This Israeli Rapper Called for Unity With Palestinians. Now He’s Accused of War Crimes in Gaza

A rapper who made a song promoting dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians has been accused of committing acts of genocide while serving in the IDF in Gaza.

Noam Tsuriely had “direct involvement” in the destruction of civilian buildings following Israel’s ground invasion of the enclave in October 2023, according to lawyers from the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF).

Tsuriely denies the allegations. “Twisting the truth doesn’t turn it into a ‘half-truth’ – it turns it into a lie,” he told Novara Media, adding that his role in Gaza was to defend Israel.  

“Israel is the only country in the world that does everything it can to avoid harming innocent civilians,” he said.

The HRF filed a criminal complaint against Tsuriely in the Czech Republic after he performed in Prague on 13 November. Its investigation places Tsuriely at the scene of a controlled demolition of a civilian building near a UN-run school in Beit Hanoun on 8 November 2023.

“Given that by January 2025, 70% of Gaza’s structures, 92% of homes and 80% of commercial facilities had been destroyed, HRF concludes that Tsuriely’s actions contributed directly to the genocidal destruction of Palestinian life,” it said.

The HRF also alleged that Tsuriely, who was deployed with the 699th Paratroopers Battalion of the 551st ‘Fire Arrow’s Brigade, engaged in “public glorification” of criminal acts in some of his music – a claim he also denies.

During a live performance in December 2024, he showed footage of Israeli troops storming Palestinian homes and of the destruction of buildings.

“I am not celebrating destruction,” Tsuriely said of the concert. “I am sharing with the audience – and with the world – the harsh realities of war. If you actually listened to the words in the song, you’d hear me talking about my friends who were killed. There is nothing more absurd than claiming that I am ‘celebrating’ the destruction in Gaza.”

In the same month, Tsuriely posted a picture of himself on Instagram smiling with a rifle outside what appears to be a displaced family’s home in Gaza. On the wall of the building is a poster for one of his upcoming concerts. He wrote in the post that fellow IDF reservists who attended the gig would get a free beer.

“One day a rapper, the next day a fighter,” he added.

Tsuriely said those who doubted him should listen to his music: “If readers have the courage to look at reality with more nuance, they’re welcome to listen to my song, Nus Nus, which talks about the need for dialogue between both sides in order to create a better shared future.”

In a July 2023 interview with the US-based The World, Tsuriely said he rapped in both Arabic and Hebrew in that song so that listeners “cannot ignore the other side”.

“It doesn’t matter which side of the conflict you are,” he told the outlet. “You need to learn to speak with the other side. I’m not talking about is the Israeli side wrong, or the Palestinian side wrong? This is not my job, to preach to people what to believe.

“My job is to do good in this world,” he added.

After returning from a deployment in Gaza in 2024, he told the Israel Story podcast that he no longer performs the song live: “I still believe in this message very much, but now for me it’s still a time to just focus on my people.”

In the same interview, he described entering Gaza: “I need to say that we saw entire neighbourhoods – and we didn’t see anybody, any terrorists for the first two weeks – and it’s thanks to the bombing. So yes, we bombed entire neighbourhoods, but if we hadn’t bombed, the houses would be used for the terrorists to wait for us to come.”

The latest official death toll from the genocide in Gaza is over 69,500, of which well over 20,000 are children, though many fear the true number is much higher. Tens of thousands more have been severely injured, and Gaza has at least 3,000 child amputees, according to Unicef figures from January, meaning there are now more children in Gaza with missing limbs than anywhere else in the world. 

Israel has destroyed or damaged most hospitals, schools and basic infrastructure in the Strip, including a sewage treatment facility that soldiers set fire to last month.