Mykal Rose Calls for Peace in the Middle East

In the song Freedom Way, from his album I Give You Love, Mykal Rose calls on Israel to “wake up from your stumbling self” in its endless conflict with Hamas. His words are timely, given the latest round of bloodletting between the two factions.

The hostilities were sparked by an October 7 aerial attack by Hamas forces on Israel. That resulted in retaliation by Israeli forces on the Gaza region, home to over two million Palestinians, governed by Hamas.

As of October 12, there were a total of 2,600 deaths on both sides.

Rose told Caribbean Today that he has followed the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians for years.

“Yes, I have been watching the conflict between Israel and Palestine for a long time and this situation cannot be solved. It’s been going on before Christ,” he said. “Remember, the Jews thought they were better than the Gentiles and this piece of land they now refer to as the Gaza Strip was the fertile crescent once owned by King David. So, my point is that even though it was a part of Palestine no one party has any particular claim. They should just let that piece of land be unoccupied.”

The Grammy-winning singer noted that Freedom Way was not directly inspired by the current unrest, but stressed that the system of divide and rule “hinders people’s freedom.” According to Rose, “Regardless of one’s race or religion, you still suffer some form of discrimination. Government and borders affect freedom.”

This is not the first time that the former Black Uhuru singer has sung about the 70-year Israeli/Palestinian wars. His 2010 song, Israel, also calls for peace in a region that has known little peace since 1948, when Jews settled what is now Israel to escape persecution.

During World War 11, over six million Jews were killed by Adolf Hitler’s Nazis, mainly in concentration camps across Europe.