Macklemore’s Gaza Rap, Hind’s Hall, Censored by YouTube

When @YouTube age restricts a video, it kills the view count and means it won’t come up as a suggested video. It age-restricted @macklemore song on kGaza “Hind’s Hall.” I believe that YouTube wields this tool for censorship. pic.twitter.com/ujEEf3X9XZ

— Laila Al-Arian (@LailaAlarian) May 7, 2024

Seattle-based rapper, Macklemore, released his new album this week. It includes a song which has generated millions of views on social media and streaming platforms. Hind’s Hall is dedicated to the Columbia University building occupied by pro-Palestinian students protesting the Gaza war. The name detives from 6 year-old Hind Rajab, who was tragically murdered with her family. She was the only survivor of an attack on their vehicle and called desperately seeking rescue. The two emergency workers sent to rescue them were also killed.

With its multiple, brief flashes of wanton destruction of Gaza and the violent thuggery of police on college campuses, it is a powerful weapon against the genocide and the repression of student activism.

Unfortunately, you will not have direct access to the video, even though Macklemore has offered free access to it. It is “age-restricted.” YouTube has determined that the video is dangerous or troubling for minors.

At first, they said it “may be inappropriate for some users.”  Those users would be Israel’s apologists offended by songs attack on Israeli mass  murder.  Now, the screen requires a click-through warning of graphic violent imagery. Yes, it does. That’s the point.  He hasn’t invented these images.  They are reality. They are happening.  YouTube must not protect its users from that reality.  It must not censor agitprop art that troubles some viewers.

This is part and parcel of the global backlash against student protest movements.  Societies in the US and throughout Europe have ordered police to eliminate protest.  This in turn protects Israel and shields the world from its crimes.  It only provokes greater opposition and weakens Israel’s already plummeting standing.

There were many powerful Holocaust deniers during WWII, who treated reports of millions of Jewish murders with skepticism.  They called it “war propaganda.”  High level US officials refused to offer refuge to the hundreds of thousands of Jews languished in Europe as they sought to escape to looming slaughter.  They were part of the Nativist movement which saw foreigners as inferior, diseased and a drain on American society.  The skeptics treated American-Jewish leaders like Rabbi Stephen Wise as scaremongers just as US elites treats the anti-war protesters.