In the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the currently most popular song listed is “Sorry” by Justin Bieber. I don’t know what it’s about, but I’m sure there’s some oooo’s and aaaaaa’s in the lyrics with lines like “Girl, I let you down” and something about “Hearts being true.” And I’m sure that if there’s a music video, it’ll feature lots of people looking deep in thought while staring out into the ocean, or buckets of water falling on their heads in slow motion accompanied by lots of perfectly chiselled bodies that don’t exist in any world that I know.

However in the Palestinian world, the Hot 100 chart is a little different, because the current top hit over there is a song called “Lovers of Stabbing” by Gaza band Al-Gorbaa. This song was inspired by Mohammed Ali al-Miqdad, who was shot dead as he attempted to stab Israeli security forces. And with lines like “O Mohammed, commando of the knives” it’s a real sing-along for the whole family. Their music videos also differ somewhat from the half-naked people with water on their heads. In these ones, the mother of Mohammed is seen dancing on a car and singing along during a funeral procession. Just another proud mother.

Of course, that’s not the only song. Other popular titles have the crowd favourite “Stab the Zionist” and “Fill the Bottle with Fire” for those winter chills. Some of them have even been reportedly found on youtube with upwards of 5 million views! And along with each song is a video showing the moment the great Palestinian heroes carry out the heroic act of stabbing innocent people to death or ramming their car into a helpless crowd.







Many of the songs are also about “protecting” the Al-Aqsa mosque from the evil Jews. And no, they don’t just come from Hamas affiliated singers – it’s Fatah too – the organisation that Mahmoud “Mr Moderate” Abbas leads.

Quick recap: Hamas is really really really really really bad, but Fatah is only really really really really bad – so therefore Fatah and the Palestinian Authority are moderate and therefore good guys.

One of the songs played is called “Raise your weapon” and with lyrics such as “Drown them in a sea of blood, kill them as you wish”, it’s sure to get those legs tapping and those heads bopping! I wonder if Mr Abbas helped with the lyrics… I mean with choice lines of his own like, “We bless every drop of blood that has been spilled for Jerusalem,” and “We won’t allow their filthy feet to desecrate the Temple Mount”, he has certainly shown to have the writer’s flair in him.

But of course these songs can by no means be called incitement, as per the logic of the ole 70s rocker Ban “Mr Secretary” Ki-Moon, whose favourite song, “It’s only natural” by Crowded House remains at the top of his list. Instead, they’re just… you know… forms of artistic expression that should be celebrated and nurtured.

The real incitement is, of course, Israeli songs like Halleluya which sings of nature and trees and love and sunshine, and songs like Shir La Shalom which sings about peace. And to those Palestinians who celebrate murder and pain, nothing can be more provocative than that!