System of a Down frontman and solo artist Serj Tankian is easily one of the most politically outspoken musicians in the world of rock and metal. Sparked by the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Tankian used his social media presence to encourage an end to the "Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank."

Very recently, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder launched into an anti-war plea onstage in England, which led to both positive and negative press for the rock legend. Although Vedder's plea vaguely brushed upon current bombings in the area, Tankian has taken a more direct approach, penning a detailed account of the longstanding conflict between the Israeli and Palestinian people while calling for peace.

Tankian writes:

It's time to end this misery, known as the Israeli Occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Occupied Tears, from my solo record Harakiri, was written about this and the hypocrisy of a people who have gone through the horrible atrocities of the Holocaust now serving as occupiers of another people. John Kerry and the US had been placing a lot of pressure to restart the peace negotiations. Hamas and the Palestinian Authority united to negotiate as one. Netenyahu tried to separate them but couldn't. Eventually the kidnappings served as a political excuse to recapture released Palestinian political prisoners by Israel. Hamas fired rockets in response and Israel got off the hook on having to make permanent peace by invading Gaza and changing the conversation from permanent peace to temporary truce.
One more thing: calls for anti-semitism should never be used to cloak honest discussion of these issues especially here in the US.
Let me know what you think as well.
Peace
Serj

So far, hundreds of responses have been written in the post's comments section coming from all sides of the argument. Check it out at Serj's Facebook page.

Serj Tankian, 'Occupied Tears'

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