The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas has clarified his viral comments on “American Zionists”.
During an appearance on the viral YouTube series SubwayTakes, Casablancas offered his “controversial take” back in April, saying: “American Zionists get the benefits of white privileged people, but talk like they are Black people during slavery”.
Host Kareem Rahma agreed with that take “100 per cent”, saying that Zionists claim to be “oppressed”, but attend weddings in Tel Aviv, “when there are 80,000 plus dead people, including women and children, half a mile away”.
Casablancas went on to say: “I mean, just for the people that are gonna be like, ‘Hamas, October 7th’, yes, bad, but you know, Native American rebellions didn’t mean it was ok to do what we did. Slave rebellions that were violent didn’t mean that slavery is not bad.”
Now, Casablancas has shared further insight into his comments. The musician spoke at the Oxford Debate Society on May 28, and the footage was shared for the first time yesterday (July 3).
In the video, he clarifies his thoughts on Zionism, telling the audience: “I think the true nerve point really comes down to one thing, and that is expansion. Expansion is the key concept, I think, more than a vague nationalism or love of a country – meaning Israel settlements and greater Israel.
“You can love England and want it to be safe without wanting it to control India, for example,” he added. “The greater America project is insane to me, but I don’t feel the need to be defensive ’cause I’m American. I can say reparations, large reparations, are far overdue.”
He continued: “However, from the perspective even of Jewish peace activists, if there is a weird reciting of certain propaganda points, which includes not being able to say it’s a genocide, it’s kind of akin to not being able to say Black Lives Matter.
“You’re showing you maybe don’t quite get what the issue is. If the only thing you can bring yourself to say is ‘Netanyahu is the problem’ or, ‘Well, I believe Israel has the right to exist,’ you are perhaps accidentally signalling to some that you indirectly, maybe by accident, whoopsie, are supporting Jewish supremacy and white supremacy. In a sense, it is a sort of dog whistle to those who are fighting to see basic equal rights for any and all.”
Casablancas then draws a distinction between “green liners,” who agree to the boundaries of Israel as world leaders have agreed upon many times, and expansionists, “the good old settler types just shooting at Palestinians and taking homes daily”. He aligns himself with the green liners and says his moderate Jewish friends agree the expansionists are “kind of crazy.”
He continues: “But the word [Zionist] is all mixed together, so it gets very confusing. So what I should have said maybe in the SubwayTakes thing is let’s call it settler-style Zionist expansionists and maybe some good-hearted indoctrinated moderates, when they’re talking in this kind of victim language is weird because they get many of the perks of white privilege in America and stuff — in my defense, I had nine takes at this point and SubwayTakes asked me for the most controversial take I had; I feel much stronger about the long audio messages — but speak like they are Black people during slavery. The end.”
“Okay. So I was not talking about my friends who say Israel has a right to exist. Even though to them I would lovingly say all the Arab countries and the world has agreed on set borders for a very long time. It can live in peace, but Israel didn’t want it because they want to expand.”
Watch the full speech below.
Casablancas has long been outspoken on the subject of Israel and Gaza, signing an open letter in 2021 in support of Palestinian rights, and also urging a boycott of performances in Israel.
His original comments came just days after The Strokes closed out their set at Coachella weekend two with a politically-charged visual montage drawing attention to international leaders that the band said had been overthrown by the CIA, as well as Martin Luther King Jr., who appeared alongside the statement, “US Govt found guilty of his murder in civil trial”.
They also showed footage of rubble in Iran, alongside the text “over 30 universities destroyed in Iran,” and a clip of the “last university in Gaza” being blown up by an air missile.
Casablancas also spoke to NME in 2024 about his view on the billionaire class. “The main weapon of these ‘bad guy’ people – billionaires trying to pay no taxes – is distraction,” he said. “And it’s a long, complicated, indirect chain of exploitation, so it’s not really easy to pinpoint who’s doing what damage.”
“What bums me out is people love to talk on a daily basis about the distractions that are being fed to us and I’m just so over it and so fed up with it. I don’t know if it’s the convenience or the cosiness and the professional fonts of a nice newspaper, or the magical Superman lights of CNN, but the fact we can’t unchain ourselves from this song or [stop being] hypnotised by this nonsense is the biggest challenge and biggest confusion I have.”
In other news, The Strokes are preparing to release their new album ‘Reality Awaits‘, their first album in six years. The record – recorded in Costa Rica with producer Rick Rubin and finished in a number of global locations – will arrive July 24 via Cult Records/RCA Records, and is available to pre-order here.
They have also announced a whopping world tour visiting the UK, North America, Europe and Japan. It will be their first full tour in the UK and Ireland in over 20 years, and will see them stop by London’s O2, Newcastle’s Utilita Arena, Manchester’s Co-op Live and Dublin’s 3Arena in October.