Arab columnist notes that Arab media no longer treats Israel as the enemy

We have noted the writings of Abdulateef Al-Mulhim in Arab News before, where he says things that are actually sane.

He has written another article about how Israel is being reported on in Arab media which is worth reading:

Does anyone in the Arab world know what is happening in Israel? Do we know what weapons systems their defense forces are acquiring or developing? Do we know who is who in the Israeli policymaking circles?

The answer to the above questions is: We don’t know. Yes, we really don’t because at present, we don’t see or hear much about Israel in the Arab media. Israel has almost disappeared from headlines and many people no longer consider Israel as a threat. This is a reality that we have to learn to live with.

The day the so-called Arab Spring erupted, Israel became invisible in the Arab media. Arabs are too preoccupied with so many issues plaguing their own lands. Today, we don’t read much about Israel in the newspapers or see any reports about the Middle Eastern country in the electronic media. This is not a case of sudden disappearance. From referring to Israel as the Zionist enemy, the Arab media changed the tone by calling it the Israeli enemy, then we became aware of the term “hostile Israel” and then it was referred to as state of Israel and now Israel has simply vanished from the Arab media. It appears to be no longer on our radar.

It is true that the Arab world has its hands full with other issues but there could be another reason for that. Simply put, some of the Arab leaders used the Palestinian issue just to portray themselves as heroes. Ironically, Israel is the one that invented many fake heroes and dictators in the Arab world. Just look at Lebanon’s Hassan Nasrallah who hijacked and destroyed Lebanon initially using anti-Israel propaganda. Similarly, we have seen Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Syria’s Hafez Assad and many others who became instant heroes because they showed hostility toward Israel. They also (mis)used the Palestinian misery and in due process they simply forgot to build their countries and neglected improving the living standards of their people.

Now the Arab media is drawing comparisons between the devastation caused during wars with Israel and the current regional scenario particularly the events taking place in Syria — a country whose own people are bent on its destruction. People are asking as to why during full-scale wars with Israel, we never saw destruction of archeological, historical or religious sites. In the past, we talked about Palestinian refugees, now we are dealing with a new wave of refugees emanating from Syria and other parts of the region. The Arab media now has no time or space to talk about Israel and to raise the issue of Palestine or Palestinians.

Instead of reading about Israel, Arabs want to discuss ways to promote better education, improved health-care facilities, social equality and better infrastructure.

At the end of the day, no matter what we write about Israel, the Israelis don’t care. They know we are busy.

I think he is understating the case - I don't believe that the lack of coverage is due solely to being busy with other topics, but because the Arab world is really sick and tired of the Palestinian issue which has been shown to be trivial compared to the real issues happening.

There is a reason that the Arab world routinely pledges hundreds of millions of dollars to Palestinian causes and then pays only a fraction of that money. (I've documented this phenomenon since at least 2008.) The leaders, still fearing a popular backlash, want to appear to care about the Palestinian cause but they don't want to actually put their money where their mouths are.

Things are definitely changing. Antisemitism will never allow full normalization with Israel, but it is entirely possible that the Arab states can be used to pressure Palestinians to be serious about concessions for peace.

Too bad that the West has not caught up with this reality.

(h/t Arnold)

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