Tankian wades in on Gaza debate

Serj Tankian has made an impassioned plea for an end to the conflict in Gaza.

The System Of A Down frontman says in a post on his Facebook page that Israel’s “occupation” of the West Bank is hypocritical, considering the horrors suffered by the Jewish people in the Holocaust.

He says the song Occupied Tears on his solo album Harikari was written about the Gaza conflict.

Tankian adds: “It’s time to end this misery known as the Israeli Occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Occupied Tears was written about this and the hypocrisy of a people who have gone through the horrible atrocities of the Holocaust now serving as occupiers of another people.

“One more thing – calls for anti-semitism should never be used to cloak honest discussion of these issues, especially here in the US.”

Tankian and SOAD haven been outspoken on political issues throughout their careers. The singer previously said artists have a responsibility to speak to the truth.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.