Bella Hadid stars in Canadian singer Mustafa’s stirring ‘Gaza is Calling’ music video
Source: The New Arab Staff | 13 June, 2024
The music video depicts tenderness, grief, and anger among Palestinians across the world, from occupied West Bank and Gaza to those in the diaspora.
Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid has teamed up with Sudanese-Canadian musician Mustafa on a music video titled ‘Gaza is Calling’.
The video stars the model and 15-year-old Palestinian rap prodigy, MC Abdul, as a mother and son who have sought refuge overseas from Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory.
At the start of the video, Hadid can be seen gazing at a map showing Palestine before the creation of Israel in 1948, adorned with a sticker of the Palestinian flag.
The clip also features Palestinian siblings Israa and Younes Ar’arawi, who live in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and whose storyline is shown in parallel with that of Hadid and MC Abdul’s.
The children’s playfulness at the start of the video eventually turns into horror towards the end, as they are met with the reality of Israel’s brutal occupation, while Hadid and the rapper’s relief turns into rage.
The short film, which is almost five minutes long, is directed by Palestinian actress Hiam Abbas and director Sakir Kahder and features lyrics in Arabic, accompanied by a melody played on the oud.
The song was written and recorded in 2022, the artist formerly known as Mustafa the Poet said, and that he and Hadid conceptualised the video in the same year.
Mustafa told pop culture website Dazed the song is about a Palestinian boy from Gaza who he grew up with in Toronto, Canada, and with whom he experienced his first friendship heartbreak.
“I wrote a story about a grief that meets you on whatever land you escape to… the hope is that this serves as a stark reminder that every path is ours, every child is ours, and every war is ours to answer for and speak against,” he told the website.
In an Instagram post, Mustafa said that it “haunts him” that ‘Gaza is Calling’ was “written and recorded so long ago”, given the current atrocities carried out by Israel in Gaza.
“It is also evidence of how this nightmare & occupation has always been, how before a lens there was sill accounting for the death of a child, the death of a freedom, death from innocence,” he added.
The artist said all the song’s proceeds will go towards the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.
Hadid, who is the daughter of Palestinian-American real estate mogul and Nakba survivor Mohamed Hadid, has frequently used her celebrity status and social media platform to bring awareness to the Palestinian cause over the years.
Since the start of the war in Gaza in October, Hadid has shared images, infographics, and news concerning Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, and recently donated $1 million with her sister, fellow model Gigi, for various Palestinian aid agencies.
Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 37,202 people as of Wednesday, and has flattened much of the enclave’s infrastructure.
Throughout her pro-Palestinian activism and before the war in Gaza, Hadid has been the target of malicious social media campaigns, death threats, and deepfakes by right-wing trolls Israeli.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is one of those who has targeted Hadid for her pro-Palestine views.
Most recently, the model wore a dress inspired by the Palestinian keffiyeh on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in France in May, in a move showing pride with her Palestinian identity and solidarity with Gaza.
Tags
Latest
“What’s a house when you’ve lost a country?’ she says with a sigh.”
― Yasmina Khadra, The Attack
We are a group of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme in our community. Your web site offered us with valuable information to work on. You’ve performed a formidable process and our entire community can be grateful to you.
Howdy! I know this is kinda off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website? I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be great if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
Thank you for sharing excellent informations. Your site is very cool. I am impressed by the details that you’ve on this web site. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Bookmarked this web page, will come back for more articles. You, my pal, ROCK! I found just the info I already searched everywhere and simply could not come across. What a great web site.
I as well think hence, perfectly written post! .
Saya menemukan blog Anda di Google dan memeriksa beberapa posting awal Anda. Teruskan pekerjaan yang sangat baik ini. Saya baru saja menambahkan RSS feed Anda ke pembaca berita MSN saya. Menantikan untuk membaca lebih banyak dari Anda nanti!
Saya mendapatkan info yang bagus dari blog Anda.
You are my intake, I have few web logs and sometimes run out from to post .
Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the net. Shame on Google for not positioning this post higher! Come on over and visit my website . Thanks =)
Konten yang hebat! Saya akan kembali untuk membaca lebih banyak. Terima kasih atas informasi ini.
Beberapa hari lalu, saat saya sedang bekerja, sepupu saya mengambil apple ipad saya dan mengujinya apakah bisa bertahan dari jatuh setinggi 30 kaki, hanya agar dia bisa menjadi sensasi youtube. apple ipad saya sekarang rusak dan dia memiliki 83 penayangan. Saya tahu ini benar-benar di luar topik tetapi saya harus membagikannya kepada seseorang!
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know where u got this from. thanks a lot