A Saudi pro-Israel blogger visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem as part of an Israeli-sponsored trip has been driven out of the site by Palestinians.
Arab normalization with Israel is largely regarded as taboo, as it involves the recognition of the Israeli state and occupation at the expense of Palestinians.
Wearing his traditional Gulf Arab clothing, Mohammed Saud was recorded on Monday being chased out of the Old City of Jerusalem as Palestinians threw plastic chairs and hurled insults at him, accusing him of being a traitor and a Zionist.
The Saudi visitor, named by Israeli public radio as Mohammed Saud, was one of six invitees from Arab states brought to Israel by its foreign ministry https://t.co/2MBwRcBeXO
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) July 23, 2019
Social media users circulated the videos using the Arabic hashtag “Saudi kicked out of Jerusalem”.
Saud, whose Twitter page says he is a law student, was in the city as part of a six-member Arab delegation of journalists officially hosted by the Israeli foreign ministry in the first visit of its kind.
The foreign ministry’s Twitter page in Arabic said that the delegation, which in addition to Saud included journalists from the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Egypt, and Jordan, “will visit the Holocaust Museum, the Knesset and holy sites in Jerusalem”.
#Palestine: Controversial Pro-Israel #Saudi Blogger, Mohammed Saud, spat on, cursed at by angry Palestinians while he was visiting the occupied city of #Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/xs5U8UP8Sa #Israel
— Morad News (@MoradNews) July 23, 2019
“The delegation will hold meetings with Knesset members and diplomats as well as embark on a tour of the country,” the ministry added.
Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab states to have diplomatic relations with Israel.
In a statement on Monday, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate strongly condemned the visit, underlining that “the Arab journalists’ federation rejects all types and kinds of normalization with the Zionist enemy”.
A Saudi “law student” and proponent of normalization of ties with Israel, Mohammed Saud, is received by Palestinians in AlAqsa complex with appropriate scorn and disdain https://t.co/E3ojpH0pVi
— OAB (@Leo_Iratus) July 22, 2019
The Iraqi press syndicate also denounced the visit, saying it would take measures against any members visiting Israel.
The foreign ministry said that in an interview with Israeli army radio Galatz, Saud stated that the “Israeli people are similar to mine, they are like my family”.
“I love Israel,” Saud was quoted as saying, “and it was always my dream to visit Jerusalem”.
In his Twitter bio, Saud wrote “Only Bibi” in Hebrew, referring to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His posts mostly consist of retweeting Netanyahu and the prime minister’s son, Yair.
Emmanuel Nahshon, the Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said on Twitter on Sunday that the presence of the Arab delegation is a sign of building “bridges for peace”.
The visit follows a warming of ties from several Gulf Arab states towards Israel.
Last week, the foreign ministers of both Israel and Bahrain held a public meeting in the US, marking the first such event to openly take place between a Gulf country and Israel.
(Al Jazeera, PC, Social Media)
