A dance-off between Israeli soldier and Palestinian children went viral on TikTok after being posted on Tuesday.
The video entitled "The Israeli/Palestinian conflict in 2022" shows two Palestinian children in a field outside of Jenin dancing, and an IDF soldier returning the moves to the music of Simple Plan's I'm Just a Kid.
"At the beginning of June, we were reinforcing the Jenin area, and in the area of the [security] fence that separates between Israel and Judea and Samaria while I was at my post, we saw from a distance Arabs approaching the fence, seeing us looking back at them," IDF reservist Yal Hadok, a 21-year-old Kfar Sabah resident who immigrated from France, told N12. "Suddenly, I turned back and saw two kids starting to dance behind me, so I danced back."Hadok uploaded the video in response to Operation Breaking Dawn, which ended in a ceasefire on Sunday."It's important to show that we're human beings and don't hate each other. I don't believe that the nations on both sides want war," Hadok told N12. The dancing soldier told N12 that he didn't expect the video to gain such popularity. By Wednesday, the video racked up over 271,000 views and was liked almost 50,000 times.
"If this doesn't solve the conflict, what will?"
TikTok comment
Responses to TikTok video
"If this doesn't solve the conflict, what will?" asked one Israeli commenter.
"This was so wholesome," said another commenter.
Others noted that some of the dances were from the video game Fortnite, in which game avatars can "emote" dances during gameplay. Some said that Fortnite could bring world peace. Hadok told N12 that "It was heartwarming to see the reactions. I'm a very positive person and hope that someday there will be peace in the world."