Too many online have claimed I’ve been silent on Gaza. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It’s not my habit to reply publicly to online remarks, but I want to speak clearly in response to these false claims. Those of you who have not followed my career may not know of my early songs ‘Forever Palestine’ and ‘Try Not to Cry’. My heart has always been with the Palestinian people and I have shown it in ways hidden and overt over the years. In my art, my prayers, and my humanitarian work such as with the World Food Programme, their struggle has never been far from my thoughts. Even when the world’s attention drifted elsewhere, my own never did.

During the recent war, especially on X, almost daily I posted and re-posted everything that I could that might possibly help to wake up the oppressors and the indifferent to the suffering in Gaza and the need to stop it.

My concert in Istanbul in August 2025 was dedicated to the people of Gaza. In October 2025 I gave a concert in Amman where I performed a work that I had composed that set to music words by the beloved Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, ‘We Love Life’. Although I don’t like to call attention to my private donations, given the circumstances I am addressing here I will point out that a portion of the proceeds of both events were donated to relief efforts in Gaza.

With a platform that reaches millions, I know I have a responsibility to speak out on this pivotal issue of our time, even though at times the horror and tragedy has left me speechless and truly broken hearted. I have questioned whether adding my voice to the global outcry would have any effect whatsoever, and yet I could not remain silent. I had to give voice to those who had none.

To those who say I have said or done nothing about Gaza, you are simply wrong. I have.

In the end, I am a musician, not a politician, not a person with power to work in a direct way to change outcomes on the ground. My way is to show the world through music the meeting places of the spirit, to show the beauty that lies at the heart of the world’s traditions, and to show that the recognition of our self in the other – through that shared beauty and spirit – can lead us toward a place of peace.