Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Elder of ZiyonThis year, the most prominent one, which debuted last night, is called Meliha. It is about a family that fled Gaza during the second intifada to western Egypt and their journey to return to Gaza when Libya fell apart.
I don't know if the series directly discusses the current war, but its ads sure use the war to try to attract viewers.
The introduction to the series gives a short and very absurd summary of how Jews came to Palestine in the early 1900s. It is pretty much in line with standard Arab histories: a myth that Jews lived in peace with Muslims and Christians, and that Zionism was a European plot to get rid of their Jews as well as act as a colonial bulwark against Arab barbarians. Jews have no history in the land and no possible reason to move there. (The series appears to be available on Netflix in some Arab countries, so this might be why explicit antisemitism is muted and instead projected to only Europe.)
The videos accompanying this narration have little to do with the words spoken: World War II planes are superimposed on World War I narration, a clip of the Kotel after 1967 pretending to be what it looked like before 1900.
But the craziest and funniest part is the depictions of "Herzl." Every single photo of Theodor Herzl is in fact Teddy (Theodore) Roosevelt!
Here is the intro to the series, with the English subtitles.
|
Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424. Read all about it here! |
|
