When news broke Monday night that Idan Amedi, a popular singer and one of the stars of Fauda, was seriously wounded while fighting in Gaza, there was an emotional outpouring of concern and love from his fans and colleagues.Amedi’s heartfelt music has often dealt with the cost of military service and has become part of the soundtrack to the Israel-Hamas war.Amedi burst onto the Israeli music scene 14 years ago when he competed in Kochav Nolad (A Star is Born), the Israeli music competition, singing his original song, “A Warrior’s Pain.” The song, which was inspired by his experiences in a combat engineering brigade, became an instant hit, and his audition is considered one of the greatest in the show’s history.
Unlike other countries, where entertainers take a stand on wars but rarely (if ever) take part in them, Amedi went to fight in Gaza as a reservist at the beginning of the war, saying that he had no problem taking as much time as necessary off from his career to defend the nation.Amedi posted videos from the front showing him and his colleagues engaged in demolishing buildings that housed terror infrastructure. He was also one of the first IDF soldiers to arrive on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast, where they raised a flag from the Supernova music festival, where more than 360 people lost their lives.
Many noted the irony of life imitating art, since he played a member of a counterterrorism unit on the Netflix series Fauda.
Joining the ranks of other performers injured in battle
Amedi was not the only artist to see combat during this war and to suffer an injury. Yadin Gellman, the star of Avi Nesher’s Image of Victory and a member of the special forces commando unit, was wounded fighting at Kibbutz Be’eri on the first day of the war, and posted a get-well message yesterday for Amedi.Amedi, who was raised in a Kurdish family in Jerusalem, has created a soulful, emotional catalog of hits that reflects the Mizrahi musical influences of his upbringing, as well as drawing inspiration from his combat history. Many of his songs trace the difficult path between building a life and career, and the sacrifices demanded of soldiers, evoking feelings that so many young Israelis can relate to.
In “A Warrior’s Pain,” he sang about the difficulties of coming home to his lover after the trauma and loss he went through while fighting: “And you don’t know how much/I tried to hide from you/All the nightmares at night/Screams and blood on the uniform/You don’t understand why anymore/I am no longer me/Pictures run [through my mind] from that night/Tears, a warrior’s pain.”“A Warrior’s Pain” was voted song of the year when it was released in 2011, and Amedi was chosen as the Discovery of the Year by the Reshet Gimmel radio station. While Amedi was fighting in this war, others have performed the song for soldiers at the front, including Druze Israeli singer, Loai Ali. A clip of his performance is racking up views on TikTok.
His fans and colleagues have been turning to social media to express their concern about him. The Fauda Instagram account posted: “Idan Amedi has been injured in action in Gaza. Idan is one of the kindest, warmest, and most passionate people, loved by all of us. His love of music is a very special part of our set. We ask that everyone respect his and his family’s privacy at this time. Together, let us pray for Idan’s full and quick recovery.”The post was followed by thousands of messages from worried fans. Lior Raz, his Fauda co-star, also posted a message of support, while singer Omer Adam posted a psalm to be recited for him. Many other leading lights of the Israeli music industry, including Noa Kirel, David Broza, and Shlomo Artzi, posted messages wishing him a speedy recovery as well.
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