JAFFA, Israel – Mixed-gender parties organized in conservative Gaza for last week’s Eid al Adha has sparked a controversy in the Strip, ruled by the Islamic movement Hamas.
Videos of private parties, where male and female revelers were seen together in hotel lobbies, were leaked to social media and became viral. In them, male and female singers were seen performing to smoke-filled rooms with a mixed crowd.
Some were deleted following threats. Hardline Islamists accused Hamas of showing leniency in allowing these events to take place.
A Salafi activist in Gaza told Breitbart Jerusalem that Hamas security officers contacted him and other social media users and demanded they delete posts and tweets.
A local human rights activists confirmed that dozens of users received similar messages.
Hamas refrained from issuing a formal statement, but some loyalists claimed the videos were fabricated. Some even claimed these were parties that took place in Ramallah and organized by their rivals in Fatah to libel Hamas as endorsing promiscuity.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=186572828434617&id=100012457022999
Even though the posts criticizing Hamas were deleted, many users still weighed in on the issue.
“Why are people making a big deal of the woman singing at Almashtal hotel?” Bint Majet wrote. “They claim we badmouth Gaza. Hamas lies and you believe them. The primitiveness! Nobody has the right to curse the singer.”
ليه عملتو قصة من البنت الي غنت في فندق المشتل!
بحجة انو شوهنا سمعة غزة😶حماس كذبت الكذبة وانتو صدقتوها😬
بلا تخلف ما حدا بيطلعلو يغلط بالبنت😡😡— Bent Majed ❤ (@ok_randa) September 17, 2016
Hassan Abo Homaid tweeted: “In response to the video of the party at Almashtal Hotel, when the government banned these degenerate parties people complained, and now when it allows them inside hotels they complain, and if the police raided them people would complain and say let them party. I don’t think there’s a nation that’s entirely pious, some are believers and some are debauched. As the old men say, not all your fingers look the same.”
https://www.facebook.com/homaid1982/posts/674170832739250
“Forget electricity, the border crossings, the elections, the siege, the occupation and other problems,” Muhamad Alnajar tweeted. “Our biggest problem is that a woman sang at Almashtal Hotel. Our people are famous for their primitiveness.”
سابو مشكله الكهربا والمعبر والانتخابات والحصار والاحتلال…الخ
وقصتهم الحين البنت الي غنّت في فندق المشتل "الاركميد"
شعب عنوانه للتخلف عنوان— مُحَمّدْ (@mhmdalnajar) September 17, 2016
“A woman started singing, she did it respectfully, she even wore a headscarf,” Muhammad Aljafrarawi tweeted. “Now everybody criticizes her and has turned her into the most immoral person alive. We don’t deserve to move forward and develop. So she sang, you bunch of primitives, what’s the big deal…”
بنت طلعت تغني بكل احترام ولابسة ومحجبة انتقدوها وخلتوها اوسخ خلق الله
شعب متخلف …شعب لا يستحق انو يرتقي …
وك بتغني يا شعب متخلفين….— Mhmd jafarawi (@MhmdWjafarawi) September 17, 2016
Journalist Israa Elshareef wrote: “So what if a young woman sang? So what if the song she sang was about her spoiled daughter. She didn’t do it at a night club. Go to hell, you bunch of bored people.”
شو يعني بنت بتغني.. وشو يعني دلع البنوته
اللي بسمعكم بقول مرقص كاين.. يقطعكم من شعب فاضي 😡— Isra'a Elshareef (@IsraaElshareef) September 17, 2016
Social activist Noor Ezzat tweeted: “People are really stupid. I don’t understand why you have to shame the girl who sang. Why, because she’s a girl and not a boy and she’s not allowed to sing? If she was a man she would be allowed to sing?”
يعني عنجد والله الناس تافهة جداً مش فاهمه ايش البرم يلي حكوه علبنت يلي بتغني 🌚
ولا عشانها بنت يعني مش ولد حرام الها وحلال ل الولد يعمل هيك— noor (@NOOORLEX) September 17, 2016
Aya Hassan tweeted: “A woman singing is corrupt, but bribery, payoffs and lack of transparency, that’s not corrupt. Only a woman singer.”
هلأ الفساد صار في صورة بنت بتغني
نسيو الرشاوي والواسطات والمحسوبية واللعب من تحت الطاولات ومسكو ببنت بتغني 😡😬 https://t.co/kQ7ZleSqqO— Aya Hassan ⚖ (@AyaHass25031095) September 17, 2016
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