As frontman of Israel’s number one rock band Orphaned Land, he built up a huge following in Arab countries — a following which was decimated after the October 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists.

It’s just one of the subjects covered in Kobi’s memoir The Jewish Muezzin (Lemon Soul, £11.99), which is being published on Wednesday — the third anniversary of one of the darkest days in Israel’s history.

The book was published in Israel earlier this year under the title Good Night My Orphaned Land. An Arabic version is being worked on.

Kobi’s story begins 51 years ago in Jaffa. but his younger years saw him far from the person who would win awards for his peace work. He recalled how the murder of 15-year-old Helena Rapp in 1992 made him search for an Arab “to lynch”. Kobi also graffitied ‘Death to Arabs’ around Jaffa.

But his life changed when he bought Iron Maiden’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album — although he had actually wanted the group’s The Number of the Beast. But discovering the British band’s music opened his eyes and gave him a new purpose — eventually leading Orphaned Land creating a new genre, Oriental Metal.

But all his bridge building and peace work came crashing down after October 7. He told me from a “family residence” on a Greek island: “Writing the book had a lot to do with October 7.

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