Syrian opposition activist Issam Zeitoun said that Arabs should support Israel instead of Iran in a Janaury 16 debate on Al Jazeera.
The segment featured Ra’ed Al-Masri, Lebanese professor of political science and international relations, calling Israel “an illegitimate, nonexistent country.”
“As far as we are concerned, it does not exist,” Al-Masri said.
Zeitoun argued that “the Arabs have been using their weapons and their numbers in an attempt to impose a [solution] that is unacceptable to the international community, which supported the partition of Palestine.”
“Israel accepted the partition,” Zeitoun said. “Your argument that Israel is racist is nothing but a lie.”
The host then asked if Israel or Iran is more dangerous to the Middle East; Zeitoun argued that Iran is unquestionably the more dangerous of the two countries.
“Israel is surrounding itself with walls,” Zeitoun said. “It just wants to be left alone.”
Zeitoun proceeded to call “Pan-Arab ideology” a “cancer that is eating away at our nation,” pointing to the belief that Israel wants to widen its borders “from the Euphrates to the Nile” as an example.
“Every Arab and Muslim in history has believed this. There is no mention of this in any religious or political book. Nobody has ever said this,” Zeitoun said. “I have been to Israel more than once. I asked them: ‘Where in the Knesset is the banner that says: ‘Israel from the Euphrates to the Nile’?’ Nobody has ever heard of it. The Assad regime and our media have told us that [former Egyptian leader Anwar] Sadat spoke in the Knesset under a banner saying: ‘Israel’s borders from the Euphrates to the Nile.’ There is no such banner.”
The host proceeded to ask Zeitoun if it’s better to ally with Israel over Iran, to which Zeitoun emphatically agreed that Israel is the better country to ally with.
“Ask any Arab citizen where he wants to live, and then come back to me,” Zeitoun said.
Zeitoun added that Iran is a “rogue state,” while Israel is not.
“In any of our wars against Israel, Israel was waging a defensive war,” Zeitoun said. “Had we not attacked, it would not have attacked us, despite its capabilities.”
Zeitoun then asked if Iran would detonate a nuclear bomb in Tel Aviv.
“It would drop it on Riyadh or any other Arab capital,” Zeitoun said.
He added that Iran “exploits” the Jerusalem issue “in order to win the Arabs over.”
Syrian Opposition Activist Issam Zeitoun: The Arabs Should Ally Themselves with Israel, Iran Is More Dangerous pic.twitter.com/KAGdT563ZA
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) January 22, 2019
Zeitoun grew up in a family that staunchly supported then-Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, but he became pro-Israel after he heard “whispers” in his hometown that Israel had been warm toward the Syrian civilians during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Most Syrians didn’t go public with such sentiments out of fear of being charged of treason of the Assad government.
