MSNBC anchor slammed for bashing Israel-UAE peace

Hasan said he opposes peace “at the expense of the Palestinians.”

By World Israel News Staff

An MSNBC anchor received major backlash after criticizing a video showing Israel’s national anthem being played at the United Arab Emirates presidential palace on Sunday.

Anchor Mehdi Hasan slammed the nature of the relationship in a retweet of a video of Hatikvah being played as Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed welcomed Israeli President Isaac Herzog on his historic visit to the Arab country.

“For years, supporters of Israel trumpeted the fact that Israel was a democracy surrounded by dictatorships,” the tweet caption read. “But as soon as those dictatorships got onboard with Israel and its occupation, suddenly it’s ‘wow,’ look at our national anthem being played in the dictator’s palace,” the anchor concluded.

Itay Milner, Israel’s spokesperson and Consul for Media Affairs in New York, responded to Hasan, tweeting that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has nothing to do with Israel wanting to make peace with its neighbors.

“You can be proud of your democracy and still want peace with your neighbors. Those two things are not tied with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Milner said.

Hasan, however, responded that it does.

Come on! Of course it’s linked to the conflict and the occupation. And it’s the gushing praise for the countries you used to condemn which is the issue. You never really care about their lack of democracy, just their lack of an alliance with you.

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) January 31, 2022

Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis executive director Seth Frantzman chimed in, saying, “Is anyone suggesting that democracies should break off ties with every dictatorship?”

Israel is a democracy, and like every other democracy it also has relations with non-democracies. Just like Norway and Sweden have relations with Qatar…is anyone suggesting that democracies should break off ties with every dictatorship? 🤔 Democracies engage with everyone.

— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) January 31, 2022

London-based journalist Nicole Lampert asked Hasan in a tweet, “Which liberal democratic Middle East govts should Israel be signing peace accords with, Mehdi?”

Which liberal democratic Middle East govts should Israel be signing peace accords with, Mehdi?

— Nicole Lampert (@nicolelampert) January 31, 2022

Hasan clarified that he is in favor of Middle East countries establishing peace but doesn’t agree with peace “at the expense of the Palestinians.”

Executive Director of Stand With Us Israel Michael Dickson replied, “Totally clear, Mehdi. You’re in favor of peace.. unless the Palestinian leadership rejects it (they always have) and as long as its between democracies of which Israel is the only real one in the Middle East.”

Abraham AccordsMSNBCUAE-Israel peace dealUnited Arab Emirates