboutism doesn't work here. The war in Yemen is a civil war between two armies. Saudis support one side and Iran the other. Just like the UK supporting Ukraine against Russia. Totally incomparable. The only comparison between Saudi and Israel that works is they are both medieval theocracies.

This isn't really true, though.
He has been political when it suits him.

I suppose he's some people's idea of a musician.

They're both being totally disingenuous. Nothing more than PR stunts to try to repair their damaged reputations.

This is misinformation of the higgest order. Israel is not even 100 years old as a modern state, I don't even know how you can apply the concept of medieval to it. That would take us down a rabbit hole, suffice to say its ridiculous. Israel is not, by any definition a theocracy. Theocracy has a simple definition 'a form of government where a country is ruled by religious leaders who claim divine authority, and the state's laws are based on religious texts' which does not apply to Israel. Israel is a modern secular democratic state. Halachic law applies in personal/family matters with parallel jurisdictions for other religions. Israel is much more secular than I suspect many mumsnetters realise.

Saudi is not strictly a theocracy because power is held by the royal family not clerics, so its an absolute monarchy though the law, constitution etc are heavily based on sharia.

Iran is a theocracy.

The comparison between the Ukraine/Russia war and Yemen is also complete nonsense but Im assuming people know that.

I say 'even' because he chose to back up his Israeli friends. He cared more about not insulting them over doing the right thing which would be to back up his fellow musicians.