Gal Juma and Assulin received thousands of hateful comments following a clip copied from a Palestinian singer
As soon as an international Instagram page noticed the striking similarity between the clip of the two Israeli singers and the clip of the Palestinian singer Elyanna, thousands of hateful comments were quick to arrive - but in a conversation with mako, the two claim: "We didn't know the clip, we have no regrets."
Gal Juma and Assulin released a clip about two weeks ago for a joint song called "Zahra," directed by Bruce Mallan. It received a lot of attention, including abroad, but not for the right reasons: the Instagram account of Plastik magazine was quick to point out the striking similarity between the clip of the two Israeli singers and a clip by a Palestinian singer named Elyanna. The clip of the two Israeli singers looks, in many parts, exactly like the clip for a song called "Ganeni" by Elyanna, which was released in 2024. The reactions were furious and spilled over into political realms: "A stolen clip filmed on stolen land" is a comment that was repeated over and over.
Now, in a conversation with mako, the two Israeli singers claim that they did not know the singer or the clip at all.
"We filmed without knowing the artist, the song, or the clip," they emphasize, noting that they were exposed to the story only when it was published on Israeli pages. — "The amount of messages and comments we received, including threats, is simply inconceivable."
Assulin, who has also achieved success abroad, says: "It even reached people I know in Europe, some of whom published the post from Plastik magazine and tagged me, without anyone approaching me or trying to understand my side."
The two singers say that they preferred at this stage not to answer the commenters: "As soon as you come out with a statement, it only opens another door on the web for more racist comments and discourse that doesn't really try to listen anyway. We are happy to see that the single continues to explode and make noise."
From the claims presented by Juma and Assulin, it appears that they were not aware of the great similarity to Elyanna's clip, which indicates that someone else from the production team is responsible for the similarity between the two clips. Either way, they emphasize, they do not regret the clip: "We really don't regret it... We are not afraid at all. We try not to let it take over us. We are mainly proud of the song. We believe in it very much, and it is simply a crazy hit."
"Zahra" caused a stir even before the clip was released: last July, the two singers arrived in Jaffa to film promotional videos for the song together with women from the city. Some of them claimed that they did not know the videos would be published on the networks and thought they were filmed only as a souvenir, and demanded that they be removed.
