Palestinian singer Mohammed’s famous hit song ‘Dammi Falastini’ has been removed from Spotify, the music app.
Dammi Falastini is translated as ‘My Blood is Palestinian’, the ‘Dammi Falastini’ singer received an official email citing accusations of antisemitism as the reason for the song’s deletion.
The move by the music-streaming giant sparked a backlash on social media. The removal of Assaf’s nationalistic song is seen by human rights activists and many of his fans as the most recent example of ongoing censorship of Palestinian content by international and predominantly Western media organizations.
A number of social media users shared the lyrics online to show that Assaf’s song about Palestinian nationalism did not mention Israel or violence.
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Later, Spotify clarified that the removal of Mohammed Assaf’s content from its platform was not a decision made by the company itself, but rather by the content’s distributor.
Many users believe that deleting Assaf’s song is just the most recent example of a bigger campaign to erase the views and identity of Palestinians online.
Assaf rose to fame in 2013 after the wedding singer from humble beginnings at the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza became the first Palestinian to win the popular regional singing competition show, ‘Arab Idol’. The now 33-year-old singer lives in Dubai.
