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Israel

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Source: San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images / Getty
Shaun King is back in the headlines after getting into an online row with the families of freed American hostages in Israel.
The release of Judith and Natalie Raanan, hostages who were captured by the terrorist organization Hamas in their attack on the Gaza settlement in Israel on October 7, has led to a public feud between the activist Shaun King and their families. King claimed in a post on social media that he “worked frantically behind the scenes to help make this possible.” He also claimed that he worked “behind the scenes with an eclectic group of 30+ people that would normally never work together or get along”.

Judith and Natalie Raanan were visiting relatives when they were captured by the militants along with an estimated 200 other people. Their release was reportedly enabled through negotiations overseen by the Qatari government in coordination with the Biden administration, the International Red Cross, and the Israeli government. The women are currently in the protection of the Israeli military.
Relatives of the Raanans refuted King’s claims in a statement issued to TMZ. “First and foremost, we make it clear that he is lying! Our family does not and did not have anything to do with him, neither directly nor indirectly. Not to him and not to anything he claims to represent,” it said.
Shaun King, whose online fundraising efforts and zealous promises falling short have earned him heavy criticism in the past, fired back in his response to The Daily Beast. “I spoke directly and repeatedly with this family. I have a job, career, and family. I would be throwing everything away to make such a thing up. Thankfully I kept records of all of them,” he wrote in the email. He would then post a statement from Ben Raanan, the brother of Natalie, through his account on X, formerly Twitter, and claim they had been in contact on October 9 before posting images of their chats.

Uri Raanan, Natalie’s father, did note that Ben had spoken with King. “Ben, my son was talking with him without anybody in the family knowing about it until today,” he said after being contacted by the press. “Our family in Israel posted this statement denying we knew him before we learned about Ben talking to him. We have nothing further to say.”
To say that the Israel-Gaza conflict is divisive would be an understatement.

The focus at the 2023 Dove Awards was on celebrating gospel music in all its forms, but two artists, Lauren Daigle and Tauren Wells used the occasion to address the war between Israel and Hamas, which has been dominating news coverage for the past two weeks.
The Dove Awards were taped on Tuesday Oct. 17, at Allen Arena on the Lipscomb University campus in Nashville.  But the thoughts of many there, and around the world, were on events 6,446 miles away. The current crisis began on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants launched a series of surprise attacks on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing defense personnel and civilians and taking hostages.

“In light of what has happened in Israel this week, our eyes need to be opened to what He might be calling us to,” said Daigle, 32, who won her 12th Dove Award that night for best short-form music video of the year (concept) for “Thank God I Do.”

“We have the hope of eternity and the good news of the Gospel,” she added. “We aren’t bringing in messages that tear and divide, we’re bringing in messages that remind people of their worth, that remind children they are valuable and belong in society and remind people that they have something that only God can fulfill. We get to tell them that He is the Great I Am. That He is above the times. That He is the source of hope compared to nothing else this world has to offer. There is nothing as great. He is the light of the world. He is the light of men. He is the bread of life.”

Wells, 37, a five-time Dove Award winner in years past, was more extensive in his remarks.

“The difficulties that people in Israel and Palestine are experiencing, as believers in this room, we understand the weight and the gravity that comes with this conflict. A conflict that started in the house of Abraham and has existed for 4,000 years. We know that ultimately Jesus is going to get His glory. He is going to redeem His people.

“I was so encouraged by this – when Jesus returns, He is going to descend from which he ascended at the Mount of Olives, and He is going to split the mountain in two. Because the God we serve is powerful. At the same time, He is present. He is present with those who are hurting. He is present with those who are broken. The scripture does a beautiful job of painting the portrait of Jesus as the bright and morning star. He is high and above and away from it all. But it continues to describe Him as the lily of the valley. He’s in the dark places, the quiet places, the places of pain and loss.

“So, I just want to express today on behalf of the artists in this faith community here, that we remember Israel tonight. We stand with the people of God and as scripture instructs us, we pray for peace in Jerusalem. Now here’s the thing – we can’t just pray for peace and not understand and identify the Prince of Peace. This conflict will not end until Jesus is the Lord of Israel and Jesus is the Lord of Palestine and Jesus is the Lord of every nation and every tribe and every tongue. There is a day coming at which every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

“The world could be at war but the church is gonna be in worship. Because we don’t praise God depending upon our circumstances. We praise God depending upon His reputation. And scripture says He is faithful and He is good to every generation. And that means there are generations the world will forget that God will remember. Tonight we celebrate that name of Jesus as we remember the people reeling in pain tonight.”

In addition to hosting, Wells teamed with Davies to perform “Take It All Back” on the show. The two acts recorded the highly commercial, pop-oriented song with We the Kingdom.

Daigle’s 12 Dove Awards include two awards for artist of the year, in 2015 and 2019. Wells’ five include new artist of the year in 2018 – an award Daigle had won in 2015.

Brandon Lake was the top winner at the 54th annual GMA Dove Awards. Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Toby Mac, Blessing Offor and Jeff Pardo each won two awards.

The show was produced by the Gospel Music Association. Jackie Patillo and Justin Fratt served as showrunners and executive producers, alongside Curtis Stoneberger and Paul Wright as producers. Russell E. Hall returned as director, Michael Nolan as scriptwriter, Scott Moore and Go Live Productions as production manager.

The show aired Friday (Oct. 20) on TBN and The TBN App and was also simulcast on SiriusXM The Message. An encore performance will air on TBN and The TBN App on Friday, Oct. 27 at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET. To watch the show on demand, go to The TBN App.

The century-long conflict between Israel and Palestine reached a new level of conflict earlier this month after the horrific Oct. 7 terror attack on the Supernova Music Festival at Kibbutz Re’im by Hamas militants. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The assault by air and land by […]

Toronto musician Mustafa has posted an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, pleading with him to support the people of Palestine and “defy this active genocide and imprisonment that is levelling Gaza.” This comes after Israel declared a state of war against Hamas on Oct. 9.
Mustafa, then going by Mustafa The Poet, met the prime minister at a Black liberation event and eventually served as the Ontario representative in Trudeau’s youth council 10 years ago. Calling Trudeau his “old acquaintance,” Mustafa asks him to fight for the lives of Palestinian civilians, in particular the women and children, affected by Israel’s offensive.

The artist highlights Canada’s own past with colonial oppression. Mustafa asks Trudeau to join past leaders like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu on “the right side of history in the liberation of Palestine.”

My (now) open letter to an old acquaintance; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau- on Palestine, genocide, & our indigenous population pic.twitter.com/7Nqhemf7Up
— Mustafa (@MustafaThePoet) October 16, 2023

Read Mustafa’s full letter below:

Justin Trudeau,

We met a decade ago, to jog your memory we participated in an event for black liberation together before you were the prime minister of Canada.

When you were appointed prime minister, I served on the first ever youth council as your Ontario rep., we travelled this endless country together in search of some semblance of democracy.. You have your flaws in leadership, but in our time together I sensed a heart in you.

I know you have a political & economic responsibility to Israel. I remember our time in Calgary was clipped because you had to immediately fly to Tel Aviv for the funeral of war criminal Ariel Sharon. I knew and you knew there was no say in the matter of your attendance for this man you did not know.

I’m asking you to use the same tongue that defended Israel & condemned Hamas to defy this active genocide and imprisonment that is levelling Gaza, that is burying & disfiguring children and women.

I’m asking you to use our people’s tax dollars that have been exhausted to support the most funded & violent state in the world to also protect the relentlessly tormented people of Palestine.

So much of our time together was about undoing the iniquities that were done to our Indigenous population, a hopeless pursuit for this already stolen land — for the decades and decades of ethnic cleansing that they’re still recovering from, how could we ever undo what can’t be forgiven or rectified?

A century from now, when they contemplate your legacy Prime Minister, will you be recalled as a custodian of this unforgivable genocide, this ethnic cleansing, this stolen land? Your battle here in Canada will have been for nothing.

Nelson Mandela, Albert Einstein, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, join these respected leaders on the right side of history in the liberation of Palestine.

Solidarity with the oppressed and the erased,

Mustafa Ahmed,

Regent Park, Toronto

Hours after Mustafa posted his letter on X, an air raid struck a Gaza hospital, killing at least 500 people. This prompted Trudeau to tweet about the tragedy, stating accountability must be held for those responsible.

I’m horrified by the loss of life at Al Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza. My thoughts are with those who lost loved ones. It is imperative that innocent civilians be protected and international law upheld. Together, we must determine what happened. There must be accountability.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) October 18, 2023

Mustafa has also released the first song, “Name of God” from of his upcoming full-length album debut. A devout Muslim himself, Mustafa reflects on the loss of his brother and his relationship with God.

[embedded content]

In true Mustafa fashion, this single also came with a heartfelt message in his own words:

I never felt like the Nubian prince my father seen in me through his tinted lens. I try their dance, their prayer- I always fall short.

& Gods name wasn’t always related to beauty for me, but to hopelessness, this Islam we share and Allah we call for while witnessing a constant violence that continues to

bind us, I don’t think I ever felt completely Muslim among other Muslims,

All these sub-beliefs like borders. My aunts in all their wisdom and narrowness-one Sufi spinning into remembrance, one refuting the taking of a photograph.

When my big brother was killed in what will always feel like yesterday, knowing the suspected murderer was someone he held as a friend, someone he prayed with- it led me to believe that maybe his love was his end? Maybe where there is no love, parting from love keeps us alive? Maybe ending in love is the only way to actually begin? I don’t know.

The only clear memory from the days of his death were my parents reciting in unison, “oh Allah, we accept his passing, we accept what you ordained.”

I’m desperate to love God like them.

Our faith and our hearts are too often our demise- I know a field of young niggas dreaming that can testify to this. For better or worse we’ll uncover every bone beneath our hollow laughter, our confused affection; maybe its revealed in our final gasp for meaning.

Until then.

Bismillah, In the Name of God, 10.17.23

Mustafa recently made an appearance during the Daniel Caesar Toronto show on Oct.13. Alongside Charlotte Day Wilson and Caesar, Mustafa performed “Old Man’ by Neil Young in an unconventional encore broadcast live from the green room at Scotiabank Arena.

This article was originally published by Billboard Canada.

In the wake of the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel’s history, as well as the prospect of a deadly, drawn-out war against Hamas in Gaza, the country’s fast-growing concert business has hardly been at the top of anyone’s mind.

So far, the only big show to be cancelled was the sold-out Bruno Mars concert scheduled for Oct. 7 in Tel Aviv. But concerts and festivals now face a pause as Israel mourns its dead, including the more than 250 people who died at the Supernova Sukkot festival in the Oct. 7 attack. For however long the war in Gaza takes, it is unlikely that many major international acts will play Tel Aviv out of security concerns, worries about the optics of taking a side on a controversial issue, and the fact that so many potential concertgoers will be fighting or working in the military. However, the country’s entertainment market is expected to make a quick recovery once hostilities end thanks to companies like Bluestone Entertainment, which has made considerable progress modernizing Israel’s concert industry over the past six years.

Up until the Oct. 7 attack, security issues didn’t even make the top five challenges facing the Israeli concert business, sources tell Billboard. Bigger issues include a lack of touring infrastructure, geographic isolation, routing difficulties, limits on potential artist earnings and the Boycott Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement that pushes artists not to play in the Jewish state.

Until 2017, the only modern ticketing platform in Israel was the German company CTS Eventim, which dominates Europe but isn’t as well known to U.S. touring artists and managers. Israel also lacks a major venue for large acts, meaning most touring artists have to rely on 5,000-7,000 capacity amphitheaters — which can make it difficult to make money due to the high travel costs required to visit the country. Travel also complicates logistics, since it’s easy to fly into Israel but, until 2020, it was hard to fly on from there. Since then, flights have been added to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the next major concert market, as well as an international flight hub.

The 2014 formation of Bluestone Entertainment, as well as its 2017 purchase by Live Nation, modernized the country’s touring infrastructure and earned it a stamp of approval from the concert giant as one of 29 markets where Live Nation maintains offices and on-the-ground staff. Leading the company today is CEO Guy Besar, a 46-year-old native of Israel’s Rishon Lezion who got his start working at student events for the city’s College of Management Academic Studies, along with co-founders Shay Mor Yosef and Gadi Veinrib. Music manager Guy Oseary, whose clients include Madonna and, until recently, U2, is the fourth co-founder of Bluestone.

Bluestone has been successful in pushing back against BDS activist groups like the Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) and artists like Roger Waters, who convinced Elvis Costello, Devendra Banhart and Gorillaz to cancel planned visits to the country in 2010. Oseary has worked with artist managers to develop a communications and messaging strategy before announcing shows in the country.

Bluestone also played a key role in bringing Ticketmaster to Israel as part of its 2017 joint venture with Live Nation and has focused its efforts on modernizing and bringing shows to HaYarkon Park in Tel Aviv, an urban park and summer concert destination that can host concerts for up to 70,000 attendees per night. That led to a $6.7 million gross for Guns N’ Roses‘ June 5 concert at HaYarkon, $6.6 million for Imagine Dragons on Aug. 29 and a whopping $11.7 million for two Maroon 5 concerts in May 2022.

Those seven-and-eight-figure grosses have helped offset the expenses associated with performing in Israel, while a 2020 agreement with the UAE and Bahrain known as the Abraham Accords has led to the normalization of relations between the three countries. The treaty, negotiated by the Trump administration, also allows air travel between the three countries via Saudi Arabian airspace. That means that once in the UAE, touring shows can easily fly to markets like Malaysia, Singapore and much of Southeast Asia.

Bluestone was reportedly on track to generate $75 million in 2023, a number that will likely drop following the cancellation of Mars’ Oct. 7 concert. But it will likely still be up nearly 50% percent from 2022 when the company brought in $46 million. As for the security threat that caused the cancellation, sources say that despite the surprising nature of the Oct. 7 attacks, Israel deploys significant resources to securing events and large crowds and note that concert promoters in the country feel extremely confident in their ability to secure A-list artists and visitors for concerts.

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 had a hand in the careers of Whitney Houston, Patti Smith and Barry Manilow, among many others, posted a message to social media stating, “I […]

Taylor Swift‘s security guard who protected her during The Eras Tour has gone back to his home in Israel to fight against Hamas, according to Israel Today. He is joining the Israel Defense Forces, the national military of the State of Israel. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news […]

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Dennis Graham has often spoken on behalf of his son, Aubrey Graham, otherwise known as Drake to much of the world. In light of recent criticism that Drake hasn’t shared a statement regarding the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, Dennis Graham said that Drizzy is being careful as support for either side could be dissected to bits.
TMZ caught up with Dennis Graham at LAX and the veteran Memphis musician shared his thoughts on why his son hasn’t spoken up in support of Israel despite being of Jewish heritage.

More from TMZ:

Drake’s silence, in particular, has been a hot topic on social media thanks to DJ Vlad … who’s been calling out Drizzy and DJ Khaled, who’s Palestinian, for not using their massive platforms to speak on the crisis.
Dennis says celebs get way more backlash when they publicly address hot-button issues, and he’s certain Drake would be no different.
Graham also shared that his son’s stomach issues that promoted his hiatus from music isn’t a major issue. Of course, Drake is enjoying a nice run on the charts with his latest album, For AlL The Dogs, once again dominating the streaming ecosystem as he often does.
While there is no timeline for Drake’s return to music, Dennis Graham said it could last for an entire year but even he isn’t too sure.

Photo: Chris Polk/BBMA2017 / Getty

An Israeli production company is working on a documentary about the horrific Oct. 7 terror attack on the Supernova Music Festival at Kibbutz Re’im by Hamas militants. The assault by air and land by the militant arm of the terrorist organization that governs the more than two million Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip included the killing of more than 260 revelers at the Paralello Universo Supernova Sukkot Gathering electronic dance music festival celebrating the Jewish holiday Simchat Torah.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Israeli production company Sipur is working with Israeli broadcasters HOT Channel 8 and HSCC on a feature documentary about the assault that was part of Hamas surprise raid on the Southern border of Israel that found the militants killing more than 1,300 Israeli men, women and children and kidnapping nearly 200 civilians and soldiers.

The film will be directed by Yariv Mozer (The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes) using exclusive footage from participants and key people at the party, with the team aiming to “present an in-depth look at the festival before, during and after the horrific event,” according to THR, including interviews with investigators, soldiers and journalists and unseen footage from attendees.

“I have seen things in my life. I have lived through wars; I have fought in wars and I have even filmed during a war,” Mozer told THR in a statement. “But nothing prepared me for the harsh images I have seen in the remains of the massacre that took place at the Nova music festival. I see it as my duty as a documentary filmmaker to bring to the world the testimonies and horrific stories from the survivors of this slaughter. Young women and men whose only sin was their desire for music, and the passion to celebrate free love, spirit and freedom.”

President Biden referenced the massacre during remarks on the Israel-Hamas conflict days after the attack, naming “young people massacred while attending a music festival to celebrate peace” among the violent incidents of the previous few days.

Sipur CEO Emilio Schenker said the team “moved quickly” to begin work on the doc within a week of the attack because they believe it is “imperative to do everything in our power to shine a light on the greatest evil committed against our people since the Holocaust. The Supernova Music Festival must be seen and understood in its entirety to truly understand the larger meaning of the unspeakable crimes against humanity that occurred there. The world must never forget.”

The producers of the Supernova Gathering issued their first statement on the massacre on Friday. “Our dear tribe of Nova, first and foremost, we want to convey our sincere and heartfelt condolences to all the families, friends, partners and couples who have lost their loved ones or have been affected by the tragic events that unfolded, following that magic night and that turned into an exceedingly heavy morning,” they wrote.

“What was planned to be the happiest and largest electronic music festival of the Nova Tribe has turned into a scene of unspeakable tragedy, an inhumane war crime, an unprecedented violation of the most basic human values,” it continued. “This is the epitome of pure and unbridled evil, the horrifying and senseless murder of countless innocent angels, whose only ‘crime’ was being Jewish and living in Israel.“

The festival was attended by approximately 3,000 people, with a lineup focused on the electronic psytrance dance subgenre. Around 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists entered the site by truck, motorcycle, ATV and paraglider and began killing festival attendees with machine guns and RPGs, while also taking a number hostage and transporting them to Gaza.

Israel is expected to launch a major land invasion into Gaza in retaliation within days with the stated aim of wiping out Hamas’ infrastructure and leadership.

Following Hamas’ attacks throughout Israel this past weekend and Israel’s current bombardment of Gaza, the three major labels, along with the Recording Academy, have released statements condemning Hamas. In a statement posted Thursday to X, the platform previously called Twitter, Warner Music Group wrote, “We condemn the terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas and the […]