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U2, the Irish band known for its humanitarian work, especially that of lead singer Bono, has finally issued a statement on Gaza, almost two years after the October 7 attacks. That message has fallen flat for fans who are disappointed with how long it took to issue the statement as well as the language in it.

The lengthy statement was posted on the band’s official Instagram on Sunday and featured separate notes from each of the band’s members — Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.

Bono’s message was arguably the most disappointing. The cofounder of the ONE Campaign, which tackles AIDS and extreme poverty in Africa, Bono is one of the most well-known celebrity activists.

“I have generally tried to stay out of the politics of the Middle East… this was not humility, more uncertainty in the face of obvious complexity,” he wrote in his statement.

“On stage in the Nevada desert, I just couldn’t help but express the pain everyone in the room was feeling and is still feeling for other music lovers and fans like us — hiding under a stage in Kibbutz Re’im then butchered to set a diabolical trap for Israel and to get a war going that might just redraw the map from ‘the river to the sea’… a gamble Hamas’ leadership were willing to play with the lives of two million Palestinians… to sow the seeds for a global intifada that U2 had glimpsed at work in Paris during the Bataclan attack in 2015… but only if Israel’s leaders fell for he is trap that Hamas set for them,” he said, falling back on the oft-repeated criticism of the “from the river to the sea” slogan that is often used when referring to the fight for Palestinian freedom.

Bono went on to describe Israel’s retaliatory attacks, saying that though he felt “as nauseous as everyone”, he “reminded myself Hamas had deliberately positioned themselves under civilian targets, having tunnelled their way from school to mosque to hospital”. His words echoed Israel’s claims of “tunnels” beneath civilian structures in the Gaza strip, claims they’ve used to destroy this vital infrastructure without any repentance. The destruction of hospitals and medical facilities during armed conflicts is considered a war crime.

The singer said he made excuses for Israel, whom he described as a “people seared and shaped by the experience of the Holocaust”, hoping the country would “return to reason”. “But I also understood that Hamas are not the Palestinian people… a people who have for decades endured and continue to endure marginalisation, oppression, occupation and the systematic stealing of land that is rightfully theirs. Given our own historic experience of oppression and occupation, it’s little wonder so many here in Ireland have campaigned for decades for justice for the Palestinian people.”

He claimed Hamas was “using starvation as a weapon in the war, but now so too is Israel,” adding that he feels revulsion for the moral failure. Separating the nation of Israel from its government, he pointed fingers at premier Benjamin Netanyahu and those in power, saying they deserved “our categorical and unequivocal condemnation”.

“There is no justification for the brutality he and his far right government have inflicted on the Palestinian people… in Gaza… in the West Bank. And not just since October 7, well before it too… though the level of depravity and lawlessness we are seeing now feels like uncharted territory.”

Bono slammed the “far, far right thinking”, saying the world deserved to know where the “once promising bright-minded democratic nation” of Israel was heading unless there was a dramatic change of course.

“As someone who has long believed in Israel’s right to exist and supported a two-state solution, I want to make clear to anyone who cares to listen our band’s condemnation of Netanyahu’s immoral actions and join all who have called for a cessation of hostilities on both sides.”

He made an appeal to the “good people in Israel to demand unfettered access by professionals to deliver the critical care needed throughout Gaza and the West Bank that they best know how to district and to let the correct number of trucks through”.

He also the band is pledged to contribute our support by donating to Medical Aid for Palestinians.

In the subsequent messages by the other members that were far less detailed than Bono’s, they too attempted to engage the conscience of the people of Israel, but laid the blame solely at the feet of Netanyahu.

The Edge posed three questions to Netanyahu. The first was whether “such devastation — inflicted to intentionally and relentlessly on a civilian population — can happen without heaping generational shame upon those responsible”. The second was how the removal of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank could to make way for a “Greater Israel” —  which he described as “dispossession… ethnic cleansing, and according to many legal scholars, colonial genocide” — could make their people safer.

His third question was what Netanyahu’s political vision was if he rejected a two-state solution. “If this apartheid state transpires, don’t you destroy the very argument for Israel’s existence as a moral response to the horrors of the Holocaust? For if Israel comes to be seen as a state that systematically denies another people their rights, then the world will inevitably ask whether the only just and sustainable future, the only tolerable future, is a shared — one where Jews and Palestinians live together as equals under the law”.

Clayton’s statement read, “The humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s aid blockade and bombing looks like revenge on a civilian population who are not responsible for Hamas’ murderous attack on October 7”.

In his statement, Mullen asked what Hamas expected would happen when they committed “mass murder and took the hostages”. “Israel’s response was expected. After those attacks, the total obliteration of Hamas was called for by Israel and its allies and was expected. A ground war was expected. Aerial bombardment and destruction were expected,” he said.

“The indiscriminate decimation of most homes and hospitals in Gaza, with a majority of those killed being women and children, was not expected. Imposing famine was not expected.”

He said it is “difficult to comprehend how any civilised society can think starving children is going to further any cause and be justified as an acceptable response to another horror. To state the obvious, starving innocent civilians as a weapon of war is inhumane and criminal”.

He asked where the outrage over these actions was, both within Israel and in the diaspora. Reaffirming his belief in Israel’s right to exist as well as Palestinians’ right to the same, he said, Silence serves none of us“.

The comment section of the post was not forgiving. From calling them out for posting after almost two years of destruction and death, to criticising how Bono mentioned October 7 far more than any of the atrocities committed by Israel, many people were angry and let down by a band known for its activism.

“Dear Bono, these words reek of delay and convenience. You’ve lost face, your credibility and you pretend what happened isn’t the result of years and years of violence and colonialism. How dare you? Who are you really? Certainly not the man we loved. As an Irishman, look who deserves respect and admiration right now: Kneecap and Fontaines, DC. U2 are dead and you’ve killed the hearts of your fans,” wrote one fan.

Others highlighted how disappointing it was to see how he “both sided it”. Many said The Edge seemed to have been the only one who educated himself on the situation.

“Very disappointing, especially given Ireland’s own history,” wrote one user. “Perpetuating the propaganda of the oppressor that this started on October 7 is like saying that Ireland’s struggle against Britain started in the 90s. Just pick up history books, and consider the story of a people, which intertwines with the Irish people (given the British in Palestine)…I mean there is a reason why Ireland is almost entirely in solidarity with Palestine.”

Many brought up the activism of Kneecap and Fontaines DC, two Irish groups that have been penalised for speaking up for Palestine but have remained vocal. They aren’t the only Irish celebrities speaking up for Palestine — Nicola Coughlan, the Bridgerton star, has been staunch in her support, launching fundraisers, advocating for Palestinians and calling out her government for its support of Israel. All around the world, celebrities have been using their platforms to speak up for Palestine, and to see this statement from U2, a band from whom people had high expectations, is quite disappointing.