Scene during filming of upcoming Khaybar series.
The Anti Defamation League (ADL) Thursday condemned as “vehemently anti-Semitic” the TV miniseries “Khaybar” currently being aired in the Middle East and across the Arab World.
“With
Syria, Egypt and other countries in the Middle East going through
historical upheavals, it is absurd and outrageous that the entertainment
of the Ramadan season promotes the Muslim subjugation of caricatured
Jews,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.
“The
uprisings in the Arab and Muslim world have revealed a hunger among
much of the Middle East for democracy, accountability and the
development of effective civil and pluralistic society. Khaiber and
other productions of its ilk represent the old detrimental approach of
promoting Muslim societal unity through focusing hatred on Jews and
Israel,” Foxman said.
The
multi-million dollar television series produced by Echo Media Qatar
dramatizes the ancient battle between Muslims and the Jews of the town
of Khaybar in Arabia and depicts Jews as the enemy of Islam.
Earlier this week the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) released a video of the stars of “Khaybar,” that
captures them making inflammatory and anti-Semitic remarks. One actor
says that all Jews think about “is making money,” while another says
that Jews “have no moral values.”
Jewish human rights group, the Simon Wiesenthal Center also criticized the series on Tuesday.
“The
fact that we now have the proliferation–and if you will the
fine-tuning–of this kind of hateful imagery on satellite TV and on the
internet is devastating. To undo that kind of hatred will take at least a
generation. And the spillover is dramatic,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper,
associate dean at the Simon Wiesenthal Center told The Algemeiner.
“We’re
not talking about rabble rousers in the streets. This is a
sophisticated production that will have commercials attached to it and
it shows its becoming embedded in their cultures,” he added.
Last month anonymous blogger Elder of Ziyon oversaw the delivery of a petition,
urging mainstream human rights groups to condemn “Khaybar,” to the New
York City headquarters of both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International. Thus far he says that both organizations have failed to
respond to his overtures.
Neither Human Rights Watch nor Amnesty International responded to detailed requests from The Algemeiner for comment.
Khaybar is airing throughout Ramadan, a holy month of fasting in Islam and the prime television season in the Muslim world.
Today,
protesters at anti-Israel rallies around the world often evoke the
battle of the town of Khaybar in their chants to galvanize
supporters.
“Those
who are rallying for a new society across the region must reject the
anti-Semitism promoted in this television series,” Foxman said. “Faith
leaders in the Muslim world should also unite in rejecting attempts to
revive age-old hatreds.
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