Chaim Amalek: “You cannot help but respect them for this.”
REPORT: Amman, Jordan – A group of Israeli Hassidim are being accused of carrying out a “ritual Talmudic dance” on Tuesday morning while waiting to board their plane in Queen Alia International Airport in Amman.
What was in fact a traditional Jewish circle dance, accompanied by guitar music and Hebrew singing, has morphed into a social media controversy in Jordan, and was considered so offensive to Jordanians that it had to be denounced in the Jordanian parliament.
In the viral video, a group of eight men, identifiable as Breslev Hassidim by their attire, are singing a Hebrew song that celebrates marriage. However, some Jordanian media has misread the dance as a “ritual Talmudic dance” meant as a provocation.
One Jordanian tweeter, who according to his Twitter profile is a doctor in the Health Ministry, wrote that: “He who was sitting in the airport and saw the dance and wasn’t provoked is a pig and more piglike then the Jews themselves.”
The editor- in-chief of the Hamas media outlet Siraj Media tweeted that the “airport dance”—the hashtag being used on social media in Arabic—“isn’t the problem, but rather the acceptance of Israel as a reality” is the issue.
One woman jokingly wrote “A popular call to dance the Dabkeh at OIAA.” (Dabkeh is a traditional Middle Eastern circle.)
On Tuesday, according to The Jordanian Times, Jordanian MP’s discussed the “ritual dance” video during a Lower House session. MPs Yihya Saud, Bassam Btoush and Tarek Khoury reportedly criticized Amman’s “inaction” over the “provocative” dance performed by “Zionist Israelis” at the airport. The MPs argued that Jordanians would never be allowed to do such an act in Israel.
