"Ishmael and Isaac"


This is a video for my song "Ishmael and Isaac," which I wrote some years back about the Arab/Israeli conflict.

I hope it will be received more as a work of art than as a political statement, although I am quite aware that people will lay their own political views on top of it. The real message of the song and video is that war is not the ultimate answer. The message is not the assigning of blame in a situation that is quite complex and nuanced.



Click
here if you can't see the video player above. (Direct link to the video)

I am aware that the religious and cultural issues are more challenging than blithely quoting a Bible verse. But I am equally aware that the the metaphor of "sibling rivalry" --when seen at a macro-level, perhaps even a mythological one-- is not only appropriate, but perhaps has no more powerful cultural incarnation than this current conflict.

Here's to continued prayers for our world, and especially for warring peoples who have not yet found the way to peace.