Omani blogger causes uproar on social media after visiting Israel
An Omani blogger, Asmaa Al-Shehhi, who lives in the United Arab Emirates, caused a minor storm on Arab social media after she posted videos of her arrival at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport.
The video showed the entrance gate to the airport alongside Israeli flags. The blogger said in her video that “the employees of the place were shocked when they first saw a passport from the Sultanate of Oman.”
Many Arabs on social media came out against her trip, condemning it as “normalization” with Israel.
Oman recently expanded its already existing ban on ties with the State of Israel and with Israelis. All contact, including sports, cultural or economic contact, and any interaction with Israelis both in person and online is forbidden, according to Omani law.
The Twitter account “Omanis against Normalization” said that the blogger’s visit was a “betrayal of the Palestinian cause and support for the tourist office of the occupying country.” They also claimed she had violated Oman’s ban on ties with Israelis.
Another Twitter user, Saad Al-Fawr, wrote that “the Omani blogger visited the occupying entity and publishes her photos from the airport. This is a step in promoting normalization with the Israeli enemy and serves the agenda of the parties that strive to integrate the Israeli entity in the Arab region. The Arab people curse this step.”
According to yet another Arab tweet, the blogger “does not represent the attitudes of the residents of the Gulf state, which has no official relationship with Israel.”
Oman was expected to be the next Arab country to join the 2020 Abraham Accords, but it is believed that Iran’s pressure on the country not to take any normalization measures caused it to back out.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
