‘You say genocide, I say war’: Boy George releases pro-Israel song, We Will Dance Again | Boy George

Boy George has released a new song entitled We Will Dance Again, which voices support for Israel’s military action in Palestine.

Posted on X and Instagram with the Hebrew title עוד נרקוד alongside its English translation, the song features a pop-reggae backing. The opening lyrics are: “You say genocide, I say war / When you’re attacked, that’s what the army’s for / Does it get ugly? You bet it does / When I know you wanna kill every last one of us.”

Boy George cites the attack by Hamas at the Nova music festival in October 2023, saying the civilians killed there were “murder[ed] … for the crime of dancing”. A total of 344 civilians and 34 security personnel were killed and 44 people were taken hostage.

The overall Palestinian death toll since the war started is more than 73,000.

The title phrase We Will Dance Again, repeated for the song’s chorus, has been used by Israelis to express hope and solidarity in the wake of the 7 October attack, and was used as the title of an acclaimed documentary about it.

Elsewhere in the chorus, Boy George asserts: “There will be no war / But if you’re ever confused / I stand with the Jews / I don’t feel brave, I just need to behave like a human.”

He also criticises the pro-Palestinian movement, including musicians who have condemned Israel: “You condemn the Jews, with selective memory / Musicians holding flags, mouthing like sheep / Propaganda fuelled by the internet feels so weak.” Musicians who have supported Palestine include Stormzy, Damon Albarn, Clairo and Brian Eno, the latter of whom conceived an all-star charity single, Lullaby, which vied for Christmas No 1 in 2025.

Boy George, who is not Jewish, has recently voiced support for Jewish communities. In an interview with the Telegraph, when discussing his admiration for Jewish peers in the 1980s during his time fronting Culture Club, he said: “Over the years it’s been a really personal thing. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have compassion for Palestinians, it doesn’t mean that I agree with what’s going on in Israel, but I am always going to defend the people that I love. I have a lot of Jewish friends and there would never be a situation where I’d turn my back on them.”

He also voiced his support after the knife attack in Golders Green in April which left two Jewish men injured, saying: “We need to make our Jewish community know we support them.”

His new song marks an intensification of his support for Israel, having said earlier in the year that he didn’t have an opinion on the country.

Speaking ahead of an appearance with San Marino for their Eurovision song contest entry (which didn’t reach the contest’s final), he was questioned about the boycott of Eurovision from countries opposing Israel’s inclusion in the contest. “I have many Jewish friends, whom I’ve known since I was 15 or 16 years old,” he replied. “Are people asking me, as someone with principles, to turn my back on my Jewish friends? That is not going to happen – it will never happen. From the beginning of my career, I wore the Star of David … I feel very connected to the Jewish people. I’m not necessarily connected to Israel. I don’t really have an opinion on that. But the mission of music is to unite people.”

His characterisation of Israel’s action against Palestine as a legitimate military response rather than genocide runs counter to a United Nations inquiry, which stated in 2025 that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel’s foreign ministry called the report “distorted and false”. Last month, another independent UN inquiry found that Israel was continuing to commit genocide by targeting children. That report was dubbed a “libellous sham” by Israel.

Boy George was one of the most flamboyant and recognisable pop stars of the 1980s, with Culture Club scoring four UK Top 10 albums including 1983’s chart-topping Colour By Numbers. Hit singles include Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? and Karma Chameleon, which were both hugely successful in the US as well as UK, and have endured as staples on oldies radio.

The band also had a hit with an anti-war track, The War Song, which reached UK No 2 in 1984 and featured the chorus: “War is stupid and people are stupid / And love means nothing in some strange quarters.”

Last month, Boy George launched a new company called Artist Included, which will use AI to allow artists to create new versions of earlier songs which resemble the originals, as a way of wresting back control of master recordings. It launched with a new version of Karma Chameleon, which Boy George recorded then de-aged. “When I heard it, I was absolutely gobsmacked,” he told the Hollywood Reporter. “It sounds like another take from that original session.”