War often drives nations to utilize niche instruments as alternatives to traditional forms of resistance. When oppressors hawk-eye the resistance’s movements, Molotovs and rock slingshots amp up the risks, leaving nations reliant on a more expressively involved type of defiance: music.
The culture of oppressed nations exposes the highs of freedom to the lows of oppression through art. In the case of Palestinians, they entrust their cause to music, for it preserves their history and documents what the UN and other humanitarian watchdog organizations have deemed to be ethnic cleansing and genocide. Palestinians incorporate their lives into song, not just in the name of folklore, but in resistance as well. For them, art speaks their woes in loud agony, stunning the ears of those listening (or ignoring), and forcing them to acknowledge the volume.
The Gaza genocide of the past two years has spurred tons of solidarity movements across the globe, raising awareness on the 69 thousand Palestinians killed since October 7th as an attempt to do them justice.
Contrary to years of turning its back on the Palestinian cause, mainstream music joined the movement. Through artists like Macklemore, Jesse Welles, Coldplay, Saint Levant, and Kehlani, the Gaza genocide falls nothing short of the dynamic between fight and song, as even amid propaganda and misinformation, the music industry managed to speak up for Palestinians silenced by Israeli oppression.
Nuance in Melodies for Resistance
This newly found solidarity is unprecedented, meaning the underlying nuance of politics and music must be discussed before assessing mainstream art’s involvement in both. Based on the analysis in his book Trans/Intifada, PhD Assistant Professor of Communication Dr. Denijal Jegić established the potential of art in preserving nations’ history and identity.
He mentioned that “given the colonizer’s lack of history and connection to the land, which the colonizer absurdly claims as their own, and considering the censorship and marginalization of indigenous communities and the colonization of their communication in the dominant political and media system of hierarchies, art, including music, has always provided possibilities to narrate, speak, and be heard.”
He added that music is able to “transmit political content without it necessarily being perceived as such,” meaning the nature of music allows it to be impactful, especially culturally, since he argues the non-conditional requirement of “formal communication” and literacy accessibilizes music to the masses.
Thus, the usage of music as a way of resistance “can impact certain audiences” to a greater extent than purely “informative, formal, academic, or journalistic documentations of history/politics.”
Despite this take, Dr. Jegić explained that there are “limitations” on the international music industry’s solidarity in helping Palestinians’ right to self-determination, as “artistic expressions need to be critically viewed within their own political economy,” referring to the “hegemonic popular music industry that is focused on entertainment and profit.”
Upon this, he discussed that “the shift in political and media discourse in many places around the world in the last two years may have changed the borders of permissible speech on Palestine.”
However, given the colonized discourse about Palestine, he said that “it is important to differentiate between genuine solidarity with Palestine and potential instrumentalization of the Palestinian cause as a trend,” as sometimes pro-Palestinian discourse substantiates anti-Palestinian racism “due to its inability or unwillingness to locate the larger issue of settler-colonialism and genocide and the Zionist regime’s ideology of elimination and death.”
Dr. Jegić stressed that it is “imperative, in any discourse on Palestine, to center Palestinians and Palestinian voices,” arguing that media literacy is necessary in understanding post-genocide music solidarity.
A Palestinian’s View on Solidarity
September of 2025 witnessed a melting pot of 69 international singers, actors, public figures, and activists, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Nai Barghouti, and Paloma Faith, during a concert at Wembley Arena, England, under the name “Together for Palestine.”
This event’s objective was to raise awareness on the Gaza genocide and Palestinian oppression by Israel, in addition to sending all of its proceeds from tickets, merchandise, and donations as funds for Palestinian-led humanitarian organizations like Taawon, the Palestine Children Relief Fund, and the Palestine Medical Relief Society. Through sold-out seats by the live audience of 12,500 people and 200,000 online viewers, £1,500,000 were raised and donated in the name of the concert.
Reem Assi, a Palestinian singer and the first Palestinian music director of Dischord A Cappella at the University of Pennsylvania, commented on this event, saying that the beauty of it was in its loudness and publicity in using Palestine at the forefront of its name, rather than together for “the Middle East” or “West Bank.”
She added that this past year has spurred multiple artists to advocate for Palestine, especially in concerts and big events, such as Lorde changing her concert lighting to the color of Palestine’s flag.
Furthermore, Ms. Assi mentioned “No Music for Genocide” – which is a “cultural boycott” featuring various labels and 1000 artists, including big names like Björk, who “geo-blocked and removed their music from [Israel] in response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza” and settler colonial occupation of Palestine – and questioned the reasoning for this cultural shift. She explained that the music industry faced a “domino effect on taking initiative and speaking up,” where artists rid themselves of fearing to lose record deals and followers in exchange for standing with justice and truth.
In particular, Ms. Assi stated, “It is normalized now, in this specific year, to speak out about Palestine [because of] the sheer mass destruction and tens of thousands of deaths,” referring to the content and coverage of Gaza mainstreamed on all media platforms that shows “how very obvious that this is a genocide, this is apartheid, this is an act of erasure,” not two equal political parties “figuring out a conflict.”
Nevertheless, Ms. Assi expressed that she is “pessimistic” about the plethora of sudden solidarity, saying, “People can argue that it’s better late than never, but it feels very performative in some aspects.”
She elaborated that it took all the artists and initiatives she mentioned during the interview “this amount of deaths and destruction and publicity” for them to care and speak up about something that is “so deeply ingrained in their communities, as Palestinians are your neighbors, they’re friends, they’re within the music industry, they share those spaces with you, and I appreciate that you’re not a Zionist, but the bar is in hell ultimately. And the bar shouldn’t be in hell.”
Lastly, Ms. Assi discussed her experience in performing concerts with Dischord A Cappella in a university that suppresses pro-Palestinian actions. She noted that in all her performances she wears a Palestine necklace to send a message to all those attending. “I talk about home a lot and will either wear a dress or something that shows people a signal, whether they like it or not.”
Even so, she made sure to advocate for Palestinian artists’ right to express themselves creatively without being constrained by their identity; she argued, “Palestinian artists should feel the liberty to produce music that is not related to Palestine, just like any other artists. Holding them at a higher responsibility than non-Palestinian artists is not fair,” reinforcing that “Palestinians are just like everyone else” and recommending a balance between merely expressing art creatively and incorporating worldly causes in art.
For A Cause That Never Sleeps
Public figures appearing as bystanders in this context force fans to question their stance on matters beyond music and profit. The salient support of Palestine exists within a dichotomy of “instrumentalization” and “genuine solidarity.”
In spite of that, an international artist who has gained attention for his blatant support of Palestine, passed on the opportunity to discuss post-genocide music, as he has “done multiple interviews in this lane.” Remarkably, at the time of this interview, his Instagram profile picture was a watermelon drawing incorporated with the geographic land of Palestine; the image invites audiences to interact with its holder in hopes of supporting an artist on the right side of history – which ultimately increases his fan base.
But to a Palestinian like Reem Assi, who stressed that “if you’re going to say something, say it wholeheartedly and all the way through,” the “right side of history” is not only saying you are pro-Palestine and raising funds, it is also acknowledging that a humanitarian crisis like this does not sleep, rest, or settle down.
It is acknowledging that the Palestinian cause is a boiling crisis that requires supporters to speak about justice whether they are tired, busy, overwhelmed, or even sick of talking about it; as the mothers, fathers, and children whose reality is said suffering aren’t afforded the luxury of taking a break from their crushing reality. They don’t get to rest. They are suffering ethnic cleansing by an occupational entity that attacks them in times of sickness, grief, and hopefulness.
Solidarity is not defined by conditional convenience but rather by its unconditional inconvenience.
In the view of the late Palestinian musician and music teacher Ghidian Qaimary, “music is capable of supporting resistance and showing the calls of oppressed nations via lyrics and tunes.”
Mr. Qaimary has been in the field of music since the age of 9, even with artistic limitations enforced by Israel, and is one of the first Palestinian artists to play at the Jerusalem Hotel – yet he held space for the international community despite its late support of Palestine, by acknowledging the international music industry as an active party in supporting Palestinian resistance, “because they, too, refuse the oppression Palestinians go through,” and have changed their stance once “the images cleared for them and showed the extent of suffering we go through.”
The comments of Mr. Qaimary expressed that in times of injustice, nations under systemic oppression welcome all kinds of solidarity, even those in short conditional supply, for reaching justice requires a union of odds against all odds.
