A period drama about the trials of a Jewish midwife airing on Saudi-controlled MBC for Ramadan has drawn both criticism as an attempt to promote Arab “normalization” with Israel and praise for a rare exploration of the Gulf’s social history.
“Umm Haroun,” a fictional series about a multi-religious community in an unspecified Gulf Arab state in the 1930s to 1950s, began airing on Friday as part of MBC‘s lineup for the Muslim holy month, when viewership typically spikes.
It comes at a time when several Gulf states have broken with the recent past and made overtures to Israel, with which they have found common ground in confronting Iran.
Some, including Saudi Arabia, have also backed a US Middle East peace plan to move on from a conflict they say holds back the Arab world. Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab states that have peace deals with Israel.
An official from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Basim Naeem, condemned the series before it aired and told Reuters that portraying Jewish people in a sympathetic light was “cultural aggression and brain washing.”
Hamas, like other Palestinian groups, is vehemently opposed to the peace plan laid out by US President Donald Trump’s administration.
A group of regional organisations against normalizing ties with Israel circulated a poster on social media urging viewers to boycott “the wicked drama,” which was produced by Kuwait- and United Arab Emirates-based companies.
The show’s writers, Bahraini brothers Muhammad and Ali Abdel Halim Shams, told Reuters that it had no political message.
“People have spoken and judged before seeing it,” said Muhammad. “The message focuses on the ways of Muslims centered on showing love, good intention and peace to
