Orthodox Jews and Bahraini Muslims celebrate the beginning of the Festival of Lights in the tiny gulf Kingdom.
(Jewish News) Chanukah has been celebrated in the tiny gulf Kingdom of Bahrain this year, with Jews and Muslims shown dancing together to bring in the festival.Hamas condemns Arab-Jewish Hanukkah celebration in Bahrain.
A video shows kaffiyeh-wearing Bahrainis singing and dancing to chasidic music with Orthodox Jews, to mark the first night of the Chanukah on Saturday.
The party was reportedly held by American Jewish millionaire Lazer Scheiner who invited members of the local community. During the party candles were lit.
Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa held the first Chanukah celebration in the country since 1948 last year.
During the 2015 ceremony, held at the King’s royal palace in the capital city of Manama on the second night of the festival, numerous faith representatives attended. Rabbi Moshe Levin, director of the Conference of European Rabbis, met with the Bahraini King, before the lighting of candles at Manama synagogue.
(INN) The Hamas terrorist organization condemned a special candle lighting event in Bahrain in which Jews and Arabs danced together while lighting a Hanukkah menorah.
Hamas called the dancing of Jews and Muslims together a "shameful spectacle". The terrorist organization called on Bahrain to "put a complete end to any normalization of relations with the Zionist enemy."
The JTA news agency said that King Hamad Isa Khalifa, for the second year in a row, hosted the local Jewish businessmen and other residents of Bahrain for the candle lighting ceremony. In the video uploaded to YouTube, local Arabs in kaffiyehs can be seen dancing with members of the Jewish community and singing Hasidic tunes.
The event was also sponsored by businessman Lazer Scheiner.
Meanwhile, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan congratulated the Jewish people on Hanukkah. He said that he would like to commend in particular "the Jewish citizens who are an inseparable part of our society and with whom we’ve lived peacefully for centuries. I wish them peace."
