Macklemores latest political stunt has taken the form of a $1 million pledge to a slate of controversial Palestinian organizations, including a group that backs the scandal-plagued UN agency whose staffers have been accused of direct involvement in Hamas Oct.
7 atrocities.
According to The Post Millennial, the Seattle-based rapper announced Wednesday that he will donate his entire net earnings from Ed Sheerans "Loop Tour" to six organizations operating in Palestinian territories and among Palestinian populations. The beneficiaries are the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), HEAL Palestine, Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), the UNRWA USA National Committee, and American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), several of which have been criticized for alleged ties to Hamas or other designated terrorist entities.
"I will be donating the entire $1 million of my net earnings from Ed Sheerans Loop Tour to six organizations working directly to support the Palestinian people," Macklemore wrote on Instagram, adding, "And I invite Robert Kraft to match my donation. Whatever we disagree about, perhaps we can agree on this: Palestinian lives are worth protecting. A Palestinian life is no less valuable than any other life on this earth."
At the center of the controversy is Macklemores decision to route part of his money through the UNRWA USA National Committee, which raises funds for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. UNRWA has been under intense scrutiny since US investigators identified current and former employees accused of taking part in the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, kidnapping civilians, holding hostages, and serving as Hamas commanders and operatives.
In June, the US Agency for International Development's Office of Inspector General (USAID OIG) disclosed that it had referred 101 current or former UNRWA employees to the State Department for potential suspension or debarment. The referrals were based on alleged "participation in the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and/or affiliation with the military wing (al-Qassam Brigades) of Hamas," underscoring the depth of concern within the US government about the agencys internal culture and vetting procedures.
Among those flagged was a UNRWA teacher whom investigators said was a Hamas fighter ordered to transport two anti-tank missiles to a designated location during the Oct. 7 onslaught. A deputy school principal was allegedly serving as a Hamas platoon commander with communications responsibilities that day, while other UNRWA employees referred by investigators were said to have acted as Hamas commanders, intelligence operatives, and even a sniper.
The USAID inspector general followed up in August by announcing proposed debarments for three additional former UNRWA employees. One former teacher and alleged Hamas military operative "engaged in kidnapping operations" during the Oct. 7 attacks, investigators said, while another allegedly received and held civilian hostages, and a former UNRWA social worker and alleged Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative was accused of participating in the kidnapping of a civilian from Kibbutz Be'eri.
Even the United Nations own internal review has not cleared UNRWA of serious wrongdoing. The UN previously examined allegations against 19 UNRWA employees and concluded that in nine cases, the evidence could indicate that the employees participated in the Oct. 7 attacks, leading to their dismissal from the agency.
Despite these findings, UNRWA has insisted it is implementing reforms recommended after the revelations of staff involvement in terrorism. A report released this week by UN Watch, however, challenged UNRWA's claim that it has carried out most of the changes recommended by the independent Colonna Review, with UNRWA asserting it had completed 41 of 50 recommendations while UN Watch concluded that at most 13 were completed as prescribed.
UN Watchs analysis also highlighted a glaring weakness in UNRWAs counterterrorism safeguards. The watchdog found that the agency's principal terrorism-screening mechanism relies on the UN Security Council Consolidated Sanctions List, which notably does not list Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, leaving a major blind spot in efforts to keep extremists off the payroll.
The other organizations slated to receive Macklemores money have not escaped scrutiny either. Earlier this year, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson demanded records from HEAL Palestine and five other nonprofits as part of an investigation into organizations "potentially linked to support of Hamas," while emphasizing that the inquiry itself did not constitute a formal finding against any of the groups.
Investigative reporting has raised additional red flags about HEAL Palestines network and leadership. A Jerusalem Post investigation reported overlap between HEAL Palestine and organizations or individuals it described as having Hamas-linked connections, noting that HEAL founder Steve Sosebee previously founded PCRF, another beneficiary of Macklemore's donation, and that Sosebee had participated in fundraising involving the Holy Land Foundation, which the US government designated in 2001 before federal prosecutors later secured convictions against five of its leaders for providing material support to Hamas.
Medical Aid for Palestinians has also been the subject of concern based on alleged internal Hamas documents captured in Gaza. NGO Monitor reported that a 2022 Hamas Ministry of Interior document described MAP's Gaza "administrative director" as affiliated with Hamas and has pledged allegiance to its rule," raising questions about the organizations independence from the terror group that governs the Strip.
ANERA, another recipient of Macklemores largesse, has faced separate questions about its operations in Gaza. NGO Monitor reported that ANERA appeared to coordinate some humanitarian programs with a Gaza ministry headed by senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad, a relationship that critics argue risks normalizing or indirectly legitimizing a US-designated terrorist organization.
Macklemores announcement did not come in a vacuum; it followed his abrupt removal from the remaining dates of Ed Sheerans tour. While opening for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sept. 4 and 5, he repeatedly called for a "Free Palestine" and performed his anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protest track "Hind's Hall," prompting venue objections that Sheeran later said led the tour promoter to drop the rapper from the lineup.
The rapper has attempted to frame his ouster as the result of pressure from powerful pro-Israel figures. Macklemore accused New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft of helping force him off the tour by opposing his scheduled appearance at Gillette Stadium, a claim that quickly became part of his broader narrative of being silenced for his political views.
Kraft did not deny that he opposed Macklemores performance at the Patriots home field. He confirmed that he objected to the rapper appearing at Gillette, citing what he described as a "broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery" that had been offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community, a concern shared by many who have watched Macklemores rhetoric grow more radical over the past year.
Yet Kraft also revealed that, behind the scenes, he had already been asked to support humanitarian relief in the region at a level far beyond Macklemores public challenge. "I have dedicated much of my life to building bridges between all people. I believe deeply that all lives are worth protecting. Earlier today, before Macklemore challenged me to match his donation, Ed called me and asked me to commit $2 million to match his donation to aid in the region and fight this humanitarian crisis," Kraft said, underscoring a stark contrast between his bridge-building approach and Macklemores incendiary activism.
Macklemores financial support for these organizations is not new; it is part of a pattern of increasingly strident anti-Israel agitation. In September 2024, he headlined the "Palestine Will Live Forever" festival in Seattle, an event that raised money for UNRWA, HEAL Palestine, PCRF and Pious Projects and drew national attention when he told a cheering crowd, "F*ck America."
The choice of venue and timing for that festival added to the outrage. It was held in an amphitheater in the heart of Seattle's largest Jewish community, on the Jewish Sabbath and less than a year after the Oct. 7 massacre, and the event went forward over objections from members of the Jewish community, prompting local Jewish institutions to increase security as activists targeted a nearby Jewish home displaying American and Israeli flags as well as local synagogues.
On stage, Macklemores rhetoric went far beyond criticism of Israeli policy and into open glorification of violent "resistance." He rapped about supporting the "resistance," called Israelis "motherf*ckers" and declared, "There will never be freedom by pleading with Zionists," language that many Jewish observers and conservatives alike saw as a thinly veiled endorsement of armed struggle against the Jewish state.
He also framed the conflict in explicitly ideological and economic terms. Macklemore rapped about "freeing Palestine" from the "all mighty dollar sign," demanded then-Vice President Kamala Harris stop supporting Israel, and accused Israel of a "genocide" that he claimed had been occurring "since 1948," the year of Israels founding, effectively denying the Jewish states right to exist from its inception.
The backlash to his performance and rhetoric was swift and extended into the world of professional sports and entertainment, where he has long enjoyed mainstream success. The Seattle Kraken and Seattle Sounders, in which Macklemore is an investor, publicly stated that his comments did not represent their organizations, while the Seattle Mariners stopped playing his hit "Can't Hold Us" during the seventh-inning stretch, and he was dropped from the Neon City Festival in Las Vegas.
Macklemores latest pledge, therefore, is not simply a charitable gesture but a continuation of a broader political campaign that aligns him with some of the most hardline anti-Israel voices on the global stage. By directing funds toward organizations that have been repeatedly flagged for alleged ties to Hamas and other extremist actors, he is not merely "supporting the Palestinian people" but helping to legitimize a network of NGOs and UN bodies that critics say have long blurred the line between humanitarian work and political warfare against Israel.
For conservatives who believe in robust counterterrorism safeguards, accountability for international agencies, and moral clarity in foreign policy, the episode underscores the dangers of celebrity activism untethered from basic due diligence. Macklemores rhetoric about equal human worth stands in sharp contrast to his willingness to share a platform with those who excuse or glorify violence against Israelis, and his choice of beneficiaries raises serious questions about whether his million-dollar gesture will alleviate suffering or entrench the very forces that perpetuate conflict.
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