Mashrou’ Leila releases anti-occupation music video

Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila on Friday released the music video for their song “Cavalry” which depicts Palestinian children resisting the illegal Israeli military occupation.

The song was released in February as the first single of their upcoming album titled “The Beirut School” to mark their tenth anniversary as a band.

Directed by Jessy Moussallem, the video aims to reflect the reality of the military occupation and shows how forces enter homes and conduct arbitrary searches and arrests. In a Facebook statement, the band explained that the song is about “putting up a fight, even when the odds are stacked against us, and not letting political fatigue destroy our willingness to speak truth to power.”

The song’s lyrics include: “Your army and the cavalry / Don’t decide for me / Don’t decide my heart… You won’t break me.”

The film “reflect[s] Mashrou’ Leila’s own struggles with political power,” says the band on YouTube. They have been banned from performing in Jordan and Egypt as their music often tackles controversial issues considered taboo in Arab society.

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The music video pays tribute to Palestinian children asserting their rights in the face of occupation forces every day. Scenes of children fighting back against Israeli occupation forces in the video are reminiscent of the courage of 17-year-old Ahed Tamimi, who was given an eight month jail term after video footage of her slapping an Israeli occupation soldier and forcing him off her family’s property went viral on social media.

Tamimi was kept in Israeli detention from her arrest in December 2017 to her release in July last year. She received widespread international support as nearly 1.7 million signed an online petition calling for her release and hundreds staged demonstrations in solidarity.

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