Futna in Big Brother Israel – Walla Eeshy!

Some interesting people and “issues” in this season’s Big Brother in Israel. In my posts about Big Brother Men and Big Brother Women, I reviewed the “special” people. We had one guy with Tourrette syndrome, one girl who used to be a guy, one deaf person (and a bit crazy too), one Polaniya (Polish woman – see my post for more info on that particular syndrome) and so on.

Oh, one of the women is an Arab. The beautiful 37 year old Futna Jabber  is even a Muslim, prays to Allah five times a day and sells hummus for a living. Combined with two ex-combat-soldiers (one of them priding himself on taking part as an officer in the Jennin operation), it seemed like a recipe for disaster (or high ratings).

Surprisingly, or maybe not so much so, Futna found her way right into the heart of Big Brother’s slightly dysfunctional family. Without losing her national/ethnic identity, and with making her political views very clear, she managed to get out of the “Arab” square right away and get herself into the “House Mama” role.

Futna and Ayala Reshef

She’s been voted by other tenants as a candidate for removal twice already – for being too dominant in the kitchen – and each time the audience voted for her to stay on the show. She still makes sure to bring up the Palestinian issue every now and again, pray daily and throw in Arab slang, coining a new national slogan: Walla Eeshy.

In case you missed it, here are some notable Futna moments from this season of Big Brother -

Good Morning Palestine

Deaf participant Erez De Drezner starts each morning with gathering all the people of the house for a “positive energies” session outside where everyone chants and signs a multi-participant dance of good vibes. The morning speech he came up with ends with: “Good morning and positive energies to the State of Israel”. Pretty common expression in Israel.

Futna interrupted and asked to replace the State of Israel with a good morning wish to Palestine. Normally, you’d expect this to ignite a debate, if nothing worse, but after a couple of seconds of shock, Erez played along and said she could wish positive energies to anyone she wants.

The Arab Candidate for the House Elections

Big Brother wants the tenants to elect a “Head of the House” and asks them to provide the names of three candidates. Futna is chosen one of them. Her campaign slogan (which the tenants help her formulate) is “One Futna for Two People”, a take on “One State for Two People”. Not a single tenant says anything about the political connotation or the fact that her campaign jingle and poster are distinctly Arab. Multi-culturalism at its best.

With Goel and Sarah

The Hookah

Many of the participants smoke cigarettes and it’s considered part of the house’s needs, much like food. Futna brought in a different kind of smoking: she’s hooked on her hookah, and Big Brother allowed her just that. Multi-culturalism again, as Futna prepares and smokes her hookah in the traditional way on prime time television.

Joining the Israeli Police Force

Arabs in police uniform aren’t that uncommon in Israel. Some policemen and police officers are Arabs (and some druze). Still, seeing Futna in police uniform, as part of the interrogation team with Sa’ar the IDF officer in the hotseat, was a funny TV moment.

With Yosef, playing cops

Futna and “The Guys”

Which brings me to Futna’s relationship with “the guys”, namely Sa’ar and Eliraz. Both are typical macho guys, reservists in combat positions, and overall nice guys. Both have done their share of military service in the occupied territories.

The interaction between them and Futna is fascinating. This strong friendly woman has no qualms about addressing anyone at eye level, and she has had some interesting talks with the guys about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The interaction is always friendly, often seasoned with laughter and jokes. The general tone between Futna and these guys is one of mutual appreciation. In fact, fairly early in the show, both guys agreed between themselves that she’s the best lady in the house and they can only wish to someday have a wife like that. Walla Eeshy.

Pictures in this post are from Futna’s page on the official Big Brother website where can read more about her in Hebrew and watch her clip.

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