US rapper Macklemore releases pro-Palestinian track 'Hind's Hall' inspired by US college protests

US rapper Macklemore has released a new song in support of war-hit Gaza, inspired by the US pro-Palestinian protests that have swept college campuses across the country in recent weeks.

The song, entitled ‘Hind’s Hall’, pays tribute to Hind Rajab, a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by the Israeli military in Gaza City while trapped in her family’s car in late January.

The six-year-old’s killing sparked global outrage, as little Hind made a distress call saying she was trapped for days surrounded by dead bodies in her family's car, before being killed by the Israeli army. 

The Euro-Med Monitor concluded that the Palestinian girl and her family were killed in a planned and deliberate Israeli execution, using US-made missiles.

The US rapper, who made a splash on the music scene in 2013 with the hit song 'Thrift Shop', pledged that all money made from the song’s sales would be donated to the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.

The song’s title is a reference to the barricaded building of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, which has been renamed Hind's Hall in honour of the slain Palestinian girl. 

The song’s lyrics address US complicity in Israel’s military campaign, police brutality against pro-Palestinian student protesters, and social media censorship of pro-Palestinian content.

"The blood is on your hands, Biden we can see it all," he raps, while stressing that he will not be voting for the current US President in the upcoming presidential elections.

 

 

 

 

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The Seattle-born rapper also called out the often-deliberate conflation between antisemitism and opposition to Israel's policies, where individuals criticising Israel – particularly its military campaign in Gaza and violence against the Palestinian people – are accused of antisemitism.

Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Haggarty, calls for Palestinian freedom multiple times throughout the song. He labels Israel’s atrocities as genocide and made mention of the looming ground offensive in Rafah, where over 1.4 million Palestinians are seeking refuge.

"History has been repeating for the last seventy-five. The Nakba never ended, the coloniser lied," he raps in the song.

In a post shared on social media, the Grammy-winning rapper showcases clips of pro-Palestine protests along with images of the devastation in Gaza.

Macklemore also called out the music industry’s silence on the war in Gaza, and its focus on relatively trivial matters, such as the ongoing feud between high-profile rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar.

The rapper is one of the few high-profile US musicians to publicly stand in solidarity with Gaza since the outbreak of the war, where at least 34,789 Palestinians have been killed.

In October last year, he signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire and an end to Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip. He also accused Israel of committing genocide at a pro-Palestine rally in Washington D.C, in November.

The song also samples the tune from 'Ana La Habibi' by the iconic Lebanese singer, Fairouz, and quotes the main lyrics of 'F**k the Police' by N.W.A.

The song has been well received by pro-Palestinian activists on social media, with many praising him for "shouting a truth this industry does not tolerate even as a whisper".