U2's New Album

I have tried to avoid weighing in on the "Arafat as dignified statesman" sentiment that seems to be all over the news. Obviously, the situation in Israel/Palestine is complex and I have been a little more given to simplified thinking lately. One more rant just didn't seem helpful.

That said, I have had a hard time listening to the news lately, particularly the progressive news (KPFK, for instance). It seems as though every time I turn it on, someone is saying "Well, now we'll all find out that the reason we don't have peace in the Middle East is because of the Jews." This morning I tried again, and again, they were interviewing Palestinians who were talking about what's wrong with the Jews.

So I changed the station to KCRW, which was playing music. I really like Nic Harcourt's Morning Becomes Eclectic. Nic comes on and says he has a track from the new U2 album. Oh good, I think, maybe it will be some good old fashioned anti-war U2. The song begins:

Bow down

Lay down
Lay down
Lay your sweet lovely on the ground
Lay your love on the track
We’re gonna break the monster’s back

Lay down your treasure
Lay down now brother
You don’t have time
For a jealous lover
As you enter this life
I pray you depart
With a wrinkled face
And a brand new heart

At this point in the song I'm wondering if it's going to do that U2 turn to address war. Sure enough the next stanza goes like this:

I don’t know if I can take it
I’m not easy on my knees
Here’s my heart, I’ll let you break it
We need some release, release, release
We need love and peace
Love and peace

And then comes this:

Lay down
Lay down your guns
All your daughters of Zion
All your Abraham sons

Am I being paranoid here? I could just be ignorant or misunderstanding the song, but it does appear to be telling the Jews to lay down their arms. I'm not sure I want to get into a big debate here about culpability--I just wanted to say it really disappointed me.