What Arab TV Says About Evolving Attitudes Toward Israel

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The annual crop of Ramadan TV shows represent one of the most interesting bellwethers of popular culture in the Middle East: watched by an audience of hundreds of millions, they often reflect—and sometimes help to shape—evolving social mores and shifting political moods. Since most of the region’s media outlets, for entertainment as much as for news, are subject to heavy censorship, the content of these shows is assumed to have official sanction.

This year’s batch of dramas and comedies is encouraging an unusual discussion over Arab-Jewish relations. It comes at a time when many Arab countries—especially the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain—are gingerly exploring more cooperative relations with Israel, not least because of shared opposition to Iranian, and Turkish, ambitions in the region.

The dramatic series “Um Haroun” constitutes a significant breakthrough in the Arab popular-culture representations of Jewish-Arab relations in the context of the creation of Israel. Set in an unnamed Gulf country which most closely resembles Kuwait, it tells the story of how ties between Jewish and Arab communities were snapped by the creation of Israel in 1948.

Rather than casting Israel and Jews as malign elements that ought to be extirpated from the Middle East, as TV shows sometimes do, it takes a more nuanced reading of region’s recent history and current realities. It is a humanizing and sympathetic portrait of the Jews of the Arab world, a wistful account of what was lost on all sides when these communities left for Israel.

This tone is set by the opening voice-over monologue in Hebrew from the titular main character – based on a real Barhaini Jewish midwife: “Before our footsteps go missing and our lives fall into memory, we will be lost to time. We are the Gulf Jews who were born in the Gulf lands.” Peaceful coexistence crumbles as a Jewish man is murdered when news of the creation of Israel is broadcast on the radio.

Significantly, “Um Haroun” is a broad-based production: It is being aired on the Saudi-owned MBC network, is co-produced by Kuwaiti and Emirati companies, and features performers from several countries. The show-runners had to navigate past censorship (and cultures of self-censorship) in multiple jurisdictions, meaning a lot of authorities signed off on this.

But the show shouldn’t be dismissed is an officially-approved effort to shift public opinion for purposes of geopolitical expediency. It is a genuine reflection of a generational shift in attitudes: Many young Arabs already sense that Israel and Jewish nationalism are a natural and non-pathological part of a regional environment that contains significant and legitimate non-Arab power centers.

A recent Zogby opinion poll found that majorities in most Arab countries now think normal relations with Israel are developing, and that this is a good thing. And increasing cultural and sporting – and in the case of Oman even political—links between Israel and Arab states are widely accepted, meeting with little pushback.

Perhaps inevitably, “Um Haroun” has been greeted with anger among Palestinians, who are dismayed by what they regard as a too-charitable representation of their antagonists. Hamas called the program a “political and cultural attempt to introduce the Zionist project to Persian Gulf society” and said it promotes “hatred, slow killing and internal destruction.” Displays of sympathy for Jews being evicted from their Arab homelands can seem discordant at a time when many in the West Bank are bracing for large-scale annexations of territory by the new Israeli national unity government.

Significant criticism has also been leveled at a Saudi comedy series, “Makhraj 7,” which lampoons attitudes towards Israel, including a particularly controversial discussion of “normalization” of commercial and political relations—with one character complaining about Palestinian “ingratitude” to Gulf countries.

These are heretical departures from the traditional Arab political culture and public discourse, and although the show also presents some of the more conventional views, it is being accused some Palestinians and other critics of promoting rapproachment with Israel.

But the Palestinian criticism is misplaced. These programs do not present a Jewish or Israeli narrative to an Arab audience, and their ability to transform deep-seated attitudes—let alone affect national policies—should not be overstated. After all, despite improved relations with Israel, the countries where these shows are produced joined the rest of the Arab League and Organization of Islamic Cooperation in condemning the annexation plan.

Palestinians can count on unanimous Arab support where it matters most: diplomatically and politically. But Arab narratives about Jews and Israel are growing more complex—and closer to reality.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Hussein Ibish is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

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