WATCH: Israeli band marks Palestinian independence day in new video

Haggai Matar By Haggai Matar November 15, 2016 | Edit

The video for MALOX’s new single, ‘Gaza Trip,’ features parkour athletes performing among homes destroyed during the 2014 Gaza war. 

Israeli music group MALOX released a music video for their song Gaza Trip on Tuesday, the title track from their album that came out early this year. The video, according to the group, is a tribute to Palestinian independence day, which falls on November 15, features Parkour athletes from the Gaza Strip.

Parkour, a training discipline using movement that developed from military obstacle course training, has become a big hit in both Gaza and the West Bank over the past few years. Athletes describe it as an opportunity to feel and imagine liberation and freedom of movement in a reality of siege.

“We recorded the song when I was living in Kibbutz Tze’elim and could hear everything that was happening in Gaza nearby,” says Eyal Talmudi, one of the band members. “We began collaborating with Israeli m ECHO, and we had the idea to bring the sights of Gaza to our songs. Israel’s treatment of Palestine troubles me greatly, and it is part of our role as artists to talk about the occupation and restrictions on movement.

“The problem is that even with relatively catchy music, we are not able to reach the mainstream if we touch this subject. Like every band we work with a PR person, and we have yet to find journalists who will write about a song having to do with Gaza. It doesn’t excite them, and news outlets treat it as a subject they would prefer not to touch. But it is important for us to give these parkour athletes the spotlight.”

The video, which features parkour troupe 3run (filmed with their approval) include shots of them practicing among homes that were destroyed in the 2014 war — including one shot with featuring explosions filmed at the time of the war — as well as other locations in the Strip.

This article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here.

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Haggai Matar

Haggai Matar is an award-winning Israeli journalist and political activist, in addition to serving as the executive director of “972 – Advancement of Citizen Journalism,” the nonprofit that publishes +972 Magazine.

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