Police checked on Charlotte Church’s safety after she took part in pro-Palestine event

Charlotte Church has said the police have had to check on her because her safety and that of her family has been threatened by “some pretty scary people” since she took part in a pro-Palestine event.

The singer subsequently faced accusations of antisemitism.

The 38-year-old said she “is not, has never been, and will never be an antisemite”, adding: “I hold the Jewish people in my life very dearly, and have always kept great reverence for Judaism and Jewish culture, since travelling around Israel and Palestine as a teenager.

Protesters

On Saturday the Welsh star marched alongside thousands of protesters in central London calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) organised the protest, following Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7 in which about 1,200 people were killed and more than 240 kidnapped before Israel retaliated with months of attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding thousands.

In late February, at a Sing For Palestine fundraising event in Bedwas Workmen’s Hall, Church led a rendition of From The River To The Sea, which the Campaign Against Antisemitism called a “genocidal chant”.

In a statement on her website, she said: “I have been called many things in my time, but not until this week have I received so much imaginative and violent hate. I’ve never before been called “traitor”.

“The threats to my safety have resulted in the police coming round to check in on us.”

‘Scary people’

She added: “My safety and the safety of my family has been threatened by some pretty scary people, emboldened by the rhetoric of frontline politicians, as well as cravenly irresponsible coverage by liberal legacy media outlets.”

Defending her performance of From The River To The Sea at the event to raise money for a new ambulance for Gaza’s Al Awda hospital, she said: “I do not believe that the phrase ‘from the river to the sea’ is in any way a call for the ethnic cleansing or genocide of Israelis, and certainly, when I have used it or heard it used by other people, it has always been as a call for the liberation of Palestine (i.e. the most face-value interpretation).

“Often it is accompanied by the phrase ‘… we are all 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.”

She added: “At this point it becomes necessary for me to state that I do not support Hamas and condemn them for the attack on October 7th.

“Whilst 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 – there were undoubtedly war crimes committed, appalling acts, including the massacre of innocent civilians and hostage-taking.

“My heart goes out to the victims of that attack, the hostages, and their families.

“None of that justifies the horrors that have been inflicted upon the Palestinian people since that day.”

Hatred

The Campaign Against Antisemitism has accused Church of encouraging hatred and called for the Charity Commission to investigate the incident.

The Jewish choir conductor who co-organised the fundraising concert in front of 400 people last month, has rejected allegations that it was in any way antisemitic.

Wendy Lewis, who has conducted Côr Cochion Caerdydd (Cardiff Red Choir) since 1987, said the accusation was “absolute nonsense”.

She said: “It was the most positive life-enhancing event I’ve ever taken part in. The range of people who attended was very broad and included Muslims, Christians, Jews and others who came together to celebrate the ideas of peace and goodwill.

“Our hearts are heavy because of the slaughter of more than 29,500 people in Gaza by the Israeli Defence Forces since the invasion last October.”

She added: “There was a huge amount of energy flowing in the hall, and we had 30, then 50, then 100 people on the stage at once.

“As a Jew myself who has had family members killed in pogroms, I know very well what antisemitism is, and it wasn’t present at all in the workmen’s hall.”