The highly anticipated slate of miniseries for Ramadan in the Arab world is a mixed bag for Israel and Jews, but much better than any previous year.We already discussed Umm Haroun, about a Jewish woman in Kuwait in the 1940s. The series is sympathetic towards Jews and is therefore generating a lot of controversy, which must be a mystery for those who say that Arabs aren't antisemitic. A typical response on social media said, "Umm Haroun reminded me of the Schindler's List movie, released in 1993, directed by Steven Spielberg ... The common goal is to convince humanity that the Jewish sect was unjustly killed, displaced, and robbed of their rights, to merge the Jews into societies and make the Arabs coexist with them.” Yeah, that sounds evil.
One response from the Palestine Center to Resist Normalization was equally nonsensical, saying "The series tries to promote normalization with the Zionist occupation by penetrating Arab TV screens, especially in the holy month of Ramadan."
It is hard to overstate how much the Arab world is talking about this series. Articles about the history of Jews in Arab lands are being written, complaining that the issue has been erased under the excuse of "normalization." . Today a new "controversy" was launched where someone in the series referred to the Land of Israel before Israel was declared a state, and many people are angry that the word "Palestine" wasn't used.
An Egyptian science fiction series, "The End," begins with a teacher bringing students (and viewers) up to speed on the state of the world at the time, where the US erupts into civil war and Israel, weakened, is destroyed by the combined Arab armies.
That has been the fantasy of much of the Arab world for decades.
Israel complained to Egypt for allowing the series, and the series creator lectured Israel on freedom of expression, in one of the more ironic responses in memory.
A third Ramadan series, "Exit 17" includes a scene where two Saudi businessmen debate relations with Israel, and one insults Palestinians.
The character played by actor Rashed al-Shamrani says he wants to expand his business and cooperate with Israelis. Then the character played by Nasser Al-Qasabi answers that Israelis are enemies.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
Shamrani then says: "The real enemy is the one who curses you, denies your sacrifices and your time (that you spent) with him, and curses you day and night, more than the Israelis. I mean we waged wars for the sake of Palestine, we stopped (the flow of oil) for the sake of Palestine. Ever since there is a (Palestinian) Authority, we pay the wages (of its officials) that we are worthier than, and they don't miss a chance to attack Saudi Arabia."
In another scene, Qasabi's character is upset when he learns his son is playing Internet game with an Israeli.
Unless I'm mistaken, even the seeming anti-Israel animosity in "The End" is just a means to create a world where Arab actions matter, as the point of the series is the dystopic future; knowing that there are superpowers around would ruin the plot. Israel needs to disappear for the plot, which has (as far as I can tell) nothing to do with Israel.
So altogether the Ramadan series are much more liberal towards Jews and Israel than in any previous year.
(h/t Ibn Boutros)