Friday, October 10, 2014

Arabs Seethe, Rage When Saudi TV Show Includes Israel on a Map of the Middle East

Khaled Abu Toameh details what happened when two Israeli Arabs appeared on the Arab world's wildly popular singing contest, Arab Idol, and their country of origin--i.e. Israel--appeared on the show's map:
The two Arab Israelis, Manal Moussa, 25 and Haitham Khalailah, 24, are from villages in northern Israel. They are among many contestants from all over the Arab world who are performing songs on stage in front of four judges and the public. 
This is the first time that Arab Israelis have participated in the popular show. 
When this season's show began in mid-September, the TV station introduced a map with the names of the contestants' countries. This year, of course, the map showed Israel as one of the countries taking part in the show. 
The Saudi station and directors of the Arab Idol show quickly learned, however, that they had committed a big and unforgivable crime. Within minutes, they were flooded with requests to remove Israel from the map and apologize to all Arabs for this "serious offence." 
The condemnations did not come only from Palestinians, but from nearly all the Arab countries. The protesters demanded that MBC immediately replace "Israel" with "Palestine" or face a massive boycott campaign.
Arab activists did not even wait to hear back from MBC, and launched their own online campaign to boycott the station. One group launched a Twitter campaign entitled "Shut Down Arab Idol." Another campaign was launched under the banner, "Palestine is Arab, not Hebrew." A third online campaign carried the title, "Together Against Arab Idol."
And of course there were the more extreme activists who issued threats against the station and its Saudi owners, whom they dubbed "Zionist Arabs." 
So did the station stand resolute in the face of the collective hissy fit?

Don't be silly. It capitulated quicker than you can say Ryan Seacrest:
Not surprisingly, embattled MBC managers rushed to issue a statement apologizing for displaying a map that referred to Israel as an existing state. MBC claimed that Israel appeared on the map as a result of a "technical error." The name Israel was removed from the map, which now uses only the name Palestine.

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