One More Brother: A Song About the Conflict

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This powerful song expresses the hopelessness of the endless cycle of violence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as a desire for peace. It was written by Israeli rapper The Big Fishi (Adam Ben-Lavi) and Hadag Nachash, a Jerusalem-based hip-hop/funk band whose songs contain many messages about Israeli politics and society. An English translation of the lyrics can be seen onscreen and below. 

One More Brother

One more brother has gone to his grave,
And a mother is sobbing, with piercing cries,
One more brother has gone to his grave,
The cries of the father can be heard from all sides,
Man, why is it that your heart is like ice?

Do you enjoy being a killer?
My ears hear the threats from your mouth,
Why do you speak like that, when I’m your brother?
Each side claims that only they possess the truth,
Whilst every day another innocent dies,
Killing people, you don’t care one bit,
Shooting people, how can you bring yourself to do it?
A mother is grieving and another child is orphaned,
And the pavement is again stained red,
Life, it’s worthwhile and valuable,
Murder and killing is not the way,

One more brother has gone to his grave,
And a mother is sobbing, with piercing cries,
One more brother has gone to his grave,
The cries of the father can be heard from all sides,
Son, what’s wrong with you, you’ve lost your mind,

Bro, look at the state in which yourself, you find,
Anything goes, you no longer care,
In your eyes there’s a cold, vacant stare,
Think about the future, the next day,
To try and change things, it’s never too late,
All the people of Israel, enough with all the violence,
I don’t want to see another person die,
We’ll find mercy, find compassion,
Instead of boiling over, we’ll just find warmth,
Every drop of blood that’s spilled leaves emptiness in its wake,
And I’d rather live than die for my country’s sake,

One more brother has gone to his grave,
And a mother is sobbing, with piercing cries,
One more brother has gone to his grave,
The cries of the father can be heard from all sides,

Maybe the time has come to ask some questions,
Like how long can we keep on living like this?
And whether the war on our borders is disconnected,
From the violence which is paralysing our lives?
It seems the tension here never ends,
HaFishi HaGadol was the one who said,
That we’re all equal at the end of the day,
So why should we return each other to dust?