IN AN INTERVIEW with U2′s official magazine, Bono has addressed criticism he has faced in Ireland about what he had said publicly about the slaughter in Gaza.

The discussion comes as the U2 frontman and lyricist speaks about One Life At A Time, a new song inspired by Awdah Hathaleen, the Palestinian activist who was shot and killed by an Israeli settler in the West Bank last year.

Bono calls Hathaleen “an extraordinary Palestinian man” who was “murdered in the West Bank by a violent fundamentalist Israeli settler”.

In case you haven’t heard, U2 yesterday released a politically-charged six-song EP called Days of Ash. The slate of songs each address some of the violent situations of our time including lethal ICE agents in Minneapolis, the killing of protesters in Iran and the Ukraine war.

The band also memorialises Hathaleen, with Bono giving some additional details about the inspiration to U2′s own magazine, Propaganda.

Hathaleen, a 31-year-old teacher, father-of-three and local community leader, was standing by a fence in the town of Umm al-Khair when he was shot in the chest by an Israeli settler.

A video captured of the chaotic scene appeared to show Yinon Levi, who was previously sanctioned by the US and UK for inciting violence, firing his gun at Hathaleen. Witnesses also said that Levi fired the fatal shot.

Umm al-Khair is one of many Palestinian communities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where some three million Palestinians live alongside roughly 500,000 Israeli settlers.

All settlements in the territory, occupied since 1967, are considered illegal under international law.

Adwah Hathaleen pictured with his eldest son Watan. International Solidarity Movement International Solidarity Movement

The reason Hathaleen’s killing prompted such a wave of international condemnation is down to his work on the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which tells the story of life under occupation in the West Bank.

In an exchange about the tone of the songs on the new EP, Bono says he’d describe them as “defiant,” adding that it’s about “the moment we wish we weren’t in, but are.”

“Another track, One Life At A Time, is our attempt to offer up a beautiful melody as, I hope, some kind of balm, inspired by an extraordinary Palestinian man,” Bono says.

Awdah was a father of three young kids, a teacher, a community activist, a filmmaker. He was murdered in the West Bank by a violent fundamentalist Israeli settler… this settler was known for terrorising Palestinian communities, and has not to my knowledge faced any justice.

He adds: “It’s heinous. One life at a time is a kinda existential suggestion: we can change the world for the better or for the worse… one life at a time.”

The lyrics of the song itself don’t mention Hathaleen by name, but the accompanying lyric video features his image prominently.

On screen captions say that he was a “non-violence activist” and there has been “no justice or prosecution of his murderer”.

A still from One Life At A Time. Youotube / U2 Youotube / U2 / U2

Also featured in the visuals are the walls and watchtowers that have become symbolic of the West Bank, with an American-made tank also making an appearance towards the end.

The words Israel or Palestine don’t feature in the song either, so it’s more subtle to the average listener than, for example, the EP’s lead track American Obituary.

Some critics may also note that the song chooses to address settler violence in the West Bank and not the genocide in Gaza.

In a joint statement by the band last August, U2 condemned the Israeli government for their actions in Gaza, with Bono also admitting to “circling the subject”.

‘The Irish don’t like bullies’

Bono spoke to his band's magazine about their new songs. U2 U2

In the interview with Propaganda, Bono is asked directly about this and about what the interviewer calls the “hard time” he has been given “especially in Ireland, by those who feel you haven’t been noisy enough about what’s been happening in Gaza.”

In response, Bono said:

“The Irish as a rule don’t like bullies… though of course in our efforts to fight them we can sometimes quite quickly become them…..while riding on our high horse we can trample anyone walking a different path to the same place.”

He added:

“I’ve never really seen it like that, when it comes to human rights, injustice, if people are working on different stuff to the stuff I’m working on that’s a good thing in my view. I’ve written on Israel and Gaza, but in terms of actions I’ve been focused on the things I know more about. Like the decimation of USAID, threats to the work we do in ONE and (RED).”

ONE and (RED) are sister organisations set up by Bono to fight against extreme poverty and AIDS, particularly in Africa.

Later on in the interview, Bono speaks again about Gaza, saying:

“The rape, murder, and abduction of Israelis on October 7th was evil… But self-defence is no defence for the sweeping brutality of Netanyahu’s response, measured by the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians.”

As Bono mentioned, to date no charges have been brought against anyone over the killing of Hathaleen but Israeli newspaper Haaretz last week reported that an indictment against Yinon Levi is being planned.