A Jordanian media firm hopes its new TV cartoon series can achieve what politicians have failed to do so far: bridge the cultural divide between East and West. It sounds like a tall order, but the Rubicon firm — named after the river Caesar crossed to establish the Roman Empire — is armed with an equally mighty motto: "to embark on a mission from which one cannot turn back."
Even more important is that the cartoon, called Ben and Izzy and aimed at 8 to 11 year olds, has royal backing from Jordan’s media savvy rulers, King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, who have made it their goal to promote tolerance. Rania will showcase Jordan’s first TV cartoon export in New York on May 8 at a black-tie dinner she’s hosting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. American media ‘royalty,’ like Barbara Walters and Katie Couric, are expected to be on hand.
"Ben and Izzy has all the right ingredients," Rania told The Associated Press. "It uses the fun medium of a children’s cartoon, promotes important intercultural understanding and educates our children as well … It’s all about partnership. This isn’t about East telling West, or West telling East, but rather East and West putting their heads together and figuring out what’s best for us both." Source: [Yahoo News]
I have to say I’m really proud to see this great initiative coming from my homeland. It really is needed in this day and time. It put a huge smile on my face to see the US media talking about this initiative and mentioning the fact that is "Jordanian-made." Kudos to all those behind this very amazing initiative. I would also like to salute Randa Ayyoubi, the CEO of Rubicon, which is the company behind Ben and Izzy, for putting forward such a wonderful image of Jordanian women to the outside world! More Ayyoubi’s are needed in the Arab World. Here is the cartoon’s website and here’s a link to The New York Times feature from last week about Monday’s presentation. The Times even has a bit of the cartoon online. Jordanian blogger Black Iris has also weighed in with a few thoughts on this fantastic initiative.
“You both see the situation in black and white, one side right, the other wrong.”
You think an invasion is a gray area? you think mass explusions of non-jews and jews-only colonies are not black and white issues?
You are a perfect example of a racist who considers brutality to non-jews as a gray area.
Actually Phatman, both you and Israeli are the perfect example of why peace is so difficult. You both see the situation in black and white, one side right, the other wrong. One side good, the other bad. All or nothing. When in fact there is a huge grey area, both sides are good, both are bad and there is enough blame to go around for everyone involved.
A person who really wants peace has to look at both sides and what’s in between.
God, there is so much hasbara in your post I don’t know where to start:
“these terrorists make sure to constantly surround themselves with innocent civilians so they can hide behind them.”
To you, every Palestinian who fights for his freedom is a terrorist. of course those Palestinians will live among civilians, because THEY ARE CIVILIANS who got sick of your cruelty and brutality. In as much as Israeli terrorist (IDF) live amongst Israeli civilians. Remember that the majority of Israelis are in the IDF and are armed and ready to kill any Palestinian who wants his freedom. but I am against targeting civilians. It’s wrong.
“This is war.”
How convenient for you. So all a belligerent country has to do is invade another country and say “IT’S WAR” and that makes killing anyone acceptable. Because to you, there are only terrorists and collateral damage. I have bad news for you, those who defend their country from invasion and fight for their freedom are heroes. you are an invader. international law protects the right of all people to resist an invader. that makes you the terrorists. there are no Palestinian tanks and soldiers in tel Aviv, there are Israeli tanks and soldiers in all of Palestine.
“But Israelis do not TRY or WANT to kill civilians.”
I see. and I am suppose to take your word for it? So your civilized intentions make all the killings justifiable? SO next time a criminal wants to rob a house, he has to have the intention of not killing the family. And if he does kill them, that’s ok because it was never his intention. GOD!!! this logic is so twisted I can’t even describe it. MURDER IS MURDER!!! MOST ISRAELIS ARE TERRORIST BECAUSE THEY HAVE VOTED TO KEEP THE KILLINGS AND OCCUPATION AND THEY SERVE IN THE ISRAELI JEWISH MILITIAS (IDF).
“I remember several times when the government compensated the family.”
How sweet of you. of the over 3,500 Palestinians killed by you in this uprising alone and the tens of thousands you have maimed for life, you compensate several families. What fairness.
“Compare this with your beloved Palestinian terrorists, who WANT to kill as many Israelis as they can”
But the numbers show that you have been doing a great jobs sinc 1948 with one massacre after another. As a matter of fact, if I add up the death toll of all the terrorist groups including AlQaeda, Red Brigades, Bader Minhiouf, etc YOU STILL COME OUT AHEAD. What does that make you?
“without the expulsions, and any other measures we have to take, there would be suicide bombings here daily. ”
WRONG! the suicide bombings came WAY WAY after the expulsions, the land theft, the assassinations. As matter of fact, it was not until the 90s that we started seeing this phenomena. Your killings and expulsions started befor 1948. Again, i don’t approve of these attacks but I hold you responsible for them. Your inhumanity and brutality is legendary, enough to corrupt the soul of an angel.
“You forgot about the Arab minority in our land who are Israeli citizens. They make up 20% of our citizenry, yet they don’t feel the need to murder the rest of us.”
WRONG! arabs who live under your domination are over 52% of the holy land population, and they include those in Israel and the occupied territories. I think you can teach US racists a lesson in dealing with the rising population of non-whites. All the US has to do is act like Israel: declare states with majority non-white populationa as occupied territories, deprive them of voting rights, expell a few millions of them into Mexico and Canada then give the remaining 20 percent of non-whites voting rights and we call it a democracy. That’s how Israel works. YOu have denied millions of non-jews, for over half a century, in west bank and Gaza their political and human rights as you digested their land. this is far more sickening than Apartheid South Africa.
“You can answer me with more bullshit and try to defend those terrorists, but I won’t be back to read it. Waste your breath on someone who cares.”
You will read my post I am sure 🙂 . But I think so long as there are apologists for Jewish extremists in Israel and for the daily killings of innocent Palestinians, we will never have peace. You must start treating non-jews as equal to you, you have to see them as human beings with the same rights you give to yourself. You have to accept western liberalism lock stock and barrel. You can’t say you are a western democracy while acting like the jewish version of the KKK (except that the KKK failed to do what you have accomplished). I bet you 100% if you stop your killings and your pull your jewish militias out of Palestine, the conflict will end in 24 hours. You know that, but you want the land without the non-jews. That’s the core of the conflict. but I am hopeful. I see more decent Jews speaking out in Israel and outside and I believe the new voices are not posturing for the media like those before them during Olso. This new generation of Jews BELIEVES that wrongs have been committed and they want to do right. I only hope their ranks grow until you are in the extreme minority of Jews.
Yes, Palestinians have been killed. Sometimes when Israel is trying to keep its citizens safe by going after and killing terrorists, citizens are accidentally killed. Mostly because these terrorists make sure to constantly surround themselves with innocent civilians so they can hide behind them.
This is war. The terrorists are trying to kill as many Israelis as they can. The army must protect us and sometimes accidentally kill civilians. But they do not TRY or WANT to kill civilians. I have heard many apologies from the Israeli government when Palestinian civilians are killed- and I remember several times when the government compensated the family.
Compare this with your beloved Palestinian terrorists, who WANT to kill as many Israelis as they can. If it were not for the security fence, the expulsions, and any other measures we have to take, there would be suicide bombings here daily. That doesn’t bother you, of course, because it’s only Jews who are being murdered. But we will do anything we have to do to protect ourselves from this evil.
You forgot about the Arab minority in our land who are Israeli citizens. They make up 20% of our citizenry, yet they don’t feel the need to murder the rest of us. We don’t have to take those protective measures with them- only with the Palestinians who cannot curb their murderous terrorist impulses.
You can answer me with more bullshit and try to defend those terrorists, but I won’t be back to read it. Waste your breath on someone who cares.
israelis: do you want to know why the world still does not take your side fully?
“From the beginning of the intifada, on 29 September 2000, until 15 Feb. 2006, 3,318 Palestinians have been killed in the Occupied Territories, among them 674 minors (under the age of 18). At least 1,806 of those killed were not participating in fighting at the time. Thousands more have been wounded.”
http://www.btselem.org/English/Firearms/
At the end of the day, you are still a people with a supremacist ideology that gives jews super human rights which trumps the rights of non-jews in holy land. You can play the suicide attacks card to your heart’s content, the death toll, the destroyed homes, and the confiscated land, the wall, the expulsions, all speak louder than your victim play.
It’s a sad day when people feel they can apologize for suicide bombers- and have the gall to blame the victims- the Israelis who are murdered in these bombings. The Palestinians have been given about a million chances to have their own state, but their horrible leadership has always turned it down, preferring instead to continue the intifada and keeping the people living in bad conditions. If it weren’t for those checkpoints, countless terrorists would cross the border and kill as many Israelis as they could. Why don’t people understand this? The Palestinian people have become a nation of terrorists. They are the ones responsible for their current condition. Stop the terrorism, stop murdering innocent people, and life for the Palestinians would dramatically improve.
israeli: the palestinians have never set sail to europe or america or asia to uproot and loot jewish communities. jews from around the world have systematically set sail to palestine and have uprooted, looted, and killed palestinians, to this day. just remember there was never such a thing as suicide bombers in palestine before israeli occupation, and there never was suicide bomber in iraq before US invasion. also remember that whe you brutalize and and dehuminize people for a long long time, it becomes a self fullfilling prophecy and they start living up to your expectations. it’s the ghetto mentality, you created the ghettoes, your built the walls and the checkpoints, and now you are cashing in on it.
That was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read. Painting Israelis as evil when the Palestinians are the ones who blow themselves up in pizza parlors and shoot a pregnant woman and her 4 little girls dead in their car after running them off the road. When we defend ourselves, we’re seen as “deformed”. When the Palis commit these heinous acts, you could hear a pin drop over the world’s indignation.
If hating terrorists makes me a racist, then I guess I’m a racist. I have no tolerance for disgusting terrorists.
And, what is your point Nora?
An Arabic cartoon to teach tolerance? Let me guess the dialog.
MOTHER: Abdul my son, you need to accept to Shlomo for what he is, a human being who is born with a disablity. We can’t hate people with disabilities.
CHILD: But mom, his disablity killed my dad, my older brother, and destroyed our house, and here we are stuck in a tent because he will shoot us if we show up around the old neighbourhood.
MOTHER: Son, you have to love all people. You can’t be an intolerant racist. We are all God’s creations.
CHILD: YOu are right mom. Next time Shlomo shoots at me or throws another family member off their land, I will not hate him for it.
EVERONE SINGS THE TOLERANCE SONG.