Post by Fr David Neuhaus SJ | 21 August 2026
Let’s talk straight – Part 2
(Image: Hebrew; “Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies”, an electoral poster for the Democratic Front for Equality, a joint Jewish-Arab list running as part of a broader coalition in the upcoming Israeli elections, due to be held on October 27, 2026).
Jewish Israeli Uriya Rosenman and Palestinian Arab citizen of Israel Sameh Zakout, both committed to equality, justice and peace, produced a follow up to their song “Let’s talk straight”. It is titled “I can’t breathe” and was released a little later in 2021.
Once again, the song’s lyrics portray the unbearable relationship between Jewish Israelis and Palestinian Arabs, bound to each other and yet in ongoing conflict.
I have reproduced here the words of the song with notes to explain terminology that might not be understandable to those who do not live in Palestine/Israel. The lyrics are in Hebrew and Arabic.
To watch the song here
Sameh
We are not evil nor stupid
We have a life, and we love to live
Love the family, love the spring
Love the sea, love to live in peace
Stuck in between worlds
Between integration and resistance (1)
Between Ramle and Gaza
Our lives are complicated
We can’t breathe
Together:
My voice is silent; I want to scream out loud
Let me be and build myself like my cousin (2)
To taste life and smell my land
To see a garden and not my neighbour’s ruined house
Like that, straight to the face –
This is the way
Enough years have passed –
Not waiting one minute
It comes from within me –
We want brave voices
I can’t breathe
Uriya:
I know what you’re thinking
Another Ashkenazi kissing Arab ass, (3)
But I served in combat, and I contributed to my country (4)
And around me – nothing has changed
Hourly news reports build a narrative
Songs and ceremonies designed to cause pain
An entire nation with PTSD (5)
Where is the Jewish people heading?
Together:
Leaders screaming out loud
I feel suffocated
And every moderate voice is silenced
I can’t breathe
Let’s tear the webs of hypocrisy
Come on friends
Think outside the box
I can’t breathe
Uriya:
We’re the young generation that pays the price
Of racism and corruption and the hard-headedness
So we party in the city, and make a reasonable living
But reality is suffocating, we can’t breathe
Even if we record, on beat, a hit with a catchy message
Nothing will move until we make it clear to those who decide
That we had enough of this sh*t, build a plan already
And that there must be peace in every scenario
Sameh:
And what about Arabic? (6)
Sameh:
You made us live in illusions, talk and more talk
In practice – zero, not even one meter, but “all is well”, not really
Those I considered friends stabbed me in the back, and cursed me
I heard enough idle talk, that’s it, leave me alone
I wasted years, didn’t know what keeps my heart busy
I was reckless, and I only blame myself
I refuelled, I became stubborn
Continue forward on my own, even if the whole world is dark
Together (interspersed):
I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe
Like that, straight to the face –
This is the way
Enough years have passed –
Not waiting one minute It comes from within me –
We want brave voices
I can’t breathe
Leaders screaming out loud
I feel suffocated
And every moderate voice is silenced
I can’t breathe
Let’s tear the threads of hypocrisy
Come on friends Think outside the box
I can’t breathe
Sameh:
We can’t breathe
1. Between integration is the option proffered to Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel (like those in Ramleh, where Sameh is from) while resistance is the path of those under occupation (like in Gaza, where Sameh has relatives). Neither integration, which is made almost impossible because of discrimination, nor resistance, continued in the face of Israeli military might, bring any relief.
2. “Like my cousin” refers to the wide spread expression that the Jews are the cousins of the Arabs.
3. Ashkenazi here refers to the Jews originating in Europe, often stereotyped as being more educated and less realistic. The left wing in Israel is seen as dominated by these Ashkenazi Jews, who are naïve and live far from the struggles of the working people and therefore can afford to pander to the Arabs.
4. The accusation of those who seek peace is that they have not really served the country. Uriya declares that he not only served in the army but was even in a combat unit and therefore, in the language of his critics, has indeed “contributed to my country”.
5. PTSD is Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, a consequence of the ongoing war and the practices of Israeli occupation. Since October 7, 2023, there has been a huge upsurge in PTSD among those who were soldiers in Gaza and elsewhere as well as in cases of suicide.
6. The marginalization of the Arabic language, as officially legislated in the 2018 Nation State Bill is a sign of the discrimination at the heart of the Israeli ideological system.