Handful of settlers protest gay singer’s planned concert at music fest in Jerusalem

A handful of protesters rallied Sunday evening against a performance by openly gay singer Eden Hasson, organized by a West Bank regional council for later this week.

Ahead of the protest, Hasson denounced the religious opposition to his performance — part of an end-of-summer festival organized by the Binyamin Regional Council set for Tuesday at the Sultan’s Pool amphitheater in Jerusalem — stating: “This is not the religion I know.”

In July, the Committee for Binyamin Rabbis — led by Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, who is known for homophobic views — released a letter stating that “the choice by the council of one of the end of summer performers was not right, and is liable to normalize a phenomenon that contradicts the values ​​of the sanctity of Israel and the family unit.”

The rabbis called on residents to protest in front of the Binyamin Council headquarters on Sunday evening, but only a few more than 10 people showed up, according to an image posted on social media.

In a lengthy post on Instagram, which garnered over 10,000 likes, Hasson wrote, “A handful of extremists have been working and trying for a while in many ways to prevent me from performing. Not because I hurt someone, or because I did something bad, but simply because I am different from them.”

“They argue that my performance harms the Jewish spirit of the nation of Israel. And I ask, what part of me as an artist or my performance harms the Jewish spirit?” he wrote.

שבעה (!) אנשים היו בהפגנה המכוערת נגד ההופעה של עדן חסון. תראו את התמונה: שבעה מפגינים ועשרות כותרות.
מול זה יהיו בהופעה שלו השבוע אלפי מתיישבים שיצביעו ברגליים ויבואו לשמוע את עדן חסון.
אחלה עדן. לראות את הטוב???? pic.twitter.com/wnX0IUm7EY

— יאיר שרקי (@yaircherki) August 24, 2025

Hasson went on to cite elements of his performance in which he sings Jewish religious phrases alongside “soldiers, ultra-Orthodox, volunteers, and reservists.”

“I wrote the song, ‘Growing a little beard,’ about exactly those types of people who want to boycott me because of who I am,” he wrote.

“They charge that they are speaking in the name of religion. My entire life I grew up in religious and even ultra-Orthodox settings. I was a kid with a black kippa and peyot behind my ears. Three prayers a day and a Torah lesson between [the prayers of] Mincha and Maariv. This is not the religion I know,” he said.

“And really, I don’t want to take part in this divisive game. Our people are already torn apart from within. I want to focus on unconditional love, on ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ Therefore, on Tuesday, with God’s help, the performance will take place. I will come with the best energy to bring people together and unconditional love that binds the entire people of Israel together,” he wrote.

Several Israeli celebrities came to Hasson’s defense, including TV personality Assi Azar, who is also openly gay and wrote on Instagram: “Whoever wants to protest against this pure-hearted songbird is not observant, not religious, and does not truly believe in God. He is just a fool and an idiot.”

Singer Nasreen Kadri wrote on her Instagram: “To give up the chance to be at a performance of a singer like him because of his love life and personal choices, which don’t harm anyone and only make him happy, is a shame on us as a society. It saddens and pains me. We are in the year 2025. Get over it already.”

When approached by Hebrew media outlets, the Binyamin Regional Council requested not to comment on the matter.

Hasson, a Mizrachi pop singer who grew up in a religious family, revealed in a song posted on his Instagram that he was gay in November 2024.