An Israeli culture festival opened on Tuesday in Albania, a Muslim-majority Balkan nation that has a historic friendship with the Jewish people dating back to World War II.
The three-day event, which is part of Albania’s fifth annual International Culture Week, run by the country’s Ministry of Economy, Culture and Innovation, is being held at a time of ongoing record-high global antisemitism in the West in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on southern Israel.
The Israeli Culture Week, underway in the Albanian capital Tirana and in cities across the country for the third consecutive year, celebrates the diplomatic ties between the nations through an array of cultural activities.
“The bilateral relations between Israel and Albania are very close,” Israeli Ambassador to Albania Galit Peleg told JNS. “At the same time, we invest significantly in people-to-people relations and Culture Week is part of this effort.”
The envoy noted that every year, the embassy brings in Israeli artists, musicians, chefs, and dancers to Albania to showcase Israeli culture at the event.
“Culture is a bridge; it is a language without words that connects people,” she said.
About 25 countries are alternately showcased in the festival in Albania, which is attended by hundreds of thousands of people, an Albanian Ministry of Culture official said Tuesday.
Ties that bind
Albania is widely recognized for being the only country in Europe that ended World War II with an increase in Jewish population, from a few hundred to about 2,000, as both Muslim and Christian Albanian families sheltered and protected Jewish refugees, at great personal risk.
Almost all the Jews living in Muslim-majority Albania during the Holocaust were saved despite the Nazi occupation.
Last year, the Albanian Parliament launched an Israel Allies Caucus, expanding the historic ties between the two nations.
“Israelis are welcome in Albania and are considered like friends and locals,” said Prof. Petrit Zorba, head of the Albanian-Israel Friendship Association.
