Lewis Hamilton has added his voice to calls for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war.
Israel sent troops into Gaza in October following an attack by Hamas gunmen. Members of the militia entered Israel, killed around 1,200 people and took 250 more hostage in the worst-ever attack on the country.In retaliation, Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza which is claimed to have killed around 28,000 people so far. It has also displaced huge numbers of Gaza’s 2.2 million inhabitants, caused enormous devastation to its infrastructure and left its entire population at risk of “acute food insecurity”, according to the US.
Hamilton, who has 36 million followers on Instagram alone, called for an end to the violence and release of the hostages.
“Sending my love and support to all the people in Palestine who are spending this holy time facing danger, loss and heartbreak,” he wrote. “In a month that is sacred to so many in the region, we must keep calling for a permanent ceasefire and return of hostages so that families can be together and be free from the constant threat of destruction and violence.”
“Ceasefire now,” he added.
Since last year, the FIA has forbidden drivers from making political statements when they are participating in race weekends, however they are permitted to express their opinions in interviews, in responses to questions and on social media.
Hamilton also shared a post from Save the Children claiming one in three children under the age of two in Gaza are “acutely malnourished” and at risk of death.
The same charity is being supported by Daniel Ricciardo at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. The RB driver will wear a special helmet designed by a fan, which will be auctioned after the race to raise money for Save the Children.
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JackL
20th March 2024, 15:04
Its about time someone in F1 spoke up about this. When Ukraine was invaded, many were quick to stand in solidarity with Ukraine, denounce the invasion, and offer support. The silence from the F1 community on Palestine has been pretty shocking, even more so given the staggering number of deaths amongst non-combatants, namely women and children.
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
20th March 2024, 15:08
Israel has gone out of their way to limit fatalities to non-combatants but Hamas doesn’t care about its people and intentionally puts themselves around citizens and embeds military and strategic targets within public buildings. Hamas started this but Hamas owns a ~75% approval rating amongst these very same people so ultimately, if their own people would have stood up to Hamas and not literally voted in a terrorist cult, the likelihood of these deaths would have been greatly reduced. Israel is even trying to aid these citizens with relief shipments but Hamas hijacks these and hoards the food, keeping it away from their own people. They are evil.
TurboBT
21st March 2024, 13:05
I can see that you are so much informed. Either you are blind or you know who you are.
LosD (@losd)
21st March 2024, 13:06
It’s blank. He spews right-wing nonsense 24/7.
ludewig
21st March 2024, 13:55
@jblank
It’s a fact that Israel only allows a very limited and fully insufficient amount of food into Gaza. And I’ve not seen any evidence that Hamas hijacks the food. I’m not sure how they could even do that, since citizens seem to raid the trucks in many cases, even when they are still close to Israeli soldiers, since they are so hungry.
Moshambles (@moshambles)
21st March 2024, 14:59
The IDF has killed over 30,000 civilians in Gaza now. Not very effective, these human shields, are they?
Dex
20th March 2024, 15:33
They don’t have to talk about politics and wars at all, as far as I’m concerned. As free people, they have right to, which goes without saying.
David B
20th March 2024, 15:38
Personally i don’t think they should talk on anything to do with politics whilst they represent a worldwide sport with it’s fingers in a lot of pies.
SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
20th March 2024, 15:49
Yeah, the problem is there’s no way you don’t come off as a huge hypocrite when you speak out.
Yes, Hamilton makes a valid statement that I can get behind. But then he’s also earning a lot of blood money during the year that he seems to be just fine with. So eh, maybe put your money where your mouth is and then speak out against certain issues?
I’m sure he means well, but yeah, it’s just not a good look when half the sponsors on your car are questionable enough to begin with. And that’s before you go racing in states like Baku who have no issue invading Armenia every other Monday.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
20th March 2024, 23:42
Wolff is probably more responsible for the sponsors on his car. Guys like FTX or Stake… well lets just say shady is being kind.
Also Armenia is being used like the Kurds in Syria, so its not really that cut and dry. So many leaders of small countries on the take of larger countries and letting their people pay the price, not unlike whats going on near Jordan atm.
JackL
20th March 2024, 21:10
Thats a valid point. But I think when theres a genocide going on, exceptions need to be made.
MichaelN
20th March 2024, 15:51
There was a race scheduled in Russia for 2022, and it was primarily because Vettel announced he would not race there that F1’s hands were forced. There are no races in Israel or Palestine, so it’s not an F1 issue in that sense. A more direct comparison would be F1 happily racing in the USA/UK while they invaded and occupied Iraq. F1 had no problems with that.
Drivers can of course talk about what they want, provided they use their own platform and not the F1 weekend.
MichaelN
20th March 2024, 15:56
There weren’t many, it was mostly just Vettel saying he wouldn’t race at the Sochi GP in 2022.
Nobody cared in 2014, or in any of the years after that. They were all happy to race there for many years.
notagrumpyfan
20th March 2024, 15:59
Hamilton already posted similar messages in October.
ElGreco
20th March 2024, 16:49
Why? In what way is Lewis Hamilton a reliable source of information on world affairs? I fail to see how having a platform means that you should use it. It seems pretty clear from his statements that he hasn’t been able to explore the subject from more than one angle, that of the popular masses. Instead, could I recommend taking a look at what someone like Professor Mark Danner, an expert on the subject at Berkeley, has to say about it? His qualifications are a bit more robust than being good at driving and having lots of followers on social media.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th March 2024, 22:45
JackL, when Ukraine was invaded, drivers were allowed to talk about such matters. The regulations have changed since then – to F1’s detriment.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
21st March 2024, 8:54
Yes, I also remember when Ukrainian terrorists attacked Russian mainland, brutally killed hundreds of people, took hostages and were hiding behind civilians’ backs (should I add irony off?). These two situations are not comparable in the least.
Jason Blankenship (@jblank)
20th March 2024, 15:04
Yes, a ceasefire AFTER Hamas surrenders and AFTER they release the hostages. They are terrorists and should be treated as such. I hope Israel wipes out every last one of them.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
20th March 2024, 15:45
Makes sense, kinda hard to watch a bully beat a smaller kid in to submission on the playground, but thats what is going on, and everyone is staring and doing nothing in that region. I think Lewis is on point.
James Bond (@jamesbond)
20th March 2024, 16:11
What about Myanmar, Sudan, Mali, Syria, Ukraine ….?
Not only Palestinians suffer from war.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th March 2024, 22:46
@jamesbond Lewis has spoken about some of them, and whataboutism is a hindrance in this situation.
AlexS
21st March 2024, 10:13
Palestinians don’t suffer from war, Palestinians choose war. And everyone pays them for that.
sam
20th March 2024, 16:45
Just give the hostages back…. war over.
JackL
20th March 2024, 21:12
It didnt start on Oct 7.
MacLeod (@macleod)
21st March 2024, 8:05
I think it did JackL Hamas attack and Israel reacted it was a long time very quiet before that.
As I am very simple if you attack someone you can expect a reaction and that happened but Hamas is the one who can stop it by just returning the hostages.
David BR (@david-br)
21st March 2024, 14:34
@macleod Do you only deal in misinformation? The IDF judged Gaza ‘quiet’ after years of repression, true, but it had transferred its attention to the ongoing illegal and violent occupation of the West Bank.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th March 2024, 22:47
Palestine wants the hostages Israel’s taken over the last few years back as well – even if oversimplifying the matter to that single issue, it’s rather more complicated than certain parties have portrayed the situation to be.
ludewig
21st March 2024, 13:59
@sam
That’s just false. Israel has said that they have much bigger goals than that, so it’s unlikely that they would then end the war.
In fact, Israel has not at all shown that they consider the hostages to be a priority.
Napier Railton (@napierrailton)
20th March 2024, 17:27
Who is asking racing drivers about foreign wars?
I might as well ask a web developer his opinion on a gas leak.
rprp
20th March 2024, 17:48
In the same way, who is asking you for your opinion on F1?
Everyone has a right to speak.
Jere (@jerejj)
20th March 2024, 18:19
rprp Indeed & I’m also more than willing to speak about matters I’m not involved in as long as I have at least some basic or general understanding.
David BR (@david-br)
20th March 2024, 23:05
@jerejj I imagine most of us can (and should) have be able to form an opinion about bombing urban areas packed with civilians, 50% of them children.
MacLeod (@macleod)
21st March 2024, 8:10
@david-br an opinion about Hamas attack also? If Hamas was something legal they wouldn’t hide between civilians. All civilians were warned before the bomb fell so they weren’t involved…
David BR (@david-br)
21st March 2024, 14:08
Which bit of ‘50% children’ did you fail to understand? Many fled their homes – since destroyed – others chose or had to stay, including those without the resources, or who were will, or whose parents decided to stay to look after others. The stories are available to read and hear. You think the Hamas attack and Israel’s destruction of Gaza and murder of tens of thousands are comparable? Kids are having limbs amputated without anaesthetic on a daily basis or suffering horrendous burns. These are war atrocities taking place and Israel and its supporters are quite deliberately attempting to drive out the Palestinian population from Gaza. It’s an aim declared by members of the government and backed by supporters like Jared Kushner. Biden too is a disgrace. As for the Hamas attack, I condemned it long ago. And feared the terrible consequences and completely disproportionate and cynical response. Which is indeed still unfolding.
Mayrton
21st March 2024, 8:50
Whilst I agree with you I couldn’t care less what a sportman thinks about politics, they (similar to celebrities) do have a platform – in Lewis case 36 million followers – so they can make an impact. Although I doubt his audience isn’t already aligned with him. It is not us, the people, the majority, that causes problems. It’s a handful of politicians and money grabbers that haven’t mentally developed beyond their kids years.
isthatglock21
20th March 2024, 20:23
Brave brave man for speaking out on this. Respect to Lewis in a world full of cowards who will follow only the carefully crafted PR friendly line. This will ruffle feathers, but you know you’re doing the right thing. Even Hollywood lot dare not speak out on this which says it all lol.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
20th March 2024, 20:58
+1 Respect to Sir Lewis.
amped
20th March 2024, 21:06
Brave? How?
There will be literally no consequences for him doing it, he gets the dopamine hit for doing it and his fans will idolise him for it more than they already did.
AlexS
21st March 2024, 10:15
Brave? brave will be supporting the civilization that protects their civilians.
amped
20th March 2024, 21:04
Performative virtue signalling…
I never see the point in people who have no say or control in the matter ‘call for’ things. It is not as if those responsible are going to suddenly change their actions just because a pampered European celebrity tells them too.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th March 2024, 22:48
Sometimes they do – read up about Marcus Rashford if you would like an example. (Lewis definitely did!)
Thecollaroyboys (@thecollaroyboys)
20th March 2024, 21:06
Yes Lewis, release the hostages THEN a ceasefire. Just like the ceasefire that existed on 6 October.
David BR (@david-br)
20th March 2024, 22:22
@thecollaroyboys Occupation of Palestinian territory, designated illegal by the UN, is not a ‘ceasefire’: it’s a state of low-level war. Of course routine deaths and imprisonments of Palestinians went unreported for years. Just as the western media has taken far too long time to realise (or admit) that what’s happening in Gaza now isn’t any attempt to recapture hostages but the confinement of two million people in a tiny space and complete destruction of the land and homes they once lived in, rendering the region essentially uninhabitable. That’s why the UN ICJ ruled that South Africa’s referral of Israel for genocide was indeed ‘plausible.’ And those governments still backing (and arming) a country engaging in genocide can and will, historically, be judged to have been aiding and abetting if the ICJ indeed arrives at this conclusion.
Thecollaroyboys (@thecollaroyboys)
21st March 2024, 22:06
There WAS a ceasefire before October 7, Israel and Hamas were “talking”. The rocket attacks from February to October were blamed by Hamas on Islamic Jihad. ( In reality it was a test firing )
The ceasefire existed, I’m not talking about the history 1948 to now, I’m talking about facts on the ground. Nor am I justifying the settlements policy, the Allon Plan nor actions by the PLO and its later iterations.
David BR (@david-br)
22nd March 2024, 12:04
@thecollaroyboys Netanyahu and those ultra-nationalists even further to the right than him have only one plan, which has been declared on various occasions: the only ‘safe’ Israel for them is one without any Palestinian territories. Is there anything about that plan that isn’t evident in the actions of the Israeli right since Rabin’s assassination in 1995? Want to know how this works: see US history. A history of warfare on the indigenous population, peace accords, then breaking of those accords by white settlers, pushing the Amerindians westwards and into other reservations until another peace accord. And the same again. And again. Eventually? You have the USA. I completely oppose the massacre of civilians and the October 7th attack. I do believe a people have the right to oppose an occupying military force. But how when it has vast US-supplied resources? That’s why other countries should have tried to enforce UN resolutions condemning Israeli government policy long ago. But how to do that with the UN veto system for a select group of countries?
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
20th March 2024, 22:48
@thecollaroyboys There was no ceasefire then.
David BR (@david-br)
20th March 2024, 23:02
@alianora-la-canta I made the same point but it’s still waiting to be processed for some reason.
Yellow Baron
21st March 2024, 1:47
I mean just look at the language in above article. Concrete words on one side but 28000 “claimed”.
Disgusting
greasemonkey
21st March 2024, 4:47
You missed the quip.
When Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed on Sept 2 1945 it became just like the ceasefire on Dec 6th 1941.
Boudi
21st March 2024, 8:58
Ceasefire like how? Take the land and ceasefire? Let’s apply this same concept in Ukraine now, if Russia announces Ceasefire, they will annex the lands they gained by war and live happily after? This is what is happening in Palestine, some people really need to study the history books.
greasemonkey
21st March 2024, 14:00
As far back as they were pressing wedges into clay, there has been that pattern…and probably well before those records were made.
The quips were more just pointing out the immediate pragmatic issue wrt to any ceasing of firing.
Gubstar
21st March 2024, 8:53
Not sure the Israeli-Gaza conflict is as black and white as the many spectrums of the mainstream media report it. And the many political leaders across the planet that have tried to influence/help stop the issues in the middle east for the last 60 years have pretty much failed, so not sure F1 is going to have an influence. Nothing against Hamilton for speaking out, as everyone has the right to, but its like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic……. pointless. As many other aspects of modern life have been made political, sport has been made the same, which isn’t actually going to solve anything.
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
21st March 2024, 12:34
Let IDF do their job. Destroying Hamas is saving the palestine people in the long term. But now important things first: lets race!
Pod
21st March 2024, 14:19
The only relevant question, with respect to Lewis Hamilton, is will he be racing in the Qatar Grand Prix. Qatar funds Hamas. Qatar hosts all of the corrupt Hamas leadership. The 2023 Qatar Grand Prix was October7-8. The Hamas leadership was in their five star Qatar hotels directing the attack on Israeli civilians on the same day that Formula One was zooming around the Losail Qatar circuit.
Don’t kid yourself. It’s all great fun, but Formula One Management is the world’s largest, most profitable supplier of sports washing services.
I love F1 and motorsport, for longer than most of you have been alive. But it really disappoints me what it has become.
Nick T.
21st March 2024, 22:57
Indeed.
earthling (@34rthl1ng)
21st March 2024, 17:21
Great, now let Ismail Haniyeh drive for Merc, alongside George Russell
I’m sure he will do better than you anyway,
Dane
21st March 2024, 18:33
There was a ceasefire before Oct 7th but Hamas ruined it. Hamas can surrender today and we will have peace again.