Arab Idol
Arab IdolReuters

An Israeli-Arab from the Galilee who was one of three finalists in the “Arab Idol” singing contest lost on Saturday to a singer from Syria.

24-year-old Haitham Khalailah is from the village of Majd al-Krum, an Arab town located in the Upper Galilee about 16 kilometers (10 miles) east of Akko. He participated in the show as a “Palestinian” and represented the Palestinian Authority (PA).

He lost to Syria’s Hazem Sharif who, according to Al Arabiya, also beat a third finalist, Majid Al Madani from Saudi Arabia.

Judges Ahlam, from the United Arab Emirates, Lebanese singers Nancy Ajram and Wael Kfouri and Hassan Al Shafe’ei, an Egyptian music production expert, all cheered as Sharif accepted the award, the third to be given since the popular contest came to television screens in 2011.

On Friday, the contestants sang one last time at the Beirut studio staging the MBC program, scrambling for votes from audiences across the region.

The winner of the Arab world’s leading singing competition will be awarded a cash prize of 250,000 Saudi riyals (just over $66,000), as well as a contract with Platinum Records, production of three singles, and a video clip, noted Al Arabiya.

The winner will also get a trip to the Seychelles courtesy of Emirates airline, a main sponsor of the show this year.

There was another Israeli-Arab who took part in “Arab Idol” this year, 25-year-old Manal Mousa who is from the Galilee as well but did not make it to the final round.

Last year’s winner of “Arab Idol” was Mohammed Assaf of Gaza. He later started a nationwide tour in the United States, where he attacked Israel over its “occupation” of Judea and Samaria.

After winning the contest Assaf was named as a special ambassador to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Assaf dedicated his contest victory to the "shaheeds", or "martyred" terrorists, and the "prisoners," or Arab terror convicts in Israeli jails. 

Assaf similarly sang songs in the contest referring to several Israeli cities not over the 1949 Armistice lines, including Nazareth, where he is to perform, as well as Tzfat, Haifa and others, as being part of "Palestine."