DISTURBED's DAVID DRAIMAN: 'This Is Not Another Jew With Trembling Knees'

DISTURBED's David Draiman, who is of Jewish descent, recently spoke to the Embassy Of Israel To The United States about the increase in the number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. and the rest of the world rose in the four months after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "What gives me the strength is not having any other choice. When you back a wild animal against the wall, that's when they're most dangerous. I feel very much backed against the wall. I refuse to capitulate. I refuse to submit. I refuse to be intimidated and I refuse to cower. This is not another Jew with trembling knees. I will never, ever capitulate. I will never give in to terror. I won't give them the satisfaction.

"I see a downward spiral, unfortunately," he continued. "I see increased chaos. I see increased antisemitism on a level that is unprecedented in my lifetime. I see that Jews are not safe anywhere in this world at this point, let alone in Eretz Yisrael [Israel]."

In response to Palestinian militants in Gaza firing a deadly barrage of rockets and sending gunmen into Israeli territory, resulting in the killing of 1,200 Israelis and around 240 being taken hostage, Israel launched strikes on what it called Hamas targets in Gaza. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) says it has killed over 10,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

"It's terrifying to see the reaction that I knew would come, that is continuing to amplify the closer we get to capturing the people, the people who are responsible directly for it, for annihilating Hamas and giving the Palestinian people a chance at a real future, I would think, giving all of us a chance at a real future," Draiman added. "We have to free Gaza from Hamas. We have to get our hostages back. We have to reverse decades of programming and indoctrination that UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency] has been complicit in and has been basically just the other hand of Hamas for the better part of two decades at this point. They are part of the problem, certainly not part of the solution. There has to be a better way. There has to be.

"The only way that there will ever be a chance for any real peace of any kind is if the next generation is no longer taught to hate from the day they were born," he continued. "I think that the closer we get to actual victory, hopefully sparing as many innocent lives as possible in the process because nobody wants that.

"Hamas wants innocent lives taken. That's the whole strategy behind this war in the first place," Draiman said. "That's the whole strategy behind the severity and the barbarity of the attack. They wanted to make sure that we came in full force so that they could sustain civilian casualties that they're using as human shields, so that they could be able to play the victim once again on the world stage when they perpetuated the greatest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.

"There's no other way at this point."

In addition to the Hebrew-speaking Draiman, who once trained to be a cantor and contemplated becoming a rabbi, DISTURBED includes guitarist/keyboardist Dan Donegan, bassist John Moyer and drummer Mike Wengren.

Draiman's father and grandfather served in the Israel Defense Forces and both of the singer's maternal grandparents were Holocaust survivors. His grandfather was also a cantor in Israel.

In December 2021, Draiman said that he had lost thousands of social media followers since publicizing his trip to Israel in November of that year.

On November 30, 2021, Draiman lit a candle at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel at the Old City site of the terror attack that killed South African immigrant Eli Kay. He later claimed that he lost 4,000 followers after sharing photos of his "demonstration" at the Western Wall.

Draiman has spent much of his recent time on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, sharing pro-Israel content and has often used his fame to speak out against antisemitism.

DISTURBED's song "Never Again", from 2010's "Asylum" album, was written about the Holocaust and calls out people who deny it.

The United States Holocaust Museum has featured Draiman in its "Voices On Anti-Semitism" podcasts.