Singer and songwriter Michael Heart composed and performed the below song on Gaza, Heart confirmed over email on Thursday. He has now made the song available to download on his website at no charge.
Abdelkader: What made you decide to write the song?
Heart: Well, like many other people in the world, I am appalled and extremely saddened by the tragic events that are still taking place in Gaza. So one night, quite recently, I picked up my acoustic guitar and started strumming it lightly, while looking at some photos on the internet, of the casualties in Gaza. Most of these photos had purposely not been shown by the U.S. media, to the public. Before I realized it, 2 hours later, I had written this song called "We will not go down". Initially, it was just an emotional outlet for me, not meant for anyone else to hear. But after I recorded it in my recording studio the following day, and after having shared the song with my family, it seemed clear that this song needed to be heard by as many people as possible. And here we are.
Abdelkader: What do you hope will result from your work?
Heart: In a perfect world, I would answer this question by saying that I hope my song will inspire the powers that be to put an end to war of any kind. But unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. So I guess that my more realistic hope is to raise awareness worldwide about the atrocities and tragic treatment with regard to the Palestinians, not only in Gaza, but everywhere else. I also hope that people, especially in the United States, begin to consider the source of the news as they see it. Most people simply turn on their TV and believe everything they see on their local news program. They don't realize that the TV stations are extremely biased, and far from objective. They're not getting the whole story, but rather an extremely distorted version of it. People have the right to know the truth. I hope that changes soon.
This song reassured me that we have reached a threshold of indifferent toward the Palestinians problem. Their continuous sufferings in the last 70 years are accepted by the world because the media dehumanized them.
Dear Micheal, I just want to say my thanks for using your art to reflect the tragic events that going on at this side of world. Art may have much more influence on dogmatic people to convince them to stop killing than advising and talking with them.
God rest the souls of those who have been murdered in Gaza. No matter how long the Israeli's try to crush the Palestinian people they "will not go down'! FREE PALESTINE!
The truth is out there for those who care to seek it. Unfortunately, if it is not happening in our backyards, nobody cares. Media is horrible in hiding the truth, which in the long run will affect us all.
I just wanted to say that god bless the people in Palestine. Thank you for singing this great song. You have a brave heart, may god bless you and bless all the people in Palestine. May Allah be with them. However, I want to be honest with you, there is not explanation of what is happening in Palestine. This clip shows it all and a lot more!! Children, women, men are being killed for no reason. Why no one is doing anything about it? Where is the support? Where? How long does this have to go? I am from Palestine, and I am always scared that I might get a phone call saying your family have been injured. You know how we all feel day by day just thinking about our family and relatives that live their. People are just looking and waiting to see whats going to happen next? People all over the world needs to weak up, open their ears, listen and see whats going on in Palestine. PLEASE Open your eyes and see whats going on. I just don't know why people always assume that Muslims are Terrorists? They are GREAT people!! They been fighting for years and years to protect their own country and the people that are living in their country to keep them safe. Why the Arabic countries are not doing anything about this? Are they scared of what people might think about them if they had helped? We will never see any help from you AMERICA. You show images that you like on T.V. Instead of showing everything and letting people know how the real Israelis. There is so much more that I can say, but I am going to keep on saying and repeating it over and over again, until people see whats happening.
WE ARE WITH YOU PALESTINE!! MAY ALLAH BLESS YOU ALL!! FREE FREE FREE FREE PALESTINE!!
