This 2016 video shows Arabs and Jews celebrating a Jewish festival in Bahrain

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 25, 2019 at 11:10
2 min read
By AFP India

A video that shows Arabic and Jewish men dancing together has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube alongside a claim it shows a celebration for the opening of Saudi and Israeli embassies in each others’ countries. The claim is false; the video -- which has circulated online since at least 2016 -- shows people celebrating the Jewish festival Hanukkah in Bahrain. Israel and Saudi Arabia have no diplomatic ties.

The 47-second clip was published in this Facebook post on July 19, 2019. It has been viewed more than 150,000 times.

The footage shows men wearing Arabic-style robes and Jewish skullcaps dancing together as Arabic music plays in the background.

The post's caption states: “Israel Embassy Opens in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia Embassy opens in Israel. What A Lovely Sight. Arabs N Jews Dancing Together.”

Below is a screenshot of the misleading Facebook post:

The video was also published on Facebook here, here and here; on Twitter here and here; and on YouTube here and here alongside an identical claim.

The claim is false; the video -- which has circulated online since at least 2016 -- shows people celebrating the Jewish festival Hanukkah in Bahrain.

The same video with a similar claim was debunked here by AFP’s Arabic fact-check team on August 29, 2019.

Part of the footage from the video in the misleading posts was used in a video published here on YouTube on December 25, 2016. The video's title states: "Jews and Muslims celebrate Hanukkah in Bahrain."</a></p> <p>The video in the misleading posts corresponds with the above YouTube video between the nine-second and 32-second mark.</p> <p>Hanukkah is a Jewish festival.</p> <p>Below are screenshots of the misleading video (L) and the 2016 YouTube video (R):</p> <div class="wrapper-image"> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Image</div> <div class="field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/image_in_article/public/medias/factchecking/india/swdxs.jpg?itok=rX4VhvJW" width="512" height="512" class="img-fluid image-style-image-in-article" /> </div> </div> </div> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpokXTnY-Ok" target="_blank">Here</a> is a video report about the celebration published on Al Jazeera’s Plus’ Arabic YouTube channel on December 27, 2016.</p> <p>The New York Times also published <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/27/world/middleeast/bahrain-hanukkah-arabs-jews.html" target="_blank">this</a> article about the video on the same day.</p> <p>Below is a screenshot of The New York Times report:</p> <div class="wrapper-image"> <div class="field field--name-field-media-image field--type-image field--label-visually_hidden"> <div class="field__label visually-hidden">Image</div> <div class="field__item"> <img loading="lazy" src="/sites/default/files/styles/image_in_article/public/medias/factchecking/india/unnamed_2_1.png?itok=eloPtVno" width="351" height="512" class="img-fluid image-style-image-in-article" /> </div> </div> </div> <p>“Orthodox Jews in black coats and skullcaps danced with Arabs in flowing robes and checkered kaffiyehs at a Hanukkah celebration over the weekend in Bahrain, a Muslim-majority monarchy whose king has sanctioned celebrations of the Jewish holiday,” reads the first paragraph of the NYT report.</p> <p>Neither <a href="https://www.mofa.gov.sa/sites/mofaen/SaudiMissionsAbroad/SaudiEmbassiesAbroad/" target="_blank">Saudi Arabia</a> or <a href="https://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutTheMinistry/Pages/Israel-s%20Diplomatic%20Missions%20Abroad.aspx" target="_blank">Israel</a> have embassies in each others’ countries.</p> <p><br/> </p> </body></html>

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