When Alon Ohel is finally home from his brutal life in Hamas’ clutches in the tunnels deep beneath Gaza, the first thing his mother wants him to touch is a keyboard, she told The Post on Wednesday.
The classically trained pianist has always found his strength and purpose in music, Idit Ohel said of her son, so when John Ondrasik — better known by his stage name, Five for Fighting — offered to help bring renewed attention to the more than 20 Israeli hostages still being held by the terrorists after their kidnapping on Oct. 7, 2023, it felt like a perfect fit.
“Music has a way of getting to people. Music helps people connect, connect to the situation that Alon is in,” she said.
“This is important because Alon is still alive. Alon is alive, and he is in a very bad condition. We need people to understand that.”
Ondrasik re-recorded his somber 2000 hit “Superman” — which comforted many in the aftermath of 9/11 — for Alon and the remaining roughly 24 living hostages, tweaking some of the lyrics to fit the undying hope that they will soon return home.
In the revamped version, Ondrasik — also a pianist — croons: “I wish that I could cry/ fall upon my knees/ find a way to lie/ ’bout a home I’ll never say” to “… find a way to fly/ to a home I will soon see.”“We changed a few to kind of recognize the spiritual fortitude of families like Idit and the hostages who’ve been released that are superhuman and the hope that everybody carries,” Ondrasik said.
“‘Superman,’ I think, resonated and still does, because it’s really about our own innate humanity and that we can’t be Superman, and that we are vulnerable and we can’t be everything for everyone.”
Alon was nearly released earlier this year after a cease-fire agreement was achieved between Israel and Hamas, but that deal has since fallen apart, and the war rages on with little talk of another hostage release on the immediate horizon.
Ondrasik said he hopes the re-release of his song — which was posted Monday on YouTube — can comfort those suffering often in silence and bring renewed attention to the ongoing atrocity.
“‘Superman’ provides energy and solace to people who feel abandoned and the hostage families have been abandoned by the world,” he said.
“It’s not the Iranian hostage crisis where every mailbox has a yellow ribbon around it; it’s not on the first two minutes of the news every night. They’ve been abandoned by the world’s institutions, so it gives solace to people saying, ‘OK, we see you. We hear you.’”
He also said he hoped the song and video would reach those who view the ongoing crisis as political —particularly young people who protest in support of Palestine on college campuses without acknowledging Hamas’ horrors.
“I don’t see how anybody with a soul, a heart and a mind can look at that and think of a human being who was kidnapped and has been in a prison for this long and not feel some compassion, no matter how they’ve been indoctrinated,” he said.
Ondrasik, who has written songs for other causes, including the three-year Ukraine war, also called on other artists to use their voices and platforms to raise awareness.
“I hope (the song) gives license and inspiration and perhaps a little bit of shame to all the artists who have been silent around the world,” he said.
“What’s happened since Oct. 7 is a shame on our industry — an industry that likes to pride itself on being for human rights and being on the front foot.” “I call on all my fellow artists — I plead with them — get on the right side of history. You don’t have to take a stand on Israel vs. Palestine; you don’t have to like Netanyahu; you don’t have to like Trump. But you can say, ‘free the hostages.’ And if you don’t, you are complicit.”
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