Charlotte Church Reveals Threats Against Family, Slams ‘Irresponsible’ Media Coverage of Her Pro-Palestine Activism
Church specifically named GB News host Nigel Farage and comedian David Baddiel for inflaming conversations around her work.
Welsh singer Charlotte Church said she was visited by police over threats to her safety following her participation in a pro-Palestine ceasefire event and blamed media figures like GB News host Nigel Farage and comedian David Baddiel for inflaming coverage of her activism.
In a statement posted to her website, posted on Sunday, the 38-year-old described participating in national marches for Palestine and experiencing misogynistic harassment, including being labelled an extremist. She wrote that she’d been “continuously dragged in the press and on social media as an antisemite” and revealed that her and her family’s safety had been threatened.
Church wrote: “My attempts to protest the atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank, and the West’s complicity in them, have been ridiculed by powerful men in the media in conversations that I have not been asked to contribute to, including a discussion as to whether or not I should be arrested for my activism, and so I must respond.”
“My safety and the safety of my family has been threatened by some pretty scary people, emboldened by the rhetoric of frontline politicians, as well as cravenly irresponsible coverage by liberal legacy media outlets, including BBC News,” she continued.
Church criticised the way mainstream interviewers, like the BBC’s Nick Robinson, handled the topic of her “charitable work” as “condescending” in a manner that “reeks of misogyny.”
Confronting specific critics, Church hit out at Farage, accusing him of peddling conspiracy theories, and Baddiel, who she said had a “checkered history with racism”, saying each man had taken on the role of “professional opinion monger.”
Accusations that Church was antisemitic first came after footage was released of her leading a song with the lyrics “From The River To The Sea,” at a Sing For Palestine fundraiser in Wales. This chant was described by the Campaign Against Antisemitism as a “genocidal chant” but Church argued that the phrase is a call for Palestinian liberation and equality, not a call for violence or ethnic cleansing against Israelis.
“I am not, and have never been, and will never be an antisemite,” she wrote, going on to express her deep respect for Jewish culture, shaped by her experiences travelling around Israel and Palestine as a teenager.
Despite the criticism and labelling pointed at her, the singer vowed to continue using her voice to advocate for a ceasefire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, despite the labels and criticisms she faces. In conclusion she shared a poem about global peace and solidarity.
