The American Jewish Committee (AJC) released an Arabic video explaining the Jewish people’s connections to the land of Israel this week. According to the AJC, the video entitled “What Ties Jews to Israel?,” is the 11th edition of their series of educational, Arabic-language videos. The series name, translated from Arabic to English, is “About the Jews.”
The description of the video, which is available on the AJC Arabic channel, in Arabic, notes that Jews have made their homes everywhere in the world. It goes on to detail that the video would discuss the ties that Jews have to their historic homeland in Israel and also highlight that other peoples also have ties. Lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians, it states, can only occur based on the mutual acknowledgment of the other’s connections to the historic land.
The video itself uses a simple, yet colorful animation style to illustrate its points.
The video explains to its audience, according to an AJC statement, that “for almost 4,000 years, Jews have had a unique bond with the land, which is an integral part of their identity. Despite periods of exile, the Holy Land has always remained a central pillar of their history and aspirations.”
What does the video hope to accomplish?
AJC CEO Ted Deutch highlighted the importance of sharing this message saying that, for many in the Arabic-speaking world, Israel simply represents “modern Jewish nationalism.” The ancient history and connection of Jewish people to the land of Israel, Deutch laments, “remains largely untold in Arabic.”
”We are the Same”, say Jewish and Arab youth (credit: FLICKR)Previous videos in the “About the Jews” series cover topics including the Jewish people’s origins, the history of Muslim-Jewish relations, antisemitism, and American Jewry.
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