Published: 30 April 2020
Last updated: 5 March 2024
NIGHTFALL DURING RAMADAN in the Middle East is drama time, when Arab soap operas accompany evening feasts with fare of feuds, historical heroes and villains and forbidden love. This year though, programmers have broached new ground using the popular shows to highlight a normalisation with Israel.
Two series broadcast across the region in the first three days of the Muslim holy month have stirred both surprise and contention – one by daring to explore the Jewish history of the Gulf, the other by suggesting that Israel may not be an enemy and that Palestinians have been ungrateful for Saudi Arabia’s support.
The unusually pointed messages have both aired on the Saudi-controlled satellite channel MBC, offering little doubt that they had been sanctioned by the country’s leaders. The broadcasts have left some viewers reeling at the spectre of Ramadan becoming a forum to showcase political shifts and others claiming they belatedly addressed issues that had been airbrushed from Saudi culture.
FULL STORY Ramadan TV dramas signal shift in Arab-Israeli relations (Guardian)
Popular Middle Eastern series stir surprise with pro-Israel messages backed by Saudi Arabia
READ MORE
New radio drama on Israel's birth (Jewish Chronicle)
Miriam and Youssef tells the story of the founding of Israel through the eyes of a Jewish girl and a Palestinian boy
Miriam and Youssef (BBC)
Photo: MBC’s Ramadan series Umm Haroun being filmed in Dubai (Al Fahad/Reuters)
