Key Takeaways
- Instead of simply reporting on Boy George’s pro-Israel song, several mainstream outlets framed it through selective context and one-sided editorializing.
- Coverage repeatedly treated disputed allegations against Israel as settled fact while largely ignoring the Hamas atrocities that inspired the song.
- The contrast raises a broader question: Would artists taking the opposite political position receive the same treatment?
Earlier this week, pop icon Boy George released his new song We Will Dance Again in solidarity with Israel and the victims of October 7.
It is arguably one of the most explicitly pro-Israel songs ever put out by a mainstream Western artist. It names October 7 directly. It describes the Nova festival massacre. It accuses the music industry of “selective memory.” And it rejects, in plain language, the characterization of Israel’s war in Gaza as a genocide.
#Shalom pic.twitter.com/0BfHIrThzO
— Boy George (@BoyGeorge) July 26, 2026
You say genocide, I say war
When you’re attacked, that’s what the army’s for
Does it get ugly? You bet it does
When I know you wanna kill
Every last one of us
Every last one of us
You never mention October 7
Young girls raped against trees
Murdered brutally
For the crime of dancing
You condemn the Jews, with selective memory
Musicians holding flags, mouthing like sheep
Propaganda fuelled by the Internet feels so weak[Chorus]But trust me, we will dance again
Wе will dance again
We will dance again
And thеre will be no war
But if you’re ever confused
I stand with the Jews
I don’t feel brave, I just need to behave like a human
But trust me, we will dance again
We will dance again
We will dance again
And there will be no war
But if you’re ever confused
I stand with the Jews
I don’t feel brave, I just need to behave like a human
Expressing this moral clarity earned Boy George the predictable online pushback by those who hate the Jewish state. More revealingly, however, mainstream legacy outlets joined in on the pile-on.
Euronews: The Headline That Already Knew the Answer
Euronews did not pull any punches with its piece, the headline not exactly exuding subtlety:
And this is just the beginning. Euronews doesn’t just report that the song disputes the genocide label; it editorializes that the song denies “proven” genocide:
It openly denies that a genocide is currently underway in Gaza – despite reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations proving otherwise.
A recent report by a UN independent commission has found that “Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide and atrocity crimes in the Gaza Strip and war crimes in the West Bank.” The report cited a conclusion by the commission last year, which stated that “Israel had committed genocide against the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip, found that the intense scale and systematic nature of the Israeli military operations have continued, resulting in unprecedented death, injury and trauma of Palestinian children.”
That’s not a mere description of what those bodies concluded; it’s Euronews adopting its conclusion as established truth. Presenting a “genocide” finding as settled, unchallenged fact while ignoring how Israel, the U.S., legal scholars, and others dispute it is hardly objective journalism.
Meanwhile, while Euronews gives this alleged “genocide” top billing in the article, it hit the mute button on the Hamas crimes mentioned in the lyrics, such as “Young girls raped against trees / Murdered brutally / For the crime of dancing.”
If that wasn’t enough, Euronews then dedicates the rest of its piece to the song’s negative reactions – as well as dredging up some dirt on Boy George:
The song has been trashed online and the singer of ‘Karma Chameleon’ is facing backlash over the lyrics.
“Don’t you know over 20.000 children have been slaughtered, ethnically cleansed a population into a concentration camp, destroyed over 80% of the infrastructure, destroyed and ethnically cleansed thousands in the West Bank, shame on you,” wrote one X user, while another said: “What a depraved piece of repellant zionist propaganda that’s designed to justify the slaughter of over 80,000 Palestinians, inc. over 20,000 kids, and their continuing oppression, dispossession, humiliation and massacre.”
Another commented: “Awful music, awful person, and he’s sunk to supporting a genocide just to try and be contrary in the hopes it pays off – it won’t. You’re ruined any good faith anyone might have had in you, and you’ve only dug a deeper grave for your dead career.”
Another echoed this sentiment, posting: “He has sold his soul, so disappointed. His Irish freedom fighting relatives would be horrified.”
Many online have also made reference to a 2007 case in which Boy George was sentenced to 15 months in jail for falsely imprisoning a male escort by handcuffing him to a wall and beating him with a metal chain.
Euronews does not mention the positive reactions to the song either. Go figure.
The Guardian: Softer Tone, Same Bias
The Guardian uses a more neutral headline in its treatment of the story, but it’s all downhill from there.
1/
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 28, 2026
Pop legend @BoyGeorge releases a song supporting Israel and the Jewish people.
Cue @guardian trying to turn it into a scandal.
Let's look at how one of Britain's biggest newspapers tries to turn refusal to join the anti-Israel chorus into a crime. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/hUUElchePe
While it adopts a maximalist approach to Gaza casualties – no distinction between civilians and combatants while looking at the entire duration of the war – the approach to Israeli casualties is decidedly minimalist.
2/
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 28, 2026
Look at the framing.
The Guardian carefully distinguishes between civilians and security personnel murdered only at the Nova festival and not the total victims of the Oct. 7 massacre:
"344 civilians and 34 security personnel."
But when it comes to Palestinian casualties?
A… pic.twitter.com/jbWaWMQr36
Like Euronews, The Guardian presents the charges of genocide as established fact:
5/
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 28, 2026
And how does The Guardian try to rebut Boy George?
Not by engaging with his argument.
Instead, it cites the discredited UN Commission of Inquiry as though its conclusions settle the debate.
Readers are expected to accept one highly contested interpretation as fact.… pic.twitter.com/njWWMHuZYO
And ignores the parts of the song dealing with Hamas crimes. The Guardian also tries to paint Boy George in a bad light – as opposed to the “Pro-Palestine” musicians who are painted as compassionate and caring people:
Framing conformity with anti-Israel activism as compassionate and normal, while framing pro-Israel solidarity as an unhinged anomaly, is a choice.
When Pop Culture Demands Conformity
For years, the mainstream entertainment press has operated under an unwritten rule: cultural figures are expected to conform to a strict ideological uniformity regarding the Middle East. Performers who endorse boycotts or wear partisan symbols are routinely lauded by mainstream critics as courageous visionaries.
Outlets like Euronews and The Guardian show us that when pop stars sing in harmony with the anti-Israel mob, they are treated as artists; when they sing in defense of Israel, the outlets change their tune to character assassination.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
