(Update: English captions added to the video @ red button)

An Israeli song about learning to kill and dehumanizing the enemy is going viral in Israel. After Israel’s Army Radio canceled a live broadcast of the song and banned the song from the station it was thrust into the national (and international?) spotlight. A Matter of Habits, the title track of popular Israeli rock band Tislam’s new album has everybody talking. Tislam’s co founder, Izhar Ashdot, is husband and life partner to Israeli novelist Alona Kimhi (both legendary artists in Israel). Kimhi wrote the lyrics after a Breaking the Silence tour of Hebron a few years ago.

Thus far the song has 2,174 ‘dislikes‘ on youTube, if that’s any indication of the controversy it’s generating. Some critics are literally fuming about the content while others are clearly more offended by the fact it’s been censored by Army Radio although it’s still getting play on Israel radio.

It’s not a shoot and cry — it’s corpse-like cold in it’s directness which is why it is threatening: “The cousin like an animal/Used to blood/Doesn’t feel suffering/Is not human.”

Uri Blau at Haaretz writes people do not want to know, they don’t want to think about it:

Under Dekel’s baton, the Army Radio station introduced a new slogan to its broadcasts: “What’s happening now.” Until this week the slogan sounded simply hollow, but the censorship of Ashdot’s song proved that it is also the opposite of the way Army Radio operates. In his decision, Dekel did exactly what the public wishes, as reflected in the responses to the song’s banning. What’s happening now is that many people don’t want to know, don’t want to hear and don’t want to think about what’s being done in their name and what happens to their children when they don a uniform and are transformed from boys into an occupying force. But Dekel is a journalist rather than Army Radio’s public relations agent. He is supposed to report to his listeners what’s happening on every patrol by soldiers and at every checkpoint manned by Border Police. “Our heart is already coarse and our skin is so thick, deaf and blind in the bubble of the present,” sings Ashdot. By imposing censorship on the song, Dekel proved that every word is true, and chose to conceal the truth, to whitewash the reality and to pat ourselves on the back. That’s a mistake and it reinforces an image of what’s happening that is definitely not what’s happening now.

LATimes:

The song was welcomed by liberals as a protest of Israel’s actions in the West Bank but fiercely criticized by others, who defaced Ashdot’s official Facebook page last month, with one angry reader referring to Ashdot as a “draft-dodging dog” — though he didn’t evade mandatory service. Army Radio stuck by an advance invitation that Ashdot perform in its studios but expressly vetoed the playing of this song. The station later issued a statement saying there was no room on the military station for a song that “denigrates and denounces those who have sacrificed their lives for the defense of the country.” “I am worried when songs are banned for broadcast in a democratic country,” Ashdot told Israeli media, adding he was shocked by the “incitement” against him that the statement encouraged. The decision and statement were issued by Yaron Dekel, a veteran journalist appointed to be the station’s military commander in February. …… Michael Sfard, an activist attorney who represents Breaking the Silence, called the decision a “sad instance of political censorship” and wondered if an interviewer speaking, not singing, the same critique would be censored. …. The political party Meretz, which opposes Israel’s continued occupation of the West Bank, used its social media platform to recommend the song and ushered its supporters to YouTube to ‘like’ “Ashdot’s courage and Kimhi’s uncompromising text.”

Jerusalem Post: One song our soldiers won’t be marching to

And these words caught my attention:- They translate as “Hey, what here is ours and what belongs to you?” Who is he singing to? Who is the “we” and who the “you”? Is the Arabic-styled font intended to suggest Arabs are the “you”? Is this a political song? But to the point: IDF soldiers learn to defend and to do that, they must be trained in warfare and how to kill. There is no room for pacificism here.

For background on the origins of Kimhi’s Breaking the Silence tour check out A song was born: The tale of a controversial tune by Yuval Ben-Ami at 972+ . He offers a translation of the lyrics below.

Learning to kill

Is a matter of momentum

It starts small

And then it comes Patrols every night

In the casbah of Nablus

Hey, what here is ours

And what is yours At first just a drill

A rifle’s butt bangs on the door

Children in shock

A family terrified Later – closure*

There’s danger already

Death is lurking

Behind every corner Cocking the weapon

Arm shaking

Finger is firm

Against the trigger The heart goes wild

Beats, terrified

It knows – next time

It will be easier They are not a man, not a woman

They are just an object, just a shadow

Learning to kill

Is a matter of habit Learning to fear

Is a matter of momentum

You start small

And then it comes The news from above

Reaches the street

There’s no hope of living

The end is so near Prophecies of terror

Like the crow of a raven

Close the shutters

Close up in the homes We’re just a few

And they are so many

A tiny country

Devoured by enemies They have only hate in their hearts

Evil, dark urges

Learning to fear

Is a matter of habit Learning cruelty

Is a matter of momentum

It starts small

And then it comes Every boy is a man

Craving victory

Hands behind the head

Legs spread It’s a time of danger

It’s a time of destruction

Soldier, toughen up

There’s no good in compassion The cousin like an animal

Used to blood

Doesn’t feel suffering

Is not human Field uniform and chafing

Exhaustion and routine

From stupidity to evil

The route is short All ours, all ours

Israel’s land

Learning cruely

Is a matter of habit Son, son– stop

Son, son – come back

Come to me, sweetheart

Come to me, my baby The sky is so gloomy

Outside, already dark

Tin soldiers still

Under the bed Come home, son

Come home

Home

Home Learning to love

Is a matter of tenderness

A careful step

In a cloud of gentleness We will hesitate, we will come apart

We will soften, we will round out

Learning to love

Is a matter of habit Being human

Is a matter of momentum

It grows like an unborn child

And then it comes For just one minute

Just now, just today

To be on the other side

Of that same checkpoint But our heart has hardened

And our skin is thick

Deaf and blind

In the bubble of the present We will observe in amazement

The falling angel

Being human

Is a matter of habit *”Closure” is a military term referring to a situation in which inhabitants of a village or town are prevented from traveling outside it.

Mondoweiss contributor Ira Glunts had this to say which about wraps it:

A country raised on “purity of arms” and all this other crap is reacting like a cornered animal to charges of cruelty and worse.

Ben-Ami predicts the song will be legendary and all we need to do is be patient. I’m sitting back and grabbing the popcorn. This isn’t going away anytime soon.

(Hat tip Mondoweiss commenter Dickerson)