Jordanian YouTuber Faces Backlash Over Morocco-Algeria Border Video

In the "Sans Papier" podcast, Joe Hattab explained that two sequences of his video made some Algerians uncomfortable. First sequence: when he and several Algerians reached the border with Morocco, a Moroccan on the other side waved to them and shouted "Long live Algeria," and an Algerian responded with "Long live Morocco." The second scene concerns merchants in a popular market in the Algerian city of Maghnia, who said they were importing certain spices and pottery from Morocco. Hattab documented the sale by local merchants of spices and pottery imported from Morocco, before going to Tlemcen to highlight the architectural similarities with the city of Fez.

The Jordanian YouTuber confides that he had received many calls from Algeria immediately after the video was published, including a call from the Algerian ambassador to the United Arab Emirates. "We trusted you and gave you an entry visa to Algeria, but the video has a political character," the Algerian diplomat reproached him. This left Hattab stunned. He claims he was unaware of the depth of the conflict between Algeria and Morocco. He also assured that his goal in going to the border was to highlight the human connection between the two peoples, who share family ties. He also specified that, as in dozens of his previous productions, he turned to the population to learn more about their culture.

Faced with the controversy, Hattab was forced to delete his video, which had accumulated 700,000 views and 70,000 "likes" in just three hours. However, he stressed that it was a political fringe that attacked him. On his Instagram account, he apologized for deleting the video. "The video had deviated from its initial objective, which was to promote brotherhood, love, and bring the two peoples closer together by talking about the border, as part of a series he is making on borders around the world," he lamented.

"The video had been interpreted politically by some people, and when he saw that it risked causing damage instead of spreading feelings of affection, he decided to delete it a few hours after its publication on YouTube," added the Jordanian YouTuber, followed by about 12 million people on YouTube, before thanking "all the people who understood the purpose of the video, namely love and brotherhood, because the believers are brothers, peace be upon you."