đź“° Our Fight Weekly | Boy George is a #MENSCH | 2026-08-07
This week Boy George faced cancellation from the music industry, and a mural of him was defaced and covered with Hamas symbolism. The rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Israel hysteria is showing no sign of slowing down, which makes Boy George's stance all the more important and admirable.
Boy George is a #MENSCH
Back in May, Boy George was in the news for expressing solidarity with the Jewish community after the Golders Green stabbing attacks. He experienced enough of a backlash that he then appeared on Irish TV to say that he would not waver from supporting Jewish friends he had known most of his life.
Fast forward to last week; after a visit to the Nova Exhibition in London Boy George doubled-down on his solidarity, and produced a song that talked of Nova, of 7 October, and of standing with "the Jews".
And most powerfully, the song also said that there is no genocide in Gaza.
For this, Boy George received the most vicious attacks of all. By suggesting that Israel's war in Gaza is not a genocide he has challenged the most pernicious but widely held of the libels currently being levelled at Israel. Establishing that there is no genocide is straightforward—see for example Andrew Fox's excellent Substack on how all of the 'pillars' of the libel have collapsed.
Andrew Fox
But for the anti-Israel movement that is not the point. The genocide libel is not about facts but about establishing a modern purity test, akin to the Nuremberg Race Laws which determined whether people were Jews or not. And Boy George chose to refuse the test.
We saw the same purity test in operation at Hackney Council last week, when the Green's passed their motion to de-twin from Haifa. We were met with violence outside the chamber—called "Zionists" and pelted with eggs—whilst inside the councillors justified their obsession with terminating any contact with Israel by repeating the genocide lie.
Mark Birbeck
As a small counter to the attacks on Boy George we endeavoured to show him some love by standing with our #MENSCH placards in front of an incredible Benzi Brofman mural of Boy George. It was painted as a thank-you for Boy George's solidarity with Jews, and predictably, within days of that mural being painted it was vandalised: first with "Zionist c*nt" and accusations of "baby killer supporter", and then—within hours of our photoshoot—a red triangle, the Hamas symbol used in their social media to represent a target for attack.
It's clear from the physical attacks on our group, the attempts to silence Boy George, and the Hamas symbolism on his mural, that the rise in anti-Semitism and in particular anti-Israel hysteria is not slowing down. It will be hard to reverse this, but that's not our immediate goal; our first step is to build a campaign through which non-Jews can unite with Jews in a shared recognition of the historic threat that anti-Semitism poses.
We hope you will join us.
This past week
On 4 August, dozens of us gathered beneath Benzi Brofman's mural of Boy George for a #MENSCH photoshoot. Many people—Jews and non-Jews—wanted to show that they recognised the enormous courage it took for Boy George to take the stand that he has. Watch the video below.
On Tuesday 4 August Our Fight campaigners and local allies gathered in Shoreditch, in front of a mural of Boy George, recently painted to thank him for his solidarity with Jews.
— OurFightUk (@OurFightUk) August 5, 2026
The mural had already been defaced with swear words, as well as "Zionist" and "baby killer… pic.twitter.com/wxb16TS20V
On Tuesday 28th July, Our Fight campaigners joined some local residents outside Hackney Town Hall. Inside the chamber the Green Party were using their recently acquired majority to begin the process of breaking any connection with the Israeli town of Haifa, which Hackney has been twinned for nearly 60 years. Outside we gathered to celebrate the story of Haifa, as an example of integration and coexistence. A theme of the justification for making the break is that Israel is "committing a genocide". Pandora Kay-Kreizman took at look at this claim.
Our Fight
Our presence outside Hackney Town Hall was picked up by the Daily Express and Jewish News.
Aaron Newbury
Coming up
Saturday, 3 October: Save the date for our Rally Against Anti-Zionism, in Brighton.
Sunday, 17 January, 2027: Save the date for our National Conference on the Anti-Semitism Crisis.
You might have missed
When Mark Birbeck was interviewed on Talk TV in May, about the Golders Green attacks, Zack Polanski's criticisms of the Met police, and Boy George's public stand with the Jewish community, Mark said that we needed more people with the principles and courage of Boy George. Watch the full interview here:
Worth a read
Zoe Strimpel finds Boy George inspiring enough to want to make him 'man of the decade'.
Zoe Strimpel
Brendan O'Neill highlights the double-standards with the way the music industry and media have attacked Boy George, but treated Kneecap as if they are champions of free speech.
Brendan O’Neill
For members
Our next catch-up meeting is on Monday, 11 August, at 6.30pm. These weekly catch-up meetings are held in person in central London, and full details are in our WhatsApp group.
We need your help
We desperately need your financial support. If you can make a donation, become a regular contributor or even buy some merch for that special mensch in your life, it all helps.
Check out our site on Shopify and find the donate button, below.
If you are able to support our work, please make a donation, or become a regular contributor.
And as always, thanks for being part of this,
Mark Birbeck
Founder and Director
Our Fight
