Al-Ayyam, Ramallah, January 10
Several weeks ago the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs published a list of 20 organizations whose members will be barred from entering Israel over their support for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement. This might appease the Israeli public but it will not change the simple fact that Israel remains the most hated country in the world. I have been to numerous international conferences and meetings hosted by multilateral organizations—from Asia to North America—and at all of them the Israeli representatives were extremely unpopular. Even when Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gives bombastic speeches in front of the United Nations General Assembly he is often surrounded only by his closest aides and a few rabbis who are brought in. There is no reason to pity the Israelis, as Netanyahu brought the situation upon himself. Over the past few years, and especially since President Trump entered office, the Israeli government has made it clear to the world that it has no interest in implementing the two-state solution. Netanyahu and his racist ministers seek to establish a Jewish state on all of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. This is easier today than ever before given that the White House has lost interest in the Palestinians, with new Middle East envoy Jared Kushner being more pro-Israel than Israeli leaders themselves. What we desperately need is for the Arab world to wake up from its slumber and put Israel in its place. Sadly, given the positions of Saudi Arabia and Egypt on the Jerusalem declaration, it is highly unlikely that anything will change. But in the meantime, Israel will continue to be ostracized, neglected and pushed aside. Normalization will not come until the Palestinian people are finally allowed to live in freedom. – Jihad al-Hazen