Maccabi Tel Aviv players joined the Israeli "Hop!" Children's Channel initiative to  get children to feel comfortable with diversity

The Israeli children's television channel "Hop!"  has initiated a campaign with a very important lesson for all its young viewers: First of all you have to respect yourself, but you also have to respect what's different in everybody else. The Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club and all the players couldn't agree more, and that's why they have pledged their full co-operation with this important initiative. The first step for the players was to participate in the making of a "Jib Jab" clip along with Sesame Street characters, singing the theme song to the "What I Am" campaign.  The "What I Am" theme song is a unique video clip with children from all the various and wonderful threads of the current Israeli cultural tapestry, appearing alongside friends from Sesame Street – Elmo, Avigail, Oofnik, Mahbub and Sivan.  And the message is clear: Each of you is special, despite your differences.

The initiative for the campaign "There's Something Special in Everyone" came about as the result of the co-operation between the Israeli children's television channel "Hop!", whose motto is "Your children are in good hands with Hop!", and one of their flagship programmes, the world renowned "Sesame Street". The campaign is designed not only to strengthen each child's own self-image but also to strengthen the values of fairness and equality by getting the children to feel comfortable with and accepting the diversity that is a part of all of us here in Israel, a country with so many different cultures living side by side.

In an official statement, Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club stated that  "Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club have always regarded support for the social values of equality and the acceptance of diversity in society as an integral part of their entire basic mission of promoting the welfare of young people in this country. We are therefore delighted and proud to participate in "There's Something Special in Everyone", the intiative on the part of the Israeli television children's channel "Hop!", which is designed to encourage those values."