Middle East Monitor / December 30, 2020
The Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies (MADAR) said Arab and Israeli indicators show that the majority of Arabs reject normalisation with Israel and view the Palestinian issue as the core of the conflict in the region, despite the recent deals concluded between Tel Aviv and a number of Arab countries.
In a new report, MADAR said over the last two years, Israel and its new allies have used Arab social media “influencers” especially in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to call for normalisation with the occupation state.
MADAR said in addition to social media influencers, journalists and even clerics have gone as far as attacking Palestinians and questioning the status of Palestine, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, amid silence from the ruling regimes.
Meanwhile, the report notes, Israeli official social media accounts have celebrated such posts and re-shared them to create a general feeling that the Arab people accept and welcome normalisation and “urge their regimes to normalise their relations with Tel Aviv”.
However, despite all these tools and efforts which preluded the signing of the recent normalisation agreements between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, a majority of Arabs do not view Israel as a friendly country.
