Why Arabs Are Annoyed With the Europeans
by Khaled Abu Toameh • October 6, 2021 at 5:00 am
The European Parliament... has enraged many Arabs by calling for boycotting Expo 2020 Dubai...
The timing of the resolution is problematic. It implies that the European Parliament is seeking to punish the UAE for signing a peace treaty with Israel. The resolution coincided with the first anniversary of the signing of the Abraham Accords, the term used to refer to peace agreements between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain.
By singling out the UAE, the European Parliament has chosen to side with the enemies of peace, cooperation and normalization between Israelis and Arabs.
Worse, the European Parliament saw no reason to call out Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad for their daily human rights violations against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Resolutions such as the one taken by the European Parliament are the kind that give the enemies of peace in the Middle East -- evidently now including the European Parliament -- ammunition to keep fighting to achieve their goal of destroying Israel.
They are opposed to the existence of Israel. They do not want to see Israel in the Middle East. Most of them want to replace Israel....
"[The decision] raises a question mark about the real reasons that led to this hostility practiced by the European Parliament towards a country that has achieved a lot on human rights issues.... The European Parliament is supposed to support these issues, not the exact opposite." — Mona Ali Al Motawa, prominent writer from Bahrain, Al-Watan, September 21, 2021.
[T]he UAE does not need "a certificate [of honor] from malicious entities and will not be affected by desperate attempts to disrupt its achievements." — Saudi columnist Dr. Ali Al-Kheshaiban, Al-Ain, September 22, 2021.
Some very vocal Arabs, in short, are loudly telling the Europeans to mind their own business.
The Arabs are also telling the Europeans that if they have to meddle in the internal affairs of the Arab countries, they should at least support those states, such as the UAE, that have made real strides in human rights, rather than supporting and emboldening terrorists through calls for the boycott of global cooperation events.
The European Parliament, one of three legislative branches of the European Union, has enraged many Arabs by calling for a boycott of Expo 2020 Dubai, taking place in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between October 2021 and March 2022.
The theme of this year's Expo 2020 Dubai, one of the world's biggest events, is "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future." The sub-themes are "Sustainability, Opportunity and Mobility" with a focus on industries, financial capital, governance, employment, education, and technology.
The European Parliament resolution calling on the EU member states not to participate in the Dubai event, and for international companies to withdraw their sponsorship, is based on the Gulf state's alleged human rights violations.
