JERUSALEM – When the 11-year-old schoolboy from Gaza posted a video of himself raping the lyrics of one of his favorite artists, he never expected it would make him famous or get him in trouble.
It did both.
Abdel Rahman al-Shantti’s video rapping for his school in Gaza City in confident English and flawless hip-hop attitude won him more than a million views and praise from famous rappers around the world.
The trouble came when he was asked about his message.
“I would like to spread the love between us and Israel,” he told an interviewer from a Russian news store. “There is no reason for fighting and war. We need to get this relationship better and better. ”
The comments came under heavy criticism in Gaza, whose leadership, the militant group Hamas, pleads for the fight against Israel – to take back what they see as a Palestinian land – without making peace with it.
Many Palestinians jumped out on social media at the rising rapper and his father, accusing them of not teaching his son well about the Palestinian cause.
If a young boy “does not study the history of his homeland enough, it is very easy to plant these ideas in his head,” Saad Yaghi, 23, a resident of Gaza City, wrote in one typical comment on Facebook.
The Russian outlet, Today Today, has removed the video at the request of Abdel Rahman’s father, Saleh al-Shantti. Mr. Al-Shantti also placed his own video class on the grounds that his son did not specifically mean peace and love with Israel, but peace with the world.
“The boy is 11 years old and he was talking badly,” Mr al-Shantti said. ‘He was very tired. It can happen. ”
Calls for co-operation with Israel are taboo in many circles in Gaza, and are seen as an act of normalization – treating Israel as a normal state with normal relations. Some acts of normalization, including activities like communication with Israelis, can be considered crimes in Gaza, although no authority has suggested that Abdel Rahman’s remarks crossed that line.
In April, Gaza authorities arrested several Palestinian peace activists after holding a videotape with Israelis. The main organizer of the video call, Rami Aman, is still in prison, waiting for Hamas’ military prosecutor to decide whether to prosecute him.
Abdel Rahman, a seventh-grader at a United Nations school in Gaza City, said he taught himself English by listening to music online. He has been rapping since he was 9, recording covers and – in some cases – his own songs in collaboration with artists from abroad.
He loves the NBA and skateboarding, he said in a Zoom interview from his home, with his father by his side. The rapper he admires most is Eminem, and his dream is to become a professional rapper and tour the United States.
The video that went viral was recorded by his father and was posted and re-posted on multiple social media platforms. A Saudi radio host posted it on his Twitter feed, taking nearly half a million views.
Abdel Rahman said his music aims to convey the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, whose economy has been devastated by a blockade by Israel and Egypt, which Israel says is to prevent Hamas from importing weapons or the means to control them. build. But he also wants to share a message of peace and equality.
“You have to treat others the way you want to be treated,” he said. “I wish we could stop violence and discrimination in different places and different races.”
Palestinian rappers say he has enormous potential.
“He has the flow, delivery, charisma and story,” said veteran rapper Tamer Nafar, a Palestinian citizen of Israel. “With the right training, in one or two years from now, he was able to rise to the international level.”
Waheeb Nasan, a Palestinian-American rapper who wrote the lyrics in the videotape rap, praised the 11-year-old for his’ strong and inspiring craft. ‘
“I can see that he wants to spread a very positive cause,” Mr Nasan said. “I see a lot of promise, energy and innocent hope in him.”
It is more than ironic that the rap that led to its problems was a pawn for Palestinians who died for their cause and had strong Palestinian nationalist themes. Mr. Nasan recorded the rap in his remix of “See You Again”, a hit song by Wiz Khalifa.
‘First of all, this is our country. Let me tell you how it goes, ”begins Abdel Rahman’s video.
Many social media users accepted his father’s claim that the boy had made a mistake.
Others, without taking a stand on Abdel Rahman’s comments, argued that it was inappropriate for a young boy to be the target of criticism. And some asked why it was not acceptable to live in peace with Israel.
“Where’s the problem when we seek peace with our neighbors?” Maha Buhisi, 26, a political activist from Deir al-Balah, Gaza, wrote on Facebook. ‘The boy’s words were beautiful. Peace does not mean surrendering to Palestine. ”
Abdel Rahman – who wore a baggy black T-shirt and a hat that said “NEVER MIND” in his interview with The Times – was enthusiastic and animated. But if his recent difficulties taught him anything, it was to be a little more cautious when talking to the media.
Asked if he was afraid of the reaction to his remarks, he waited for his words.
“Kind of,” he began.
Then his father cut him off before he could complete the thought, saying he preferred that his son not discuss the subject further.
Adam Rasgon reported from Jerusalem, and Iyad Abuheweila from Gaza City.
