Before movies and TV shows could even think about addressing the aftermath of October 7, music was already there to heal wounds and channel grief and anger.
Symbolic songs have come out of all of Israel’s biggest wars — “Flowers in the Barrel” or “Prachim Bakane” for the Six Day War; “Lu Yehi” or “May It Be” by Chava Alberstein for the Yom Kippur War. Which songs will settle into the defining soundtrack for the Israel-Hamas War remains to be seen, but there are dozens of candidates that have joined a longstanding tradition in the country, where after every terror attack and on every Memorial Day, the radio starts crooning only sad and somber songs while the TVs stop airing their regular programing — a tradition of using art and music to deal with trauma and grief. After October 7, in a country where many could not find comfort from their leadership, art became, as professor Shayna Weiss aptly said, “the comforter in chief.”
It’d be impossible to create a list of all the new music that has come out after October 7, 2023. There are hundreds of such songs, from the biggest names in Israel to gorgeous recordings from indie singers to survivors themselves — and even, in some cases, songs from some who didn’t survive. But the following 16 songs illuminate the way the country has dealt with the Hamas attack and its aftermath, featuring a big range of musical styles and emotions from a country still broken.
Ness & Stilla — “Harbu Darbu”
This song topped the list of what some would call Israel’s definitive ranking, Galgalatz’s 5784 top 40 songs of the year. And no song has created waves quite like “Harbu Darbu.” The name refers to a Hebrew slang about destruction that became popular in military talks and comes from Arabic for mayhem, war and strikes. Is it a dark prophetic song? Does it have “genocidal intentions,” as Mia Khalifa, mentioned in the song, claimed on her social media and South Africa tried to claim at the IRGC? Is it just a song by two young creators trying to hype up their fellow countrymen fighting a terrible war after an attack that left them groundless and shaken? Or just a channeling of pure rage? It’s hard to tell. What I can say is that Ness and Stilla, who were already on the road to stardom with their TikTok rap hit “Tik Katan” (“Small Bag”), now have two other rap hits under their belt and in the Galgalatz’s Top 10. And while they do, like many a song of the genre, use military language in their verses, they’re very much just your run of the mill pop songs about driving away from your troubles and relationship strife.
Yagel Oshri — “Latzet MeDika’on” (“Overcoming Depression”)
This song also made it to Galgalatz’s top 10 list of 5784 hits, though it was technically a song written before the start of that Jewish year, and before October 7. But since the attack, “Overcoming Depression” became a song of returning soldiers and loved ones. If “Harbu Darbu” is an example of an upbeat, angry military march song, then Yagel Oshri’s is a song that is a warm embrace, a sweet solace, a literal guide for how to get out of depression.
Eden Golan — “Hurricane” / “October Rain”
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest was a history-making one full of controversy and, perhaps, the one that got the most press beyond Europe, where it is the most popular televised event on the continent. Israel had to edit its entry twice to make it palatable for the competition, removing any traces of anything that could be interpreted as political and connected to October 7. Singer Eden Golan, just 20, stepped up on stage to loud, relentless booing. But when she came back home, she sang the initial version of the song to the Hostage Square — originally called “October Rain.”
Eyal Golan — “Am Yisrael Chai”
The most played song on the radio is one of the most common refrains many have repeated since October 7 — “Am Yisrael Chai,” the people of Israel live. Eyal Golan is one of Israel’s biggest music stars, despite being embroiled by an R. Kelly and P. Diddy-like scandal involving allegations of statutory rape and sexual coercion. He was even crowned artist of the year for this impossibly catchy, dare I say populist, song, which tells its listeners that our survival hinges on “knowing to always be united,” because God is watching over all of us, and no one can beat us because we don’t have another country. Golan also sings for all the wars “to burn down” — not exactly a call for peace, or a call for this to be “The Last War,” like the big Yehoram Gaon post-Yom Kippur War hit, but an ask for wars to end, nonetheless.
M — “Yechefim” (“Barefoot”)
Another song that became a TikTok sensation is a very unusual cover from a mista’arev, a soldier whose job it is to go undercover in Arab populations, who went by the initial of “M.” He recorded a cover to the Yasmin Moallem song “Yechefim,” meaning “Barefoot,” dressed with full facial covering and army gear. The cover made it to the Galgalatz Top 10, but was also just the start of what is an already pretty fruitful musical career. M has released his first album and recently participated in the state’s October 7 memorial ceremony, where he sang a cover of singer Chanan Ben-Ari’s “Shvurei Lev,” or “Hearbroken.” Army bands have created the soundtrack to a lot of past wars, which is not so much the case in the Israel-Hamas War, but it is interesting to see this reserves soldier perform anonymously and independently in a way that serves the same purpose.
Jasmin Moallem — “Yihiye Tov” (“It Will Be OK”)
In 1978, David Broza released a song written by the great songwriter and poet Yehonatan Geffen called “Yihiye Tov,” which translates literally to “it will good” but in colloquial understanding means, “It’s going to be OK.” The song was written about Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel, the dreams of peace that it offered, and also the dream of better days. It has continued to pop up again and get re-written, especially in light of the social protests in 2011, for which Geffen wrote a new verse. In May of 2023, Jasmin Moallem, one of the most popular and gifted young Israeli singers, released a song by the same title, but this one was not inspired by any specific political event; it was an intimate song about a couple sitting together and telling each other that no matter what, everything will be OK. Something about the spirit of that song has captured everyone in these post October 7 days, when the idea of things being OK seem so alien. “In the end, it will be OK/The flowers will go back to blooming/You’ll see that it will be OK,” Moallem sings. The image of the red anemones in the fields outside the kibbutzim that were attacked on October 7, which became a symbol of grief, make the song feel almost prophetic.
Itai Levy — “Ein Li Makon Acher” (“I Have No Other Place”)
Another of the top three songs from this past year, the Mizrahi tune “Ein Li Makom Acher,” meaning “I Have No Other Place,” is a bit of an echo of the popular song “Ein Li Eretz Acheret,” “I Have No Other Country,” written by Ehud Manor in response to the War of Attrition, one that Nancy Pelosi has quoted on multiple occasions. The song gets at the sensations so many Israelis experienced in the aftermath of October 7, and still experience to this day. Levy sings about being ashamed to say that “I have no air” and “wanting to sleep until it’s over.” The chorus goes: “Only you saw me/with your heart/when you cried with me/the pain spilled away/you cleaned me/we made it through everything and we’ll make it through this/I have no other place.”
HaTikva 6 — “Giborey Al” (“Superheroes”)
The fourth most played song on the radio in Israel was from the Israeli reggae band HaTikva 6, in which they sing about how every person you know in Israel is in the military. It’s a kind of softer “Harbu Darbu,” where the band proudly declares, “We may all look normal but/We are a people of superheroes/In each one of us hides a soldier/Ready to save the world.”
Idan Raichel and Roni Dalumi — “Tachzor” (“Come Back”)
So many songs on repeat have refrains related to bringing the hostages home, including a resurgence of old songs like Margol’s “Na’ari Shuva Elai” (“My Young Boy, Come Back to Me,” beautifully covered by Eurovision winner Netta), Shula Chen’s “Bo HaBaita” (“Come Home”), and Lea Shabbat’s “Tamid Yechaku Lecha” (“Will Alway Wait for You,” which the singer re-released in 2023). Among the new songs with the same theme, one that stands out — beyond the viral “Bring Them Home” by Gal De Paz — is this song by the Idan Raichel Project and singer and Israeli “Euphoria” star Roni Dalumi, in which she croons, “Come back/come back today/I so wanted you to come here/maybe you’ll show up without warning/today.”
Aviv Geffen and Mia Liemberg — “Zricha Schora” (“Black Dawn”)
“We woke up to a black dawn,” Aviv Geffen, once the country’s premiere counter-culture rockstars, sings in this song with Mia Leimberg, who famously returned from Hamas captivity with her dog Bella. The video juxtaposes shots of Leimberg and Geffen singing, the destroyed kibbutz, and Leimberg with Bella. “Leaders are trying to calm us/And say we won’t give up/And I’m just waiting to see another hostage return/And nothing is passing.”
Aner Shapiro & Shaanan Street — “Shin’at Achim” (“Brotherly Hatred”)
In this hit, the lead singer of the renowned Israeli rap group HaDag Nachash duets with a dead person. You might have heard Aner Shapiro’s name in relation to Hersh Goldberg-Polin — the two were former classmates and best friends who went to the Nova festival together. Shapiro, a month away from finishing his army service, was killed while throwing grenades out of the shelter where he and a group of other revelers hid. Shapiro was also an accomplished rapper, and his family released his songs posthumously in “Intro to Anarchism.” One of these songs is “Sinat Achim,” the Biblical term for “Brotherly Hatred,” which Shapiro rails against in Israeli society. “There’s a place for every opinion,” Shapiro claims in the track. “There’s no place for extremism.” As for Street, he raps a dedication to Shapiro, in which he laments that God takes only the best, and says that at the Jerusalem bar The Sira, he is saving one seat for him, and one seat for Hersh.
Pnina Rosenblum — “Iran – Don’t Shoot”
And now it’s time for some comic relief, because having a cosmetics mogul become one of the viral music stars of the past Jewish year was not on my bingo card, but Pnina Rosenblum, known mostly for her pink-colored shampoo bottles, became the singer of some of the most infectious and probably most auto-tuned songs of the year. Her lyrics usually include some combination of the word “shoot,” like “Iran Don’t Shoot,” in which she warns Iran: “Iran, don’t shoot/Biden will shoot you/Iran don’t shoot/IDF will shoot you.” TikTok loved it, and can you blame them?
Amit Mann and Knessiat HaShechet — “Shum Davar Lo Yifga Bi” (“Nothing Will Hurt Me”)
In 1997, two Israeli helicopters crashed while transporting soldiers on a tactical mission to Lebanon. The 73 soldiers on those helicopters were killed. Among them was Lieutenant Erez Shtark. In his notebooks, his family found a song titled “Nothing Will Hurt Me.” “Nothing will hurt me, nothing/No woman to a terrorist’s bullet, nothing,” Shtrak promises in the song to his family, because his father told him, “If anything happens to you/There is no reason to live/No use for tomorrow.” In 2008, the rock band Knessiat HaShechel (Hebrew for “the brain’s church”) put Shtrak’s words to music, a song that would become one of the their biggest hits. Paramedic Amit Mann, 22, of Be’eri, an aspiring singer, recorded a cover of the song on her phone weeks before she was murdered on October 7 while caring for the people of her kibbutz and recording voice memos of her final moments. In November of 2023, the band released a duet of the song with her, and this week, they even sang the song with that recording of her broadcast on stage. The band’s lead singer sings the words for Mann and Shtark, beyond the grave: “If you are standing here, above me/I probably didn’t keep my promise/I’m sorry/On my life.”
E-Z and Odeya – “Choref ’23” (“Winter ‘23”)
In another echo of songs of old, Odeya, one of the biggest singers in the country, was one of the first to release a post-October 7 EP. This song references another song, about the children of the Yom Kippur War called “The Children of Winter ‘73,” in which the Artillery Forces Band sang about promises of a dove and an olive tree and peace in the home that were made to the generation born on Yom Kippur and were broken. In this song, there are no promises of peace; instead, there are the children of winter of ’23, living with “compassions whose house was burned down, and morals that were decapitated.”
Eviatar Banai — “Al Tifchad” (“Don’t Be Scared”)
Eviatar Banai, of the prominent Banai family, recorded an entire album “Anchor in the Water,” as a big hug for the nation. Especially poignant is his cover of his cousin’s song “Don’t Be Scared.” “Don’t Be Scared/You are not alone,” Banai sings with his saccharine voice in a track that would help even the toughest of person shed some held back tears.
Keren Peles and the children of October 7th — “Outside My Home”
The newest song on this list was released just this week, on October 7, 2024, and it is sung by one of the writers of Eurovision’s “Hurricane,” Keren Peles, along with some children who survived October 7. Some of the children survived Hamas captivity, and some still have relatives held hostage in Gaza. The harrowing last line of the song, “I lost my fear/In the field behind my home,” is sung by former hostage Emily Hand, 9.
