Clive Davis Condemns Hamas Attack: ‘I Support Israel’s Right to Eradicate Terrorism’

Legendary music executive Clive Davis has spoken out on the devastating terrorist attack by Hamas militants in Israel earlier this month.

On Tuesday (Oct. 17), the Arista Records founder who played a key role in the careers of Whitney Houston, Patti Smith and Barry Manilow, among many others, posted a message to social media stating, “I wholeheartedly oppose the murderous hate displayed by Hamas on the people of Israel and I support Israel’s right to eradicate terrorism.”

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Davis, who is Jewish, calls the violence perpetrated by Hamas in Israel on Oct. 7, which killed more than 1,300 Israelis (including 260 at the Supernova Sukkot dance music festival in Re’im), “very, very personal and tragic for me. I have experienced the extraordinary pain of antisemitism my entire life.”

“We are witnessing a truly dreadful human tragedy unfold before our eyes in the Middle East… Thousands of innocent people were ruthlessly murdered — many at a music festival, many so young — and I fear many more will die in the weeks to come,” Davis continued.

Though Davis does not directly address the Israeli government’s retaliatory siege of Gaza — which has so far killed more than 3,000 Palestinians in air strikes, according to authorities there — he ends his post with a call for “our leaders to seriously consider humanitarian rights and the preservation of innocent life in the days ahead.”

Now 91, Davis was born to Jewish parents in Brooklyn in 1932. He has been a longtime supporter of the nonprofit UJA-Federation, which has a stated mission to “care for Jews everywhere and New Yorkers of all backgrounds, respond to crises close to home and far away, and shape our Jewish future.” The organization honored Davis with its Music Visionary of the Year award in 2007.

Davis currently serves as chief creative officer at Sony Music.

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