Billie Eilish, Benedict Cumberbatch join UK concert that raised $2M for Palestinian charities
The sold-out event in London also featured Jewish comic Amelia Dimoldenberg
Riz Ahmed and Florence Pugh speak onstage during the Together For Palestine concert at Wembley Arena on September 17, 2025 in London, England. Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage for ABA
(JTA) — Multi-platinum pop star Billie Eilish, Oscar-nominated actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Florence Pugh, and Jewish comedian Amelia Dimoldenberg were among the famous names who appeared at or promoted a sold-out Wednesday benefit concert for Gaza in the United Kingdom.
The four-hour “Together For Palestine” concert in Wembley, organized by superstar music producer Brian Eno, took place during President Donald Trump’s state visit to the U.K. and occurred as the country was expected to soon join a growing list of nations formally recognizing a Palestinian state.
Eilish and her brother Finneas, with whom she collaborates, appeared briefly in a promotional video alongside other celebrities. Cumberbatch came onstage to read a poem by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, altering one line that appears to refer to martyrdom.
Dimoldenberg, who hosts the popular YouTube show “Chicken Shop Date,” was one of the few Jews to appear onstage for the event. She stood alongside documentarian Louis Theroux as he discussed his recent BBC film: a searing critique of the Israeli settler movement. When Theroux referred to “violence” in Gaza, according to reports, some in the audience heckled him for not using the term “genocide.”
They and a range of musical acts — including Neneh Cherry, Jamie xx, Gorillaz, Hot Chip, Bastille, and King Krule — shared the stage with Palestinian doctors and aid workers, as well as Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, whom Jewish groups have accused of antisemitism.
The concert raised around 1.5 million British pounds for charities including the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, Palestinian Medical Relief Society and Taawon, organizers said.
The sold-out event was also one of several recent platforms for well-known entertainers to sound off against Israel’s conduct of its war in Gaza. The well-known U.K. music festival Glastonbury attracted controversy this summer when one band led the crowd in a “Death to the IDF” chant. And a recent, widely circulated petition pledging to boycott Israeli film institutions has thousands of signatories, including Emma Stone, Ava DuVernay, and Joaquin Phoenix, and has prompted a rebuke from Paramount.
Some of the most famous participants in Wednesday’s concert, including Eilish, Cumberbatch, Dimoldenberg and Pugh, have not signed the petition — though others like Eno, Brian Cox, and Riz Ahmed have.
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