Macklemore‘s plans to raise funds for Palestine drew fire over how one group spoke of the October 7 attacks. Two Jewish groups asked Live Nation to explain how it checked who would get the money.
The rapper’s “Free Palestine Tour” is set to raise funds for 12 groups. One is the Palestinian Youth Movement, which called the Hamas-led attacks a “prison break.”
The Jewish Leadership Council asked what checks had been made. It also sought steps to make sure funds would not back threats to Jews.
“When the PYM describes the 7 October massacre as a ‘prison break’, it risks legitimizing violence against Jews,” the council told The Jewish Chronicle last week.
The Israeli-American Council also asked Live Nation to explain its checks and block funds to groups that justified violence, Fox News Digital reported.
The phrase came from an essay the youth group wrote for The New Inquiry. It ran on October 7, 2024, one year after the attacks. The piece framed the attack through Gaza’s blockade and the loss of homes and land. It cast the fighters as people going back to land their families once held. It did not address civilians killed or taken hostage in Israel.
On its own site, the group says it works for freedom and helps fund food and water for Gaza. It said a past drive with 10 partners raised $1 million in two months. That helped fund an average of 10,000 hot meals a day and more than 1 million gallons of water, it said. The group gave those figures in its own account of the past aid drive.
Macklemore, Live Nation and the group had not answered requests for comment when The Jerusalem Post carried the report.
The rapper had said his stance on Israel did not target Jews. He spoke while on tour with Ed Sheeran in September. He said his aim was peace and equal treatment for all. Those remarks came before the dispute over who would get the funds.
Venues objected to his stage remarks, and he was dropped from the rest of Sheeran’s U.S. dates. He shared plans for his own shows on September 24. All proceeds would go to groups that support Palestine and its movement.
The three-show run starts in Dublin on October 26, then heads to Paris and London.
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