Welsh musician and actress Charlotte Church, 38, appeared at a “Sing for Palestine” event in South Wales on Saturday and led a choir of about 100 people, including children, in singing a protest chant calling for the destruction and elimination of Israel.
A video from the event shows the keffiyeh-wearing church leading the group in a song version of the hymn “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free.”
Sorry @charlottechurch But I couldn't keep a straight face. That was the first time I'd actually seen the footage…sorry pic.twitter.com/fDVvGAj8jv
– Jake Wallis Simons (@JakeWSimons) February 26, 2024
On Monday, during an Instagram Live, Church said: “Just to make my intentions clear there, I am in no way anti-Semitic. I fight for the liberation of all people. I have a deep heart for all religions and all differences.
“It was a beautiful, beautiful event. But unfortunately, the powers that be cannot have that. [They] There can be no stronger symbol of resistance than what we worked for on Saturday.
According to The Guardian, on Monday evening, Church told Novara Media that she “hates the idea that anyone would think I’m anti-Semitic at all or trying to make things more divisive.”
Adding: “But I stand by everything we sang on Saturday. It was truly beautiful.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism called for an investigation by the Charity Commission and spoke to the Daily Mail:
“The genocidal chant ‘from the river to the sea’ refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and has no meaning except as a call to destroy the only Jewish state in the world – and replace it with a Palestinian state.” It is a call to exterminate half of the world's Jews living in Israel.
“Since October 7, when Hamas committed its barbaric terrorist acts, we have heard this chant in the streets of Britain during anti-Israel marches, accompanied by all kinds of anti-Jewish racism.
“Singing ‘From the River to the Sea’ does not defend human rights.” At best, Charlotte Church was tone-deaf, but at worst she was using the voice she made famous to fan the flames of hatred. You can't stoop lower than using your stardom to teach kids to sing radical lyrics at the village hall.
Church became famous at an early age by releasing her first album, Angelic voice, When she was just 12 years old, she made Church the youngest female artist in history with her No. 1 album on the British classical crossover charts.
