TEL AVIV — Saudi and Arab pundits in general opposed to warming ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia have taken to social media to condemn normalization, with some even claiming it is forbidden according to sharia.
“Israel isn’t occupying Saudi territory and doesn’t represent a direct threat to Saudi Arabia, so the kingdom doesn’t need to have any relations with it,” wrote Saudi journalist and analyst Jamal Khashoggi – who is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and was recently named an opponent of the Saudi regime – on Twitter. “But the urgency of some of the intellectuals towards cheap normalization is evidence of a dangerous ideological defeat.”
“It isn’t Saudi intellectuals who are racing towards normalization,” responded Egyptian media personality Nadia Majed. “They are being led by prominent leaders.”
“The yearning of some people on social media for normalization with Israel is an attack on the perceptions of many, not only in Saudi Arabia but in the Arab world,” opposition figure Faris Aba al-Khail posted on Twitter. “Let’s not forget that the Jordanian and Egyptian normalizations with Israel are decades old but they were normalizations at the government level that never turned into popular normalizations.”
Qatari activist Maryam al-Manaii criticized Saudi Arabia and wondered if they make their own decisions.
“This is an order given from the head of the pyramid, from Donald Trump,” she wrote. “He told them (the Saudis) I won’t come to the American Islamic Conference unless you pay $480 billion and only if you fight against Salafists and only if you normalize relations with Israel. He flew from Saudi territory directly to Israel. All his demands were met in their entirety.”
“A question that interests me,” began Asaad al-Shareey, a media figure in Yemen, “if there will soon be a normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, what will be the response from Saudi religious figures? Will they continue to order the people to obey their leader even if he normalizes relations with the Jews?”
“The signs of the repression of freedoms in Saudi Arabia include closing the Twitter accounts of respectable academics who oppose normalization and reject an attempt to remove the Palestinian issue from the kingdom’s agenda,” posted an account called “The Saudi Prisoners.”
Mohamad al-Ameer, a Yeminite media figure affiliated with the Houthis wrote, “Normalization with the Zionist entity is a gentle word meant to deceive the people. In reality, the meaning is ‘treachery’ and public recognition of Israel. It means surrender and the declaration and recognition of voluntary defeat.”
“My dear Zionist Arabs,” wrote Saudi media figure Turki al-Shalhoub, “Our perception as Arab peoples of Israel is that of an occupying country and it will continue to be an occupying country. Removing the Zionists from Palestine will continue to be the goal of any respectable Muslim, even if the Arab government reconcile with them and even if they bow down to them (the Zionists).”