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Yemenite-Israeli Singer Tair Haim Wants Her Upcoming Album to Inspire Hope, Peace, Love
Tair Haim. Photo: Yarden Rokach
Yemenite -Israeli solo artist Tair Haim, formerly from the sister trio A-WA, told The Algemeiner she aims to inspire hope with her new music amid turmoil in Israel and around the world, while also paying homage to her Yemenite heritage.
Haim, 41, – the oldest of three sisters – is releasing her first solo album this summer that is inspired by her paternal Yemenite history and personal life, as well as changes and challenges across the globe. The album is four years in the making and the songs include lyrics in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.
“My purpose is to bring hope. To connect the cultures. To say the peace will come with our women,” said the born and raised Israeli, who still lives in Israel with her family, including her 5- and 3-year-old sons. “Let’s remember the feminine energy. Let’s remember that we all have something in common. So, I feel like [the album] is even more relevant [now] than when I wrote it a few years ago … We need to go to a higher perspective and to dream of something better for us [and] even believe that we can create something new.”
“I care about putting hope in the world that is going through so much pain and chaos, with everything that we’re facing here in Israel and everywhere in the world today,” she added. “What the world needs now is more hope and love. And as a mother, from a mother’s perspective, I said I have to encourage people and generations to come that the world is going to a better place. So I decided to write about this, this salvation. To give hope … We’ve suffered enough from wars and male energy that is all about wars and hatred.”
Haim’s aspiration for positive change in the world comes at a time when Israel is facing renewed missile attacks from the Houthis, a Yemen-based, Iran-backed group that US President Donald Trump re-designated as a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year, reversing a decision made by the Biden administration to remove them. For months, the Houthis have been relentlessly launching missiles and drones at Israel in support of the Hamas terrorist organization, which orchestrated the deadly massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas is also a US-designated terrorist group.
Haim and her two younger sisters entered the music scene in 2015 with their group A-WA (which is the Arabic word for “yes”). Their debut album was titled “Habib Galbi” (“Love of My Heart”) and the group’s next album was titled “Bayti Fi Rasi.” Haim told The Algemeiner that although she loved her time with A-WA, she wanted to release “more personal” music and “something new” as a solo artist.
The musician will also release a concept album this summer comprised of 10 songs. She remained tight-lipped about the name of the album and its exact release date, but said the songs are largely inspired by transformations in her personal life, especially her becoming a mother. One song in particular is a ballad about her labor experience. She sings about bringing new life into the world and compares it to working on new music and a new album. She jokingly told The Algemeiner, “Every good thing, every good idea should be cooking for a least nine months.”
Her upcoming album is also heavily inspired by “the changes and things that we are going through in the world, on a global scale.”
“In the album, I speak about what we’re going through now, and God is on our side, and that we’re going through major shifts and we will see the light at the end of the tunnel,” she explained. “I really care about putting out good vibes in the world, good messages that will create a better world for my kids and for the generations to come. And the world is going through a big transformation. I feel like the old patterns are falling apart, and something new is reborn.”
The first single from the as-of-yet untitled album is the catchy futuristic love song “YemeNight,” which was released in March. It’s a blended Yemenite Arabic and English upbeat track, and features lyrics from a traditional women’s Yemenite folk song about love that is passed down through generations. Haim’s grandmother used to sing it to her.
In the flirty song, Haim tells a “pretty boy” he is “so divine,” and that “love like this is hard to find. I got heaven on my mind. I can’t wait to call you mine.” She then calls on him to “fly high, from the city to the sky,” and to go on a ride on her “magic carpet,” which is a nod to 1959’s Operation Magic Carpet that brought Haim’s paternal grandparents to Israel from their home country of Yemen.
“There was a lot of chaos with the Muslims there, so they had to run away from Yemen and they were so happy to finally come to Israel. But it was very tough for them,” Haim said. “They didn’t have the language, they had to start over. They came with the Magic Carpet in a survival mode. And when I talk about the magic carpet in my song, I talk about it in a much more empowering vibe. I call my love to come with me. I have this magic carpet but it’s something that I choose … In the song I’m longing for freedom, for expanding my consciousness. I am calling my love to come with me to like a new world. The whole song has this dreamy atmosphere of something I want for the future. A better future.”
“Everyday is a holiday, every night is YemeNight,” Haim sings in the song’s chorus. She said the line has become her motto in life.
“It means in times like this, when there are a lot of changes in the world and a lot of chaos, I feel like we all need something that reminds us to be more grateful for what we have,” the singer said. “‘Everyday is a holiday’ – I see it to mean that we should celebrate every day as a gift. A gift that we should be thankful for. And ‘every night is YemeNight’ is something very magical and mystical. It reminds me of Yemenite ceremonies, which I feel like I’m connected to with my ancestors. We are celebrating something that connects the past, present, and future. It also has a sense of humor. And I always want to give people a little bit of humor and hope.”
The second single from Haim’s upcoming album will be released this month, she told The Algemeiner.
Watch the music video for “YemeNight” in the video below.
The post Yemenite-Israeli Singer Tair Haim Wants Her Upcoming Album to Inspire Hope, Peace, Love first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US House Appropriations Bill Seeks to Strip Funding From Universities That Don’t Crack Down on Antisemitism
Pro-Hamas demonstrators at Columbia University in New York City, US, April 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
The US House Appropriations Committee this week unveiled a major education funding bill with a new requirement aimed at incentivizing colleges and universities to adopt and enforce prohibitions on antisemitic conduct or risk losing federal funding.
The measure, spelled out in Section 536 of the fiscal year 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, would prohibit institutions of higher education from receiving federal funds “unless and until such institution adopts a prohibition on antisemitic conduct that creates a hostile environment in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in all documents relating to student or employee conduct.” It would further bar funding to schools that fail to take action against students, staff, or organizations that engage in antisemitism on campus.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in any program or activity receiving federal funding.
The proposed funding bill would also cut $49 million for the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in 2026. The office has been the key body investigating allegations of antisemitic discrimination on college campuses.
The new language was released amid mounting bipartisan pressure on universities to take campus antisemitism far more seriously. Just last week, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman and Republican Sen. Dave McCormick, both from Pennsylvania, sent pointed letters to the leaders of Penn State, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, and Lehigh University.
In their Aug. 28 letters, the senators warned that antisemitism on campus has escalated to a point that Jewish students feel unsafe and unprotected. They urged administrators to adopt a more vigorous stance against antisemitism, writing that “no student should feel like they must risk their safety to exercise their First Amendment rights to peacefully assemble and freely practice their religion.” The letters requested that the universities “work with your campus’s Jewish institutions and ensure all students, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or shared ancestry, are safe and able to fully participate in campus life.”
Antisemitism on university campuses exploded in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, amid the ensuing war in Gaza. However, the Trump administration’s crackdown on universities, including the suspension of federal funding, to more forcibly punish antisemitic conduct has led some schools to reach settlements with the federal government to pledge more resources to combating antisemitism.
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A ‘Ceasefire’ That Leaves Hamas in Power Is Disastrous for Palestinians and Israelis
A Palestinian Hamas terrorist shakes hands with a child as they stand guard as people gather on the day of the handover of Israeli hostages, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed
Calls for an “immediate end” to the October 7th war in Gaza may sound compassionate. But in practice, they are neither pro-peace nor pro-Palestinian.
They are, in effect, demands that Hamas survive to reconstitute itself as Gaza’s governing power. And if history has taught us anything, nothing could be more anti-Palestinian, anti-recovery, or pro-perpetual war than such an outcome.
Hamas Is Gaza’s Captor, Not Its Voice
Hamas is not Gaza. Hamas is not the Palestinian Arab people. It is an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, and its goal is certainly not a Palestinian Arab state, but a global Islamic caliphate. A Palestinian state is only a means to that end.
For 18 years, Hamas has ruled Gaza not as a government, but as a theocratic war machine. Its charter calls for the extermination of Jews. Its leaders openly glorify martyrdom and war. Billions in aid were funneled away from hospitals and schools to build approximately 750 kilometers of fortified tunnels—military bunkers for fighters, not shelters for civilians. Ordinary Gazans never protected; used instead as human shields.
Under Hamas, generation after generation of Gazan children have been raised on a steady diet of hate, jihad, and martyrdom. To leave Hamas in power is not to liberate Gaza, but to guarantee that the cycle of indoctrination, violence, and terror continues — and that another October 7th is only a matter of time.
Ceasefire as Perpetual War
The world has seen this movie before. After every round of fighting — 2009, 2012, 2014, 2021 — the “international community” pressed Israel into premature ceasefires. Each time, Hamas rearmed, retrenched, and plotted the next round.
October 7, 2023, was not an aberration; it was the natural product of this cycle.
That is why today’s calls for a “ceasefire” are not pro-peace. They are demands for Hamas to survive long enough to start the war again.
Britain’s Perverse “Incentive”
Britain recently threatened to recognize a Palestinian state if there is not a ceasefire that leaves Hamas intact. On its face, this might sound like diplomacy. In reality, it is perverse. It sends Hamas a simple message: terrorism pays. Massacre civilians, hide behind hospitals and schools, and the West will reward you.
Such recognition will not advance the creation of the first Palestinian Arab state or make Palestinian lives better. It will, however, make that state less likely than ever by cementing Hamas and its brand of Islamist rejectionism as Gaza’s unavoidable power.
No viable Palestinian state can emerge from a Gaza ruled by Hamas and a culture held hostage to its murderous ideology.
Western Protestors’ Blind Spot
The irony is that the very Western activists chanting “ceasefire now” in London, New York, and Paris — those who imagine themselves champions of peace — are objectively, de facto pro-Hamas.
Whether they realize it or not, their banners translate into “Hamas must survive.” And if Hamas survives, endless war is inevitable –because Hamas’s central purpose is Israel’s destruction. Every chant for “ceasefire now” while Hamas remains intact is a chant for more Israeli deaths and more Palestinian Arab misery.
They are not pro-peace. They are pro-perpetual war.
Who Actually Loses When Hamas Survives
Those demanding an end to the war with Hamas intact claim to care about civilians. But preserving Hamas ensures:
- No real reconstruction, because Hamas steals cement for terror tunnels and fuel for rockets.
- No freedom, because Hamas rules by repression, executions, and censorship.
- No future, because Hamas indoctrinates Gaza’s children for violent jihad, not life.
Keeping Hamas in power is not pro-Palestinian. It is anti-Palestinian. It guarantees that Gaza’s children will inherit only tunnels, wars, and funerals.
A Century of Rejectionism
Since at least the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928, this conflict has not been about borders. It has always been about the rejection of Jewish sovereignty anywhere in the land of Israel. When Jews accepted partition in 1937 and again in 1947, Arab leaders said no. Their problem was not lines on a map but Jews exercising sovereignty anywhere whatsoever in their homeland. The atrocities of October 7 echoed the massacres of Jews that Palestinian Arab leaders incited in 1920, 1921, 1929, and 1936.
This unbroken chain of rejectionism has condemned Palestinian Arabs to statelessness and war for generations. And now Britain, and Western protestors, seek to reward it.
If one genuinely wants peace, ask: who should shape Gaza’s future? The terrorists who turned mosques into arsenals, schools into rocket factories, and aid workers into shields? Or people who, without Hamas’ boot on their necks, might finally build homes, schools, and businesses not tied to terror?
The answer should be obvious. Yet Western protestors chanting “ceasefire now” have chosen the terrorists over the civilians.
If the world wants Gaza to truly rebuild, if it wants Palestinian children to inherit schools instead of terror tunnels, and if it wants Israelis and Palestinian Arabs ever to live in peace, then Hamas must be defeated. Only then will peace even be possible.
Micha Danzig is a current attorney, former IDF soldier & NYPD police officer. He currently writes for numerous publications on matters related to Israel, antisemitism & Jewish identity & is the immediate past President of StandWithUs in San Diego and a national board member of Herut.
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Director Julian Schnabel Rejects Calls to Disinvite Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler From Movie Premiere Over Israel Ties
In Venice, Italy, on Sept. 3, 2025, Julian Schnabel attends the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award 2025 and the ”In the Hand of Dante” red carpet during the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. Photo: Luca Carlino via Reuters Connect
Award-winning American filmmaker and artist Julian Schnabel rejected efforts by anti-Israel activists to disinvite Gal Gadot and Gerard Butler, stars of his new film “In the Hand of Dante,” from the 82nd Venice Film Festival because of their ties to Israel.
Before the festival started, anti-Israel activists under the banner Venice4Palestine released a statement urging festival organizers to withdraw invitations to Butler, Gadot, “and any artist and celebrity who publicly and actively supports the genocide.”
“We wonder how we can pay tribute to figures like Gerard Butler and Gal Gadot, protagonists of a film out of competition, who ideologically and materially support Israel’s political and military conduct?” they added.
Venice Film Festival Director Alberto Barbera confirmed that Butler and Gadot were not disinvited, but neither of them attended the festival this year.
Gadot is a native of Petah Tikva and former soldier in the Israel Defense Forces who has expressed avid support for her home country before and after the Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. She has been spending the summer in Israel and a representative for the actress said she “was never able nor was ever confirmed to attend the Venice Film Festival.”
Butler attended the Friends of the IDF Western Region Gala in Los Angeles in 2018, but has not made any public comments about Israel since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
“I think there’s no reason to boycott artists,” Schnabel said on Wednesday afternoon at a press conference for “In the Hand of Dante,” before the film’s out of competition premiere that evening at the Venice Film Festival. He was responding to a question about boycott efforts by Venice4Palestine against Butler and Gadot. “I selected those actors for their merits as actors, and they did an extraordinary job in the film, and that’s about it,” he added. “I think we should talk about the movie rather than this issue.”
“In the Hand of Dante” is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Nick Tosches. The film follows the story of a handwritten manuscript of Dante Alighieri’s poem “The Divine Comedy” and jumps between the 14th and 21st centuries. Oscar Isaac plays both Tosches and Dante. The film also stars Al Pacino, John Malkovich, Martin Scorsese, Jason Momoa, Sabrina Impacciatore, Louis Cancelmi, and Franco Nero.
The movie received a 9 1/2-minute ovation after its world premiere on Wednesday night at the festival. Schnabel also received Venice’s Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award on Wednesday night in a ceremony held before the premiere. The award is given to someone who has made a particularly original contribution to the contemporary film industry.
The 82nd Venice Film Festival runs from Aug. 27-Sept. 6.