The 2022 Qatar World Cup opened as scheduled amid controversy, but the political wrestling atmosphere around it has never stopped, from the disputes between the participating countries, the teams themselves to the disputes between fans.
Comprehensive Israeli media i24news, Qatari media Doha News reported on the 22nd local time, videos circulating on social media platforms showed that Israeli TV channels tried to interview fans from Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Qatar on the streets, and as a result, the other party turned around and left as soon as they heard that the reporter was from Israel...
A reporter for Israel's Channel 12 television station admitted that many fans met immediately took a 180-degree turn when they heard that he was from Israel.
Recently, there have been many examples of fans rejecting Israeli journalists on the streets.
In one video, Israeli journalists are preparing to interview two Lebanese fans, and before they finish mentioning, they turn around and leave when they hear that the other party is from Israel, and one of the fans even turns to the reporter and shouts, "Israel, I haven't heard, it's Palestine, Israel doesn't exist." ”
Another video shows two Saudi fans who immediately shut up and refuse to speak to reporters after a journalist told them he was Israeli.
An Israeli reporter went to a local traditional market in Doha to interview passers-by, and a man refused to be interviewed on the spot and said: "As long as Israel continues to occupy the Palestinian territory, Qatar's relations with Israel will not improve." ”
A reporter for Israel's Channel 12 television admitted that "almost all the Arab fans we met, after hearing who we were, refused to speak to us, and a group of young Lebanese people whose attitudes changed 180 degrees when we introduced themselves as coming from Israel." ”
On the 22nd local time, Israeli media i24news also reported that several Israeli media told the US media that their plan to interview local fans failed, and many local interviewees in Doha either walked away immediately or refused to interview when they heard the identity of the reporter, some shouted "Palestine", and some people draped the Palestinian flag over their shoulders.
"Qatar (official) and FIFA have a normal attitude towards Israeli journalists, but fans are not, the first World Cup in the Middle East attracted a lot of journalists, but fans shunned journalists from a specific country, that country is Israel." The move could signal challenges in the warming relationship between the Gulf region and the Jewish state. ”
Reuters also gave a similar conclusion, saying, "The attitude of fans to the Israeli media has also made the hope of a thaw in the relationship between the two sides slim." ”
This is not the first time Arabs have supported Palestine in sports events, with Lebanon's Nadia Fawaz refusing to play against Israel's players at the 28th Abu Dhabi Chess Festival in the United Arab Emirates in August, according to Doha News.
Around the same time, at the 2022 Bucharest Wheelchair Open in Romania, 2 Iraqi tennis players announced their withdrawal to avoid playing against the Israelis. In July, at the 2022 World Taekwondo Junior Championships in Bulgaria, a Jordanian taekwondo fighter refused to take on an Israeli fighter.
Palestinian activist Muna al-Kurd called on fans to be cautious after fans rejected Israeli journalists, warning that Israeli journalists could hide their media identities in an attempt to obtain interviews from some Arab fans.
According to Xinhua, Qatar was the first of the Gulf Arab states to establish economic and trade relations with Israel. In 1996, Israel established a trade representative office in Qatar, but relations between the two countries deteriorated when Israel launched a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip in late 2008 and early 2009. Israel subsequently closed its trade representative office in Doha.
The International Football Federation confirmed on the 10th that the relevant parties of Israel and Qatar reached an agreement on opening direct flights during the World Cup, allowing Israeli fans and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to take direct flights to Qatar to watch the games. The agreement only applies during the World Cup. It is expected that 4,000 Israeli fans and 8,000 Palestinian fans will travel to Qatar on direct flights.
Source: Observer.com