Israeli Arab Goes Viral With 328 One-Minute Videos
For the past 328 days, Nuseir Yassin has been traveling the world – from Nigeria to Myanmar, the Philippines to Mount Fuji – making daily one-minute videos that shine a light on the people, places and passions he comes across: good, bad and in-between.
The style and format – quick cuts, an engaging delivery and snappy subtitles – have helped make the videos go viral. Some of his mini-films have earned 25 million views.
“I just wanted to do something that felt meaningful,” Yassin, 24, an Israeli-born Palestinian and Harvard graduate who goes by the name Nas. “I realized that I’d lived 32 percent of my life and there was so much more I wanted to do.”
He wears a t-shirt bearing an image of a battery charger showing 32 percent of life complete.
In the early stages, Yassin felt his videos were sometimes touristy – “look at this place,” “how cool is this?” – but now he structures each more carefully.
In recent days, he has explored the social gaps between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs, efforts to bring both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict together via culture and security issues in Israel.
“I’ve learnt how amazingly flexible people are,” he said. “I’m enjoying it.”—Reuters
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
