WATCH: Gulf communities mark Yom HaShoah for the first time
search

The latest Jewish News

Read this week’s digital edition

Click Here

WATCH: Gulf communities mark Yom HaShoah for the first time

Joint programme featured Muslim young people who explain their experiences of visiting Yad Vashem for the first time

Arab countries in the Gulf are marked Yom HaShoah with participation from young Muslims, the first such event since a historic peace accord with Israel.

Young people from Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates shared their experiences of visiting Yad Vashem and learning for the first time about the atrocities of the Holocaust at Thursday night’s historic event.

It also included input from the growing Jewish communities of the Gulf region, who discussed how Jews and Muslims can work together to create a new Middle East.

“It is truly remarkable that we can celebrate Yom HaShoah so openly this year in the Gulf – both as the broader Jewish community of the Gulf and in our individual communities,” said Elie Abadie, the rabbi of the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities, which is organising the event.

His colleague Ebrahim Dawood Nonoo added: “Living in the Gulf, we are blessed not to experience anti-Semitism which is increasing in other areas of the world. This is due to our close relationships with our Muslim neighbours as we look out for one another.

Jewish and Muslim Gulf communities mark Yom HaShoah

“Therefore, it was important for us to also include a component of our program focused on how Muslims and Jews can build a new – and better – Middle East with a united front.”

Other events include a 24-hour run on Thursday around the Al Dhafra air base in Abu Dhabi to remember victims and survivors of the Holocaust.

The event will be streamed not just in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, with which Israel now has diplomatic relations, but also Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Support your Jewish community. Support your Jewish News

Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.

For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.

Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.

You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.

100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...

Engaging

Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.

Celebrating

There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.

Pioneering

In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.

Campaigning

Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.

Easy access

In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.

Voice of our community to wider society

The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.

We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.

read more: