John Legend: US must hold Israel to a higher standard when it comes to the treatment of Palestinians
Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Singer John Legend has not been quiet about his support of the Palestinian people. Once again, this week, he advocated for the rights of the Palestinian people saying that the US must hold Israel to a “higher standard” when it comes to the treatment of Palestinians under its occupation.
In a TV interview with Mehdi Hasan for MSNBC, Legend said he “had to say something” about the plight of Palestinians because “it’s not fair”.
“We should hold [Israel] to a higher standard. What they’re doing with the Palestinian people is not fair and it shouldn’t be done in our name, with [US] resources contributing,” said the Grammy Award-winning singer.
“When I see what’s happening in Palestine… where they are clearly not being able to experience the full rights that they deserve, it’s an extremely unfair and difficult life,” said Legend.
The singer, who is of African American, European, and Native American heritage, explained that his views on Palestine come from reading the works of civil rights icon Martin Luther King and American writer and activist James Baldwin.
They “taught me what justice meant, what love meant… what equality meant”, he added.
Legend had previously shown solidarity with the Palestinian people on several occasions. Last year in a live podcast recording with online news platform The Intercept, the artist and co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network said: “”There should not be a whole group of people in a county, because of their nationality or religion, being held in open-air prisons, denied freedom of movement and having their land annexed by settlers … that’s just a human position”, referring to people in Gaza.
In May 2021, when Gaza was bombed by Israeli forces resulting in the death of around 256 Palestinians, Legend also spoke out in support of Palestinians.
He tweeted “Palestine Lives Matter”, quoting a long thread about how the rights of Palestinians should not be ignored and at the moment they were treated as “third-class citizens”.
