Richard Gere called out President Donald Trump at the Together for Palestine concert in London to a chorus of boos.
The Pretty Woman actor, 76, spoke on stage at the star-studded benefit gig at Wembley stadium to raise vital funds and awareness for those affected in Gaza, as the siege approaches its second anniversary.
He blasted “enablers” of the genocide in Gaza and declared that Trump could “stop the craziness” in “one day” - a statement that prompted people at the sold-out arena to erupt into boos.
“Of course, Netanyahu has to go. All the enablers have to go, also,” Gere said.
“There’s one man who could stop this thing in one day. He says he can stop wars in one day, my president Trump.
“In one day he could stop all this craziness. Netanyahu needs the US, needs Trump so badly. One day, if he wants a Nobel Peace prize this is the way to get it.”
Gere added: “This caravan we’re all in together, is one of responsibility.”
The Together For Palestine Fund will channel every penny raised to Choose Love, which will distribute the money to groups including Taawon, the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and the Palestine Medical Relief Service.
Singer Paloma Faith, who has spoken at several peace protests over the past year, was also at the concert.
She performed a song she wrote a few months ago about her experience of going to a pro-Palestine march with her young daughter.
Speaking to The Standard before the gig, the 44-year-old said she felt compelled to act after witnessing harrowing footage from Gaza.
“The moment I saw videos of children the same age as mine with limbs falling off crying for their absent, deceased parents or laying on rubble or other corpses, it was enough for me. Unfortunately that was very early on,” the hitmaker said.
“If I don’t use my platform for good - the betterment of humanity, what use is it? Only financial gain? Simply selfish self serving endeavors? No, I don’t stand for that.”
PinkPantheress also performed at Together For Palestine and said: “We have a responsibility to use our platforms.
“Neutrality or silence could not be an option. Use your voice, and when your voice goes hoarse, wave your flag and wear your keffiyeh.”
Florence Pugh made a brief statement onstage, telling the crowd: “Silence in the face of such suffering is not neutrality, it’s complicity.”
Other stars who supported the night by speaking onstage or performing included Louis Theroux, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Jamie xx, Jameela Jamil, King Krule, Sampha, Greentea Peng, James Blake, Sampha, Bastille, Portishead, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
On Tuesday, a United Nations report concluded that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The UN commission of inquiry found that there are reasonable grounds to find that the state has engaged in four of the five genocidal acts as defined under international law since the beginning of its war with Hamas in 2023.
These are: killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy the group and preventing births.
Israeli leaders have also shown a clear evidence of genocidal intent through their statements on Gaza and the actions of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), the report said.
Israel has denied the report’s claims, calling it “scandalous” and a “libellous rant”.
