I’m an artist who turned frustration into action: seeing a rising tide of antisemitism and a boycott culture in entertainment, I wrote and filmed a song called “On My Mind” in Israel with Israeli collaborators to push back, celebrate a vibrant society, and challenge fellow creators to look, listen and reconsider. This piece explains why I made that choice, what I saw on the ground, and why artists who abandon Israel are betraying the very purpose of art. It also calls out the soft normalization of hatred and dares critics to experience Israel firsthand before shouting slogans.
Art has always been my language, and lately it feels like the art world is gasping for air under the weight of cancel culture aimed at Israel and Jewish people. Too many creators are choosing boycotts and public denunciations over conversation and collaboration, and that trend is choking off creativity. As someone who makes music, I found silence unacceptable.
I decided to flip the script and put my work where my heart is. I wrote “On My Mind” and went to Israel to film the video, working with Israeli rapper Shahar Saul and singer Maya Dadon, letting the country itself be the set. That choice was intentional: make art in the place it celebrates and refuse to hide behind safe, sanitized versions of reality.
The surroundings were not a constructed backdrop or a green screen fantasy; the land was unvarnished, alive and stubbornly real. Streets, markets, people arguing in cafes — all of it became part of the music and the message. That authenticity matters because art that shrinks from complexity loses its power.
This was never merely a publicity stunt. It was a stance. When influential voices in entertainment rush to demonize, call for cultural boycotts or repeat half-truths, I chose to stand with the only democracy in that region, a place I respect and admire.
I know some will rush to scream “genocide” without a day in that country, and I have a simple ask: go see it yourself. Walk the streets, meet people, witness the debates and the ordinary life that continues despite headlines. You won’t find a monolith; you’ll find a fierce, messy civic life where disagreement is public and ongoing.
Israel is a mosaic — Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze, Armenians, Ethiopians and Bedouins all live, work and argue side by side. That pluralism produces noise, protests and sometimes ugly fights, but it also produces creativity and resilience. The vibrancy comes from clash and conversation, not from uniformity.
It’s also a place where democratic norms matter in ways that are often ignored in cultural debates: women march, LGBTQ rights are defended, citizens openly criticize leaders and courts matter more than who holds a weapon. Those are not neutral facts; they are the conditions that allow artists to speak, to dissent and to create without fear.
I expect the pushback. I’ve already heard the line “stay in my lane” and been told politics and music shouldn’t mix, but art has always been political by nature. From folk protest to rock stadiums, artists have used songs to state what they see and feel, even when it’s unpopular. Choosing to support Israel and oppose antisemitism is a moral stance that follows that tradition.
What scares me is how antisemitism is becoming normalized while cultural institutions look the other way. Jewish artists have been sidelined, students harassed, synagogues and community centers attacked, and too many in the cultural elite shrug. That complacency is exactly why I went to Israel, recorded there and made a public choice instead of folding.
“HOLLYWOOD JOINS HISTORY’S SHAMEFUL BETRAYALS BY BLACKLISTING JEWISH ARTISTS” is a warning, not a headline I wanted to see echoed in practice. I won’t let silence become assent; that’s why “On My Mind” is more than a song for me, it’s a refusal to be intimidated. I want peers who fear backlash to remember that art should tear down walls, not build them.
I want fans and fellow artists to know this isn’t a partisan stunt; it’s a human one. “SIGN UP FOR ANTISEMITISM EXPOSED NEWSLETTER” is exactly the kind of civic vigilance I respect, because awareness precedes action. If you care about truth, about creative freedom and about standing against hatred, then visit, listen and decide for yourself.
To anyone yelling “genocide” from across an ocean, accept my challenge: go see, speak to people, feel the chaos and the hope. The experience will complicate the picture and maybe change the instinct to cancel. Do that, and maybe, just maybe, Israel will be on your mind too.
