David Draiman Responds to Boos at ‘Back to the Beginning’ in the Most Predictable Manner

Though most of the headlines coming out of this past weekend’s ‘Back to the Beginning‘ event was positive, there was a brief moment of dissent among a group of concertgoers that flared up when Disturbed vocalist David Draiman took the stage. He was in attendance to sing as part of one of the day’s supergroups, but that wasn’t enough to make people forget about his staunch support of Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.

And with his past actions having included him signing munitions that were ultimately used on the people of Gaza, that lead an audibly noticeable group of concert goers to boo the shit out of Draiman. Naturally, the guy was going to respond to that sort of thing, so yesterday he posted a statement online in which he called those who booed him “Jew hating morons.”

For posterity and further context, here’s his full statement:

“Part of the live stream of my performance at #backtothebeginning celebrating the legacy of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. As you can see…I wasn’t ‘booed off stage’ as so many people in the press and CERTAINLY #FreePalestine crowd, would have you believe. Yes, there were a few boos when I walked out, but I came to pay homage to my teachers, my idols, the mighty Black Sabbath, and I wasn’t about to let a few Jew hating morons deter that.

“It’s all about feeding their narrative, generating clickbait, and inciting hatred of Jews. There’s even a track being passed around out there that added enhanced booing to the performance just to add fuel to the fire. Pathetic. The live stream shows the truth. Both songs went over great. You wouldn’t know that from some of the media however, who are only too eager to roast marshmallows next to this dumpster fire of a bullshit story. Oh well.

“Still here. Still coming back to the UK in the fall to what’s shaping up to be a VERY successful run, if ticket sales are any indication. And I am STILL UNAPOLOGETICALLY A FIERCELY PRO ISRAEL JEW . I will ALWAYS stand up for my people, and I won’t be deterred, intimidated, or shamed out of rocking the asses of the masses. Put that in your pipes and smoke it.”

First off, fuck David Draiman for taking that incredibly predictable stance. Ever since people began criticizing Israel’s bombardment of civilian populations in Gaza, pro-IDF and Zionist movements have adopted the “if you disagree with me, you’re anti-Semitic” stance. In their mind, you can’t separate the Israeli government’s actions from the whole of the Jewish diaspora around the world.

Draiman’s statement, both after this past Saturday and in the wake of criticism he endured after signing literal bombs used against Palestinians, follows that playbook. It attempts to stifle the freedom of speech that those booing metalheads exercised that day. It’s entirely fucking possible that people can take issue with a country’s government and the murderous actions it’s been taking for more than a year and a half without hating that country’s civilian population. Of course, Draiman already knows that.

You know why people are so against your support of what’s going on, David? It’s because ever since October 7, 2023, Israel has been shelling, bombing, sniping, rounding up and killing Palestinians at an almost biblical rate. In response to the admittedly horrific actions perpetrated by Hamas militants that caused the death of 1,300 Israelis (most of them civilians), Israel has gone on to murder more than 55,000 Palestinians, wound more than 127,000, and displace nearly two million people from their homes. That response has raised the ire of global leaders and human rights organizations around the globe.

And that’s not to leave out all of the heinous war crimes being conducted by the IDF. This past November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, and Hamas’ Mohammed Deif on multiple war crimes counts. Even the Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported on the fact that IDF soldiers were ordered to fire at unarmed civilians that were just looking to get food from a known distribution site.

It’s that sort of shit — and your unabashed support of it — that caused those boos, David. They didn’t hate Jews, they hate the wanton destruction of an entire civilian population at the hands of the Israeli war machine. Which is on brand at a fucking Black Sabbath show. You know… the band that sang anti-war songs like “War Pigs” and “Children of the Grave.”

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