[News] 'Grotesque': Anger after Israel boasts of 'military accomplishments' in Spotify Wrapped parody

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/trending/anger-after-israel-boasts-military-accomplishments-spotify-wrapped-parody>
'Grotesque': Anger after Israel boasts of 'military accomplishments' in
Spotify Wrapped parody
By Noor El-Terk
December 8, 2024
------------------------------

As thousands of people share their favourite artists and guilty-pleasure
tracks from Spotify Wrapped, Israel
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel>’s army has turned its military
assault <https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-war-gaza> on Gaza and
Lebanon <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/lebanon>, which has killed
nearly 45,000 Palestinians
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine> and 4,000 Lebanese
since October 2023, into a parody of the feature, causing widespread anger
and criticism.

Spotify Wrapped is an annual listening recap eagerly awaited by
subscribers, where the global music streaming service creates personalised
summaries of their music habits as well as fun facts about their musical
preferences presented in a colourful slide deck.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the official Israeli military account
posted an image with the accompanying text: "Thought we would share our
year, wrapped."

In a Spotify-inspired playlist, the image listed “operational
accomplishments” including the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/explainer-who-hezbollah-leader-hassan-nasrallah-profile-lebanon>
and Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yahya-sinwar-refugee-prisoner-who-lead-hamas>
.

Mock tracks included “19,000+ Terrorists Eliminated” under the album “Bye
Bye Bye”, a reference to a popular NSYNC song.

The post sparked backlash and outrage amongst social media users.

“Turning death and destruction into a Spotify Wrapped parody? This is
grotesque on a whole new level,” responded
<https://x.com/NanSenseGuy/status/1864365975547859461> one user.

“Celebrating violence like it's a greatest hits album only highlights how
far the humanity has been stripped out of this conflict. War crimes as
'accomplishments'? Shameful.”

Many users compiled their own Spotify Wrapped-style visuals with statistics
about Israel's assaults in the region.

“Don’t be shy, post your real one,” another user shared
<https://x.com/SaeedDiCaprio/status/1864432503831834996>, alongside a list
that read: “Your top war crimes: Killing over 100,000 people in Gaza,
displacing millions in Gaza, leaving n0 functioning hospitals in Gaza,
destroying over 80% of all buildings in Gaza, causing mass starvation in
Gaza.”

On Instagram, a carousel titled "Israel’s 2024 Wrapped" received over half
a million likes.

“Israel’s 2024 Spotify wrapped just dropped. A year full of ethnic
cleansing and genocide," the post read.

“In the past year alone... you committed a genocide murdering 184,000+
Palestinians, and have still continued doing so with impunity,” the post
continued, referring to the estimation by a letter published
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-death-toll-could-exceed-186000-lancet-warns>
in the British medical journal, the Lancet.

"In the IDF [Israeli army] 'protecting your civilians' is genociding
against the innocent and then making a Spotify Wrapped meme about it,"
commented <https://x.com/QuiteTolerable/status/1864473939180757238> another
user.

Some pro-Israeli accounts appeared to enjoy the post.

One user commented <https://x.com/tslaluv/status/1864376208567185800>:
“Idk, I would push up Pagers - song to the top 5” referring to the Lebanon
pager attacks
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/explainers/israel-pager-attack-lebanon-break-international-law-hezbollah>
that saw thousands of pagers explode across the country, killing at least
37 people, including children.

A new report
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-carrying-out-genocide-gaza-concludes-amnesty-international>by
Amnesty International has concluded that Israel is carrying out a genocide
in the Gaza Strip, arguably the highest profile rights group to conclude
Israel's actions in Gaza meet the definition of genocidal acts as laid out
under the Genocide Convention.

Israel is also facing accusations of genocide, crimes against humanity and
war crimes before international courts.

The International Court of Justice in May issued a preliminary ruling that
it was plausible that Israel had breached the Genocide Convention.

As an emergency measure, it ordered Israel to ensure that its army
refrained from genocidal acts against Palestinians and halt its offensive
on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, steps which were not taken.

Israeli forces have killed over 44,500 Palestinians in 14 months of war on
Gaza, with thousands more missing and presumed dead under the rubble.

Nearly 70 percent of victims are children and women, according to the UN.
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