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The world’s first Israeli-Palestinian boy band accidentally picked a wild moment to make their debut
(JTA) — The world’s first Israeli-Palestinian boy band landed in Los Angeles to start recording songs on Oct. 6, the day before Hamas attacked Israel and kicked off a war in Gaza, a new feature from Billboard magazine reveals.
As1one — pronounced “as one” — is a group of four Jewish Israelis and two Palestinians, one Muslim and one Christian. The project was first envisioned by music executives James Diener and Ken Levitan as an Israeli version of BTS — the seven-piece Korean pop group that has reached superstardom around the world — and has been in development for a couple of years.
Diener, who worked in top positions at RCA and Columbia Records, and Levitan, who has managed groups ranging from the Kings of Leon to The B-52s, held auditions across Israel starting in late 2021. They didn’t set out to cast an equal number of Jewish and Palestinian Israelis, instead looking for the most talented singers out of hundreds who auditioned in a country they describe as ripe for a global music explosion.
The project was always bound to attract attention, but the singers and their team have been extra focused on their mission since Oct. 7. In total, the group’s six members have lost at least eight friends and family members in the war. (The Palestinians in the band are Israeli citizens, as recruiting from the West Bank and Gaza proved unworkable.)
Diener and Levitan told Billboard that they feel the band could win a Nobel Peace Prize.
“You may say it’s a pie-in-the-sky kind of goal,” said Levitan. “But what this has become is that important.”
The band has not released any music yet or signed to a record label, but it has recorded seven songs and has cultivated an online following for singing covers and mashups of pop songs. On TikTok, they have over 330,000 followers.
The story of their formation and their lives since will also be documented in a five-part docuseries that will air on Paramount+.
Israeli pop stars have had a tough time breaking into the U.S. market, but signs suggest that could change: A few Israeli acts have begun to sign with big labels, and singer Noa Kirel is set to headline Madison Square Garden next year. The religious crossover hit Ishay Ribo sold out MSG this year, though the audience was virtually all Jewish.
Instead of sowing divisions within the group, the Israel-Hamas war has seemed to strengthen the bonds in as1one.
“How crazy is it to get hugs from Palestinian friends when my Israeli friends died?” band member Niv Lin told Billboard. “That’s our story.”
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The post The world’s first Israeli-Palestinian boy band accidentally picked a wild moment to make their debut appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.