{"id":100642,"date":"2022-12-18T17:05:05","date_gmt":"2022-12-18T15:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=100642"},"modified":"2022-12-18T13:30:18","modified_gmt":"2022-12-18T11:30:18","slug":"23-05-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=100642","title":{"rendered":"For The New York Times and The Washington Post, Even the World Cup Is About the Palestinians"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>For The New York Times and The Washington Post, Even the World Cup Is About the Palestinians<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Mitchell Bard<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Soccer Football \u2013 FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 \u2013 Fans gather in Brussels for Morocco v Portugal \u2013 Brussels, Belgium \u2013 December 10, 2022 Morocco fans celebrate after the match as Morocco progress to the semi finals. Photo: REUTERS\/Yves Herman<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The anti-Israel online magazine\u00a0+972<\/em>\u00a0has\u00a0hailed<\/a>\u00a0\u201cThe First Palestinian World Cup.\u201d\u00a0The New York Times<\/em><\/a>\u00a0called the Palestinians \u201cthe World Cup\u2019s Unofficial Team.\u201d\u00a0The Washington Post<\/em><\/a>\u00a0declared, \u201cAt the World Cup, the Arab world rallies to Palestinian cause.\u201d Much of the rest of the media has played along.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given the media\u2019s obsession with the Palestinian cause and need to cover it out of all proportion to its importance in world affairs, it was not surprising the two major papers would find a way to make the World Cup about the Palestinians, even though it wasn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, the Moroccan team unfurled a Palestinian flag, and there have been examples of support for the Palestinian cause among fans. But did this merit a story? Maybe, but if you\u2019re going to report it, shouldn\u2019t journalists at least place the activities in context and admit that it was pre-planned and supported by the Qatari government?<\/span><\/p>\n

Alas, that is always too much to expect from the\u00a0Times\u00a0<\/em>and the\u00a0Post<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The papers briefly mentioned the double standard employed by the Qataris and FIFA, the governing body of the World Cup, which banned all other political displays, such as Iran\u2019s revolutionary flag and symbols of the LBGTQ community. The Palestinians, as they always do, got a free pass. Given the much-publicized corruption involved in FIFA\u2019s decision to award the Cup to Qatar, it is not surprising that the soccer federation kowtowed to the Qataris rather than uphold its commitment to keep politics out of the tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0also refused to report that the Qataris encouraged the obsession with the Palestinians to divert attention from Qatar\u2019s abysmal human rights record, including the use of\u00a0slave labor<\/a>\u00a0to build the venues for the tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of noting this, the\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0quoted a Qatari professor\u2014obviously an objective source\u2014who said, \u201cThe presence of Palestinian flags at stadiums was \u2018not organized by states, but something genuine from within the people themselves.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The press has parroted this claim that the expressions of support for the Palestinians were spontaneous. Yet it is all but impossible for a building in Doha to be lit with a Palestinian flag alongside a sign reading \u201cGaza is in our hearts\u201d without it being planned long in advance. In addition, shopkeepers in Qatar were selling Palestinian flags and armbands, which could not have happened without the government\u2019s tacit approval.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center has noted that the Palestinians planned a major publicity campaign before the Cup. Among other things, it urged captains of Arab teams to wear the colors of the Palestinian flag and encouraged spectators to wave Palestinian flags in the stands and outside the stadiums, as well as hang them from cars and buildings. The campaign also included the dispatch of \u201cambassadors of Palestine\u201d to talk to fans about the Palestinian cause, and calls for mainstream and social media to promote Palestinian propaganda.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0articles further conflate fans rooting for the Moroccan team with supporters of the Palestinians. However, as Steven Cook noted in\u00a0Foreign Policy<\/em><\/a>, \u201cIt is reasonable to assume that most of these people were not actually pro-Palestinian activists. It was football fans who supported Palestinian rights and took advantage of the world stage that is the largest football tournament in the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While reporters for the two papers quoted fans espousing the Palestinian cause, most of those who supported the Moroccan team almost certainly did so for non-political reasons. Some wanted to see an Arab, Muslim and African team win, while others love to see an underdog defeat the soccer powerhouses. Acknowledging such facts, however, would not fit the narrative endorsed by the\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Post<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The papers also used the pro-Palestinian demonstrations to denigrate the Abraham Accords, one of the most important events in the Middle East for at least a half-century. Is it because the Accords were negotiated under the Trump administration? Or because they undermined the journalists\u2019 belief that the Palestinian issue is the root of all the region\u2019s problems? Perhaps both?<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, people in the Abraham Accords countries have been indoctrinated with anti-Israel and often antisemitic propaganda by state media and the educational system for their entire lives. So, why is anyone surprised that they have not instantly become Zionists? It may take decades for them to come around, if they ever do, given that they remain exposed to incessant attacks on Israelis and Jews by the UN, human rights organizations, educators, religious extremists and the media.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Times<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0also don\u2019t mention that Qatar is behind the most popular media source in the region,\u00a0Al Jazeera<\/em>, which is an anti-Israel propaganda arm of the government.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Post<\/em>\u00a0further diminished the Accords by claiming they \u201conly reflect top-level elite interests in the region.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Really?<\/span><\/p>\n

What about the collaboration between Israel and the Gulf states in fighting Covid? What about all the businesses that benefit from the burst of tourism from Israel? What about cooperation relating to agriculture in desert conditions, water management and irrigation? What about the agreement for a joint R&D fund to commercialize solutions to challenges like climate change and clean energy? What about the efforts to promote religious coexistence? What about the Israeli intelligence and weapons systems that protect citizens of those countries from Iran?<\/span><\/p>\n

It is nothing new for the media to cheer the Palestinians or ignore their incitement, terrorism, abuse of human rights and corruption. Such virtue-signaling during the World Cup gives Palestinians a warm and fuzzy feeling without changing their circumstances. They still are under the thumb of the Abbas and Hamas regimes, whose commitment to Israel\u2019s destruction guarantees their flag may be unfurled at a soccer match in Qatar, but not over a capital in Jerusalem.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mitchell Bard<\/strong> is a foreign policy analyst and an authority on U.S.-Israel relations who has written and edited 22 books, including The Arab Lobby, Death to the Infidels: Radical Islam\u2019s War Against the Jews and After Anatevka: Tevye in Palestine.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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For The New York Times and The Washington Post, Even the World Cup Is About the Palestinians Mitchell Bard Soccer Football \u2013 FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 \u2013 Fans gather in Brussels for Morocco v Portugal \u2013 Brussels, Belgium \u2013 December 10, 2022 Morocco fans celebrate after the match as Morocco progress to the semi […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100642"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=100642"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100665,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100642\/revisions\/100665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=100642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=100642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=100642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}