(JTA) — The kingdom of Bahrain hosted a candlelighting ceremony for Hanukkah, which led to a video of local men wearing kaffiyehs and Orthodox Jews dancing together.

The Muslim monarchy of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa held a candle lighting ceremony on Saturday night attended by the local Jewish community, area businessmen and other local Bahrainis. The Hasidic dancing was captured on video and posted on YouTube.

Last year was the first time that the king of Bahrain marked Hanukkah.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The Hamas terror group issued a statement railing against the ceremony calling the dancing of Jews and Muslims together  a “disgraceful spectacle.”

Hamas called on Bahrain to “fully stop any form of normalization with the Zionist enemy.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued an official Hanukkah message to the country’s Jewish community.

“My best wishes for the Hanukkah festival of all Jews, especially the inseparable part of our society’s Jewish citizens, with whom we have co-existed peacefully for centuries, and I wish them peace,” said the message.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount