Welsh singer Charlotte Church on Sunday defended her use of the phrase "from the river to the sea Palestine will be free" following criticism of its use in lyrics by her Sing for Palestine Choir in February.
Church said in a statement that she was not an antisemite, and the phrase was not a call for the ethnic cleansing or genocide of Israelis but a call for liberation for Palestinians.
"A call for one group’s liberation does not imply another’s destruction, and those suggesting that it does when it is, in fact, that first group who are currently being murdered in their thousands are leveraging a grotesque irony. I will not have my rhetoric around resistance and solidarity redefined by those who most violently oppose my democratic engagement," said Church. "'From the river to the sea' is a call for Palestinians to live with equal rights and to end the illegal apartheid system they have been living under. It is widely accepted all over the world that no group of people should have supremacy over another, so why is it called 'genocidal' when this is demanded by and on the behalf of Palestinians?"
Church: 'It is difficult to know the full truth' regarding October 7
Church said that she condemned the October 7 attacks as there were undoubtedly war crimes committed, although "it is difficult to know the full truth of what happened that day, and hopefully, with the fullness of time, we will have a better perspective on this."
The singer said that nothing that occured on October 7 justified "the horrors that have been inflicted upon the Palestinian people since that day" and called for an immediate ceasefire.
Church also called for a ceasefire at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign in London on Saturday. She accused Israel of the "ceaseless and merciless slaughter of children of Gaza."
The Sing for Palestine Choir and Church were blasted for the use of the "the river to the sea” phrase at the February 24 event at Bedwas Workmen’s Hall, raising funds for Gaza hospitals.
Campaign Against Antisemitism said on February 27 that “The genocidal chant ‘From the River to the Sea’ refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state – and its replacement with a Palestinian state. It is a call for the annihilation of half the world’s Jews who live in Israel.”