Shyne Shares His Thoughts on Gaza Conflict

Hip-Hop Wired--Being Jewish doesn't mean that Shyne automatically sides with Israel over the unrest in the Middle East resulting in airstrikes launched to and from Palestine. The longstanding disagreement between the two countries hit another bloody note last week when Israel shot missiles across the border, into neighboring Gaza City, as a reported act of self-defense.

“That's a very complicated situation,” Shyne tells Hip-Hop Wired. “Obviously my prayers and my thoughts [go to] everybody involved, not just the Israelites.”

Despite practicing Judaism, adopting the name Moses Levi, and living in Jerusalem, the former Bad Boy rapper doesn't consider himself a “blind supporter” of the country. “I'm impartial when it comes to justice, when it comes to human rights. I'm moderate.”

Noting the ongoing dispute between both countries, Shyne sees a separation of the land that each side has been fighting over, as the only solution, but recognizes Israel's need for protection. “We have to be pragmatic, and the pragmatism is if Hamas—who, according to the United State of America, is a terrorist organization—if they're shooting rockets into Israeli territory, how you gon' deal with that?

“Israel has always been occupied. Before 1948 it was the British that were occupying Israel, before that it was Jordan, before that it was the Turks, before that it was the Mamluks... it was already somebody occupying Israel [but] when the U.N. decided to divide Israel, everything got complicated.

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