Freedom During the Qatar World Cup Shows the Real Choices of the Arabs

The freedom of expression during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar revealed the peoples’ real orientations on what they wish to support or reject, regardless of their ruling regimes’ positions on some causes.

This is exactly what the fans of the World Cup in Qatar showed, whose reactions strongly rejected any attempt at normalization with the Israeli Occupation.

Videos published by activists and Hebrew media showed Arab and Western fans refusing to talk to Israeli reporters.

Several Israeli journalists tried to speak to the fans in Qatar, but they were ignored and called to leave because they were “not welcome,” which confirmed the failure of the Abraham normalization agreements that Tel Aviv signed with four Arab countries in 2020, namely the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.

Activists tweeted that Palestine won the World Cup before the finals, although it did not participate after the Arab masses scored several goals against “Israel” during the interviews in the streets.

Most of the correspondents of Hebrew newspapers and televisions did not reveal their identity, and those who did were met with a fierce verbal attack. After being rejected in the World Cup, the occupation authorities called on those who went to Qatar to hide their identity and not to raise Israeli flags.

 

Lost Dreams

After the videos published by Israeli journalists and activists showed rejection and neglect, Hebrew newspapers admitted that the “dream” of normalization was lost.

Haaretz newspaper reported on November 26, 2022, about “great disappointment in the normalization processes that Israel has established with some Gulf countries” after Arabs avoided and ignored the Hebrew media in the Qatar World Cup.

What happened with the Israelis there, according to the newspaper, threatens the dreams that predicted good Arab-Israeli relations after the Abraham Accords.

It also illustrates the “challenges” facing broader “warm peace” aspirations, despite the passage of two years of Gulf agreements with “Israel.”

The newspaper pointed out that the attempts of correspondents from the Israeli public broadcasting station “Kan” and the highest-rated TV Channel 12 to conduct interviews with Arab fans failed.

Haaretz quoted a spokesman for the Israeli delegation as saying that there were no reports of mistreatment of an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 Israeli fans (the British Guardian reported that only 4,000 to 8,000 arrived) because they hid their identities.

This is in contrast to the involvement of Israeli media reporters who were humiliated for revealing their identities.

Israel Hayom newspaper said in a report on November 27 that “they [Arabs] don’t like us [Israelis] and they don’t want us,” and the World Cup in Qatar put “Israel” in front of a very painful reality for the Israelis, which is rejection, neglect, hatred and their non-acceptance in an Arab and Muslim country.

It added that all those who claim (in Tel Aviv or the normalization regimes) that the residents of the Gulf countries have no hostility towards Israel are deceiving people.

It continued to say that the Israeli channels’ correspondents traveled excitedly to Qatar, set up cameras, and waited for the arrival of many Arab residents in the Gulf and other Arab countries to glorify Israel, but they soon found themselves in a position of contempt, neglect, and ridicule.

“There were those who told them that there is no such thing as Israel, there is only Palestine. A really resounding slap in the face to anyone who thinks that peace is at hand and that normalization with Arab countries is only a matter of time,” according to Israel Hayom.

Reuters confirmed on November 22, 2022, that Arab football fans in the World Cup avoid Israeli journalists in Qatar who try to interview them, pointing to the loss of “Israel’s” aspirations and dreams of a warm peace with the Gulf states.

This popular rejection was not limited to refusing to talk to them, refusing to serve them food in restaurants, or to get them out of taxis, but it extended to Saudis, Lebanese, Egyptians, and other youth fighting them, raising Palestinian flags in their faces and asking them to leave.

Although the Israelis complained about the hostile treatment during the World Cup in Qatar, the Palestinian media, under occupation, face even worse harassment from the fans of the Israeli soccer teams who always chant “Death to the Arabs.”

Journalist Muhammad Majadleh from the occupied Palestinian territories in 1948 said via video: “I heard that Jewish journalists are complaining about the hostile treatment they receive in the World Cup in Qatar. I suggest that you accompany an Arab journalist here in Israel to see what he is exposed to in his work.”

 

Israeli Attack

Correspondents of Israeli channels were frustrated by the refusal of the Arab masses to speak on their screens, which many saw as evidence of the failure of the normalization with the Arab and Islamic peoples.

The presence of the Israeli media seems to have been planned to feel the pulse of the people, as observers see, but they did not expect this catastrophic failure in its attempts to attract the Arab public in Qatar, who conveyed a message of absolute rejection of “Israel.”

This prompted the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper to describe the World Cup in Qatar as the “World Cup of Hate” on its cover on November 27, 2022.

Its correspondents, Raz Shechnick and Oz Mualem, affirmed that “the streets of Doha are dangerous for us as Israelis. We are surrounded by hostility and threatened at every corner.”

“They (the Arabs) want to wipe the Israelis off the face of the earth,” they wrote.

They confirmed that they did not expect that they, as reporters, would be the “story” rather than the World Cup in Qatar, which they went to cover.

The two correspondents continued: “We made it clear at the beginning that we are Israelis who come in peace, but we ended up entering into arguments with the Arabs who insult us,” and “We will return from Doha with a very harsh feeling because we discovered the extent of hatred for us and for Israel.”

The reporter, Raz Shechnick, said that he and the rest of the Zionist journalists had to identify themselves as journalists from Ecuador in order to be able to conduct interviews with Arab and Qatari citizens.

He continued, “We decided to pretend that we are Ecuadorians when someone asked us where we came from. Even when we went to cover Brazil’s victory, the Palestinian flags pursued us with a barrage of abuse.”

Shechnick wrote other details on Twitter on November 26, saying that it is impossible not to inform you of what we are going through here after ten days in Doha about hostility. We are not welcome.

He added that a Qatari citizen told them when they said they were from “Israel”: “You are not welcome here. Get away from here as soon as possible,” and another Saudi told an Israeli reporter, “You are not welcome here.”

He explained that they are exposed to hateful looks in the street, whether from Palestinians, Iranians, Qataris, Moroccans, Jordanians, Syrians, Egyptians, and Lebanese, “so we decided to introduce ourselves as journalists from Ecuador.”

On November 27, Israel Hayom, the most famous Hebrew newspaper in the occupied territory, chose the headline: “The World Cup in Qatar is a mirror for the Israelis: They do not like us and do not want us.”

“Israel” has sent a letter of protest to Qatar and FIFA about what Israelis are facing from all over the world.

Tel Aviv newspapers said that Israel is conducting consultations about the possibility of issuing a warning or travel ban to Qatar.

Channel 13 indicated that the Israeli diplomatic staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who are temporarily in Qatar, protested to the local authorities, as well as to FIFA, against the Qataris’ dealings with the Israeli crews, according to what i24news TV reported on November 27.

 

Palestine Won

Although it is not participating in the World Cup, it seems that the “State of Palestine” is participating strongly, and it can even be said that it is the 33rd team participating in the tournament without players.

The Palestinian flag is raised in the stands, and the fans are wearing black and white Palestinian keffiyeh badges on their shoulders, cheering for Palestine.

Moav Vardi, correspondent for the official Israeli TV (Kan), said: “Although Palestine does not have a national team to participate in the World Cup, everyone expresses support for the Palestinians, and hatred of Israel.”

Vardi added that the hatred of the Israelis is not limited to the Qataris, but rather it was a feeling shared by the Arabs in the World Cup, which they consider not just a sporting event, but an occasion to show brotherhood among the Arab countries.

Israel Hayom newspaper reported on November 22 that “the Palestinians used the World Cup to score against Israel,” referring to the launch of the “Palestine in the World Cup” campaign, which included the distribution of Palestinian shirts and flags in the stadiums and the publication of “Palestinian ambassadors” in the stands.

The Guardian said on November 25 that there is a picture that the West does not see in the World Cup in Qatar, which is that “Palestine is strongly present in the general atmosphere of the tournament, while Israel is an outcast among the Arab masses.”

There were songs in support of the Palestinian cause, with the participation of the Palestinian and Arab community in Doha, who distributed the Palestinian keffiyeh and flag, and Qataris wore armbands bearing the colors of the Palestinian keffiyeh.

It was remarkable that the sellers of the World Cup flags did not sell the flag and the Palestinian keffiyeh but rather offered it for free to the public to support the Palestinian cause.

Not only were Arab and Palestinian fans, but fans from non-Arab and Islamic countries joined the celebration, which was held at Lusail Stadium, under the title “I am Palestinian.”

The Qataris had no better response to German Interior Minister Nancy Weser’s insistence on gay advocacy than to wear armbands with a pro-Palestinian design referring to the black and white Palestinian keffiyeh scarf to convey another message to the West, Reuters reported on November 24.

Although the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) and other international sports organizations have always traditionally emphasized that politics and sports should be separated, Western countries were the first to brutally involve politics in sports after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Indeed, Qatar itself was subjected to an unprecedented political campaign to question its eligibility to host the World Cup, on the grounds of human rights, because it rejected gay slogans.

Therefore, it was difficult for FIFA, the West, and “Israel” to refuse showing support for the Palestinian cause, which was evident in the Qatar World Cup, which was an unprecedented opportunity to spread awareness of the Palestinian cause.

This was reported by Mondoweiss, a website concerned with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, on November 19, stressing that “the 2022 World Cup is a golden opportunity for Palestine.”

After the Russian invasion, UEFA and FIFA provided unconditional support to Ukraine in several ways, and the Russian national team and clubs were suspended from the 2022 World Cup and their European competitions.

The Ukrainian flag was also raised in European stadiums and shown on television next to the result, in addition to organizing fundraising and charitable events for the people of Ukraine by clubs and fans.

The Egyptian squash player, Omar Farag, exposed this Western double standards when he won the London Championship in March 2022, saying that they were never allowed to talk about politics in sports, but suddenly this became permissible.

He said people should also look at the oppression everywhere in the world, the Palestinians have been through this for the past 74 years, but the media in the West is not suited to talk about it.