In Zoabi Video, Lieberman Sings in Arabic

Arutz Sheva ^ | 29/12/12 | Gil Ronen

[Eleutheria5]

The Arab Balad party's election video is an animated clip showing Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and several nationalist MKs singing Hatikva in to a Middle Eastern tune.

Video

In the clip, Lieberman explains that he was the one who proposed a law requiring citizens to pledge allegiance to the state of Israel in order to be eligible for an ID card. He then announces that he has now become convinced that the tune of Hatikva – Israel's national anthem – should be changed so that Arabs feel comfortable singing it as well.

The well-executed clip follows, with MKs Aryeh Eldad, Danny Danon, Ofir Akunis and Michael Ben-Ari "singing" accompanying Lieberman singing Hatikva.

It ends with a narrator asking: "Did you laugh? But the situation is not funny. Who can prevent these laws? Vote Balad."

Some Arabs have complained that they cannot identify with the anthem, which appeals to the "Jewish heart" and "an eye watching Zion," as well as "the 2,000-year-old hope, to be a free nation in our country – the Land of Zion and Jerusalem."

Balad's founder, Azmi Bishara, escaped Israel after a Shin Bet investigation found that he had assisted Hizbullah in selecting targets to bomb during the Second Lebanon War. Current Balad MK Hanin Zoabi has been disqualified from running for the 19th Knesset, but the High Court may overturn...

[Eleutheria5]

Lieberman doesn't sing in Arabic, but in Hebrew. The speech preceding the song is in Arabic. It's a funny clip.

But seriously, Arabs could very easily identify with Hatikva as the national anthem, if they would remember that in Sura 17 and 5 of the Quran, the Jewish return and reestablishment of a Jewish state and the rebuilding of the Third Temple are all foretold. If they had an ounce of generosity in their souls, they would be happy, both for their cousins and for the vindication of passages from the Quran, as well as their own material prosperity since the Jews reestablished ourself. But that's a big "if". If they are nisht farginners, who just can't bear good fortune which is not directly their own, they can easily find their way to some third-world hole where Sharia is observed, and wallow in their shared misery, such as Ghaza. No need to create another one out of Judah and Samaria.

[RitchieAprile]

Presumably the Israeli Arabs are happy that they live in a stable democracy. Can they not do as in Canada and sing the
anthem bilingually? Or is the tune from Smetanas’ “My Homeland” too asymmetric for native Arad speakers?

To me its the most beautiful of all anthems, because of the tune.

[Eleutheria5]

My Arabic’s not up to a translation of this, but here’s my idea of an adaptation

The Stubborn

Our cousins have returned
Like our prophet said they would
They’ve certainly spruced up
This here neighborhood
Piped in water, filtered in Ashdod
Universities and well-paved roads
Still we are stubborn
It’s an Arab thing, you see
We resent the lack of misery