Toronto Passions
Toronto Escorts

Arab Regimes Terrified by Israel's Freedoms

canada-man

Well-known member
Jun 16, 2007
31,096
2,592
113
Toronto, Ontario
canadianmale.wordpress.com
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/11663/arab-regimes-israel-freedoms


Fifty years have passed since many Arab countries were humiliated by Israel in 1967 in a war the Arabs started, with the explicit goal of destroying the Jewish State and throwing the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea. Today, Israel has solid diplomatic relations with two of these countries -- Jordan to Egypt -- while Saudi officials speak with their Israeli security counterparts about the Iranian threat.

But although the Middle East is engulfed in a new wave of internal destabilization, and Iran has recently experienced a new wave of protests in which people chanted "we don't want an Islamic Republic", the great taboo for the Arab and Muslim world is still that of cultural exchanges with the hated "Zionists".

A prominent Tunisian-born French movie producer, Saïd Ben Saïd, after being forced to pull out of North Africa's most prestigious film festival, recently issued one of the frankest denunciations of anti-Semitism in the Arab world. He revealed, in an op-ed for the French daily Le Monde, that an invitation to preside over the jury of the Carthage Film Festival had been rescinded because of his work with the Israeli film director, Nadav Lapid, and for having participated on a panel at the Jerusalem Film Festival earlier this year. The real culprit, Ben Saïd argued, was the prevalence of anti-Semitism fueled by Islamic extremists across the Middle East:

"No one can deny the misery of the Palestinian people, but it must be admitted that the Arab world is, in its majority, antisemitic... This hatred of Jews has redoubled in intensity and depth not because of the Arab-Israeli conflict, but with the rise of a certain vision of Islam".

Writers, novelists, journalists, politicians, bloggers, filmmakers: there are plenty of Arab and Muslim artists who have paid a heavy price for having broken through the iron curtain that has been put around Israel.

Amin Maalouf, who has both a Lebanese and a French passport, gave an interview to an Israeli channel, i24. Perhaps he thought that having won the Goncourt Prize (France's greatest literary recognition), having received the Legion of Honor, and being among the "Immortals" of the French Academy would have protected him. Of course it did not. Right after his interview with the television channel, requests to deprive him of his Lebanese citizenship and put him on trial began at once.

A Lebanese director, Ziad Doueiri, did something even "worse": he filmed some scenes on Israeli land! When he returned from the Venice Film Festival, the Lebanese police were waiting for him at the airport. He was arrested, interrogated for three hours, and accused of "collaborating with Israel".

Boualem Sansal, an acclaimed Algerian writer, should have received the Prix du Roman Arabe for his book "Rue Darwin". The jury, however, who had actually selected him, later retracted the award and cancelled it. The reason? Sansal had made a trip to Jerusalem to attend an Israeli literary festival.

The great Egyptian writer Ali Salem has seen his career destroyed forever for having visited Israel. In 1994, a few months after the Oslo Accords were signed, the famous Egyptian satirical writer traveled to Israel and wrote the book, My Drive to Israel. Theaters abandoned and boycotted his plays.

The Nobel Laureate for Literature Naguib Mahfouz was persecuted by the Islamic fundamentalists, not only for his "secular spirit", but above all the support which, at the time, Mahfouz provided to President Anwar Sadat for having signed the Camp David "peace" treaty with Israel. In 1979, the Arab countries boycotted the publication of Mahfouz's novels. They are still officially unavailable in some Middle Eastern countries.

The most well-known Iranian blogger, Hossein Derakhshan, ended up in jail; he was accused of "spying for Israel." His "crime"? A visit to Israel two years earlier to "show the daily life of the Jewish people" and to expose anti-Semitic prejudices.

Even the most famous Arab poet, the Syrian Adonis, was expelled from the Arab Writers Union for having met with Israeli intellectuals in Granada during a UNESCO conference.

These Arab and Muslim regimes are terrified of Israel, a comparatively microscopic 20,000 square kilometers, compared to the 33 million square kilometers of the Arab and Muslim world. In an immense crescent that sweeps from Casablanca to Mumbai, Israel is the only free state in the region.

In Saudi Arabia, blogger Raif Badawi was imprisoned and flogged. In Jordan, the writer Nahid Hattar was murdered for "blasphemy". In Egypt, the novelist Ahmed Naji was jailed for "obscenity". And Iran increased the bounty for the murder of writer Salman Rushdie.

Israel is the only Middle Eastern state where journalists enjoy absolute freedom of expression and can safely challenge the military and government. It is a Jewish country where publishing houses translate Arab authors; the opposite does not happen in the Middle East. It is the only country where artists and writers are not censored or told by the state what to write, what not to write, or how to behave. This is what Arab and Muslim dictatorships fear: that their own artists might be "infected" by these "unruly" "Zionists".

The West, where people care about pluralism and cultural freedom, needs strongly to support these Arab and Muslim writers and artists who have dared to visit Israel and become "unruly" to boot. It means betting on freedom and progress instead of on autocracies and an artificial, failed "peace". These Arab artists are far more brave and honest of all those European pseudo-intellectuals who embrace the boycott of Israel, the only free and open country in the Middle East.

Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
 

nottyboi

Well-known member
May 14, 2008
22,447
1,325
113
It funny how you make a point that a poet meeting with Israelis is seen as shocking, yet in the USA a witch hunt is ongoing over anyone in connected to the administration who spoke to Russians.
 

FAST

Banned
Mar 12, 2004
10,069
1
0
It funny how you make a point that a poet meeting with Israelis is seen as shocking, yet in the USA a witch hunt is ongoing over anyone in connected to the administration who spoke to Russians.
He actually did NOT make a point about anything in this thread.

And all you did was initiate personal insults.

If you don't agree with the OP,... say so,... but in a grown up fashion.
 

nottyboi

Well-known member
May 14, 2008
22,447
1,325
113
BTW AL Jazerra is blocked in Israel so it seems it is not so free....:yo:
 

nottyboi

Well-known member
May 14, 2008
22,447
1,325
113
He actually did NOT make a point about anything in this thread.

And all you did was initiate personal insults.

If you don't agree with the OP,... say so,... but in a grown up fashion.
Its in the article he posted, so is it a big leap to assume he agrees strongly with the content? How was anything I said personal I just said the article goes on about freedom yet we see a witch hunt in the "land of the free"
 

oldjones

CanBarelyRe Member
Aug 18, 2001
24,495
11
38
He [canada-man, the OP] actually did NOT make a point about anything in this thread.

Truer words were never posted.

Any and all points made were those of the "Gatestone Institute, a non-partisan, not-for-profit international policy council and think tank … dedicated to educating the public about what the mainstream media fails to report…" .

c-m himself posted with no apparent point.
 

FAST

Banned
Mar 12, 2004
10,069
1
0
Its in the article he posted, so is it a big leap to assume he agrees strongly with the content? How was anything I said personal I just said the article goes on about freedom yet we see a witch hunt in the "land of the free"
Wrong,... a person can post an article,... and completely disagree with the article,... but I do realise that is complicated concept regarding posting here.

By you stating he agreed with the article,... was personal.
 

Phil C. McNasty

Go Jays Go
Dec 27, 2010
25,138
3,573
113
One of the worst kept military secrets is that Israel holds a few hundred nukes (which its neighbours thankfully dont have).

And the Israeli's could turn the entire middle-east into glass if they should choose to do so!!
Now, can you say the same thing about Hamas????

So please tell me again, who's the more civilized party in the middle-east??
 

jcpro

Well-known member
Jan 31, 2014
24,673
6,836
113

toguy5252

Well-known member
Jun 22, 2009
15,978
6,111
113
I didn't know that.
Sad.
"Israel has moved to ban al-Jazeera from operating in the country and in the occupied territories, joining a boycott by Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia which have all accused the network of sponsoring terrorism."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/06/israeli-government-impose-ban-al-jazeera-news-network

That was in August of last year. Nor sure if ban has taken place in Israel but it has in other countries. Waiting for your condemnation and that of notti
 

FAST

Banned
Mar 12, 2004
10,069
1
0
a few other other Arab nations banned Al Jazeera ONLY Israel is condemned
Confirms once again,... the racist, and anti-Semitic posturing by a certain terrorist supporting commie.
 

Phil C. McNasty

Go Jays Go
Dec 27, 2010
25,138
3,573
113
Confirms once again,... the racist, and anti-Semitic posturing by a certain terrorist supporting commie
Oh gee, who could that be???
 

nottyboi

Well-known member
May 14, 2008
22,447
1,325
113
Why do you have to wait? I have already discribed those countries as shitholes before the potus did
 

nottyboi

Well-known member
May 14, 2008
22,447
1,325
113
Wrong,... a person can post an article,... and completely disagree with the article,... but I do realise that is complicated concept regarding posting here.

By you stating he agreed with the article,... was personal.
Only an idiot would post an article he did not agree with, and as you can see below he has chimed in and proven you wrong...but what are you his protector? If one posts an article and does not agree with it, you normally include a critique. If you just post one and say nothing, then that means you agree with it. At least that is what most people assume.
 

FAST

Banned
Mar 12, 2004
10,069
1
0
Only an idiot would post an article he did not agree with, and as you can see below he has chimed in and proven you wrong...but what are you his protector? If one posts an article and does not agree with it, you normally include a critique. If you just post one and say nothing, then that means you agree with it. At least that is what most people assume.
You know what assume did ,... don't you,... ???
 
Ashley Madison
Toronto Escorts