The German rapper Ben Salomo has long been an important voice on YouTube. His show “Rap on Wednesday” is always an examination of the dangerous ideological tendencies of the genre, characterized by latent anti-Semitism. He no longer has any hopes of improvement; leaving the scene is only logical for the scion of one of the oldest Jewish families in Germany. Instead of being on stage, he now goes to schools and does persuasion work there.
The Hamas massacre on October 7th and the subsequent new military conflict between Israel and Hamas, which has led to a climate of fear among Jews in Germany, is a reason for him to think about leaving the country.
“Is Germany recycling the villainy?” says “Fight Alone”, Solomon’s new rap song, which can also be understood as a call to oppose hatred. For the 46-year-old rapper, the matter is clear: “’Free Palestine’ is a slogan of destruction,” he says in a podcast conversation with Mathias Döpfner, the CEO of Axel Springer. “You see that wherever it is expressed, whether with or without ‘From The River To The Sea.’ ‘Free Palestine’ is the new ‘Destroy the Jews’.”
The new song was written before the violent resurgence of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, after the terrorist organization’s fighters killed more than 1,000 people and kidnapped hundreds on Israeli territory. For Solomon, the development in Germany is no surprise. As early as 2014, people drove across the Kudamm in Berlin and shouted “Jew, Jew, cowardly pig, come out and fight alone.” The “dam burst” was a wake-up call for the rapper and provided inspiration for the dark title of his protest song. Solomon also cites angry mobs that burned Israeli flags in front of synagogues as an example of these anti-Semitic actions, which have become increasingly common.
How to deal with anti-Semitism?
In Germany, however, there is no consensus on how anti-Semitism should be dealt with, says Salomo. As an example, he cites a court ruling from the Düsseldorf Regional Court, where an anti-Jewish hate act – the throwing of a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue – was classified as “criticism of Israel that went too far”. There are clearly “historical continuities” between the anti-Semitism of the National Socialists and the situation today.
Of course, these developments also affect hip-hop because, says Salomo, it has been evident for years how the genre has “moved away from its origins”. Social tolerance, i.e. what could be described as “open minded”, something that characterized rap just a few decades ago, has given way to an increasing radicalization of ideas.
“At some point I realized that I wanted to express my Jewish identity through rap, and that became a thorn in the flesh for some people.” He also draws inspiration from the language of Jewish prayers, among other things, as he says. “Rap is first of all a tool to process my feelings,” says Solomon. “When I feel like I can’t cope with what’s going on around me, I write songs, otherwise I just don’t sleep well. I’m just really upset.”
For him, rap is a “means of self-empowerment”, also to avoid (political) powerlessness in the face of anger. While “Fight Alone” spreads the anger about fantasies of annihilation that were actually already considered over, other songs, such as “There is only one,” emphasize the desire for peace and interreligious community.
“The lack of empathy with Jews has also become a phenomenon affecting society as a whole,” says Salomo in the podcast conversation, returning to the topic, which is currently becoming more and more controversial in socio-political terms. It extends into intellectual circles, as can be seen in the artists’ call to promote peace, without clearly naming the perpetrators of the terrorist attack. You can hear cries of “Free Palestine” at universities; Feminists remained silent about the rapes of Jewish women, even though these acts were clearly misogynistic crimes.
Solomon sees the one-sided idea that the Palestinians are victims of Israel’s colonialist efforts to oppress them or even eliminate them from the world as a direct result of poisonous propaganda from Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations. It will be clearly organized and financed with a lot of money, especially from abroad. For years, these organizations have done everything to portray themselves as victims, while deliberately concealing their own motivation for their violent acts: “Terrorists have been revered as freedom fighters for years.” Israel finds it difficult to convey its own Jewish perspective to the world, simply because of its small population.
Israel is declared an enemy through massive propaganda
However, Solomon believes that the idea that support for Palestine could be a zeitgeist phenomenon is too simplistic. Israel has been perceived as a military power since the Six-Day War of 1968, but is still a “David” in the region. “Hamas, Fatah and the other terrorist organizations are actually just the claws and claws of the real Goliath, and that is the mullahs’ regime in Iran.”
This picture has now been reversed. Israel suddenly appears to be all-powerful. “People like to be on the side of the underdog,” says the rapper and believes that many rap lyrics function like a kind of tuning fork in which anti-Semitic clichés are spread and, above all, the idea that Israel must be put in its place is fostered. “Anti-Semitism clouds rational human sense,” which is why it is possible for something like the persecution of Jews to exist, no matter where in the world.
“It should actually go onto the streets ten times as much. And because we Jews don’t see that, it gives us a very dark feeling.”
But where does all of this lead? Solomon is skeptical: “If society becomes more and more toxic with these propaganda lies, then it starts with us Jews. We are the first to be affected. But then the next ones, above all liberal democracy, because a society that believes in lies and rumors more than facts is a society that can be destabilized, torn apart and plunged into war.
For these reasons, leaving Germany is also an issue for the rapper. “Friends have already emigrated because they no longer felt comfortable here because of anti-Semitism,” he says. Some would wrestle with the idea, others were already planning concretely. Together with his wife, a native of Kazakhstan, he is now of the opinion that sooner or later people will leave Germany “unless some paradigm shift” occurs. He is already looking at the job market in Israel to be on the safe side. “It cannot be the case that the largest pro-Israel rally since October 7th is one with just 10,000 people, especially here in Berlin, with this ‘never again’ as its founding myth. It should actually go onto the streets ten times as much. And because we Jews don’t see that, it gives us a very dark feeling.”
(Editor’s note: Last Sunday, numerous demonstrators came together at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to stand up against hatred of Israel under the slogan ‘Never again is now’; the event was flanked by speeches from many celebrities and a concert, among other things Herbert Grönemeyer).
Ben Salomo’s conversation with Mathias Döpfner is part of the “WELT talks” podcast series. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Deezer and directly on the WELT website.