David Draiman of Disturbed has posted pictures of himself signing a bomb during a visit with the IDF in Israel this past week.
Let's let that sink in. If we're feeling diplomatic, we can say that the metal and heavy music community is a diverse coalition of people representing a range of national identities, political affiliations, and influences, and as such there are a plethora of perspectives welcome within. Having said that, as Ozzy put it all the way back at the very birth of our genre, "Time will tell on their power minds/Making war just for fun/Treating people just like pawns in chess/Wait till their judgement day comes." David Draiman is on the wrong side of metal.
While Draiman has been a long-standing zionist and fervent supporter of the continued carpet-bombing Palestinians at an appalling rate over the past nine months, this revolting display exceeds his usual classy output by leaps and bounds. His performance here not only cheapens the realities of war, but represents the dehumanization of an entire population of people. It also stands in stark contrast to the many anti-war sentiments contained in his own lyrics across his career. Disturbed’s 2005 album Ten Thousand Fists critiques the US war machine and the subsequent destabilization of both American families and those abroad, yet Draiman seems to see zero contradiction between his own writing and the State of Israel's military actions that he vehemently supports in 2024. Draiman has been vocally supportive of the IDF’s actions post-October 7th, making proud stances on social media with hashtags like #zionism, #fuckhamas, #neveragain,” etc, culminating in the viral post showing Draiman signing bombs intended to be dropped on the people of Gaza.
People in the music community have had an array of opinions and advocacy on the genocide in Gaza, with bands like Enter Shikari and Dying Wish successfully boycotting and ousting Barclays, an investment bank that supports Israeli weapons manufacturers, as a sponsor of the popular Download Festival, but few have had the degree of shamelessness to gleefully sign the very bombs being dropped on healthcare workers, civilians, UN representatives, and indeed, Israeli hostages. Facing backlash, Draiman has taken to both Instagram and Twitter with this to say in his defense:
“You think some clueless, willfully ignorant keyboard warriors will change [my stance]?”
Stray From The Path drummer and host of the popular music podcast “The Downbeat” Craig Reynolds shared a screenshot stating, “...whatever energy a person puts out into the world, be it positive or negative, will be returned to that person three times.” Following this post, the thick-skinned Draiman immediately blocked Reynolds on social media.
A direct note to Mr. Draiman: Every human rights organization, from Amnesty International, UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, to Israel based organizations such as B’Tselem, have all categorically condemned the acts of the IDF that have killed at least 41,131 civilians according to the Euro Med Monitor Human rights organization. And while many people have many opinions on the events that have culminated in the deaths of tens of thousands and the displacement of millions, one thing is clear: if you’re smiling while signing bombs being dropped on children, you’re an unrepentant, unmitigated, wanton piece of shit. We fucking see you.
