Egyptian actor sparks outrage for taking photo with Israeli singer in UAE

An Egyptian actor has sparked outrage and torrent of abuse after he took a picture with an Israeli singer during a vacation in Dubai.

Actor Muhammad Ramadan was snapped partying with Israeli singer Omer Adam over the weekend. It was a picture to symbolise friendship and peace between two nations but instead was met with hatred by those who don’t want peace with Israel and the Jewish people.

According to reports, the photo was initially posted by Emirati journalist Hamad Al Mazrouei on his Twitter account, captioning the shot: “The most famous artist in Egypt with the most famous artist in Israel, Dubai brings us together.” However, he later deleted the picture as outrage grew.

It was then shared by Israel’s Arab Twitter account, who wrote, “art always brings us together”.

الفن دوما يجمعنا.. عرض الإعلامي الإماراتي حمد المزروعي صورة للنجم المصري محمد رمضان مع المطرب الإسرائيلي عومير آدام في دبي 🇮🇱🇪🇬🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/sv4X3r5nUb

— إسرائيل بالعربية (@IsraelArabic) November 21, 2020

The responses include outraged fans telling Ramadan, “you’ve lost your audience”. Others said “no to normalisation” with Israel while another said that “all Palestinians should stop following” Ramadan.

Egypt and Israel have already got a peace deal between their countries, but this has not stopped the outrage. Many Egyptians are saying it doesn’t matter what their government has done, they still won’t accept Israel.

One user wrote, “No one told you that peace between governments has anything to do with the desire of the people. No matter how long, we will recover from them (Israel) what they have stolen, there will be no peace or normalisation with the usurper entity.”

The reason this story is so important is that it shows the hatred among many of the people in countries surrounding Israel. Regardless of whether peace is being made with Israel’s neighbours, sadly, hatred towards Israel has been taught to them from a young age and through many avenues, whether on TV or in their education or even through their religion.

There may be normalisation between Israel and its neighbours, which is clearly a wonderful thing. However, it may take a lot longer until there is “normalisation” in the hearts and minds of the people of those nations. Israel will always embrace peace with their neighbours, let’s pray their neighbours choose to embrace peace with Israel also.