NEW YORK – Youtube personality Karim Metwaly teamed up with Alaaldeen Shehadeh and Moe Zahrieh for a video that has garnered nearly 1.3 million views since being posted last week.
Last month, Shehadeh and Zahrieh made a similar video together for their YouTube channel MoeLaddin, just without the women.
This time, Shehadeh, dressed as a Hasidic Jew, hits the streets with a religious-Muslim-looking woman. Zahrieh, in traditional Muslim dress, takes a stroll with a woman who looks Orthodox Jewish.
Both couples pass through what the video calls a “Jewish Neighborhood” — apparently Borough Park, Brooklyn — and a “Muslim/Arab neighborhood” that looks to be Astoria, Queens.
Sadly, the resulting footage depicts local residents who are unsettled by the expirement.
One man says, “This is so wrong on so many levels.” Another says, “You’re making Islam look bad.” Another: “That’s war. Try this in Brooklyn.”
The group’s foray into Jewish Brooklyn earns them more-deliberate stares and harsher comments. A group of men call Zahrieh a gay slur. Others accuse him of being “another stupid Muslim” and a “terrorist.” Someone yells and throws a bottle of water at him from an apartment window across the street.
In a surprise twist, the video concludes with a chunk of positive footage. Hasidic boys say Jews and Arabs can be friends. A Hasidic man calls the Muslim-man-and-Jewish-woman pairing a “highly liberating” sight.
A Muslim man says Muslims are related to Jews, and a Muslim woman tells one of the couples they inspire her.
Watch the video here:
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