Paul Simon, the renowned American musician, joined more than 200 public figures who signed an open letter calling for the release of Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian security prisoner serving five life sentences for his role in terror attacks in which five Israelis were killed.
Most of the signatories to the letter were the usual pro-Palestine suspects from the worlds of acting, music, and literature, including Mark Ruffalo, Sir Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton, Josh O’Connor, Annie Lennox, Sting, Hannah Einbinder, Ilana Glazer, Miriam Margolyes, and Margaret Atwood.
Gary Lineker, a British broadcaster, and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, also signed. Stephen Fry, a Jewish actor and writer who has spoken out frequently against antisemitism, was among the signatories.
Many of these people signed a petition in September that called for boycotting the Israeli film industry. Unlike them, Simon has not spoken out about the war in Gaza. He has performed in Israel several times, both solo and with Art Garfunkel.
“We express our grave concern at the continuing imprisonment of Marwan Barghouti, his violent mistreatment and denial of legal rights whilst imprisoned. We call upon the United Nations and the Governments of the World to actively seek the release of Marwan Barghouti from Israeli prison,” the letter reads in part.
Hamas campaigned for the release of Barghouti in October, when nearly 2000 Palestinian prisoners were freed in exchange for the last 20 living hostages taken by Hamas being allowed to return to Israel.
Barghouti has been held in solitary confinement since the October 7, 2023 massacre, according to his family and freed prisoners. His family also charged that he has been beaten over the last two years and suffered serious injuries.
Barghouti’s prison conditions dramatically worsened
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir recently boasted that Barghouti’s prison conditions had worsened dramatically, and his office leaked a video of the minister berating Barghouti in his cell. Barghouti appeared to have lost a significant amount of weight.
Barghouti’s wife, Fadwa, has said recently that Barghouti believes in a two-state solution and would advocate for coexistence with Israel if he were released.
Polls in Palestine routinely show that Barghouti is the one figure who has enough support to take over from 90-year-old Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who was elected to a four-year term 20 years ago.
Given the complexity of the issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Simon’s general tendency to avoid political statements, he might want to revisit the lyrics of “American Tune,” one of his few political songs, which is about the Watergate era: “Many's the time I've been mistaken/And many times confused/Yes, and I've often felt forsaken/And certainly misused.”