Now count! One! Two! Three! Four!
One, two, three, four!
One, two, three, four!
One! Two! Three! Four!
Who am I? Is-ra-el!
Who are you? Is-ra-el!
Who are we? Is-ra-el!
Who are we all? Is-ra-el!
One land between the sea and river!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
No more murder, no more terror!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
No ceasefire whatsoever!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
Unconditional surrender!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
We are Jews and we make it known
Israel is our people’s home!
We are Jews and we declare
We’re not going anywhere!
We are Jews and we will stay
“They’ll” never make us go away!
One land between the sea and river!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
We raise our flags and raise our voice
“They” won’t scare us with their noise!
Say it clear and shout it loud
We are Jews and we are proud!
Hear our voice, hear our command
We will stay in our holy land!
One land between the sea and river!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
No dispute and no debate
Israel is the Jewish state!
Free, free your poisoned mind
There’ll never be a “Palestine!”
(2, 4, 6, 8, Israel is a Jewish state!
3, 5, 7, 9, there’s no such thing as “Palestine!”)
One land between the sea and river!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
No more gaslight, no more lies
We will not be terrorized!
No withdrawal, no ceasefire
No peace with killers, thieves and liars!
No talks with anyone who hates us
No deal with kidnappers and rapists!
No more murder, no more terror!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
“They” have no country, “They” have no state
“Their” whole existence is to hate!
“They” have no history, ‘they’ have no claim
What “they” are is in “their” name!
Madmen, murderers, and haters
“Their” name in Hebrew means “invaders!”
No more murder, no more terror!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
The only kind of “occupation”
Is in “their” imagination!
The only kind of “genocide”
Comes only from the other side!
We are Jews and we love life
“They” love death and hate and strife!
No more murder, no more terror!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
We want peace and we want light
But if “they” push us, we will fight!
Let the hostages go free
Free them from captivity!
Stop all aid for building tunnels
Reduce “their” terror base to rubble!
We will defeat the enemy
There is no choice but victory!
No ceasefire whatsoever!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
Unconditional surrender!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
No more murder, no more terror!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
One land between the sea and river!
Israel, Israel, ours forever!
I composed this not so much a song as a set of two-line chants to be utilized as part of pro-Israel demonstrations, here in the wake of the October 7 massacre in Israel, the subsequent war against Hamas in Gaza, and the wave of antisemitism that has, against all logic, sprung up concurrently with the attacks and has not abated since. Seeing videos of the pro-Hamas / anti-Israel demonstrations that have been happening, the first thing one notices is the preponderance of the enemy’s flag, and the second thing is the snappy two-line chants that get straight to the point they are trying to make. In the pro-Israel counterdemonstrations I have attended and witnessed, we have no similar cheers of chants; we make speeches, we lecture, we give history lessons, and we are generally long-winded to the point of boring everyone—participants and opponents alike—to death. This is based on the antiquated ‘hasbara’ model, which itself is based on 2,000 years of Talmudic discourse … and it has to go. We are not making our points with speeches, lectures, and lessons. This was brought home in a comedy routine by Jewish actor-comedian Dan Ahdoot, which has gone viral. He may be using humor to make his point, but the laughs don’t belie the seriousness of the issue, especially when he says, “By the end you’re like, ‘You know, Hamas actually has some decent points.’”
We need to discard the old model and meet the enemy on similar terms. We must dispense with the speeches and lectures (and while we’re at it, we must also save our reciting Psalms for the synagogue), and replace them with our own snappy two-liners. We don’t need bystanders and observers memorizing and internalizing the neat little syncopated earworms that the enemy offers up—we need to make our own points just as loudly, clearly, and succinctly.
Therefore, I, a Jewish songwriter, have stepped up to fill the void. Not all of these will meet with everyone’s approval but some certainly will, especially the refrains in bold. It is my hope that participants in public pro-Israel demonstrations, where bystanders and media as well as the enemy will be present, will utilize them and declare who we are and what we are about.
Am Yisrael chai!
