Boy George Under Fire for Pro-Israel Track
Poinews.com – Culture Club’s lead vocalist Boy George has drawn significant criticism following the release of a new song expressing support for Israel. The reggae-influenced track, called “Od Nirkod (We Will Dance Again),” bypassed traditional streaming services and appeared directly on the musician’s X profile alongside the greeting “Shalom.”
Connection to October 7 Events
The title references a phrase linked to the Hamas assault on the Supernova Sukkot Gathering festival on October 7, an incident that claimed 378 lives and triggered Israel’s military response in Gaza. This same phrase also serves as the name for a documentary released in 2024 covering the tragedy.
The opening verses of the song present a clear stance: “You say genocide / I say war / When you’re attacked / That’s what the army is for / Does it get ugly? / You bet it does / When I know you want to kill / Every last one of us…” These lines directly challenge claims that genocide is occurring in Gaza, contradicting assessments from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and United Nations bodies.
UN Commission Findings Disputed
A recent United Nations independent commission report concluded that Israeli security forces and authorities intentionally targeted Palestinian youth, constituting genocide alongside atrocity crimes within Gaza and war crimes in the West Bank. The commission’s previous year’s statement similarly asserted that Israel committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, noting that the systematic and extensive military operations produced unprecedented casualties, injuries, and psychological trauma among Palestinian children.
Additional Song Lyrics
Further verses of the composition include: “Young girls raped against trees / Murdered brutally / You condemn the Jews / With selective memory / Musicians holding flags / Mouthing like sheep / Propaganda fuelled by the internet / Feels so weak.”
Online Backlash Intensifies
The track has been widely condemned across social media platforms, with numerous users criticizing the “Karma Chameleon” singer for his lyrical content. One commenter wrote: “Don’t you know over 20.000 children have been slaughtered, ethnically cleansed a population into a concentration camp, destroyed over 80% of the infrastructure, destroyed and ethnically cleansed thousands in the West Bank, shame on you.”
Another user expressed: “What a depraved piece of repellant zionist propaganda that’s designed to justify the slaughter of over 80,000 Palestinians, inc. over 20,000 kids, and their continuing oppression, dispossession, humiliation and massacre.”
A third voice added: “Awful music, awful person, and he’s sunk to supporting a genocide just to try and be contrary in the hopes it pays off – it won’t. You’re ruined any good faith anyone might have had in you, and you’ve only dug a deeper grave for your dead career.”
Yet another commenter shared: “He has sold his soul, so disappointed. His Irish freedom fighting relatives would be horrified.”
Personal History and Consistent Stance
Internet users have also recalled a 2007 legal case where Boy George received a fifteen-month prison sentence for falsely imprisoning a male escort, whom he handcuffed to a wall and struck with a metal chain.
Having grown up in an Irish Catholic family and not being Jewish himself, Boy George has consistently voiced his support for Israel. During a Eurovision gathering in London earlier this year, he stated: “I have many, many Jewish friends that I’ve had since I was 15 or 16 years old. Are people asking me as a principled human being to turn my back on my Jewish friends? It’s not going to happen, it’s never going to happen.”
While numerous musicians have criticized what they describe as genocide and boycotted Israeli events, Boy George has declined invitations from the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement to perform in Tel Aviv.
