Doha: On the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, video clips of Arab fans refusing to be interviewed by Israeli TV channels’ in Doha, garnered attention and approval on social media.
The videos were widely circulated on social media which showed the great boycott that the Israeli media faced by the Qatari and Arab fans in the World Cup arena, and among these positions, a Qatari youth refused to give an interview to an “Israeli” channel, in the famous Souq Waqif in the Qatari capital, Doha.
The clip shows Al-Qatari’s response to the journalist at first, but when he learned that he was working for an “Israeli” channel, he refused to speak with the journalist and then left him shocked in front of the camera.
In another video clip, Lebanese fans appeared at the World Cup in Qatar, refusing to talk to a Hebrew channel, after they learned that the reporter was “Israeli”, stressing that “Israel” does not exist, but there is a state of Palestine.
According to the video clip, a Hebrew channel 12 reporter stopped Lebanese fans and told them, introducing himself, “I am from Israel.” The Lebanese youth left him, expressing their resentment at his being Israeli.
When he pressed them to talk to him, one of them said to him, “What brought you here?” The Lebanese youth refused to say “Israel” while repeating Palestine. One of them said in the Lebanese dialect “Israel does not exist.”
Another video showed fans of Arab nationalities surrounding a reporter and cameraman of a Hebrew channel, chanting, “Israeli out,” and they were carrying the flags of Palestine and Arab countries.
In another scene, the Kan channel reporter was exposed to another embarrassing situation when two young Arab men refused to talk to him once they knew that he was Israeli.
Flags raised
Similar to what the Arab youth did to the Israeli journalist, one of the fans raised the flag of Palestine on the Corniche during the live broadcast of an occupying channel, as an expression of his rejection of the presence of this occupier among the people attending the World Cup.
Thousands of fans who were present in the place participated in the event, as they chanted words of support for the Palestinian cause, which met with unparalleled enthusiasm in the city.
Hebrew media published a cartoon showing a picture of a football bleeding in an attempt to offend the state of Qatar.
Palestinian activist Adham Abu Selmiya took to Twitter and captioned this, saying, “The Zionist entity is one of the most dangerous instigators against Qatar in partnership with Arab and Western countries. This Zionist hatred stems from the desire not to show a bright image of this region.”
Tweeters praised the position of the Arab fan rejecting normalization with the Israeli occupation state.
The tournament kicked off on Sunday, November 20 with an opening ceremony and the inaugural match between Qatar and Ecuador.
It will continue until December 18, which is the first time that the most important football event in the world is held in the Middle East.
Qatar expects more than a million fans to come to the country during the World Cup over the course of the 29-day tournament, and FIFA has a long-term sponsorship contract with the beer-producing giant Budweiser owned by AB InBev.
