Saudis Condemn Palestinians After Attack on Israeli Man

Illustration. Youthful Palestinian agitators in Nablus. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90

It used to be taken for granted – in the West (especially America) people supported Israel, and in the Arab Middle East everyone was opposed to Israel. That’s no longer true, in either location.

Whether or not one supports Israel is today a highly divisive issue in the United States. Surprisingly, it’s equally divisive in the Arab world, even in those countries that don’t yet have official diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.

This was demonstrated yet again this month after the near-lynch of an Israeli man by Palestinians in the West Bank town of Nablus (biblical Shechem).

The man, a taxi driver, had gone to the outskirts of Nablus to have his car fixed at a local Palestinian garage. But a gang of Palestinian youth got word that a “dirty Jew” was in town and immediately descended upon him.

Photos and video clips from the scene show the Palestinians smashing the man’s taxi with large stones before trying to drag him from the vehicle, presumably to do him bodily harm, if not murder him.

His life was only saved by the fact that the man was able to convince the mob that he himself was also Arab. It is not uncommon for Israeli Arabs to make use of services in Palestinian-controlled areas, but they are often mistaken initially for Jews.

Absolutely appalling: An #Israeli taxi driver entered the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Nablus by accident and was viciously attacked. pic.twitter.com/8t3tLSvu3p

— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) February 9, 2022

That clip was widely shared on Arab social media, and found its way onto Arab news outlets like Saudi Arabia’s Al-Marsd, where it garnered an interesting variety of responses.

Many of the 63 commenters hailed the young Palestinians for violently assaulting a man they believed to be a Jew. But nearly as many of the Saudi readers harshly condemned the Palestinians for their barbarism.

Some of the comments included:

“Palestinians are really terrorists. What is the fault of the taxi driver, may God curse them?”

“I hope after the video, Israel wipes out Gaza”

“Young people with immature minds, is there a law that criminalizes the entry of an Israeli taxi driver into your city? You enter occupied Israel every day and they allow you”

“May God strengthen Israel against you, you scum”

“Some say Palestinians have courage, by God, they are cowardly cowards, beating a defenseless human being”

It is no secret that even as an increasing number in the Arab world open up to and embrace Israel, the Palestinians and their nationalistic cause are falling out of favor.

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H/T Elder of Ziyon