Group reaches out to Bedouin community with virus rules

An Israeli civil-society organization has launched a campaign on social media aimed at raising awareness in Bedouin communities regarding the importance of following government guidelines aimed at curbing the coronavirus outbreak.

The Arab-Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation-Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Economic Development (or AJEEC-NISPED to the cool kids) has released four videos aimed at reaching the roughly 260,000 Bedouin Israelis living in villages in the Negev, many of whom have not seen the Health Ministry messages thus far.

The videos feature senior members and influencers in the Bedouin community and will be distributed primarily over WhatsApp as well as Facebook and other social media platforms accessible to cellphone users.

With many of the Bedouin communities lacking a consistent supply of water and electricity, residents often don’t have access to televisions, where updated Health Ministry guidelines are shared, AJEEC-NISPED says in a statement.