38 | AUGUST 8 • 2024
J
N
YOUTUBE SCREENSHOT
I
t was not the kind of
announcement John
Ondrasik usually hears at
his concerts.
The Grammy Award-
nominated singer-songwriter,
who, since the mid-1990s, has
performed under the mon-
iker Five for Fighting, was
in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square
on April 13 to perform his
song “OK” — inspired by the
aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack
on Israel — and his hits such
as “Superman (It’s Not Easy)”
and “100 years.”
“Before I walked out and
played, someone came on and
said, ‘In the event of a missle
attack, everybody please take
shelter, put your hands on
your head ...’” Ondrasik, 59,
recalls.
“I’ve never had an
announcement like that
before, ever. I wanted to run
to my hotel and hide, but
nobody left, not one person.”
That was, of course, the
night of the Iranian missile
attack on Israel, which was
thwarted by the country’s Iron
Dome as well as assistance
from U.S., British, French and
Jordanian air forces. It was
still scary, Ondrasik acknowl-
edges, but he also “learned
a lot about Israelis and the
Jewish people” through the
experience as well as during
the rest of his visit.
“After I was finished [per-
forming], the leader of the
hostage forum came up to me
and said, ‘OK, they’re closing
the airspace. You have to be
in your hotel at 11 o’clock,’”
Ondrasik recalls. “I had my
son with me and said, ‘All
right, we have to go to the
hotel. Let’s go. Get a car.’ Then
the main guy said, ‘But we
have dinner reservations.’ I
said, ‘Ha, ha, ha,’ but he said,
‘No, John, it took us two
weeks to get this dinner reser-
vation!’
“That’s who the Israelis are.
They’re just used to this. You
see the capacity for joy in
these dark times. That’s a life
lesson for all of us.”
Ondrasik, meanwhile, is
trying to teach the world, and
especially his musical peers,
a lesson in caring — about a
great many things, but right
now especially about Israel
and antisemitism.
SINGING FOR ISRAEL
“A Lone Voice Sings For
Israel” was the headline of an
April feature on him in the
Wall Street Journal, for which
Ondrasik also wrote an op-ed
piece calling for the release or
rescue of the Oct. 7 hostages
and contrasting the situation
with the Iranian embassy
captives 45 years ago.
He spoke at UCLA —
where he graduated with
degree in applied science and
mathematics — in opposi-
tion to the protests that were
disrupting the campus. He
met with Natan Sharansky
in April, and performed
with Matisyahu and Idan
Raichel on May 16 at the
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. He’s also been
Five for Fighting’s John
Ondrasik is advocating for Israel.
Still
Fighting
for
What’s Right
GARY GRAFF CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ARTS&LIFE
MUSIC
Ondrasik singing in
April at the Bring
Them Home Now
concert in Hostage
Square in Tel Aviv.