We Were At Together for Palestine at Wembley: Art, Activists and Actors through to Sports, Journalism and Doctors Unite.

OVO Arena Wembley — 17 September 2025. We came as listeners. We stood as TJPL.

The first thing that hit us at Wembley wasn’t bass or strobes. It was weight. A 12,500-strong crowd filing in with purpose — not escapism — to centre Palestinian voices and turn grief into action. The programme was shaped with intent by Palestinian artist Malak Mattar (artistic director), with Brian Eno among the organisers. It refused the anaesthetic of neutrality and kept Palestinian artistry at the core.

Together For Palestine Wembley Arena 17th September 2025

The Room: A Stage Dressed in Memory

Mattar’s curation brought Gaza’s visual language into the arena — paintings and imagery turning the stage into a living archive.

Richard Gere stepped up.

“Of course, Netanyahu has to go. All the enablers have to go, also… There’s one man who could stop this in one day… my president Trump.”

Mehdi Hasan: A Media Reckoning, Not a Soundbite

Mehdi Hasan delivered the night’s clearest indictment of media silence and the killing of journalists in Gaza:

“They were killed as part of Israel’s deliberate campaign to blind the world, to erase all evidence of their crimes… To the genociders, there is nothing more dangerous than a camera lens or a microphone.”

Francesca Albanese: Naming Complicity, Earning a Standing Ovation

The first full standing ovation of the night went to Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory. She named complicity where it sits and urged governments to stop looking away. In the stands, we felt the collective exhale when someone finally said the quiet part out loud.

Against the Comfort of Neutrality: Florence Pugh & Benedict Cumberbatch

Florence Pugh pushed the room beyond polite empathy — “Silence is complicity.” Benedict Cumberbatch, with Amer Hlehel, read Mahmoud Darwish, turning poetry into pressure. These weren’t celebrity cameos; they were interventions where language became duty.

Palestinian Voices Led the Weather

The emotional weather of the night was set by Palestinian artists:

• Nai Barghouti: devastated and devastating, a tribute carried with surgical control.

• Faraj Suleiman: piano turning Wembley intimate; grief built into melodic architecture.

• Adnan Joubran & El Far3i: lineage, urgency, living culture.

• Elyanna & Saint Levant: Arabic pop magnetism as testimony — contemporary and rooted.

One of the most hard hitting moments of the night for me came from Yara Eid. A Palestinian journalist who spoke about being in London at the time of family members being killed. She told us about being unable to believe that they were no longer there and about how she may only realise upon being able to return to her family home. She spoke from her soul about the loss of her fellow journalist and who she describes as her soulmate: Ibrahim Lafi, one of 270 journalists, friends and family that she has lost. The loss raw and unfiltered was held together by her strength and determination to stand up and talk to the world about what is happening in Gaza. Yara Eid informed us all that Ibrahim Lafi had been struck by Israeli missiles.  It has been reported that he was wearing his vest and helmet labeled “Press.” and that he was not caught in clashes between Palestinian fighters and Israeli soldiers rather, he was targeted by heavy bombardment, when two missiles fell on the street he was in at the Erez border crossing. For many of us if not the majority, the pain would be too much to bear. Yara Eid is one a pure example of what it means for Palestinians to talk their truth, not after, but during their grief. That is a level of resilience that makes change. That is a pain that penetrates the human soul. It’s not a rehearsed statement, it’s a real life nightmare shared in the hope of light no matter how far away that may feel.

UK Artists as Amplifiers

From Damon Albarn and James Blake to Bastille, Sampha, King Krule, and more, British names widened the signal without seizing the centre. The spotlight held on Palestinian voices; UK artists lent reach and resource.

What Was Raised — and Why That Isn’t the Whole Story

During the fundraiser, organisers confirmed £1.5 million raised via ticketing, merch and donations for Palestinian-led partners through Choose Love. A crucial number — logistics save lives — but the cultural permission that shifted under the lights may ripple further and longer.

When Sarsak Stepped Up

There was a moment that grounded everything in a lineage of struggle when Mahmoud Sarsak, the ex-Palestinian national player who was once dentained for three years in an Israeli prison, led the introduction for Eric Cantona. Sarsak’s presence carried history — sport, sacrifice, activism converging. His voice opened the floor not just for Cantona, but for the memory of Suleiman Al-Obeid, the “Palestinian Pelé,” killed while waiting for humanitarian aid. That introduction made it clear: this wasn’t a celebrity handoff. It was a peer, someone who knows the terrain and demands that the rest of us pay attention.

Eric Cantona: Calling Out Football’s Double Standards

The former Manchester United legend came on stage with the same uncompromising presence he carried on the pitch. He turned his focus not to music, but to football’s institutions — and their silence.

Cantona demanded that FIFA and UEFA suspend Israel, drawing a sharp comparison with how quickly Russian teams were banned following the invasion of Ukraine. His message was clear: double standards in sport mirror double standards in politics.

It was blunt, it was uncomfortable, and it landed. Many in the crowd cheered; others sat in thought.

Why We Were There (and Why We Will Keep Showing Up

As TJPL Media Network, our compass is simple: truth with compassion. Last night sharpened it.

1. Centre the directly affected. Without Palestinian artists, journalists and families, “solidarity” risks theatre. This show refused that risk.

   
   

2. Name power precisely. From Hasan’s accounting of murdered journalists to Albanese’s charge — and Gere’s provocation — the night chose specificity over platitudes.

   
   

3. Let art do its double work. Song as solace and summons; poetry as archive and alarm; visuals as memory and mandate.

   
   

When the houselights rose, the crowd lingered: Music can’t de-arm a jet, but it can keep a story alive — loud enough that policy has to hear it. That’s why we came as listeners, and left as couriers.

Some of those Who Spoke, and Who Sang

Speakers: Francesca Albanese; Mehdi Hasan; Richard Gere; Florence Pugh; Benedict Cumberbatch (with Amer Hlehel).

Artists: Nai Barghouti; Faraj Suleiman; Adnan Joubran; El Far3i; Elyanna; Saint Levant; Neneh Cherry; Damon Albarn; James Blake; Bastille; Sampha; King Krule; more.

If You Want to Act

Support the beneficiaries: event partners channelled funds via Choose Love to Palestinian-led organisations; merch and donations remain live following the show.

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