The World Cup in Qatar revealed the face of the Arab world

The World Cup games that are about to end soon were a show of hatred for Israel and a slap in the face of the normalization agreements. The new government led by Netanyahu must draw lessons from what happened in regards to its relations with Arab countries and especially in its relation to Qatar, which is a state that supports terrorism.

The World Cup games are about to end in a few days ,this event was a celebration of world-class quality football but the event, which took place for the first time in an Arab country, left a bitter taste for many Israelis because of the wave of hatred for Israel that was revealed from the first day of the games.

The mere holding of the World Cup games in Qatar was a big mistake, Qatar is a terrorist-supporting country that hosts the leaders of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in Doha, it supports Iran, Hezbollah and the Taliban movement and also the al-Qaeda and ISIS organizations that grew out of the womb of the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Also the way in which Qatar obtained the hosting of the games was very dubious, according to various publications, this was done in cunning ways of cheating and paying bribes.

Anyone who thought that the World Cup games in Qatar would lead to a tightening of relations between Israel and the Arab world and soften hearts towards the continuation of the normalization process with Israel was greatly mistaken.

The demonstration of hatred for Israel was expressed in massive gestures of the Palestinian flag everywhere, including by the Qatari hosts themselves, and the humiliation of the Israeli media representatives who came to Doha to cover the games, testify to the great hatred of the Arab nations for Israel, the Arab rulers who signed the normalization agreements with Israel did so for various political considerations and interests, but they do not reflect the opinion of the Arab street in their countries which still hates Israel.

An American newspaper called “The INTEREST”
recently published the results of a public opinion poll according to which 88 percent of Moroccan residents oppose normalization and recognition of the State of Israel, in TUNISIA 89 percent oppose it, these are very worrying figures.

At the same time as the World Cup games go on , the Arab world is following with great interest the efforts to establish a new right-wing government in Israel.

The new government that is to be established in Israel is already seen by many in the Arab world as a dictatorial, religious, fascist and racist government that is not interested in peace with the Palestinians but in annexing the West Bank and taking over the Temple Mount and changing the status quo there, reports from some of the Israeli media that are widely quoted in the Arab press contribute to this negative image.
Israel is presented, among other things, as a country living on “borrowed time”, a country on the brink of disintegration and civil war.

The wave of terrorism that plagues the West Bank and the daily determined struggle of the IDF soldiers against the Palestinian terrorists does not improve Israel’s image in the Arab street to say the least.
It would be very useful for the Netanyahu government to draw the necessary lessons from the moods in the World Cup that reflect the attitude of the Arab street towards Israel.

First and foremost is important to learn the lesson in relation to Qatar, the decision of the previous Netanyahu government to give Qatar a foothold in the Gaza Strip was a big mistake, it is hoped that the new government will distance it from any influence in the Gaza Strip and stop the transfer of the monthly grant of 30 million dollars due to Hamas.

The new government must also take into consideration the concerns In the Arab world regarding its intentions towards the Palestinians, it is currently portrayed as a bloodthirsty government that is not interested in peace.

Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu is now declaring his intentions to strengthen normalization with Arab countries and to include Saudi Arabia in the process, this is a very big challenge that will be very difficult to achieve in view of the great hatred for Israel and the lack of a political horizon for the Palestinians.

It is better to free ourselves from illusions and dreams, the World Cup games of hatred in Qatar were a slap in the face to President Trump’s “deal of the century”, to the American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to the Abrahamic agreements, the impression received is that the Arab World supports the Palestinians and their national aspirations and does not want to recognize Israel.

Yoni Ben Menachem Senior Middle East Analyst

About Yoni Ben Menachem

Yoni Ben Menachem is a Middle East senior analyst ,a journalist and
the former CEO of the Israel Broadcasting Authority(IBA). He has
decades of experience in written and video journalism. Ben
Menachem’s path in the media world began as a producer for
Japanese television in the Middle East. After that, he held many key
positions in the media The Israeli: CEO of the Israel Broadcasting
Authority, director of “Kol Israel” Radio, reporter on West Bank and
Gaza Strip affairs, political reporter and commentator, commentator
on Middle East affairs and editor-in-chief and presenter of the
program “Middle East Magazine”. 

Recent Posts

My Twitter