Syrians freak out over 10 seconds of a Hebrew song on Ramadan TV series

 

There is yet another Ramadan TV series controversy this year.

Besides the series Umm Haroun, which makes Jews look like human beings, and Exit 7, where Gulf Arabs muse about Israel being a better ally than Palestinians, we now have The Magician, a Syrian series filmed in Lebanon.

In its first episode, there is a scene in a discotheque, and for ten seconds we hear an Israeli version of an Armenian hit called Mi Gna by Dj Avi Panel featuring Zehava Cohen.

 

Naturally, this is a scandal. The Syrian Minister of Information, Imad Sarah, was asked about the issue in a session of the People's Assembly, and his answer was that the station that showed the program is a private one that is not subject to state control.

However, Syrian free expression goes only so far. Sources say that the TV channel was told not to show that segment again.