Amidst the heavily armed conflict going on between Israel and Palestine for the past few weeks, numerous artistes took to social media on Sunday to post a video of a 12-year-old boy from Gaza rapping about the turmoil his city is witnessing.
Nearly a week ago, a major conflict erupted between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers, leading to the deaths of more than a hundred Palestinians. Air raids from both parties have now become commonplace over the last week, with many heartbreaking videos concerning the situation in Gaza doing the rounds on social media.
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Abdel Rahman al-Shantti is seen rapping amid the ruins of buildings that were likely leveled by an Israeli air raid in the viral video clip. Abdel, also known as MC Abdel, is a 12-year-old musician. “Palestine’s been occupied for decades, but a home for centuries. This land has for generations been all my family’s memories,” he raps in the song.
He went on to question in the video if his baby sister deserves to grow up in a world where she is “denied the right to live free because of where she came.”
The video has now garnered 2.4 million views and has been circulated by celebrities including actor Tyrese Gibson and Grammy-winning music producer DJ Khaled.
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Khaled posted the video on his Instagram account with the caption, “Bless up the young world @mca.rap. Praying for Love and peace to the world and Unity! Praying for love and peace ?? and the whole world everyone love and peace. LOVE IS THE ANSWER.”
Last year, one of Abdel’s rap videos went viral, bringing him to the attention of the public. But Abdel was strongly derided after remarks he made in a discussion with a Russian publication went viral, in which he called for peace between Israel and Palestine.
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In that interview, as per the New York Times, Abdel said, “I would like to spread love between us and Israel. There’s no reason for fighting and wars. We need to let this relationship become better and better.” Following the severe backlash, Abdel’s father Saleh al-Shantti clarified that his son did not want peace between Israel and Palestine but rather world peace, according to the New York Times.
According to a New York Times article, Abdel attends a United Nations-run school in Gaza City and has self-taught himself English by avidly consuming music online.
