Israeli pop star remakes AI music video showing war’s end with real scenes of freed hostages

JTA – When Israeli pop star Yoni Bloch created a music video in January depicting scenes of the Israeli hostages returning through the use of artificial intelligence, it was meant as a hopeful fantasy.

At the time, Bloch’s song, “Sof Tov” (A Happy Ending) went viral in Israel for offering optimism for the release of the nearly 100 hostages still held in Gaza. It also envisioned peace in the region accompanying the end of the war in Gaza.

Now, nine months later, after the remaining 20 living hostages in Gaza were finally reunited with their families in Israel, Bloch has remade the music video with real-life scenes that mirror those previously only seen through artificial intelligence.

The new video features emotional clips of the hostage families rejoicing at the news of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, as well as clips of them embracing their loved ones after two years of captivity.

“Unbelievable that the clip came true,” read the caption of a post of the two videos on Bloch’s Instagram account.

Praise for the new music video resounded in the comments of Bloch’s post, with one user commenting, “You are a genius. It looked so far away from us. Dreams really do come true.”

While the release of living hostages has been celebrated across Israel, the slow repatriation of deceased hostages in Gaza, in part because the location of some of the bodies is unknown, has stirred frustration among the Israeli public.

“Stunning and exciting, but not everyone has returned yet,” wrote one user in the comments of Bloch’s post.

Others shared that Bloch’s vision for regional peace in the original music video – and his aspiration of performing alongside Taylor Swift – hadn’t yet been realised. The new video doesn’t include visualisations of a postwar realignment in the region, in keeping with the uncertainty about the broader implications of the ceasefire.

On Wednesday, 22 October, United States Vice-President JD Vance met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, and said that he hoped the new ceasefire deal could serve as an “opportunity to build on the Abraham Accords”.

“Only world peace and Taylor Swift is left and the clip is complete,” wrote one user in the comments of the Instagram post.