Successful relaunch of Al Jeel Al Jadeed

After a somewhat bumpy start, which was explained in this article published yesterday, the new song ‘Al Jeel Al Jadeed’ has been firmly established in cyberspace. After the first 24 hours since the launch of its second version, it managed to hit the 5,000 views milestone!

The song was received warmly by many fans from all over the world. The English subtitles must have helped, considering that many of the positive responses came from non-Arabic speakers. It also met with less positive responses, mainly from conservative sections of Arab society, as well as from angry teenagers.

Comments on Youtube have to pass approval, but people who don’t like the song can still express this by clicking on the dislike button. If you look at the screenshots, you can see that 20 people expressed themselves negatively in this way. Negative comments will definitely pass approval if they are not worded as lowly insults, but until now criticism has been of such a graceless nature that none was found suitable for approval on the Youtube comments thread. This is common on Youtube, so it’s nothing worth fussing about, and some level of controversy was to be expected.

I respect the views of the dislikers, just as much as I appreciate the praise of those who were so kind to reply to our music video in a positive way. I understand that for some people in our society, such music and activity is to be frowned upon, and although I respect their views I stand by the fact that there is nothing disgraceful about neither the song nor the video.

However, I reject the wave of insinuations by desperate ‘haters’ who wished to discredit the song by smearing it as a ‘disguised call for peace with the Zionists’, and other such ridiculous accusations. It’s not ‘freedom of opinion’ to give a platform to such malignant attitudes, who do not even believe their accusations themselves but merely wish to smear this effort of unity.

Whoever has any clue about the activities of the Musical Intifada knows that all the music portrayed here fits within the attitude of resistance against the Israeli occupation, not accommodating it or seeking any type of reconciliation with it. A quick look at the website, the articles, the songs and the videos will immediately lead any genuine reader and viewer to dismiss such claims as smears of the lowest and most uncouth kind.

The song calls for unity, and it barely should be necessary to explain that it calls for Palestinian unity, and Arab unity. In so far that the song calls for the equality of all human beings, which it does, this by no means implies any kind of normalization with the illegitimate state of ‘Israel’, since the Zionist state by definition is founded upon a racist ideology that fanatically opposes such equality.

I thank those who shared the song and contributed to its powerful entry into the realms of online music and activism. I also thank the friends who worked with me on this video, and who helped make it look so lovely, and helped breathe into it a spirit of positive energy, determination, and resilience. I invite all readers and followers of the Musical Intifada to keep promoting this song until the sound of Palestinian and Arab unity is spread widely, and sectarian hatred in all parts of the Arab world makes way for reconciliation and mutual cooperation.

ONE fist against ‘Israel’, and that’s the only way forward that is acceptable. FREE PALESTINE!

Doc Jazz