Bono: 'Hamas, release the hostages, stop the war. Israel, be released from Netanyahu'

As U2 receives award, frontman praises aid workers as ‘the best of us,’ calls for ‘Israel to be released from far-right fundamentalists that twist your sacred texts’

U2 frontman Bono called on Thursday for Israel to be “released” from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, as well as for the release of the hostages and an end to the war in Gaza, as he accepted an award in London.

The rock star and activist, speaking at the Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting, made the comments to introduce a performance of “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” the Irish band’s 1983 anthem inspired by the violence of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

“I used to introduce this next song by saying it was not a rebel song,” he said as the band was honored, according to the NME. “It was, because believing in the possibilities of peace was then, and is now, a rebellious act.”

“Peace creates possibilities in the most intractable situations,” Bono continued. “Lord knows, there’s a few of them out there right now.”

“Hamas release the hostages. Stop the war. Israel, be released from Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right fundamentalists that twist your sacred texts,” he said.

“All of you protect our aid workers, they are the best of us,” he added. “God, you must be so tired of us, children of Abraham, in the rubble of our certainties. Children in the rubble of our revenge. God forgive us.”

Extracto del speech de Bono hablando de Hamas e Israel para acabar tocando ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ en los Ivor Novello Awards 2025 con #U2 incluyendo a Larry Mullen Jr#U2 #TheIvors
Vía Miguel d’Oliveira pic.twitter.com/QlLH3rVg02

— U2Valencia (@U2Valencia) May 23, 2025

On October 8, 2023 — two nights after the Hamas terror group’s October 7 invasion of southern Israel, when thousands of terrorists killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, starting the war, Bono paid tribute to the young Israelis murdered at the Nova music festival the previous day.

At a show at the Las Vegas Sphere, Bono dedicated the song “Pride” to “those beautiful kids at that music festival,” speaking and singing about the hundreds of dead, missing and captured participants.