The Qatar World Cup 2022 put the Israelis in front of the mirror, as the narrative that their leaders had worked to market for two years, which was based on the claim that the normalization agreements were based on the disengagement of the Arab peoples from Palestine and its cause, suddenly collapsed before their eyes.
The Israeli journalists who were dispatched to cover the events of the World Cup, nor the presenters of talk shows on television channels and their guests who were suspended from the studios from Tel Aviv and occupied Jerusalem, could not hide their feelings of frustration and shock at the manifestations of the fans of the Arab teams that participated in the World Cup around Palestine and its cause, which was represented by cheering for it. Raising the Palestinian flag and expressing rejection of Israel by not accepting interviews with Israeli journalists.
The headline carried by "Israel Today" newspaper - which is the most widely circulated Israeli newspaper - on its front page on November 27 last year is the most expressive of the extent of frustration with the position of the Arab masses on Israel, as reflected by the Qatar World Cup, in which it stated, "They do not They love us and they don't want us."
The Israeli media delegates who went to cover the World Cup thought that they would be dealt with like other foreign journalists who came for the same mission, so they were surprised by the principled positions of the Arab masses on the conflict with the occupation, which reflected the unity of the nation's position on this entity as an alien occupation entity.
The manifestations of the Qatari and Arab masses’ celebration of Palestine and its cause embarrassed Arab affairs commentators and orientalists, whom Israeli television channels have been hosting since the signing of the first normalization agreement in August 2020, as they expanded on raining down on the Israeli recipient with what they considered “indicators” of the shifts in the orientations of The Arab masses are from Palestine and its cause by relying on what some of those associated with the Arab regimes say and write. Some of them admitted that their previous estimates did not reflect the true orientations of the Arab peoples.
Perhaps the main headline carried by "Israel Today" newspaper - which is the most widely circulated Israeli newspaper - on its front page on November 27 last year is the most expressive of the extent of frustration with the position of the Arab masses towards Israel, as reflected in the Qatar World Cup, in which it stated, "They They don't like us and they don't want us."
And as Raz Shkennik, the dispatcher of the newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth" to the World Cup, wrote on his Twitter account, he and his colleagues stopped introducing themselves to the Qatari and Arab masses as Israelis, but rather as journalists from Ecuador, after they sensed the level of popular rejection of the entity to which they belong.
There is no doubt that the Qatar World Cup 2022 demonstrated beyond any doubt that the propaganda campaigns launched by Israel in the past two years with the aim of influencing the collective consciousness of the Arab peoples have failed miserably, as the Israeli government institutions and the occupation army adopted digital diplomacy by intensifying their presence on communication sites. Arab social media and flooding it with messages aimed at winning over the Arab masses by focusing on the fruits of normalization and cooperation with Israel proved that it did not succeed in making a significant impact on the Arab collective consciousness.
It became clear to those in charge of the Israeli propaganda machine that the allocation of human and material resources and the launch of accounts in Arabic on communication sites with the aim of influencing the attitudes of the Arab masses did not succeed in touching the realistic image that was perpetuated in the Arab mentality of Israel as an occupying usurping entity that practices the most heinous crimes against a defenseless Arab people.
Frustration with the reaction of the Arab masses prompted some of the ruling elites in Tel Aviv to react impulsively, as Likud MP Ami Hai Shikli - who is expected to occupy the position of minister in Benjamin Netanyahu's next government - attacked Qatar because of the reaction of the Qatari and Arab masses, describing it In a tweet on his Twitter account, it called it "an enemy state and encourages terrorism."
But when the Israeli government and its spokesmen failed to acknowledge the failure of its efforts in the war of awareness, it began accusing Qatar as the organizing country of the World Cup and holding it responsible for the behavior of the Arab and Qatari masses celebrating Palestine and rejecting Israel. The Israeli Foreign Ministry formally protested to Qatar against the behavior of the Arab masses towards media delegates. Although none of them were subjected to any physical assault.
This protest reflects, in fact, the hypocrisy and double standards that govern Israel's behavior. Israel, which has killed 55 Palestinian journalists since 2000 and is facing a lawsuit before the International Criminal Court filed by Al Jazeera Media Network over the assassination of its correspondent in the Palestinian territories, Sherine Abu Aqelah, is angry just because the Arab masses crossed in front of them. Journalists about its positions on Palestine and its cause.
This hypocrisy provoked the provocation of some objective Israeli journalists, as Zion Nanos, a journalist for the Israeli Channel 12, denounced in a series of tweets the reaction towards the positions of the Arab masses towards Israel, considering it normal in light of the policies it adopts as an occupying state towards the Palestinians.
"Unfortunately, in the eyes of a large part of the world, and certainly the Arab world, we represent the apartheid regime that existed in South Africa until the eighties of the last century," Nanos wrote, pointing out that the rejection of Israel expressed by American university students because of its policies towards the Palestinians is no less vocal than The reaction of Arab fans in the Qatar World Cup 2022.
Assaf Kamer, a journalist for the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, ridiculed the annoyance of his colleagues who were dispatched to cover the events of the World Cup, as he indicated in an article published by the newspaper that he "envies" his colleagues for the working conditions they enjoy in Doha, in light of the attacks he was subjected to personally and by many of his peers. In Israeli cities at the hands of extremist Jewish groups while performing his duties as a journalist.
The Qatar World Cup 2022 has, in fact, revived the nightmare of terror that sparked panic among the Israeli leaders at the outbreak of the Arab Spring revolutions in late 2010, when it became clear to the Israelis that rallying around Palestine and its cause is the most important thing that represented the era of revolutions, which was short.
The Israeli literature that dealt with the experience of the Arab Spring revolutions unanimously agreed that the success of the democratization process in the Arab world will dictate that elected governments take into account the orientations of Arab public opinion, specifically towards Israel, which will reduce their ability to continue their aggressive policies against the Palestinian people.
The Qatar World Cup in Israel reinforced the credibility of the conclusion reached by many of its elites after the Arab Spring revolutions that ensuring its security and achieving its strategic and regional interests depend mainly on preserving the character of some of the ruling political systems in the region, whose foreign policies do not take into account the trends of public opinion.
And if the Israeli Prime Minister-designate, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced to the Israeli public, shortly after his assignment to form the next government, to reach more normalization agreements, it has become clear to this audience that even if Netanyahu fulfilled his pledge, these agreements will only express the directions of the ruling regimes that will sign them and will not It is binding on the Arab masses, who will express their true position on Israel at any opportunity.