On August 29, I published “The Celebrity Megaphone and the Morning After,” the final installment of my three-part series examining what actually comes after “Delete Israel.”

I wrote about the responsibility that comes with a celebrity microphone. 

I wasn’t planning to write a sequel.

The question was simple:

Why does everyone with a microphone suddenly need to have an opinion about Israel?

And if they choose to have one publicly, what responsibility comes with broadcasting it to millions of people?

I wasn’t arguing that celebrities shouldn’t speak.

But if millions of people are listening, the megaphone comes with homework.

Then, apparently, the universe decided I needed a case study.

And by now you know me.

First, Macklemore Took the Microphone

Earlier this month, Macklemore opened for Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

During his set, he declared “Free Palestine,” spoke about Gaza and the West Bank and performed Hind’s Hall as images from the war and pro-Palestinian messages appeared behind him.  

Then came the backlash.

The Israeli-American Council launched a petition calling for his removal. According to the tour promoter, venue owners for upcoming dates said they would not allow concerts to proceed with Macklemore on the bill.

Macklemore was removed from his remaining support dates.

And then something fascinating happened.

Other musicians began withdrawing from Sheeran’s tour.

They publicly explained their decisions as acts of solidarity with Macklemore or objections to his removal. (AP News)

Which is almost exactly what I wrote about three weeks ago.

Except this time, it got personal.

 My First Concert With My Kids

There’s another reason this story caught my attention.

An Ed Sheeran concert at MetLife was the first concert I ever took my children to.

And because, apparently, I keep receipts for my own life too, I went back through my phone.

Ed Sheeran’s stage behind us.

And then I looked at the date.

119 days before October 7.

We had absolutely no idea what was coming.

We were just a mother and her two kids at their first concert together.

Friendship bracelets.

A packed MetLife Stadium.

It was just a happy day.

And maybe that’s why looking at these photographs now hits me differently.

They are a receipt from my life before October 7.

Before every conversation about Israel seemed to become an argument.

Before murdered Israelis required footnotes.

Before hostages required context.

Before I found myself listening to the singer from my children’s first concert describe the war that followed October 7 as: “catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.”

But “catastrophic” cannot become a word that erases October 7, the hostages, Hamas, or the choices that brought Gaza to this moment.

That word stopped me.

What exactly does “unjustifiable” refer to?

Israel going to war after October 7?

A particular Israeli military operation?

Those are very different claims.

And when millions of people are listening, a word that sweeping requires an explanation.

Because Ed Sheeran Has Said “I Stand With You” Before

Then, in the middle of all this, a video of Sheeran began circulating again.

I initially thought it was new.

It was from March 2022.

Russia had invaded Ukraine.

The Ukrainian band Antytila contacted Sheeran before a fundraising concert.

Sheeran looked directly into the camera and said:

“To all Ukrainians, I love you, I stand with you.”

Four days later, Sheeran performed at the Concert for Ukraine, which was raising humanitarian funds for people affected by the Russian invasion. (ITVX)

And I have absolutely no problem with that.

Ukrainians had been attacked.

He saw human beings suffering and said something remarkably simple:

Standing with Ukrainians did not require endorsing every decision their government would make.

So I keep coming back to one question:

Where was that sentence on October 7?

Standing with Israelis who had just been murdered, kidnapped and attacked would not have required endorsing everything Israel subsequently did.

It didn’t with Ukraine.

Why should it with Israel?

Before We Call the War “Unjustifiable,” Read What Sinwar Expected

Here is some of the homework I wish entered this conversation more often.

Before October 7, Yahya Sinwar was already contemplating what Israel might do in response to the attack Hamas was planning.

A handwritten August 24, 2022, memo attributed to Sinwar, recovered in Gaza and subsequently published, describes operational planning for a massive assault into Israel.

Sinwar contemplated catastrophic Israeli........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)