RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE on Thursday voiced its solidarity with the Palestinians as Israeli airstrikes killed at least 51 people in Gaza and the West Bank.
Early this morning, the RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE Twitter account, which is run with the “blessing” of the four members of the band, shared the following statement: “The violence and atrocities we are witnessing in Sheikh Jarrah, the Al Aqsa compound and Gaza are a continuation of decades of Israel’s brutal apartheid and violent occupation of Palestine. We stand with the Palestinian people as they resist this colonial terror in all its forms”.
Additionally, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE guitarist Tom Morello retweeted several messages from Jeremy Scahill, co-founder and editor-at-large of The Intercept, that were critical of the Biden administration’s response to the conflict.
According to RT, militants in Hamas-run Gaza have fired hundreds of rockets into Israel since Monday night, with some projectiles even reaching Tel Aviv. The attacks have killed at least five civilians, including two Arab-Israelis: a woman and a child. In response to the rocket barrages, the Israel Defense Forces has carried out a series of airstrikes in Gaza.
On Wednesday, U.S. president Joe Biden told reporters that Israel has a right to respond with military force “when you have thousands of rockets flying into your territory.” He added that his “hope is that we’ll see this coming to a conclusion sooner than later.”
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE made its name through politically contentious, revolution themed, rap-metal. The band’s official web site has a bio section in which a timeline highlights RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE‘s more political moments.
Morello told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that the idea that musicians and entertainers should keep quiet about their political views is nonsense. “The reason why you hear from celebrities is because they have some access to the media to present an alt — you’re not gonna hear that on the Fox News,” he said. “They will not — they will have General This and General That and Generalissimo This. The fact that we have some, for lack of a better word, celebrity and are able to inject a different opinion, you can take it for what you want. We each get one vote, and we each have one voice.”
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE was set to tour last summer for the first time in more than a decade until the pandemic pushed those plans to 2021 and now to 2022.
Awaiting the “stay out of politics” and “stick to music”
— Rage Against The Machine ? (@RATM) May 13, 2021
