Video of Jews, Muslims dancing together draws ire of Hamas

A video of Jews and Muslims dancing together to celebrate the Jewish Hanukkah festival has gone viral on social media, drawing strong reaction from Hamas in Palestine.

The king of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa hosted the party, for the second year in a row. The event was attended by a small section of Bahrain's Jews along with some Jews from France.

In a strongly worded response Hamas said:

 “In light of the increasing pace of international sympathy for the Palestinian cause… and the growing boycott of the Zionist movement in all forms, a group of dignitaries and traders in the State of Bahrain hosted a Zionist, racist and extremist Jewish delegation and danced with them in a humiliating and disgraceful spectacle,” Hamas officials said in a statement, as reported by The Independent. “Hamas calls on Bahrain to fully stop any form of normalization with the Zionist enemy.”

Bahrain is the only Arab country to have a synagogue. In 2008 it selected a Jewish ambassador to the United States. 

King Al Khalifa in his address at the festivities last year said:

“The call to war against terror needs to come from the leaders of all the religions as one,” he said. “Here in Bahrain members of all the religions live with no fear, and we will continue to allow Jews to live peacefully and quietly, maintaining their lifestyle, their customs and the commandments of their religion without any fear.”

The video comes as just United Nations passed a resolution condemning Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and West Bank.