President Reuven Rivlin and his wife Nehama hosted at the Presidential residence on Wednesday a teacher named Jeehan Jaber from the Ibn Sina school in Taibe. The president and Jaber called on Arab citizens of Israel to study Hebrew and for Jewish citizens to study Arabic.
Jaber was accompanied by Taibe mayor Shuea Masrawa Mantzur, the principal of the school where she teaches, and family members.
In recent days, a video of Jaber playing a darbuka and teaching a Hebrew song to her pupils has gone viral around Israel and on social media. Numerous impersonations of Jaber singing her song have also gone viral on social media and even haredi sites imitated her performance.
Not everyone was pleased to see the Israeli Arab teacher enjoying her classes. Some, notably the satiric TV show Eretz Nehederet (Wonderful Country), evinced bad taste by exaggeratedly mimicking her accent rather than concentrating on lauding the creative educator's enthusiasm. An op-Ed in the left wing Haaretz newspaper turned the story around, alleging that "Israeli Arab educators aren't teaching Hebrew out of love; they're coerced" and actually said the video "illustrates Israeli oppression in a heartbreaking way."
Jaber recently received a prize for the unique way in which she transmits the Hebrew language using song and tapping on the darbuka.