In North America, folk music has traditionally been the purview of the political left, the stripped-down performance of protest representing a quaint, if frequently ineffective, method of protest against the powerful. But in Israel, it is the far right which has embraced folk music, using it to protest Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s decision to pull Jewish “settlers” out of the Gaza Strip. As in most folk music, subtlety is cast aside, and the message is clear: this land is our land.