A popular Arab media personality caused a firestorm on social media during the weekend after he tweeted that Zionism is the “most successful project of the past century.”
The statement was tweeted by Faisal al-Kasim, a confrontational but highly popular host on the Qatari owned network. Syrian-born Al-Kasim is a Druze. He moderates the controversial but top-rated talk show The Opposite Direction. He is often highly critical of Arab and Islamic regimes throughout the Middle East.
He set off his latest controversy when he tweeted, “The majority of Arabs, if they want to insult you, describe you as ‘Zionist,’ knowing that the most successful project of the past century and the present is the Zionist project, while all projects of the Arabs, especially Arab nationalism, have failed.”
هههه غالبية العرب إذا أرادوا أن يشتموك يصفونك بـ”الصهيوني”، مع العلم أن أنجح مشروع في القرن الماضي والحاضر هو المشروع الصهيوني، بينما فشلت كل مشاريع العربان وخاصة القومجية العربجية. لهذا يا عزيزي قبل أن تستخدم كلمة صهيوني كشتيمة يجب أولاً أن تصل إلى شسع نعل الصهيونية وبعدين منحكي
— فيصل القاسم (@kasimf) February 8, 2020
Al-Kasim received his fair share of blow-back from Israel’s Muslim adversaries such as Ahmed Moussa, a popular Egyptian television personality who called Al Jazeera a “spokesmen for Israel.”
But despite the push-back to his tweet, Al-Kasim doubled down challenging his followers to vote on who is more successful – Israel or Arab regimes saying: “Ok, come to the referendum: Who are the most advanced, developed, democratic, and successful … Israel or the Arab regimes?” al-Kasim asked while inserting a poll beneath the tweet for followers to vote on.
The poll showed 81.7% of the respondents chose Israel.
قلت في تغريدة سابقة إن المشروع الصهيوني نجح على عكس المشاريع العربية الفاشلة، فثارت ثائرة الكثيرين واعتبروا التغريدة نوعاً من المديح للصهاينة. طيب تعالوا إلى الاستفتاء: من الأكثر تقدماً وتطوراً وديمقراطية ونجاحاً… إسرائيل أم الأنظمة العربية؟
— فيصل القاسم (@kasimf) February 8, 2020
