An Israeli journalist has sparked controversy after publishing a video of himself sneaking into the Saudi city of Mecca, the holiest city of Islam, flouting a ban on non-Muslims.Â
The video by Gil Tamary, who works for Israel’s Channel 13, continued to draw hostile reactions on Saudi social media on Wednesday, two days after Tamary posted it on Twitter.
In his roughly 10-minute clip, Tamary visits Mount Arafat, where robed Muslim pilgrims gather to pray during the climax of the Haj pilgrimage each year.
He makes clear he knows what he’s doing is outlawed, referring to the site as “a place forbidden to non-Muslims” and declaring, “I am the first Israeli journalist on the spot to broadcast these images and in Hebrew.”
Accompanied by a person who appears to be a local guide and whose face is blurred to prevent his identification, Tamary lowers his voice while speaking to the camera in Hebrew, and at times switches to English to avoid revealing he is Israeli.
Responding to the outcry on Tuesday, Tamary said he wanted merely to “showcase the importance of Mecca” and the beauty of Islam, while claiming the video “allowed many people to see, for the first time, a place that is so important to our Muslim brothers and sisters”.
Yet a host of international and Saudi media outlets published extensive coverage from Mecca during the Haj pilgrimage less than two weeks ago.
Channel 13 apologised but stood by its report.
“The visit of our world news editor Gil Tamari to Mecca is an important journalistic accomplishment, which was not meant to offend Muslims,” it said in a statement.
“We apologise if anyone was offended. To clarify: journalistic curiosity is the very soul of the journalist profession. The principles of journalism are rooted in reaching any location and documenting events firsthand.”
