Saudi Sitcoms Feature Hebrew-Speaking Jews, Actors Urging Normal Ties With Israel

RIYADH, SAUDIA ARABIA (VINnews) — A major feature of the culture of Ramadan, the Muslim month of festivities which commenced Friday is the sitcoms and soap operas produced specifically for this period. Arabs spend time together at night after the long fast days and watch these programs intently with their entire families. This year many of these sitcoms were not ready in time due to the coronavirus, but two programs which have aired sparked controversy and accusations of “normalization” with Israel, including by terror group Hamas. One of them featured a character calling for better ties with the Jewish state and another highlighted the life of Jews in Kuwait in the 1940s and included a monologue in Hebrew in its opening sequence.

The latter show, dubbed “Umm Haroun” (The Mother of Aaron), features the monologue in Hebrew by a Jewish character stating that “Before our footsteps go missing and our lives fall into memory, and we will be lost to time, I decided to write about us and to document everything about us … We are the [Persian] Gulf Jews who were born in the [Persian] Gulf lands.”

تبيّن هدف مسلسل #أم_هارون من أولى
حلقاته، حيث قالت بالعبرية إحدى ممثلات
هذا العمل: "قبل أن يختفي أثرنا كله، وتتحول
حياتنا إلى ذكرى ونضيع في زحمة الحياة، قبل
أن نطوى في دفاتر السنين، قررت أن أكتب عنا
وعن ما يخصنا كله، وأوثق كل شيء عنا: نحن
يهود الخليج" pic.twitter.com/V7j85KtJFs

— عامر يحيى (@Aameryah3) April 25, 2020

The series, produced in the United Arab Emirates , depicts the lives of Jews in Kuwait in the 1940’s and their relationships with their Arab neighbors. It stars a Jewish midwife of Turkish origin who is on her way to live in Israel as well as a rabbi named Rabbi David.

The series was made by Saudi Arabia’s state-owned channel MBC, the most popular TV channel in the Arab world, and boasts a star-studded cast of Saudi and Kuwaiti actors including the famous Kuwaiti actress Hayat al-Fahd, 71, who plays the mother of Aaron.

In recent years relations have warmed between Riyadh and Jerusalem, spearheaded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The cooperation has seen the Saudis welcome the peace plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump despite most of the Arab world rejecting it, as well as letting aircraft use Saudi airspace when flying to and from Israel.

A second TV show broadcast in Saudi Arabia, “Exit 7,” features a character advocating improved ties with Israel and accusing Palestinians of attacking Saudi Arabia despite all Riyadh did for them over the years.

The controversial scene shown during Ramadan on Saudi TV in which one Saudi actor advocates for normalization with Israel against Palestinians, saying Palestinians attack Saudi Arabia despite everything it did for them over the decades: pic.twitter.com/s2VzwQza7X

— Hassan Hassan (@hxhassan) April 27, 2020

The programs produced a flurry of mostly negative responses on social media as well as calls to stop airing them.

“We have many successful and heroic women in the Persian Gulf. Why do we need to turn a Jewish woman into a hero in our dramas?” protested Hana al-Qahtan, according to Iranian news site AhlulBayt.

“Would Israel ever produce a series about a Muslim woman in its prisons?” Ahmed Madani asked. “What about the injustices done to the Palestinians? Why not produce a documentary about the suffering of Palestinians?”

Viewers also contended that the show strengthens claims by Sephardi Jews that their property was stolen from them by Arab states.

Hamas reacted angrily to the new shows denouncing them as a “political and cultural attempt to introduce the Zionist project to Gulf society.” Many Palestinian organizations called to stop airing the series.

However not all the feedback was negative. “Arab Jews are part of our history, whether in Egypt or in the Arab Peninsula, and this does not contradict our assertion that they were not expelled from the Gulf,” Yousef al-Mutairi, professor of modern and contemporary history at Kuwait University, told Al-Jazeera.net.

“The expulsion took place for individuals who were engaged in activities that the society was not satisfied with, such as trading in alcohol. We must differentiate between Zionism and Judaism. Israel and those living in it are Zionists. But there’s no problem with Judaism.”