Kuwaiti Daily: Israel Outdoes Arabs in All Fields; Advances in Science While We Debate Benefits of Drinking Camel Urine

TEL AVIV – Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas recently published an article extolling Israel’s upper hand over Arabs in all fields, including democracy, military capabilities, science and technology, economics, human rights, and freedom of religion.

In a column translated by MEMRI last week, Ahmad Al-Sarraf called on Arabs to learn from Israel’s success and cease viewing the Jewish state as a political-religious enemy. He notes that rising hostility toward Iran has meant that some Arabs have become more accepting of Israel, “to the point where it has become more friend than foe.”

Al-Sarraf laments the fact that Kuwaitis are entirely ignorant of Israel and have learned nothing from a country that is superior to Kuwait in every way.

“Israel has outdone us in all fields – military, scientific, and cultural – but despite this we have refused to consider the reason for its obvious superiority to us, and have never stopped calling it ‘the monstrous entity,'” Al-Sarraf writes.

“Since its founding, Israel has been committed to democracy, while we refuse to even speak of [democracy], let alone adopt it,” he added.

Noting Israel’s human rights achievements, Al-Sarraf says that citizens of most Arab countries cannot even dream of the rights that Israel has afforded its minorities. He also praised Israel for granting its citizens full freedom of worship.

Al-Sarraf berates Arab countries for being so backward when it comes to science and R&D while Israel has many resources in this field.

“Israel has focused its attention on science, spending large sums on research, while we are still focused on whether drinking camel urine or using it medicinally is actually helpful,” he writes. “Israel has developed its technologies and developed its agriculture, industry, and military, becoming an advanced and respected country, while we currently occupy the bottom slot in every field.”

Al-Sarraf lambasts Arab nations for failing to create a united army while Israel succeeded in creating a single nation by uniting people from over 50 countries.

The columnist applauded the Israeli judiciary system, commenting, “Israel has known law and order since its first day, while we still try to comprehend the meaning of both these words. Two of [Israel’s] senior leaders went to prison for corruption, while we still argue over how to convict the master thieves in our midst.”

Al-Sarraf concludes, “The list is long, and the sorrow that accompanies it persists.”