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‘Spit on you and your honor’ for caring about Israeli victims

June 14, 2016

The phenomenon of Arab, particularly Palestinian, public figures refusing to condemn terror attacks against Israelis is nothing new, but the experiences of those who do speak out suggests that the problem runs far deeper than just politicians.

Ynet notes that a number of Arab journalists faced strong backlash for merely saying that shooting innocent civilians in cold blood is immoral. Even when they couch their remarks in apologetic language or suggested that it would be fine to murder different Jewish civilians, they were accused of betrayal.

Bothaina Kamal from Egypt posted a message on Twitter following last week’s attack in Tel Aviv, asking, “What kind of heroism is it when you go into a restaurant and murder the diners inside?” She was soon inundated with people claiming that such acts are indeed heroic, because the targets are Israelis.

Kamal then modified her approach to say that she is fine with targeting “settlers” (presumably attacks such as the murder of Dafna Meir). Even this wasn’t good enough for many of her followers, one of whom wrote: “All of the Jews in the land of Palestine are occupiers and settlers. (Even) if you give up Tel Aviv, the Palestinians will stick to it.”

A journalist with the London-based al-Araby al-Jadeed paper wrote: “Bothaina condemns the attack in Tel Aviv, shares in Avichay Adraee’s (the Arab-language spokesperson for the IDF) grief, and wishes her Arab neighbors a satisfying fast and enjoyable fast-breaking meal,” implying that demonizing Israelis is an inherent aspect of being Arab.

Similarly, a Saudi Arabian journalist and analyst named Daham al-Enazi tried to argue that someone can support the Palestinians without encouraging terror. “The action in Tel Aviv is terrorism and barbarity. Our empathy with the Palestinians doesn’t mean that we agree to murder civilians and innocents. Our condolences go out to the victims’ families.”

His call for reason and empathy also met with blind anger, particularly from Palestinians. “(Spit) on you and your honor, you dog,” one person replied.

Even calling someone who was shot dead while trying to enjoy their dinner a “victim” was enough to draw venom, as the Saudi network al-Arabiya learned. Commenters sarcastically claimed that the network should have “prayed for the souls of those killed in Tel Aviv,” as though there is something wrong with doing so. Another declared, “How loathsome they are… they don’t even have a minimum amount of Arab-ness (in them).”

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