Leading Kuwaiti journalist says 'no shame in relations with Israel'
Leading Kuwaiti journalist says 'no shame in relations with Israel'
A prominent Kuwaiti journalist has said that Arab countries should not be ashamed of having relations with Israel as some Gulf nations warm up to the Jewish state.
2 min read
Jarallah has previously urged Arabs to normalise relations with Israel [Twitter]
A prominent Kuwaiti journalist has said that Arab countries should not be ashamed of having relations with Israel as some Gulf nations warm up to the Jewish state.
Ahmed al-Jarallah, the editor-in-chief of Kuwaiti newspaper al-Seyassah, made the comments in an online statement days after Bahrain hosted a US-backed conference on Palestine.
"Israel is a state that exists and it doesn't matter whose fault that is… the Palestinian-Israeli issue is no longer an Arab concern so no one should be ashamed or hide their relationship with Israel," Jarallah tweeted.
"We give money to the Palestinians and they reply with insults and rudeness. Drumming up support for Palestine is no longer a popularist Arab matter," he added.
Jarallah has previously urged Arabs to normalise relations with Israel, arguing that the only way to "kill Israel" is to make peace with it.
The comments come after the US-organised economic conference in Bahrain that was boycotted by the Palestinians.
The White House plan revealed last week calls for $50 billion in investment over 10 years in the occupied Palestinian territories and neighbouring Arab states.
The Palestinian Authority views US President Donald Trump as blatantly biased in favour of Israel and have accused him of dangling the prospect of cash to try to impose political solutions, and of ignoring the fundamental issue of Israeli occupation.
In an unprecedented interview of a senior Gulf official by an Israeli journalist, Bahrain's foreign minister said on the sidelines of the two-day event in Manama that Israel is part of the region's heritage.
In recent years Israel has been courting Arab nations which do not recognise the Jewish state, and in October Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu held surprise talks in Muscat with the ruler of Oman.
Israel has diplomatic relations with only two Arab countries - Egypt and Jordan - but common concerns over Iran have brought it closer to Gulf nations in recent years.
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