يدّك الليّنة تقود الفيل بِشعره في معرض الخزف
Is it 25 years already? It seems like only yesterday. The pan-Arab games were in Jordan that year, lots of soccer, the new king would jump up out of his seat every time Jordan scored. https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-US/noartistknown/king-abdullah-salutes-his-soccer-team-1999-08-25-photo/photograph/asset/8525329
The 99 jersey had some significance too, I think it was his late father’s number. Supposedly King Hussein had great legs and the soccer uniform showed them off, so everyone had that photo as their screensaver.
Extraordinary ritual. I don’t recognize the King’s accent, I think he is speaking Modern Standard Arabic, or something close to it. The locals say he has a hard time with Arabic-he was raised out of the country starting with the 1967 war. His mother was British and he went to school in the U.S. as well. I’m pretty sure he isn’t speaking with a Palestinian accent, they have the easiest one to understand, and the most prestigious, outside of MSA.
Here’s some of the air show and dancing:
This is the speech:
The curious part of the speech is the word “khawarij ” which was not exactly translated in the subtitles, although they were grouped in with seditionists. Historically this was a group that left /seceded from Islam, but in the modern sense it seems to mean extremists or religious violence. See here: https://spiritofislam.co.in/spiritnew/index.php/khawarij This would appear to be a not so veiled criticism of Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood which was expelled from Jordan. Absolutely brilliant to pose it as an Islamic religious issue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Brotherhood#Jordan
The bedouins’ uniforms are incredible. This army (The Arab Legion) is the only army that did not run away during the 1967 war declared on Israel by five Arab nations. Whatever Palestine has left of the West Bank today, the temple mount, the al-Aqsa mosque, etc., was only because it was held by Jordan during the war.
No clue what they are chanting, or the significance of the thing the King does with the sword. He always did look good in uniform, and he used to have a nice bedouin one too, a flowing white robe with gold trim and a little gold curved dagger.
For comparison here is the King speaking at the White House, where he now seems to have an American accent. I’ve started this video at 8:28, just before the King starts to speak, where a minion comes out with a step for the King to stand on, the same color as the floor. Makes a great photo op.
Now I remember what the King’s uniform reminds me of — when Captain Kirk comes back to the Enterprise as Admiral Kirk. BTW, King Abdullah once did a Star Trek cameo.
Gender Desk 