The Qatar World Cup 2022 is an extremely rich source of colorful and interesting material for a variety of interests. Diverse studies on this specific World Cup will doubtlessly be filled with anthropological, sociological, and behavioral research, including a return to Middle Eastern studies and what we know about the Islamic culture that abounds in our neighboring states, and indeed within our own society.
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I am not seeking to revisit the issue of how Qatar was awarded the honor of hosting the tournament, who paid whom and how much – all that is already ancient history.
The Qatar World Cup has brought Israel face to face with an unpleasant truth and harsh reality that is extremely painful for Israelis, as for the first time all those Israelis who to date have been so enthusiastic about the Arab or Persian Gulf, have now had their first bitter taste of the rejection, disregard, and refusal to accept Israelis in an Arab Muslim state.
All those who claim that the inhabitants of the Gulf states harbor no ill will toward the State of Israel, have now seen their theory shot to pieces and have woken up to an entirely different reality. The news correspondents of the various Israeli media channels who so eagerly traveled to Qatar, placed their cameras in position waiting for the tens of thousands of fans from the Gulf and other Arab states to arrive and begin singing the praise of Israel and the Chosen People, but it didn't take that long before they found themselves the subject of contempt, ridicule and disdain, from those selfsame Arabs who have nothing against Israel, not to mention those who boldly declared that there is no such thing as Israel, as there is only Palestine.
As an Israeli journalist who has and still does visit Muslim and Arab states, I was far from surprised by the loud "no" resonating from the large majority of Arab fans who refused to be interviewed by any of the Israeli television channels.
Only someone who doesn't have the faintest idea of the current mindset in the Arab world, particularly that of the man on the street, would rush to position a camera and beg any passing Arab to take part in a vox pop interview for an Israeli media channel. It was most embarrassing to see an Israeli journalist beg, plead and even hug an interviewee during a live broadcast for being so gracious as to say a kind word about Israel, only to find out that he was referring to the Palestinians and not the Israelis at all.
This is a stinging slap in the face for anyone thinking that peace is just around the corner and that normalization with the Arab states is merely a question of time. This behavior of the average Arab citizen towards Israel is indicative of a depth of hostility that goes back more than 70 years, clearly underscoring the fact that the roots of the problem are still alive and kicking, if not indeed delivering a big, fat slap.
Whoever doesn't want to see things as they are is cordially invited to close their eyes, but the bitter and harsh (and for some the painful) reality is that if the Palestinian issue is not resolved in any shape or form that is acceptable to all parties, then we will not be welcome visitors in Arab states, even those with whom we have peace accords and normalization. We only have to go back to the era of signing the peace accords with Egypt to understand just how little progress we have made with the Egyptian people who are so hostile to Israel, and we have remained with the same mistaken paradigm of agreements between leaders alone.
The Qatar World Cup will surely continue to provide us with quality soccer, but it will also give us a direct glimpse into the fascinating world of the Muslim, Arab and other peoples of the region.
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