When Israeli singer Itay Benda told two Chinese women he was from Israel, they paused for a moment. What followed was a warm, smiling interaction that Benda captured on video — and it has since racked up over 186,000 views on Instagram.
The clip, posted on March 29, shows Benda connecting with the two women through music as part of his ongoing “Peace through Music” project. “Peace through Music built another bridge,” he wrote in the caption, alongside a question for his nearly half a million followers: should he add a Chinese song to the setlist for his upcoming Israel tour?
Who Is Itay Benda?#
Benda is an Israeli musician originally from Jerusalem, now based in Los Angeles, who has built a massive following by singing in over 50 languages. His approach goes beyond phonetic mimicry — he invests deeply in pronunciation, emotion, and cultural context for each language he performs in. With around 489,000 Instagram followers and over 530,000 on TikTok, he has turned multilingual music into a form of grassroots diplomacy, regularly surprising people on live streams by revealing his Israeli identity only after singing in their native language.
His “Peace through Music” concept has resonated especially in the context of the Israeli-Iranian dynamic, where many of his interactions with Iranians still living in Iran have gone viral for their warmth and humanity.
The Community Responds#
The reel has drawn over 10,000 likes and 420 comments, with reactions ranging from enthusiastic support for adding Chinese music to his repertoire to broader reflections on the power of music to cross cultural divides. One commenter summed it up simply: “Music is a universal link between people.”
Benda has hinted that tour dates for Israel, the United States, and Canada are coming soon.
