Dave Matthews Says Support For Palestine Is Being Misrepresented As Anti-Semitism

Dave Matthews has addressed criticism surrounding his pro Palestinian stance, saying his comments have been misrepresented.

In 2024, Matthews joined a large scale demonstration opposing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s appearance before the United States Congress. Speaking at the time, he described the visit as “obscene” and called it a “disgusting show of support for someone that doesn’t deserve our support”.

More recently, he appeared at the Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek, where he delivered a prepared statement to the audience.

On Friday (June 5), during a show in Raleigh, Matthews read a written message clarifying his position and emphasising that his views should “by no means be twisted into anyone thinking that I am bigoted or anti-Semitic in any way at all”.

Although he said he strongly disagreed with the actions of both Israel and the United States regarding civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, Matthews also explained that he has “a deep respect and love — for all my life that I can remember — and admiration for the culture and history of the Jewish people.”

Matthews went on to say that he believed few groups had contributed more to humanity’s progress and understanding of one another. He cited notable figures such as Albert Einstein, George Gershwin, Hannah Arendt, Howard Zinn, and Anne Frank as examples.

“I hold the Jewish people in the highest regard and it breaks my heart that my opinions borne out of deep commitment to nonviolent resolution and resistance can be twisted into serve any hateful, racist, or bigoted ideas,” he continued.

The subject has also been raised by Kneecap, who have consistently voiced support for Palestine. Speaking with NME ahead of the release of their new album ‘Fenian’ last month, Mo Chara said they recognised that “religious divide serves absolutely nobody”.

“Anti-Semitism is a real issue, and it’s growing at the moment,” he added. “It’s something that genuinely needs to be talked about and needs to be tackled, but what happens is when you have the Zionist lobby labelling bands and actors as anti-Semitic just because they speak out against Israel, you’re starting to water down that term. We need to be talking about that term a lot more because it’s on the rise all over the world.

Likewise, Matthews said in his statement that being labelled anti Semitic “breaks my heart, and I am so sorry for any misunderstanding or pain I might’ve caused but my intention is to help bring an end to the seemingly endless violence in the world.”

He also reflected on the events of October 7, admitting he debated whether to bring it up before deciding it was important to do so. “On October 7th two and a half years ago, I was attending my dearest friend’s son’s bar mitzvah. It was a beautiful day of witnessing and respect and love for this young man,” he said.

“And it was interrupted by the horror and the violence on the other side of the world. An ongoing horror. But the violence borne out of that day against the Palestinian people is no less horrific and multiplies the death and the suffering over and over and over. I will never stop calling for an end to the violence in Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon and for that matter, the Congo, and Sudan, and Ukraine.”

“Or the horrific violence against immigrants and their neighbours in our country. I am opposed to violence from any government to any people and against children most of all. Because all children are our children. Every one. But my deepest fear is that we are becoming numb to it. Let’s not do that. Let’s work as long as we can to make a better world for our children.”

Last September, the United Nations concluded that Israel had committed genocide. At the time, Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission, stated that it was “clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”

“The responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies with Israeli authorities at the highest echelons who have orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years now with the specific intent to destroy the Palestinian group in Gaza,” Pillay said. “The Commission also finds that Israel has failed to prevent and punish the commission of genocide, through failure to investigate genocidal acts and to prosecute alleged perpetrators.”

Israel has consistently denied allegations of genocide and rejects claims that it has committed war crimes. The country maintains that its military actions are legitimate measures of self defence following the Hamas attack on Israeli citizens at the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023, which resulted in more than 1,100 deaths and approximately 250 hostages being taken.