Mohammed Assaf

He was given the nickname Asaroukh ("The Rocket") by Lebanese singer and Arab Idol judge Ragheb Alama. Assaf was acclaimed by the jury and the public. His voice and appearance have drawn comparisons to Egyptian singer Abdel Halim Hafez, which has garnered Assaf both fame and controversy. Fans merged part of Hafez's name with Assaf's, as in Assaf Hilm Falastine ("Assaf Palestine’s Dream"). Assaf's final performance was his rendition of "Ali al-kuffiyeh" ("Raise The Kuffiyeh"), a Palestinian nationalist song and called on Palestinians to raise their kuffiyehs (a traditional Arab headdress that has become a Palestinian nationalist symbol) and to unite, in light of the split between the two major Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had tuned in to watch his performance. On 22 June Assaf was declared the winner of Arab Idol, winning the most votes and coming ahead of two other competitors, Ahmed Gamal and Farah Youssef, from Egypt and Syria, respectively. Massive celebrations by Palestinians ensued after the announcement of his victory, including festivities held on the streets of Gaza City, East Jerusalem, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Khan Yunis, Nazareth, Lebanon and Jordan.

The Idol is a 2015 Palestinian drama film directed by Hany Abu-Assad. It was shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The Idol was partially filmed on location in Gaza, the first feature film to be shot there in decades, with further filmings in Jenin, Amman, Beirut and Cairo. The Idol was produced in association with the Doha Film Institute and the support of the Netherlands Film Fund. the film was selected as the Palestinian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards but it was not nominated.

Although prior to his participation in Arab Idol, Assaf stated he had been briefly detained by the security forces of the conservative Hamas party and paramilitary group—which maintains de facto control over Gaza—on over 20 different occasions in an effort to dissuade him from singing, the group has not suppressed Palestinian support for Assaf or viewership of the show. Signalling a shift in attitude, a Gaza-based Hamas MP, Yahya Mousa, lauded Assaf and referred to him the "ambassador for Palestinian art."

Mohammed Assaf has enjoyed great pan-Arab and Arab diaspora popularity internationality engaging in many sold-out tours. He released a great number of music videos and in 2014, was invited to sing during FIFA World Cup celebrations with "Yalla Yalla". He has also released a number of highly successful collaborative singles. His massive 2017 hit "Baddek Enayah" (in Arabic بدّك عناية) features the Cuban reggaeton group Gente de Zona. Also in 2017, he released "Rani" as a bilingual Arabic and French duet with French Algerian raï singer Faudel and in 2018 collaborated with Lebanese-Canadian star Massari in the single "Roll with It".

Mohammad Jaber Abdul Rahman Assaf (Arabic: محمد جبر عبدالرحمن عساف ‎; born 1 September 1989) is a Palestinian pop singer well known for being the winner of the second season of Arab Idol, broadcast by the MBC network. His victory received worldwide coverage from the media and was welcomed with joy by Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world. In 2013, Assaf was named a goodwill ambassador for peace by The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). He was also named ambassador of culture and arts by the Palestinian government and was offered a position with "diplomatic standing" by the Palestinian president Mahmood Abbas. Assaf's story is the basis of the 2015 film The Idol, directed by Hany Abu-Assad. After Arab Idol, Assaf has gone on to enjoy huge popularity in the Arab World and the Arab diaspora and has released two albums and a great number of singles and collaborations. Most of his music is sung in Iraqi, Khallegi dialect not a Palestinian one.

He was born in Misrata, Libya to Palestinian parents. He lived there until he was 4 years old, when his parents moved back to Gaza, he grew up in Khan Younis refugee camp to a middle class couple where he attended UNRWA elementary school. His mother's family hails from the village of Bayt Daras, which was captured and depopulated by the nascent IDF in 1948 and his father's family is from Beersheba. Assaf's parents moved to Khan Yunis Refugee Camp when he was four years old. He is one of six siblings, three of whom, including Assaf, have been involved in performing live music. Assaf's mother Intisar, a mathematics teacher, has stated that Assaf began singing at the age of five and "had a voice of someone who was much, much older." Before his role on the television show he was attending Gaza City's Palestine University majoring in media and public relations. Assaf did not have professional training as a singer; he started his career singing at weddings and other private events. He entered the public view in 2000 during a popular local television program where he called in and sung a nationalist song to the host's praise. Afterward, he was frequently offered contracts with local record companies. Sometime after his first performance, he sang in a local event in Gaza attended by late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat.