Sam London performing on stage at Tel Aviv’s Levontin 7 club in May 2023. Photo: Sam London

A Jewish singer-songwriter who recently wrote and released a song titled Ani Yehudi — which translates in English to “I Am a Jew”— told The Algemeiner on Monday that the track aims to express pride in being Jewish as it pays tribute to the innocent Israeli civilians massacred by Hamas terrorists earlier this month.

“Oh the souls we left behind/Oh the children watching from the sky/Oh the mothers crying on the inside/Oh the fathers caught in the riptide/Oh the souls/Ani Yehudi,” sings British-American 19-year-old Sam London in the new Hebrew and English language track.

The London-born musician, whose real name is Sam Cohen, then repeats the same verse in Hebrew before singing of his own agony hearing about the events unfolding in Israel. “I can’t speak right now,” he sings. “While I watch the children burn from the ground/God hear me/Please hear me out/One thing I know/Ani Yehudi.”

The song also features audio recordings of two Israeli parents whose families were attacked by Hamas. A mother talks about hiding in the closet with her family as the terrorists blasted through the door of her home, while a father talks about his daughter being taken hostage by Hamas.

London, who is the younger son of The Algemeiner‘s senior correspondent Ben Cohen, wrote Ani Yehudi in the days following the Oct. 7 onslaught by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel. The Palestinian terror group murdered more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seized over 200 hostages who were forcibly taken to its enclave in neighboring Gaza.

“The first week after the attacks, when I made the song, it was one of the worst weeks I’ve ever known,” said the University of Delaware freshman, who did a gap year in Israel before starting college. “Especially being on campus. We had some events at the school, but I felt a bit isolated and really missed Israel, especially after living there for a year.”

“When I wrote the lyrics I was tearing up,” he said of composing Ani Yehudi. “There are a lot of things I could’ve called [the song] but this — saying ‘I’m a Jew,’ ‘I’m Jewish’ — is sort of like an anthem or a song for Jews in the moment to listen to and make them proud to be Jewish. Saying ‘Ani Yehudi’ gives [the song] the meaning it deserves and shows what the song is about.”

London has family members living in Israel, including his paternal grandfather in Yaffo-Tel Aviv, and friends, some of whom have been drafted and are currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces. The artist is independently releasing his first album later this year, which he pushed back from early November after not wanting to promote the record during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

For now, London’s musical focus is on Ani Yehudi and giving the song a new spin. He told The Algemeiner that he has talked to other Jewish and Israeli artists about a collaboration in which they write and record their own verses for Ani Yehudi. London will then compile the verses together, with his own, into one song that he hopes to release in the coming weeks.

Listen to Ani Yehudi by Sam London below.