Watch: Stars at Gaza aid concert accuse Israel of genocide

Left-wing singers including Paul Weller and Paloma Faith have accused Israel of committing “genocide”.

They made the accusations at the £28-a-ticket Gig for Gaza at the O2 Academy in Brixton, south London, on Friday.

The event was billed by its organiser Weller, the former frontman of The Jam, as raising “funds and support for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza”. It was set up to raise money for two charities, Medical Aid for Palestinians and Gaza Forever.

But an audience member said it had turned into “a political rally”, accusing the singers of “one-sided propaganda” against Israel.

Weller, Faith and Kneecap, an Irish hip-hop trio, separately told the crowd that Israel had committed genocide in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

In a video seen by The Telegraph, Faith told the crowd: “History is happening now, and one day I hope people look back and see what the massive major f--- up this is. So thank you all for being here and being part of the right side of history. Free Palestine!”

Weller said: “We cannot let genocide become a legit thing in the 21st century – it’s mental, it’s f---ing mental.”

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has rejected the allegation of genocide as an anti-Semitic “blood libel”.

It is contesting the case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice and has described it as “wholly unfounded” and based on “biased and false claims”.

Later in the gig, Bobby Gillespie, the frontman of 1980s rock band Primal Scream, used the phrase “From the river to the sea”, part of a chant which Jewish groups see as a call to eradicate the state of Israel.

The video shows him asking the crowd: “Do you want to see Palestine free from the river to the sea?” He appeared to show support for Hamas, the terrorist organisation, when he said: “Free Palestine. Free Palestine. Up the resistance.”

Lowkey, a rapper who has previously described Israel as “a racist endeavour”, also led the crowd in chanting: “Free, free Palestine.”

Keffiyeh-wearing members of the crowd, which was mainly white and non-Muslim, waved Palestinian flags during the gig, with some shouting: “F--- Israel and f--- the USA.”

In a speech at the gig, Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, told the crowd Israel was a “colonial” state with “apartheid rule”.

He said Israel was “our land”, in an apparent reference to the Palestinian people, before adding: “We belong there.” Jewish people have lived in the land of Israel for at least 4,000 years.

One member of the audience said she had not expected the “one-sided propaganda lecture”, adding: “I came to assist people affected by the war and to fund aid to help them, but it just turned into a political rally with a ‘Free Palestine’ message.

“The words ‘peace’, ‘living side-by-side’ and ‘two-state solution’ were never mentioned by any speaker or artist.

“I really like Paloma Faith and bought my tickets hoping to hear some of her songs, and didn’t mind the money going to humanitarian aid, but she played just three songs.

“It was good to hear information about the charities’ work and calls for donations, but it could have been done without a one-sided propaganda lecture.”

A spokesman for Kneecap said: “The whole world knows a genocide is being committed, as was confirmed by Amnesty International just last week. Anti-genocide is never anti-Semitic, and it’s preposterous to imply otherwise.”

A spokesman for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is revealing that organisers felt the need to make this a propaganda fest in order to raise funds for Gaza. That may actually be what activists primarily want from events like these.

“One cannot but wonder how much of all this campaigning is really about the suffering of innocents in war as opposed to just another opportunity to bash the world’s only Jewish state, delegitimise its existence and call for its elimination.”

Representatives for Weller, Faith and Gillespie were approached for comment. The O2 Academy Brixton was also approached for comment.