A video has been posted on social media showing Jews and Arabs kissing in Israel to protest about a book banned from the countrys school programme about an affair between a Jewish woman and an Arab man.
The two-minute video, produced by Time Out Tel Aviv, shows Jews and Arabs meeting up and kissing on-screen. The video compiles lip-locking between six couples, both gay and straight. Some were already couples, other just friends and others according to the website were complete strangers prior to the shoot. The video ends with the message, Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies.
The video comes after a public storm was created in Israel when the countrys Ministry of Education removed the novel Borderlife by Dorit Rabinyan, about an affair between a Jewish woman and an Arab man, from the school curriculum.
Alex Polensky, the editor of Time Out Tel Aviv, told IBTimes UK why the publication decided to make the video. We made this video as an action against the Israeli Ministry of Education decision to ban Dorit Rabinyans book.
They didnt like this love story, so we gathered these amazing and brave people to show Israel and the rest of the world a love story of our own – a one that ministries or officials wont be able ban, disqualify or censor.
Since being published online on 6 January the video has gone viral, being watched more than 90,000 times on YouTube. Israeli newspaper Haaretz claimed on 7 January that the video posted Time Out Tel Avivs Facebook page had been removed, but it is now available to watch again on the social network.
