Less than three weeks ago, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel from its own territory. The mullahs fired 30 cruise missiles, 120 ballistic missiles, and 170 drones in a massive attack in an escalating series of retaliations for Iran's role in supporting Hamas and Hezbollah operations against Israel. A coalition of forces and Israel's Iron Dome defenses parried almost all of these attacks, but the scope of the attack had the region on edge.
One of our friends happened to be there at the time, a few hours after a performance on behalf of the hostage families. Five for Fighting's John Ondrasik first alerted me to this when he texted me a photo of the performance, and just after he'd posted a video clip on Twitter that included his stirring speech about the moment at hand:
Humbled to perform "OK (We Are Not OK)" at Hostage Square, in Tel Aviv, hours before Iran's attack on Israel. There are no words to express the meetings I had with hostage families. May we hold them in our hearts as well as all innocents suffering due to the evil that is Hamas. pic.twitter.com/pq9K6auLyO
— John Ondrasik (@johnondrasik) April 21, 2024
John and I discussed his experience on the ground as the Iranian attack threatened to rain destruction on top of him and the Israelis. John has a track record of standing up against aggression and hatred, as well as standing in solidarity with their real victims. Our entire interview can be found below, but here are a few highlights from the lightly edited AI transcript of our conversation yesterday. John has a lot to say about the UN, American Academia, and especially the music industry's cowardice in standing up to hate at home and abroad.
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Q: First, you're there, you're performing to raise awareness about the hostages. Because it's the people that's close to your heart here. And you're there. And all of a sudden, you're in the biggest attack on Israel since really the Six Day War, and since October 7. But in terms of military attack, really, that's the biggest attack since the Six Day War. And what was that like?
A: It was surreal. It was particularly unnerving because I had my son with me and my wife did not want him to go to Israel. And then, of course, she was very concerned and in tears. And and, yeah, you know, to be honest with you, when the drones launched, you know, we were like, OK, But when the ballistic missiles take 12 to get to Tel Aviv, so of course you're concerned. Thank goodness for the Iron Dome, but it was surreal. I mean, I'd went to Israel to meet with some of the hostage families, play for the troops, meet with some Israeli artists on some future projects and kind of just show some support from a non-Jewish American.
And it got even more surreal. I was with an entourage of Israeli folks. And I said, you guys, you heard, we have to be in our hotel. And they're like, yeah, we know, we know. I'm like, well, let's go, let's go. And they're like, but we have a dinner reservation. And I'm like, ha, ha, you're funny. They're like, no, we waited two weeks for this dinner reservation. And I'm like, you guys are crazy. But that's kind of their attitude.
Q: This event [was] on behalf of the hostage families. What are they saying to you? And are they I know that they're unhappy with the way that the government's handling this, but are they frustrated by other things?
A: I've had many experiences where I've talked to people that have suffered terrible things. I've never had anything close to the conversations with the hostage families. Listening to the stories of the fathers, you know, people say there are no words. There are no words. The agony to look into their eyes every second of every day. They wonder what is happening to my child, to my father, to my brother, to my sister. They know that the stories from the hostages that were released, that people were sexually abused, tortured, starved, so they know what's ever happening is terrible.
Q: What's happening on these college campuses is an exploitation. Both the Palestinians and the Israelis for something completely different, which is just the deconstruction of Western civilization and an imposition of a Marxist state. And that's really, to some extent, obscene, considering the circumstances.
A: You're exactly right. I talked to [Natan] Sharansky, and he said the same thing. He said 20 years ago, he was asked, what is the biggest threat to Western civilization? And he said, American academia. Which has proven to be true. And he said, obviously, with his imprisonment in the Soviet Union and what he went through, he said he's seen all these drills before, and it is pure Marxism. And And I didn't really understand the depth of that till talking to him and listening to folks like you and stuff.
Q: You're extremely outspoken about the cowardice in the music industry. I mean, even just the fact that you were playing in Israel. Right, during this conflict, that had to have gotten you at least some pushback or some cautionary notes. I'm not aware that anybody's really doing that in Israel these days, or certainly none of the people that would, you know, command, you know, arenas these days, the Taylor Swift's aren't doing that, the Beyonce's aren't doing that.
A: Frankly, there's been a better showing in Hollywood. Deborah Messing, David Schwimmer, Mayim Bialik [corrected, thanks to Hawkdriver]. So at least Hollywood, you see a very small subset. In the music industry, virtually nothing. There's a guy named David Draymond, who's a rock singer for Disturbed, who's Jewish, and he's been outspoken. What's shocking is how many Jewish artists have, you know, remain quiet or join the ceasefire crowd. But yeah, it's a historical disgrace.
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For a bonus, here's a longer video of John's performance on April 13.
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