This is the sign I saw and photographed on the border between Tel Aviv and Bat Yam.
In my post, I kind of got all… how to say… schmaltzy. It was just one of those feel good moments that I felt I had to share with my readers.
And other people felt the need to share it, too. My colleague, Dimi Reider, shared the link to the post on his Facebook page. And that’s where things took a turn (for the worse?). One of the people who commented on his link posted this picture:
As you can see, it’s the exact same font, exact same arrow. This time, the wedding is for Yaeli (Jewish name) and Muhammad (Arab name). This photo was taken near Rothchild Boulevard in Tel Aviv.
To complicate things further, another one of Dimi’s friends said he saw a similar sign, for Ahmed and Shira’s wedding, posted outside a cafe in central Tel Aviv.
My heart sank. I was fooled. It’s some sort of campaign.
But actually, what’s interesting about this campaign is which way you can take it. One has to ask: Who is smiling now because of these signs, and who is afraid of them?
Speaking for myself, when it comes to politics I lean to pessimism. So, I immediately thought this was a campaign funded by racist right wingers who want to warn against intermarriage.
But in fact, there are right wingers who see this sign and are probably just as scared as I am. They might be thinking this is a campaign run by a group of left wingers who are supportive of a “one state solution” or a “state of all its citizens”, where people marry between faiths and endanger the continuity of the Jewish people – or worse: contaminate Jewish blood, corrupt Jewish women.
Interesting. The fright can go both ways.
Now we just have to find out who’s trying to scare who. Or maybe, just maybe, someone is trying to show some optimism around here.
