Eric Clapton claims “Israel is running the world”
Eric Clapton, who has been outspoken in recent months amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, has now said “Israel is running the world”.
Since the Hamas attack on October 7th, 2023, which killed 1,200 people at an Israeli music festival and over 100 hostages were also taken, the longstanding war in the Middle East has escalated. Over the last seven months, more than 35,000 Palestinian’s have been killed, over two million people have been displaced from their homes and recently, on May 26th, dozens were murdered following an attack on the Rafah refugee camp.
During his ongoing tour, Clapton has been performing with a guitar coloured in the Palestinian flag as an expression of solidarity amid the conflict. Last year, he also released the track, ‘Voice of a Child’, which was accompanied by a video that showed Gaza in ruins.
In a new interview with The Real Music Observer, the guitarist championed the student protests calling for a ceasefire in America, most notably at Columbia University, which has also been accused of stoking antisemitism.
Clapton said his children have become vocal on the situation, not because of him, but due to the power of “peer pressure, noting, “Two of my girls are in university, and it’s in their face, ‘Do you know what’s going on?’ So they’re active and I was so enthused by what was going on in Columbia and everywhere.”
In response to the recent protests at Columbia, an investigation into the matter was carried out by the House Committee on Education, which bemused Clapton, who continued, “And then I saw, what I couldn’t believe, because it freaked me out, were the Senate hearings, which were like the Nuremberg trials, you know?”
He added: “The Senate committee would be asking pointed questions to presidents of universities, saying, ‘I just want to hear yes or no. Don’t talk to me about context. Yes or no, are you promoting antisemitism in your college? Yes or no.’ And I thought, what is this, the Spanish Inquisition?”
Clapton then alleged it was the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who were behind the investigation, claiming, “It’s AIPAC, it’s the lobby. Israel is running the show. Israel is running the world.”
In the same interview, Clapton expressed support for Roger Waters, who had a show cancelled in 2023 over allegations of antisemitism, saying, “I love Roger. I love him. We are brothers and he goes his way about it, and it takes a lot of guts, and he suffers from it terribly. I’ve seen him sit on the window ledge in tears and say ‘It’s morning here in Manhattan and I’m in tears again’.”
Furthermore, Clapton also claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin “always tells you what he intends to do, and he tells the truth. So he gives you plenty of warning.”
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