A video of Arab and Jewish couples engaging in “forbidden” kisses has disappeared from Facebook, prompting claims of hacking and censorship.
The video by TimeOut Tel Aviv features six couples doing the “forbidden deed”, was a response to an Israeli Ministry of Education decision to exclude a book describing a love affair between a Jewish woman and an Arab man from school curricula.
Dorit Rabinyan’s 2014 novel Borderlife was rejected from being taught in Israeli schools because it might threaten Jewish identity.
An education official’s explanation appeared to argue against lovers crossing the sectarian and racial divide, Haaretz reported.
“... Young people of adolescent age tend to romanticize and don’t, in many cases, have the systemic vision that includes considerations involving maintaining the national-ethnic identity of the people and the significance of assimilation.”
In response to the move by the Israeli Ministry of Education, TimeOut Tel Aviv “decided to ask jews and arabs to meet and to kiss.”
“Six couples of jews and arabs - male and female, gay and straight, have decided to do the ‘forbidden deed’ and express love in front of our camera. Some of them were couples, some just friends, some have never met prior to the shoot.”
The clip received more than 100,000 views when posted on Facebook on Wednesday, before it mysteriously disappeared the day after.
“We really don’t know why… cute little video has been removed, but we do know that he is still available to watch everyone on our website [sic],” TimeOut said.
According to Haaretz, Facebook “vehemently denied” removing the video, leading to reports hackers targeted TimeOut Tel Aviv.
Demand for the book which prompted this saga has increased 10-fold since the omission and it is now a bestseller in Israel.