Static and Ben El Tavori: The Pop Duo That Defined a Decade and Then Broke Apart
Static and Ben El Tavori were Israel's biggest pop duo from 2015 to 2022. 300 million views on Tudo Bom. A Saban Music Group deal. A breakup amid Ben El's domestic abuse recording scandal. The full operating record.
Static and Ben El Tavori were the biggest Israeli pop duo of the second half of the 2010s. From their 2015 emergence through their 2022 breakup, they sold out venues across Israel, became the first Hebrew-language artists to commercially export reggaeton-influenced pop, scored the most-watched Israeli YouTube video in history with their Hebrew "Tudo Bom" at approximately 300 million views, and signed a ten-year contract with Saban Music Group's Capitol Records targeting English-language international launch. The breakup in August 2022, after seven years together, came amid the public release of audio recordings in which Ben El Tavori threatened his ex-wife and son — recordings that cost the duo its Strauss Group sponsorship and reshaped the commercial picture in days. The split announcement drew 160,000 reactions on Instagram within five hours.
Related on Olam: Mizrahi Pop: The Music of Israel & Omer Adam the Mega Star — the wider genre context in which Static and Ben El were operating, and inside which Ben El Tavori's father, Shimi Tavori, is a foundational figure.
The two of them
Liraz Russo, who performs as Static, was born on December 8, 1990. He was adopted at four months old by Moshe and Nitza Russo, an affluent Israeli couple, and raised in Haifa as a Jew. His biological origins are unknown to him; he has publicly mentioned the possibility of having been born in Latin America. He began playing piano at age three, switched to guitar later, and performed in municipal festivals with a Haifa youth band at 15. He served in the Israel Defense Forces as an officer in the Israeli Air Force but was discharged early for health reasons. After the discharge, he began working with music producer Omri Segal.
Ben El Tavori is the son of Shimi Tavori, one of the foundational figures of Israeli Mizrahi music. The family inheritance positioned Ben El inside the genre from childhood — the same genre that, by the 2020s, would run through Omer Adam at Madison Square Garden and Menora Mivtachim Arena scale. Ben El and Static met as childhood friends and partnered as a musical act in 2015 after both featured on a track by rapper Ron Nesher. Producer Yarden Peleg, who performs and produces under the name Jordi, became the third structural pillar of the project, producing essentially the full catalog across the seven-year run.
The catalog and the commercial scale
Static and Ben El built one of the most commercially scaled Israeli pop catalogs of the 2010s — distinctive less for the absolute virtuosity than for the genre fusion they introduced. The duo combined Hebrew lyrics with reggaeton, Latin pop, and dance-genre influences in arrangements that translated directly to YouTube and the streaming-era visual catalog. Tracks including "Barbie," "Silsulim," "Zahav," and "Tudo Bom" became immediate hits. The Hebrew-language video for "Tudo Bom" — the Portuguese title kept intact as the chorus's distinctive hook — became the most-watched Israeli YouTube video in history at approximately 300 million views on YouTube. Streaming footprint sits across Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music.
Their commercial trajectory ran across all the principal Israeli concert tiers and into the diaspora arena circuit. The duo sold out Toyota Center in Houston and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles in the 2019–2022 diaspora window — a route that parallels the diaspora arena buildouts of Omer Adam and other top-tier Israeli pop acts across the same period. They headlined the opening ceremony of the 21st Maccabiah Games on July 14, 2022 — one of the last major joint performances before the breakup. They built sponsorship relationships across Israeli consumer brands, including the multi-year campaign with Strauss Group for the Milky pudding product that included a sponsored song.
Katan Aleinu — the COVID charity moment
On November 24, 2020, Static released "Katan Aleinu" — a charity single he wrote and Jordi Peleg produced, featuring approximately 40 Israeli singers across multiple generations and genres in support of Israeli hospitals and medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. The roster spanned Omer Adam, Eden Ben Zaken, Gidi Gov, Gali Atari, Mooki, Subliminal, Eden Alene, Noa Kirel, Nasreen Qadri, Stéphane Legar, and dozens of others across Israeli music. The Omer Adam appearance on the track is one of the higher-profile cross-cohort collaborations of his career — the reigning commercial peak of Israeli Mizrahi pop appearing on a track written and produced by the Static-Ben El-Jordi triangle. None of the participating artists were compensated; every social share of the video was matched with donations. The track is referenced in Israeli music writing as one of the most significant cross-cohort collaborative moments of the pandemic era.
The Saban deal and the planned international launch
The international growth path that Static and Ben El were positioning toward was a ten-year recording deal signed with Saban Music Group's Capitol Records — the label founded by Haim Saban, the Israeli-American media entrepreneur behind the Power Rangers franchise and the sale of Fox Family to Disney. The duo planned an English-language song rollout to support international touring beyond the diaspora Jewish concert circuit. The deal was framed as the path from successful Israeli artists to mainstream English-language pop. The breakup in August 2022 interrupted the launch. The label ultimately preferred to continue working with Static alone, per Ynetnews's reporting on internal label conversations.
The August 2022 breakup
The breakup announcement came on August 25, 2022, in a joint Instagram and Facebook post. The framing in the public statement was mutual and amicable — "both decided that the time has come that each of us will go our own way" — but the commercial context was a multi-month controversy centered on Ben El Tavori. Earlier in August 2022, audio recordings became public in which Ben El threatened his ex-wife Ortal Amar and their son Tav-Prince during a custody dispute. The recordings triggered immediate commercial fallout — the Strauss Group ended the Milky pudding campaign, citing its position against violence. Internal duo dynamics deteriorated further. At a concert in Eilat in the days leading up to the announcement, Static walked off stage after two songs.
Per Ynetnews's reporting at the time, the duo's management informed Ben El that the breakup was happening. Per Ynet sources, Tavori's actions had cost the duo "millions" in commercial value and the "massive backlash" left no commercial alternative. The Saban label preferred to retain Static alone for the planned English-language rollout. Coverage across The Times of Israel, Haaretz, and Globes tracked the split.
Post-breakup trajectories
Both artists continued solo careers after August 2022. Static has continued through Saban Music Group's Capitol Records arrangement and has continued to release Hebrew-language material with periodic English-language tracks targeting the international rollout the duo had planned. Ben El Tavori has continued in Israeli music — where the market he re-entered as a solo act is the same market in which Omer Adam has been operating as the commercial peak of Israeli Mizrahi pop, selling out six consecutive nights at Menora Mivtachim Arena and headlining Madison Square Garden. The combined back catalog of Static and Ben El Tavori material remains in active streaming circulation — the most-played tracks have crossed the 300-million-view tier and the broader catalog continues to generate substantial passive streaming revenue across both artists via ACUM royalty collection. Live performances of duo material have not resumed since the breakup.
Where Static and Ben El sit in the Israeli pop landscape
The Israeli pop landscape of the 2015–2022 period had two commercial peaks. Omer Adam — the arena-scale Mizrahi solo artist, the Menora Mivtachim six-night, the Madison Square Garden headline. Static and Ben El — the reggaeton-Hebrew fusion duo, the 300-million-view YouTube ceiling, the Saban international deal. The two projects occupied adjacent commercial ceilings and repeatedly intersected: through Ben El's paternal line into the Mizrahi genre Omer Adam commercially defined, through the Katan Aleinu charity collaboration, and through the shared diaspora arena route across Houston, Los Angeles, and the U.S. Jewish concert circuit. The Static and Ben El chapter closed in August 2022. The Omer Adam and Mizrahi pop chapter continues.
The legacy
Static and Ben El Tavori were a seven-year project that introduced reggaeton-influenced Hebrew pop into the Israeli mainstream, built the most-watched Israeli YouTube video in history, exported to the diaspora arena circuit at Toyota Center and Hollywood Bowl scale, and were targeting English-language international launch when the breakup happened. The commercial breakup is one of the most documented in Israeli music history. The catalog remains structurally significant in the Israeli streaming economy. The 2020 "Katan Aleinu" charity collaboration sits as one of the cross-cohort moments of the pandemic era. Static's solo trajectory continues. Ben El Tavori's solo trajectory continues. The duo's seven years remain a distinct chapter in Israeli pop history.
FAQ
Who are Static and Ben El Tavori?
An Israeli pop duo active from 2015 to 2022, composed of Liraz Russo (Static) and Ben El Tavori. The most commercially scaled Israeli pop duo of the second half of the 2010s.
What was their biggest song?
"Tudo Bom" — the Hebrew-language track whose music video became the most-watched Israeli YouTube video in history at approximately 300 million views.
Why did Static and Ben El break up?
The duo announced the breakup on August 25, 2022. The commercial context was audio recordings released earlier that month in which Ben El Tavori threatened his ex-wife and son. The Strauss Group ended its Milky campaign; Saban Music Group preferred to continue with Static alone.
What is the Saban Music Group deal?
A ten-year recording contract with Saban Music Group's Capitol Records, signed to support English-language international launch beyond the diaspora Jewish concert circuit.
Who is Ben El Tavori's father?
Shimi Tavori, one of the foundational figures of Israeli Mizrahi music.
Primary Sources
- Saban Music Group
- Strauss Group
- Maccabiah Games — Opening Ceremony records
- ACUM — Israeli music royalty collection
- Ynetnews · Times of Israel · Globes — 2022 breakup coverage
Read next on Olam: Mizrahi Pop: The Music of Israel & Omer Adam the Mega Star — the genre context, the Omer Adam arena scale, and the commercial trajectory of Israeli Mizrahi pop.
