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For Insight into Mideast, Tune into Ramadan TV
(Wall Street Journal) Joseph Braude - In the Middle East, Ramadan is the most high-stakes period for hundreds of satellite channels in 21 Arab countries. A traditional mainstay of Ramadan TV has been programming depicting Jews as hook-nosed spillers of blood who want to enslave the world, starting with Muslims. This year, one Qatari-backed historical drama, "Khaybar," shows why a Jewish tribe in seventh-century Arabia deserved to be slaughtered by Muslims and recreates the carnage. But early ratings show "Khaybar" to be a commercial flop. This year's most popular shows don't focus on an external enemy but on current intra-Arab issues. Arab cops hunt jihadi terrorists. A con artist becomes president of Egypt. A mosque preacher falls in love with a secular violinist at the opera house. These are just a few of the plots for dozens of new TV shows playing to 90 million households in the Arab world this month.