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<\/p>\nBillie Eilish and Finneas receive Album of the Year Award for \u201cHit Me Hard and Soft\u201d during the iHeartRadio Music Awards at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, March 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS\/Mario Anzuoni<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A star-studded list of celebrities helped raise money for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amid the Israel-Hamas war as part of a fundraising campaign and benefit concert that took place at London\u2019s Wembley Arena on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the \u2018Together for Palestine\u201d concert, the campaign released a video<\/a> featuring dozens of celebrities who called for a ceasefire in Gaza and to \u201cstop the killing\u201d of Palestinians during the ongoing war. They included Grammy-winning artists Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas, Oscar winners Cillian Murphy, Joaquin Phoenix, Javier Bardem, and Penelope Cruz; \u201cOutlander\u201d star Caitriona Balfe; Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai; and Scottish actor Brian Cox.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to tell the truth on behalf of the people of Palestine,\u201d Cox said in the video.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to speak out now, not when this is over, right now, while it\u2019s happening, pressurize your government. Lend your support to those who are peacefully campaigning for Palestine. Call for a ceasefire, stop the killing,\u201d added British comedian and actor Steve Coogan in the clip.<\/p>\n The video also included appearances by \u201cThe White Lotus\u201d star Natasha Rothwell, \u201cBad Sisters\u201d star Sharon Horgan, and \u201cWeapons\u201d actor Benedict Wong. It was released mere hours before the \u201cTogether for Palestine\u201d benefit concert at Wembley Arena, which raised more than \u00a31.5 million<\/a> ($2 million). The event included performances from Bastille, James Blake, Jamie xx, and PinkPantheress, and Palestinian artists such as Sama\u2019 Abdulhadi, Saint Levant, and Nia Barghouti, who is the daughter of Omar Barghouti, a leader of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Paloma Faith performed live wearing a dress made from a Palestinian keffiyeh. The event also featured a pre-recorded performance by Annie Lennox of her new song \u201cWhy? \u2013 For Gaza,\u201d which she sang while wearing a T-shirt that said, \u201cLet Gaza Live.\u201d<\/p>\n The event, which was livestreamed on YouTube, was organized by British artist Brian Eno, who read the poem \u201cOh Rascal Children of Gaza\u201d by Palestinian writer Khaled Juma. Speakers at the event included actors Richard Gere, Florence Pugh<\/a>, and \u201cBridgerton\u201d stars Nicola Coughlan and Charithra Chandran. Benedict Cumberbatch recited a Palestinian poem while broadcaster Mehdi Hasan led the audience in chanting \u201cYou can\u2019t bomb the truth away.\u201d<\/p>\n British-American documentarian Louis Theroux claimed on stage that Palestinians are \u201cliving under military occupation [and are] subject to slow, grinding relentless violence.\u201d French former soccer player Eric Cantona called for Israeli athletes to be banned from all soccer competitions around the world, including FIFA and UEFA matches.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that international football is more than just sport,\u201d said the former Manchester United player. \u201cIt\u2019s cultural; political. It\u2019s soft power in the way that a country represents itself on a global stage. The time has come to suspend Israel from that privilege.\u201d His comments elicited loud applause from the audience.<\/p>\n \u201cFIFA and UEFA must suspend Israel,\u201d he added. \u201c[Soccer] clubs everywhere must refuse to play Israeli teams. Current players everywhere must refuse to play against Israeli teams \u2026 it\u2019s time for everyone to get off the sidelines.\u201d When Cantona asked the audience if they agreed that Israelis should be boycotted from all soccer matches, they replied in unison, \u201cYes!\u201d<\/p>\n Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, said, \u201cPalestinians continue to suffer while our governments turn a blind eye, or worse \u2013 they are complicit. They trade weapons. They host Israeli officials.\u201d Both Pugh and Coughlan criticized<\/a> their colleagues in Hollywood for staying silent about \u201cgrave violations of human rights in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSilence in the face of such suffering is not neutrality. It is complicity. And empathy should not be this hard and it should have never been this hard,\u201d said Pugh. She also applauded Nia\u2019s Barghouti\u2019s performance at the concert in an Instagram story. In the caption of the post, she told Barghouti that \u201c[you] sang so beautifully and so powerfully considering the weight and meaning of this evening. I was blown away by your strength.\u201d<\/p>\n Others who made an appearance at the event included actress Jameela Jamil, \u201cLove Island\u201d host Laura Whitmore, and the \u201cChicken Shop Date\u201d YouTuber Amelia Dimoldenberg.<\/p>\n \u201cTogether For Palestine\u201d said all ticket proceeds from the benefit concert will be given to Palestinian-led organizations on the ground in Gaza, through Choose Love, a British charity that supports humanitarian workers in conflict zones. The groups that will benefit from Wednesday\u2019s concert include Taawon, which runs orphan care programs in Gaza, the Palestine Children\u2019s Relief Fund, and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society.<\/p>\n Israel has long expressed concern that Hamas steals much of the humanitarian aid that is sent into Gaza for its own terrorist operations and to sell to Palestinian civilians at inflated prices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n