Friday, May 08, 2020
Elder of ZiyonThe BDS Movement issued a press release last week that called to boycott the major Saudi TV network MBC, which produced both dramas.
Historically the word "normalization" has been considered the worst epithet an Arab could accuse another of, but that word has lost its sting for Arabs who actually don't see anything wrong with treating Israel like a normal state. So BDS needed to up the ante to "treachery."The campaign calls on the Arab masses, particularly the brotherly Saudi people, to boycott the MBC Group channels during the month of Ramadan, and it also calls on all companies to withdraw their investments and refrain from any partnership (for the purpose of propaganda or others) with the group to force them to retreat from their cultural normalization with Israel and promotion of Zionist lies that are truly misleading the Palestinian cause and the Arab cause. This cultural normalization is a continuation of the political, security, economic, and commercial relations that link some Arab regimes, particularly the Gulf countries, with Israel, which have gone beyond normalization to the point of complete treachery.
Because broadcasting a TV series that is sympathetic to Jews is the worst!
Of course, in the case of Umm Haroun, in which Israel is hardly mentioned, BDS cannot look antisemitic. So they found one scene where Israel is mentioned - where the main character hears about the birth of Israel on Arab radio - and pretend that this is really the issue they have a problem with, not the sympathetic portrayal of Jews.
Gaza media is a little more honest. They admit that they hate Umm Haroun not because of this snippet of a radio broadcast, but because the series is "adopting the Zionist-Israeli narrative of the injustice of the Jews in the Arab countries before and after the establishment of the state of "Israel"... which holds Arabs responsible for "Jewish refugees" from the Arab countries, and alleging that their emigration from the Arab countries was due to the Arab persecution of them because they are Jews."
The BDS press release then goes on a rant about how Arab states are accepting Israel - meaning, that BDS has failed spectacularly badly in the very heart of the Arab world where the Palestinian cause was sacred. (Not Palestinians, but their "cause.")
This [Saudi] regime, which betrayed the question of Palestine, is the same one that terrorizes, kills and tortures thousands of human rights activists and freedom activists in Saudi Arabia, and wastes the fortunes of the brotherly Saudi people in favor of American military industries - in compliance with Trump's orders and administration, which are fiercely hostile to Arabism and Islam - and do not fear continuing to commit crimes against humanity against the brotherly Yemeni people.Sites like Electronic Intifada, speaking to an English language audience, is not even embarrassed to embrace the crazy as well.
The greatest danger of these normalized artistic productions lies in their timing and goals, as they can never be separated from the political context of the region and the attempts to pass the American-Israeli "Deal of the Century" and the accompanying normalization of some Arab countries that aim to liquidate the Palestinian issue. This cultural normalization is a continuation of the political, security, economic, and commercial relations that link some Arab regimes, in particular the Gulf, with Israel, which have gone beyond normalization to the point of complete betrayal.
Also, it is no secret to our people that the Qatari satellite channel attempted to perpetuate the recent crisis in its favor, as we realize that the Al-Jazeera satellite channel, as well as MBC ’s satellite channel , have been continuously contributing to the passage of normalization messages for years, by providing a platform for the Israeli enemy and its criminals to address the Arab viewer in his language, and to polish the image of the first enemy of the peoples of our Arab region.
This Palestinian anger at Gulf states is, of course, making the Arab world even more hateful of Palestinians. This cartoon is a perfect representation of their response ( I added the English translation from MEMRI:)
Notice that this cartoon is hardly philosemitic - but the cartoonist hates Palestinians far more.
