United Musicians In England Call For Ceasefire In The Middle East

Illustration (Photo: Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The United Musicians (Musician Union) in Britain discussed the Israeli and Palestinian conflicts in a statement calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

The union executive committee also agreed to donate to the Red Cross to support humanitarian goals in Israel and Palestine and will also provide money to West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, who educates young Israeli and Palestinian musicians.

According to MU, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra saw its members being directly affected by the conflict

"The purpose of this orchestra is to unite individuals affected by war through music. In an increasingly polarized world, the ability to listen and understand the suffering of others is becoming increasingly important," said MU in a statement quoted via NME.

When explaining his plans to donate to the two charities, they added: We call for an end to war and violence, before further discussing his support for the ceasefire: We support the call of TUC and the United Nations to immediately carry out a humanitarian ceasefire in the Middle East and strongly urge the international community to make every effort to ensure that international law is enforced and all civilians are protected.

At MU, we realize that there are members who are directly and indirectly affected by events in the Middle East. We condemn the increasing hatred that we know is happening in this country and the discrimination, harassment, and cancellation of jobs faced by members as a result.

Antisemitism and Islamophobia behavior is never acceptable. Harassment directed at the Jewish and Islamic community in Britain, which in some cases disguises as solidarity, is very disgusting.

Meanwhile, artists gathered to sign an open letter voicing their support for the ceasefire. More than 4000 artists including Pulp, Lucy Dacus, Sleater-Kinney and many more gathered under the collective Musician for Palestine to demand a ceasefire last month.

Sam Fender, The Libertines, Fontaines DC and many more also signed an open letter #MusicForACeasefire in connection with The Peace and Justice Project founded by Jeremy Corbyn in early November.

According to Al-Jazeera, 20.301 Palestinians and 1.139 Israelis have been killed since October 7.