POLITICS

Satirical song on Israel-UAE ‘relations’ divides internet

In her song ‘Dubai, Dubai’, Israeli comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi highlights ruthless brutality against Palestinians

Social Desk February 10, 2022

A "very interesting" Israeli song surfaced on the internet recently which divided social media users in the Arab world.

Israeli comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi's satirical song, titled Dubai, Dubai, highlights the "political bond" between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel.

The UAE is often considered to be representative of Arab views and concerns. However, in recent years, the political relations established between the two countries has caused quite a stir in many countries.

Israeli Song Mocks Latest Arab-Israeli Normalization Deals | Al Bawaba

It is interesting if not surprising that the composer of the song is an Israeli comedian. Eliassi is an ardent supporter of the Palestinian plight despite her nationality. In her song, she emphasises Israel's colonial brutality and ruthless cruelty that has displaced several Palestinians in favour of illegal settlements for foreign Jews.

Eliassi, who is fluent in Arabic, sang her "controversial" song on the Arabic-language station Makan 33.

"There is nothing better than Arabs who have millions and forgot about Nakba. They forgot about Palestine," the comedian sings. The powerful lyric brings the Palestinian exodus to the world's attention. Nakba, also known as the Palestinian catastrophe, is the mass displacement and forcible destruction of Palestinian homes and land by Israeli forces in 1948.

"Dubai, Dubai. Burning the consciousness of Arabs. And just like Dubai, they forgot the blockaded Gaza."

This powerful lyric reminds the audience of the raid that happened in Al-Aqsa last summer. The bombings that occurred in Gaza following the raid is another testimony to Israel's cruelty towards Palestinians.

The song caused a stir and divided sentiments online.

Abier, a Palestinian Twitter user, tweeted her amusement at the fact that the song will infuriate Emiratis.

Is this @ShusterNoam ? Omg lol

this’s gonna piss a lot of Emiratis, the cute المطبعين #Israel pic.twitter.com/FN6iNf8BCV
— Abier (@abierkhatib) January 13, 2022

In a response to Abier's tweet, another social media user Ahmed Ghanim offered more information on the song, stating that it is a mix of Hebrew and Arabic.

The song is mixed of Arabic and Hebrew, it talkes about how UAE collaborates with Israel against PALESTINE. Also talkes about how Arab forgot PALESTINE and the suffering of the Palestinian people.
The Singer is Jewish i suppose, that's why we appreciate what she does.
Sincerely
— Ahmad Ghanim 𓂆 (@CallMeA7mad) January 14, 2022

This is not the first time that the comic has received a lot of attention online. In 2019, she sarcastically proposed to Saudi Prince Muhmmad bin Salman.

Eliassi, who refuses to be reduced to nationality, has always vocalised the Palestinian plight and sees herself as a comedian for Israeli and Arab relations.

COMMENTS (1)

Rebirth | 2 years ago | Reply Why don t the people who sponsored this song help the Palestinians themselves seeing how they care about them so much and the Emiratis don t Had I been from the Arabian peninsula I would say that lobby your own politicians discuss aid reduction sanctions or whatever it is you do these days and lay off the Arabs who already have an Iran and it s proxies to deal with . But since Pakistanis only ever go to work and live there it s not our place to comment on it. Funny how these folks expect the entire world to run to them with every little issue and they want to act like everyone s older brother but when it comes to Israel they want to hide behind the indifference of the Arabs. Move the OIC out of Saudi Arabia because we want to be the leaders of the Muslim world and we ll raise issues like the Uyghurs in China but when it comes to Israel the Arabs need to take the lead and show concern . It s boring and it doesn t sell anymore. They don t ever pressure the Turks to go yell about the Turkic Muslims in China. They don t even ask the Bengalis to complain about the treatment of the Assamese. Most of these things they do it themselves. Out of your fear for the Jews don t scapegoat the Arabs. That s what an Arab would or should say.

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