On 14 November 2023, Israeli pop duo Ness ve Stilla (“Ness and Stilla”) released a song, “Ḥarbu Darbu” (“Swords and Strikes”). It was described by The Times of Israel in a 21 November article as “an angry hip-hop war anthem” (Fiske, 2023). In the same article, The ToI claimed it was the most popular song in Israel at the time.

“Ḥarbu Darbu” is a Hebrew-language pop hip hop release over a drill-esque backing track; one person to whom I spoke linked it to the Israeli subculture known as arsim (“pimps”), stereotypically characterised by machismo, profanity, loud dress sense, and proneness to violence — essentially Israel’s chavs or gopniks.

Over the fortnight or so after its release, the song found its way to English-language Twitter, which was much more politically divided about Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Once there, it immediately attracted a lot of attention for its propagandistic nature, its bluntly aggressive and militaristic tone, and the fact that it openly threatened supporters of Palestine abroad (not a particularly well-received move).

This is a transliteration and translation of the lyrics based on multiple neutral or Israeli sources and my own basic knowledge of Hebrew.

For monolingual English speakers — same — Ḥ/ḥ is a technical representation of the Hebrew letter heth, which can be transliterated as either ‘ch’ or ‘h’; it’s the same letter that appears at the beginning of (C)hanukkah and (C)hasidic. In English and adjacent languages, approximately the same sound appears at the end of the word loch. If you can’t nail the sound, ‘h’ is a better fallback than ‘kh’.

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Stilla:

חבורת עכברים פאקרים יוצאים מהמחילה (לה)
Ḥavurat achbarim fakerim yots’im mehameḥila (la)
Fucking rat pack is crawling out of the hole (la)

עושים אבו עלי יטמבלים וואלה מילה לא תהיה מחילה (לה)
Osim Abu Ali ya tambalim wala mila lo tihye meḥila (la)
You think you’re big men,¹ I swear there will be no forgiveness (la)

על מי ת’ה חושב שת’ה בא לפה צועק פלסטין בחינם? (לה)
Al mi ta ḥoshev sheta ba lepo tso’ek “Falastin be-ḥinam?” (la)
Who do you think you are coming here, shouting “free Palestine”? (la)

טפיייי, יבני עמלק! (לה)
Tfi, ya bne Amalek! (la)
Tfi, sons of Amalek!²

הווווופ. חבלה (לה)
Hop. Ḥabala (la)
Whoop. Sabotage (la)

שמאל ימין שמאל, איך כל המדינה במדים מגליל עד אילת (לה)
Smol yamin smol, ech kol ha-medina be-madim mi-Galil ad Elat (la)
Left right left, how the whole country from Galilee to Eilat is in uniform (la)

לוחמים, לוחמות, דובדבן ומג”ב, קרקל, ברדלס (לה)
Loḥamim, loḥamot, Duvdevan ve-Magav, Karakal, Bardelas (la)
Fighting men, fighting women,³ Duvdevan⁴ and Magav,⁵ Karakal,⁶ and Bardelas⁷

הבאנו את כל הצבא עליכם ונשבע לא תהיה מחילה (לה)
Hevenu et kol ha-Tsava alechem ve-nishba lo tihye meḥila (la)
We brought the entire Army against you and swear there will be no forgiveness (la)

טפיייי, יבני עמלק! (לה)
Tfi, ya bne Amalek! (la)
Tfi, sons of Amalek! (la)

כל היחידות מוכנות? (הקשב!)
Kol ha-yeḥidot muchanot? (Hakshev!)
Are all the units ready? (Attention!)

גולני (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Golani (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Golani⁸ (One, two, shot!)

נחלאווים (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Naḥlawim (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Naḥalers⁹ (One, two, shot!)

שריון (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Shiryon (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Armoured¹⁰ (One, two, shot!)

איפה גבעתי (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Efo Givati (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Where is Givati?¹¹ (One, two, shot!)

חיל הים, חיל האוויר (הקשב!)
Ḥeil ha-Yam, Ḥeil ha-Avir (Hakshev!)
Navy, Air Force¹² (Attention!)

תותחנים, צנחנים (הקשב!)
Totḥanim, Tsanḥanim (Hakshev!)
Artillery,¹³ Paratroopers¹⁴ (Attention!)

כל היחידות בצה”ל במוד לחארבו דארבו על הראש שך
Kol ha-yeḥidot be-Tsahal be-mud le-ḥarbu darbu al ha-rosh shcha
All the IDF units are ready, in the mood for swords and strikes on your head

גולני (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Golani (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Golani (One, two, shot!)

נחלאווים (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Naḥlawim (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Naḥalers (One, two, shot!)

שריון (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Shiryon (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Armoured (One, two, shot!)

איפה גבעתי (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Efo Givati (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Where is Givati? (One, two, shot!)

כל הלוחמות באוויר (הקשב!)
Kol ha-loḥamot ba-avir (Hakshev!)
All the female soldiers in the air (Attention!)

הנדסה, איסוף וכפיר (הקשב!)
Handasa, Isuf ve-Kfir (hakshev!)
Engineering,¹⁵ Intelligence,¹⁶ and Kfir¹⁷ (Attention!)

כל היחידות בצהל באים לחארבו דארבו על הראש שלהם, וואי וואי
Kol ha-yeḥidot be-Tsahal ba-im le-ḥarbu darbu al ha-rosh shelahem, way way
All the IDF units are coming, to put swords and strikes on their heads, whoa whoa

Ness:

תכינו את התחת כי זה חיל האוויר
Techinu et ha-taḥat ki ze Ḥeil ha-Avir
Get your ass ready because this is the Air Force

מרגישים ת’רטט עד תל אביב
Margishim taretet ad Tel Aviv
Feeling the shocks all the way to Tel Aviv

כל הבנות דופקות לחיילים מבטים
Kol ha-banot dofkot le-ḥayalim mabatim
All the girls are eyeing the soldiers

וגם ההוא בחדשות פתאום נראה לי חתיך (סמאש)
Ve-gam ha-hu ba-ḥadashot pit’om nir’a li ḥatich (Smesh)
And even that guy on the news suddenly seems handsome (Smash)

הם צועקים עליי חינם פלסטין
Hem tso’akim alay “ḥinam Falastin”
They shout “free Palestine” at me

אבל משום מה זה נשמע לי כמו מבצע לחגים
Aval mishum ma ze nishma li kmo mivtsa le-ḥagim
But for some reason, it sounds like a holiday sale to me

חצי דקה וכל המדינה במדים
Ḥatsi daka ve-kol ha-medina be-madim
Half a minute and the whole country is in uniform

במילואים, בסדיר, כולם (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Be-milu’im, ba-sadir, kulam (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
In reserves, on active duty, everyone (One, two, shot!)

בשביל אמא ואבא (אוסס)
Bi-shvil Ima ve-Aba (os)
For Mom and Dad (swear)

כל החבר’ה שלי בחזית
Kol ha-ḥevre sheli ba-ḥazit
All my buddies in the front¹⁸

אחת לסבתא וסבא (אוסס)
Aḥat le-Savta ve-Saba (os)
One for Grandma and Grandpa (swear)

רושמים שמות על הפגזים
Roshmim shemot al hapagazim
Write names on the shells

לילד בעוטף עזה (אוסס)
La-yeled be-otef Aza (os)
For a child in the Gaza envelope¹⁹

גליל עליון ומרכז גם (אוסס)
Galil Elyon ve-Merkaz gam (os)
Upper Galilee and the Centre too (swear)

כולם מוכנים לקאטלה
Kulam muchanim le-katla
Everyone is ready for a slaughter!²⁰

ראבק, ראבק
Rabak, rabak
Come on, come on

Stilla:

כל היחידות מוכנות?
Kol ha-yeḥidot muchanot?
Are all the units ready?

(הקשב!)
(Hakshev!)
(Attention!)

גולני (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Golani (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Golani (One, two, shot!)

נחלאווים (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Naḥlawim (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Naḥalers (One, two, shot!)

שריון (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Shiryon (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Armour (One, two, shot!)

איפה גבעתי (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Efo Givati (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Where is Givati? (One, two, shot!)

חיל הים, חיל האוויר (הקשב!)
Ḥeil ha-Yam, Ḥeil ha-Avir (Hakshev!)
Navy, Air Force (Attention!)

תותחנים, צנחנים (הקשב!)
Totḥanim, Tsanḥanim (Hakshev!)
Artillery, Paratroopers (Attention!)

כל היחידות בצה”ל במוד לחארבו דארבו על הראש שך
Kol ha-yeḥidot be-Tsahal be-mud le-ḥarbu darbu al ha-rosh shcha
All the IDF units are ready, in the mood to put swords and strikes on your heads

גולני (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Golani (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Golani (One, two, shot!)

נחלאווים (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Naḥlawim (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Naḥalers (One, two, shot!)

שריון (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Shiryon (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Armour (One, two, shot!)

איפה גבעתי (חת, שתיים שוט!)
Efo Givati (Ḥat, shtayim, shut!)
Where is Givati? (One, two, shot!)

כל הלוחמות באוויר (הקשב!)
Kol ha-loḥamot ba-avir (Hakshev!)
All the female soldiers in the air (Attention!)

הנדסה, איסוף וכפיר (הקשב!)
Handasa, Isuf ve-Kfir (Hakshev!)
Engineering, Intelligence, and Kfir (Attention!)

כל היחידות בצהל באים לחרבו דרבו על הראש שלהם, וואי וואי
Kol ha-yeḥidot be-Tsahal ba’im le-ḥarbu darbu al ha-rosh shelahem, way way
All the IDF units are coming to put swords and strikes on their heads, whoa whoa

עוד איקס לנשק
Od iks la-neshek
Another target for the weapon

כי כל כאלב ביג’ יומו
Ki kul kalb bij yomo
Because every dog’s day will come

חכו שנפיל עליכם גשם, כחבות
Ḥaku shenapil alechem geshem, kaḥbot
Wait for us to piss on you,²¹ whores

כל כאלב ביג’ יומו
Kul kalb bij yomo
Every dog’s day will come

כל מי שתכנן, כל מי שתמך, כל מי שביצע, כל מי שרצח
Kol mi shetichnen, kol mi shetamach, kol mi shebitsea, kol mi sheratsaḥ,
Everyone who planned, everyone who supported, everyone who carried out, everyone who murdered,

כל כאלב ביג’ יומו
Kul kalb bij yomo
Every dog’s day will come

הסתבכת
Histabachta
You’re in trouble

כל כאלב ביג’ יומו
Kul kalb bij yomo
Every dog’s day will come

?שמעת
Shamata?
Did you hear?

כל כאלב ביג’ יומו
Kul kalb bij yomo
Every dog’s day will come

נסראללה
Nasralla
Nasrallah²²

כל כאלב ביג’ יומו
Kul kalb bij yomo
Every dog’s day will come

מוחמד דף
Moḥamad Def
Mohammed Deif²³

כל כאלב ביג’ יומו
Kul kalb bij yomo
Every dog’s day will come

הנייה
Haniya
Haniyeh²⁴

כל כאלב ביג’ יומו
Kul kalb bij yomo
Every dog’s day will come

אבו בקלאווה
Abu Baklawa
Abu Baklawa²⁵

כל כאלב ביג’ יומו
Kul kalb bij yomo
Every dog’s day will come

(מח) בלה חדיד, דואה ליפה, מיה קאליפה
Bela Ḥadid, Du’a Lipa, Miya Kalifa (meḥa)
Bella Hadid,²⁶ Dua Lipa,²⁷ Mia Khalifa²⁸ (yeah)

כל כאלב ביג’ יומו
Kul kalb bij yomo
Every dog’s day will come

כל היחידות בצהל באים לחארבו דארבו על הראש שלהם, וואי וואי
Kol ha-yeḥidot be-Tsahal ba-im le-ḥarbu darbu al ha-rosh shelahem, way way
All the IDF units are coming, to put swords and strikes on your heads, whoa whoa

Text credits

Original Hebrew text: Ness & Stilla.

Transliteration: cheväxjö123 (2023), edited by me.

English translation: AdamFischer (2023), Fiske (2023), and Orian (2023), compiled and edited by me.

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Footnotes

1 — The Hebrew here appears to be a take on the Palestinian Arabic expression “to do an Abu Ali on someone”, meaning “to boss someone around” (Hendry, 2014).

2 — “Tfi” appears to be an interjection expressing disgust: an onomatopoeia for spitting, in the same way “ugh” is an onomatopoeia for vomiting.

In the Torah, Amalek is the eternal enemy of Israel because they mercilessly attacked the vulnerable Israelites on the latter’s journey to the Promised Land. The Book of Deuteronomy contains three mitzvot (commandments) to wipe out the nation of Amalek which have been the subject of much rabbinical discussion over the years (see Freeman, 2009; Morriston, 2011; Kugler, 2020).

The reference in this song is likely prompted by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s invocation of Amalek at the start of the war; in Israeli politics, “Amalek” is a far-right dogwhistle which is used to suggest that genocide is justified (Aloni, 2004; Klapper, 2020; Lanard, 2023).

3 — Hebrew has two grammatical genders, masculine and feminine. While the gender system is not strict, the plural ending “-ot” is generally feminine, hence “loḥamot” is “female fighters”. As with many other languages with grammatical gender, the masculine gender is “default” and used to refer to objects and groups of mixed or no gender, hence “loḥamim” could be either “fighters” or “fighting men”.

4 — 89th “Oz” (“Courage”) Brigade, Unit 217 “Duvdevan” (“Cherry”): a commando unit which conducts undercover operations including counter-surveillance and targeted killings. As an undercover unit, Unit 217 takes measures to blend in with the Arab populations it infiltrates, essentially using Arab civilians as human shields. In the Western world, Duvdevan is best known indirectly; the unnamed Israeli special forces unit in Netflix’s Fauda is implied to be either Duvdevan or something very similar.

5 — Mishmar ha-Gvul (Magav; “Border Police”): the Israel Police’s gendarmerie and border security branch.

6 — 512th “Paran” Brigade, 33rd “Karakal” (“Caracal”) Battalion: an infantry battalion, one of the few IDF units to be mixed-gender (possibly the first such unit).

7 — 406th “Yoav” Brigade, 227th “Bardelas” (“Cheetah”) Battalion: another mixed-gender infantry battalion.

8 — 36th Division, 1st “Golani” Brigade: One of the founding brigades of the IDF. Noted for a perceptibly stronger tendency toward arbitrary detention, child abuse, Islamophobia, police brutality, property damage, and reprisal attacks against Palestinians than its IDF colleagues (Hass, 2012).

9 — 162nd Division, 933rd Brigade “Naḥal”: An infantry brigade established in 1982; “Naḥlawim” is a colloquialism for its members and is approximated as “Naḥalers”. Noted for an incident in the year of its founding where 4 PLO operatives managed to capture 8 Naḥal soldiers without firing a single bullet, and then forced Israel to release almost 6,000 Palestinian detainees in exchange for their return (Kamin, 2014).

10 — The IDF Armoured Corps (Ḥeil ha-Shiryon).

11 — 162nd Armoured Division, 84th “Givati” (“Highland”) Brigade: Another of the founding brigades of the IDF. Best known for committing the Abu Shusha massacre during the Nakba (Al-Gamal, 2023), and for a 2004 incident in which a Givati company commander shot a 13-year-old Palestinian schoolgirl, seemingly for fun, and was then acquitted by an Israeli military court despite being very obviously, unambiguously, unarguably guilty (Associated Press, 2004; Lynfield, 2004; Greenberg, 2005; McGreal, 2005; etc.).

12 — The Hebrew common names of the Israeli Navy and Israeli Air Force are Ḥeil ha-Yam (“Sea Corps”) and Ḥeil ha-Avir (“Air Corps”).

13 — The IDF Artillery Corps (Ḥeil ha-Totḥanim).

14 — The IDF 35th Brigade, the Paratroopers’ Brigade (Hativat ha-Tsanḥanim), the IDF’s active duty airborne infantry unit.

15 — The IDF Combat Engineering Corps (Ḥeil ha-Handasa ha-Kravit).

16 — The IDF Combat Intelligence Collection Corps.

17 — 99th Division, 900th “Kfir” (“Lion Cub”) brigade, an infantry brigade deployed in the West Bank, previously in the Gaza Strip.

18 — Note: Sources disagree on this translation. The words translated as “the front” here are also translated as “Gaza” in one other source. While “the front” implies “Gaza”, it does not literally mean it.

19 — The Gaza envelope (otef Aza) is the area in Israel’s Southern District which is within 7 km of the Gaza Strip.

20 — This translation was contested. I, one other person, and the available dictionary read it as “slaughter”; AdamFischer (2023) gave it as “showdown”. It may be a metaphorical usage.

21 — This translation from Orian (2023), who presents themself as Israeli and pro-war. The literal wording refers to “rain”; this appears to be a metaphorical extension of that, similar to “golden shower”.

22 — Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Hezbollah since 16 February 1992.

23 — Mohammad Deif, head of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ armed wing, since July 2002.

24 — Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas-affiliated politician, incumbent Chairman of Hamas’ Political Bureau since 6 May 2017, Leader of Hamas of Gaza 2014–2017, Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority 2006–2014.

25 — I was unable to determine what this meant; “Abu Baklawa”, to my knowledge, literally means “father of Baklava,” but any significance beyond that is lost on me.

26 — Bella Hadid, American model. Hadid’s father Mohammed is Palestinian, and she has a history of expressing support for Palestinian resistance (Borge, 2017; Fiske, 2023).

27 — Dua Lipa, Albanian English musician. Lipa has expressed her support for a ceasefire in Gaza (Aniftos, 2023).

28 — Mia Khalifa, Lebanese American media personality and former adult actress. Khalifa has expressed anti-Zionist views and support for the Palestinian resistance (Shuttleworth, 2023; Vassell, 2023).

References

AdamFischer (2023, November 24). Ness, Stilla — חרבו דרבו (Harbudarbu) lyrics + English translation: English translation. LyricsTranslate. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Al-Gamal, S. (2023, November 3). A history stained with innocent blood: A chronicle of Israel’s massacres in Palestine. Ahram Online. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Aloni, S. (2004, September 15). Losing God’s image. Haaretz. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Aniftos, R. (2023, October 25). Dua Lipa, Michael Stipe & more stars sign open letter to President Biden urging for ceasefire in Gaza. Billboard. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Associated Press (2004, November 23). Israeli soldier indicted in girl’s death. NBC News. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Borge, J. (2017, December 8). Bella Hadid went from party to protest while still wearing her red carpet gown. People. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

cheväxjö123 (2023, November 28). Ness, Stilla — חרבו דרבו (Harbudarbu) lyrics + English translation: Transliteration. LyricsTranslate. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Fiske, G. (2023, November 21). Hip-hop war anthem reaches number one in Israel. The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Freeman, M. (2009, July 28). Religion, nationalism and genocide: ancient Judaism revisited. European Journal of Sociology, 35(2), 259–282. doi:10.1017/S000397560000686X. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Greenberg, H. (2005, November 15). ‘Confirmed kill’ case: Full acquittal. Ynetnews. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Hass, A. (2012, February 12). IDF brigade leaves an impression in Hebron. Haaretz. Retrieved 2 December 2023 (via Wayback Machine).

Hendry, I. (2014, December 5). 8 idioms only Arabs understand. Matador Network. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Kamin, D. (2014, June 19). The 5 most lopsided prisoner swaps in Israeli history. The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Klapper, A. (2020, March 4). How not to talk about Amalek [blog post]. The Times of Israel. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Kugler, G. (2020, October 13). Metaphysical hatred and sacred genocide: The questionable role of Amalek in biblical literature. Journal of Genocide Research, 23(1), 1–16. doi:10.1080/14623528.2020.1827781. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Lanard, N. (2023, November 3). The dangerous history behind Netanyahu’s Amalek rhetoric. Mother Jones. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Lynfield, B. (2004, November 26). Israeli army under fire after killing girl. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

McGreal, C. (2005, November 16). Not guilty. The Israeli captain who emptied his rifle into a Palestinian schoolgirl. The Guardian. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Morriston, W. (2011, August 2). Ethical criticism of the Bible: The case of divinely mandated genocide. Sophia, 51, 117–135. doi:10.1007/s11841-011-0261-5. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Orian [@orian7416] (2023, November 30). נס וסטילה: חרבו דרבו – מתורגם לאנגלית🇮🇱❤️|| HARBU DARBU (Ness & Stilla) – English translation [YouTube video]. YouTube. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Shuttleworth, C. (2023, October 18). Who is Mia Khalifa? Ex-adult star facing backlash over Israel tweet. indy100. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Vassell, N. (2023, October 12). Mia Khalifa ‘dropped from Playboy podcasting deal’ after Israel-Palestine comments. The Independent. Retrieved 2 December 2023.