It was dawn on October 7 when the world media began to report that Hamas had taken advantage of the fact that Israel was celebrating the end of the Sukkot holiday to launch a surprise attack in which it ended up killing 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 200. Ahinoam Nini (Tel Aviv, 54 years old), the successful Israeli singer and songwriter better known as Noa, received her first message from abroad showing interest in her. It belonged to her friend Joan Manuel Serrat. The second, from another friend: Joaquín Sabina. She tells it in Shefayim, the kibbutz north of Tel Aviv where she walks every day the few minutes that separate her house from the same Mediterranean Sea that her friend Serrat has sung so much about from the other side.
In these days of pain, Noa needs those moments of calm and reflection more than ever, she says. The massacres of October 7 and the subsequent massive bombings in Gaza have further convinced her of the title of the song she performed in 2009 at Eurovision with Mira Awad (the first Arab to represent Israel): There must be another way (There has to be another way). “I support the two-state solution and the rights of the Palestinian people. And I have not changed my views at all, on the contrary. The importance of working tirelessly for peace has been strengthened in me. Because look what happens when it's not done. […] The war would stop tomorrow. It doesn't get us anywhere. And for Hamas there are solutions.” The two will share the stage again on Wednesday, to sing with the Berlin Philharmonic. The funds will go to the Israeli forum that represents the families of the hostages in Gaza and two women's peace organizations, one Israeli and one Palestinian.
Although he would not like to be on the same list as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he has criticized for years, the recognition Noa has garnered in awards and sales makes them both one of the few living Israelis whose name is known abroad. Fame and decades of activism now open privileged doors for him, like that of Pope Francis, to pressure Hamas to release the 134 hostages remaining in Gaza. He wears a symbol of that movement around his neck, in which he has been passionately involved. It is one of the soldiers' metal identification badges, but with the motto: Bring them back home now.
Ask. Can you show it to me?
Answer. Clear. Like everyone in Israel, I take the hostage issue very personally. I don't think there's a person, no matter what they think, who doesn't have a personal connection to the fact that about 250 people were kidnapped. Many are still there. For any country it would be traumatic, but for this one, which is really small, 250 hostages are like thousands of people in another. It is super traumatic that they took them away and we don't know when they will come or how they are. I have worked hard to try to bring them home through any connections I have in the world, including the Pope, who I spoke to many times. Unfortunately I don't think he can do much. I have also raised money, performed, marched with them, posted many messages on the Internet… I feel that we are in the depths of the trauma and far from its end.
Q. He says that it is an issue in which many people in Israel are involved, but I get the impression that his political camp is more sensitive to the issue than the right.
R. Everyone has an opinion about the hostages. We have seen terrible things from the Israeli right, radicals who completely ignore them. How can anyone dare to say that wanting your family back can stop the army from destroying Hamas? I don't like human sacrifices. We have to do everything possible to save and protect human life. Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian… all human life. I do not support the death cult.
Q. He was talking to me before about the conversation we should have right now. Which is it?
R. I think we're fighting three wars right now. There is one within Israel, between two different visions of life. A war of ideas. Many years ago, it was the field of peace. And then you add that to the field of democracy, in conflict with anti-democratic and anti-peace forces. During the years of Netanyahu's rule, it has deteriorated into a full-blown catastrophe in the last ten months, with all the protests [contra la reforma judicial].
Then came October 7th, like digging a deep hole at the bottom of the earth. There is also the conflict within Palestine. They also have to understand who is in charge. Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Al Fatah… Those who believe in non-violent resistance, those who believe in violent resistance, those who believe in elections…
On top of that, there is a big international issue, which is basically Iran and its representatives and all those people who want the cult of death, versus those who want some kind of agreement now.
I support the two-state solution and the rights of the Palestinian people. And I haven't changed my views at all. On the contrary. The importance of working tirelessly for peace has been strengthened in me. Because look what happens when it's not done. When you take all that important work and you sideline it, you devalue it, you demonize it and you put in the military power of Hamas and the military power of the Israeli army. What's the score? Death, death, suffering. Who needs that?
The importance of working tirelessly for peace has been strengthened in me.
Not
What Hamas did was a horrible act of human brutality. It brought no good to anyone. Not for the Palestinian people, and definitely not for the Israeli people. It's devastating. And look at the number of victims now. I would stop the war tomorrow. If I were the general to stop her, I would stop her. It doesn't get us anywhere. And for Hamas there are solutions. I'm not a generalist, but there are many solutions to this problem other than dropping more and more bombs. We need creative people, perhaps more women, to contribute good ideas. The solution of war, the macho and violent solution, has led the world from catastrophe to catastrophe, with millions of deaths. Enough of that. We are no longer in the Middle Ages. So I think we can say: we condemn terrorism, brutality and violence.
Q. He said that, if it were up to you, he would stop the war tomorrow. Most Israelis would tell you that….
R. I support the end of violence. And it is only possible through a diplomatic solution, which can only come with international intervention. If I were prime minister of Israel, the first thing I would do would be to clearly state my intentions. Because intentions are very important. That doesn't mean I know what to do with the army tomorrow. Of course we can't have Hamas terrorists bombing my people. I can't risk them coming and kidnapping more children and raping more women. It's a problem for which I don't have an immediate solution. But I know I have to say that I want a solution. Two States for two peoples and talk to whoever wants to talk to me, which of course is not Hamas. And let the international community help. If I were prime minister, we would never be in that situation in the first place, because I would have made peace with the Palestinians long ago. Both parties bear a lot of responsibility for the failure of the attempts. But I am Israeli, so I take responsibility for my part.
Q. I understand what you mean, but there is an urgency about what is happening now in Gaza.
R. I want international intervention tomorrow.
Q. What it would mean to stop…
R. It means we have to stop. I read something that is a solution I would propose. The release of all Israeli hostages and all Palestinian security prisoners. Hamas prisoners and leaders would leave Gaza for a third country. It is telling them: “We are not going to kill you because it would mean killing all those civilians, but you have to leave. It's not an option for you to be here. I personally believe that you all deserve to die after what you did. The death they have caused does not give them the right to life. But I won't kill them. They won't be here. “They will not threaten Israel, nor the Palestinians.” The international community intervenes. We stabilize the area. We help rebuild it.
Q. How do you feel when you see the images from Gaza?
R. Awful. It's a nightmare. I do not speak for all Israelis, but I speak for many, even many who will not say it now. They feel like when you talk to a lot of Palestinians, they say they don't feel for the Israeli side, but they do. Now they have to be on their side, protect their people, cry with their people, because we are in the middle of the trauma. I know this because I talk to Palestinians all the time. Many people in Gaza suffer horribly, on all sides. Because of Hamas, because of what is happening, because they have a connection with Israel, friends, projects together. And we make enormous personal efforts to help them. We give them money to buy food in ways that I won't say so as not to put them in danger.
Clearly I suffer a lot knowing what is happening to the people on the other side. I do not subscribe to right-wing Israeli propaganda that all Gazans are guilty of what happened on October 7. I see Hamas guilty, and also the Israeli Government, which strengthened Hamas and did not make peace. Hamas is guilty of the massacre. Israelis are guilty of failing to promote peace, as is anyone who has tried to prevent it over the years. People who prevent peace have blood on their hands.
Q. So There must be another way (There has to be another way) is more relevant today than in 2009.
R. Of course. There is always another way. You have to be brave enough to find it and move forward.
Q. Sorry to go back to the details. But if Hamas leaders or militiamen do not want to go elsewhere, as proposed, what to do?
R. When you are already in a situation of conflict and war, you are in shit. People die in war. There is nothing to do about it. The idea is always to try to avoid war in any way possible. If I present a plan to stop it and ask my partners around the world to do it with me, but there is a refusal, what am I supposed to do? Die? Because that's what Hamas offers me. It is not a black and white solution and I certainly cannot give one like that. As an artist, I understand complexity very well.
When you are already in a situation of conflict and war, you are in shit.
Not
Q. Just as an artist, what do you think you can contribute with your voice and your fame to this situation that generals, politicians or the general public cannot?
R. Art is a reflection of the complexity of the human soul, it allows us to see things that we did not see before. I did a concert in Luxembourg. At one point, I started singing: “From the river [Jordán] to the sea [Mediterráneo, una frase coreada en manifestaciones recientes y que continua “Palestina será libre”]…two States for you and me.” It's an example of what I can do. Transform a phrase that is said with anger and hatred into something we can all be a part of.
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