A widely-circulated video clip of a young Kuwaiti man speaking Hebrew and performing Jewish religious rites has provoked the ire of many Kuwaiti activists across social media platforms over the past few days.

Kuwaiti sources have since commented that the country's Interior Ministry is still investigating the details of the case, affirming that the citizen would be summoned for questioning and stating that it was likely that he would lose his Kuwaiti citizenship after claims of visit to Israel.

Kuwait does not have relations with Israel and does not recognize the state adopts a strong position in support of the Palestinian cause.

What Happened?

25-year old Yousef al-Mehana had appeared in a televised report by Israeli broadcaster ("Makan"), speaking Hebrew and performing Jewish religious rites, before declaring in Arabic: "I have a message that I want to deliver to the Arab audience: 'Israelis are not killers".

The video also included previous recorded clips of al-Mehana on a Kuwaiti television channel where he identifies himself as "part of the centrist democratic list" in the students' union of Kuwait University, as well as showing pictures of his passport and national identity papers.

According to "Makan's" report, al-Mehana changed his name to Naftali and left to Britain, hoping to eventually move to live in Israel and converting to Judaism.

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The Israeli report claimed that the young Kuwaiti was already practicing Jewish religious rites and recited the Torah secretly inside his family home in Kuwait, despite being raised on "hating Israel."

Meanwhile on Twitter, many Kuwaitis expressed their shock at al-Mehana's actions, who many described as well-mannered young man, adding their disapproval of his actions. On the other hand, a minority took the view that his conversion to Judaism was a matter of "personal freedom", while adding their rejection of "converting to Zionism." Others pointed out the religious punishment for apostasy in Islam being a death sentence and reminded themselves of Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Possible Action

On the 16^th of December, the Kuwaiti 'al-Qabas' newspaper cited comments by security sources declaring that the country's Interior Ministry "had not received any official complaints surrounding the conversion of a Kuwaiti citizen to Judaism, following a report broadcast by a television channel."
The source added: "If a complaint is submitted in this regard, the security apparatus will accordingly act within legal frameworks," noting that "if a Kuwaiti citizen visits Israel, this citizen will be subject to investigation by state security."

The source concluded: "In such cases the security apparatuses take action according to their coordination with the Ministry of Religious Endowments. They also take action if a citizen submitted an official complaint alleging being harmed by these actions; if the circulated report is proven to be valid, the converted citizen will be stripped of their nationality as a matter of urgency."

Many tweeps agreed with the expected prospective move by the Kuwaiti authorities, while others believed it to be "exaggerated."

Amongst the latter was Kuwaiti journalist Ali al-Fadalh, who wrote on Twitter: " to the government of Kuwait: we never heard of someone being stripped of their nationality if they changed their religion. We do not agree with what he did and support punishing him but we are against stripping the nationality of any citizen for any reason. Citizenship is an intrinsic right that is not taken from citizens except if they conspired against the country and committed crimes against it. Leave citizenship alone while taking the measures that you believe will be a deterrent."