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Sia Dedicates ‘Titanium’ Performance to Nova Survivors at Star-Studded Jewish Event

Sia performing at Anti-Defamation League’s 30th annual “In Concert Against Hate” on Nov. 18, 2024. Photo: Provided/Getty

Grammy-nominated Australian singer Sia performed on Monday night a slow rendition of her hit song “Titanium” in honor of survivors of the Nova music festival massacre that took place in southern Israel last year.

The performance took place at the Anti-Defamation League’s 30th annual “In Concert Against Hate,” a star-studded event inside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC. It included remarks by America actor Blair Underwood and performances by Israeli singer Eden Golan of her original song “October Rain,” which she had to rewrite with different lyrics to perform at the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest under the title “Hurricane,” and a rendition of “Oseh Shalom” by the National Symphony Orchestra. The event’s emcee was Jewish-American actor Ben Stiller and attendees included Jewish activists, philanthropists, and Jewish leaders.

Sia, who originally recorded “Titanium” with producer and DJ David Guetta, dedicated her performance on Monday night to survivors of the Hamas-led terrorist attack that took place at the Nova music festival in Re’im, Israel, on Oct. 7, 2023. The song includes lyrics such as “Machine gun, fired at the ones who run…” She sings in the chorus: “I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose/Fire away, fire away/Ricochet, you take your aim/Fire away, fire away/You shoot me down, but I won’t fall/I am titanium.”

Sia was introduced on stage by Nova survivor Danielle Gelbaum, who said the singer’s music “gave me the opportunity to know that I will dance and I am dancing again. And tonight, we will dance again.” Gelbaum said on stage that her first time seeing Sia in concert was in Israel in 2016 with her older sister, who also survived the Nova music festival terrorist attack last year. She had the opportunity to met Sia earlier this year at an exhibit in Los Angeles dedicated to the deadly Nova attack. Survivors of the massacre — in which hundreds were murdered and 40 others were taken as hostages — also joined Sia on stage after her performance, which was accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra.

The singer last performed in Israel in 2016 and was one of hundreds in the entertainment industry who signed an open letter in 2022 rejecting a cultural boycott of Israel. Sia met with Golan backstage at the event on Monday night and the Israeli singer shared a photo of them together on Instagram.

During his opening remarks on stage, Stiller talked about the rise of antisemitism in the world and joked about hiding his Jewish heritage — before he began listing the several Jewish characters he has played on screen. “It’s a very tough time in the world right now. So much anxiety, uncertainty. So much hate in the world,” he said. “But tonight we’re going to battle hate with a healthy dose of hope.”

Music executive Scooter Braun, whose clients include Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, was honored at Monday night’s event with the ADL’s Spotlight Award, for his work in bringing an exhibit about the Nova massacre to the United States. The grandson of Holocaust survivors, he said, “I grew up with the idea of ‘Never again.’ Never again will we walk to our deaths; never again will we be scared.”

“That training — I never thought that I’d have to put it into my everyday life, into my work,” added Braun, whose maternal grandparents met at an ADL event. “These Nova survivors have given me the greatest gift. Because my whole life I was taught ‘Never again’ and something changed after I met these kids. Because they live by this mantra, ‘We will dance again’ … I want to say, again we will be strong, and again we will be proud and again we will dance. Again and again and again.”

The post Sia Dedicates ‘Titanium’ Performance to Nova Survivors at Star-Studded Jewish Event first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Kurdish-led SDF Say Five Members Killed During Attack by Islamic State in Syria

Islamic State slogans painted along the walls of the tunnel was used by Islamic State militants as an underground training camp in the hillside overlooking Mosul, Iraq, March 4, 2017. Photo: via Reuters Connect.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Sunday that five of its members had been killed during an attack by Islamic State militants on a checkpoint in eastern Syria’s Deir el-Zor on July 31.

The SDF was the main fighting force allied to the United States in Syria during fighting that defeated Islamic State in 2019 after the group declared a caliphate across swathes of Syria and Iraq.

The Islamic State has been trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia. Deir el-Zor city was captured by Islamic State in 2014, but the Syrian army retook it in 2017.

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Armed Groups Attack Security Force Personnel in Syria’s Sweida, Killing One, State TV Reports

People ride a motorcycle past a burned-out military vehicle, following deadly clashes between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes, and government forces, in Syria’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Armed groups attacked personnel from Syria’s internal security forces in Sweida, killing one member and wounding others, and fired shells at several villages in the violence-hit southern province, state-run Ekhbariya TV reported on Sunday.

The report cited a security source as saying the armed groups had violated the ceasefire agreed in the predominantly Druze region, where factional bloodshed killed hundreds of people last month.

Violence in Sweida erupted on July 13 between tribal fighters and Druze factions. Government forces were sent to quell the fighting, but the bloodshed worsened, and Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops in the name of the Druze.

The Druze are a minority offshoot of Islam with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Sweida province is predominantly Druze but is also home to Sunni tribes, and the communities have had long-standing tensions over land and other resources.

A US-brokered truce ended the fighting, which had raged in Sweida city and surrounding towns for nearly a week. Syria said it would investigate the clashes, setting up a committee to investigate the attacks.

The Sweida bloodshed last month was a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, after a wave of sectarian violence in March that killed hundreds of Alawite citizens in the coastal region.

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Netanyahu Urges Red Cross to Aid Gaza Hostages

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, in Jerusalem, May 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/Pool

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he spoke with the International Red Cross’s regional head, Julien Lerisson, and requested his involvement in providing food and medical care to hostages held in Gaza.

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