Last week, a commercial Israeli television channel proudly broadcasted a report filed by one of its journalists, from Mecca in Saudi Arabia. A story with no journalistic value except to provoke and embarrass.
The city of Mecca, and the adjacent Mt. Arafat, the holiest places of Islam, are off-limits to non-Muslims and this rule is very clearly stated along the road towards the city. Gil Tamari, the Israeli journalist, was also very well aware of this and proudly filmed the warning signs as he drove by.
Religions have the tendency to place rules and limitations both on its followers and those watching from the outside and it is everybody‘s right to have opinions about these restrictions and even to believe they are discriminating. But in the center of Islam, on their own turf, and with the agreement of all Muslims, wouldn’t it be simply decent to respect their rules and not flagrantly throw them aside?
Tamari was in Saudi Arabia to report on the summit with American president Joe Biden in Riyadh and took the opportunity to go “where no Israeli journalist had gone before”. In order to be able to get to Mecca he bought the services of a Saudi taxi driver (who was shown in the report with his face blurred) and who can be heard several times uttering that what they are doing is illegal and dangerous. The fact that this man is likely going to bear the brunt of Tamari’s unethical behavior (he was arrested by Saudi authorities), probably doesn’t impress or bother Tamari a lot. Apparently that is the price of fame and as long as that price is paid by others, who cares.
Surprisingly, the Saudi authorities, and the (controlled) press have not yet reacted and it is assumed that for political considerations, the Saudis will want to keep this quiet. But of course, the social media exploded after Tamari put the item on Twitter and the condemnations were harsh. In Israel, the political world mostly remained silent (except several Arab politicians) but many proud words were bestowed upon Tamari as well, including “top-rate journalism” and “an important journalistic achievement”, talking about Tamari as the latest Israeli “hero”.
The behavior of Tamari may very well affect the possibilities for other Israeli journalists to obtain permission to visit Saudi Arabia and there may be still be political consequences at a point of very sensitive interactions between Israel and the Saudis. One man, his driver, will in any case pay the price (they have beheaded people in Saudi Arabia for less).
But more than anything else, the actions by Tamari say one simple thing: “I am Israeli, I can do anything I want”. This very problematic self-indulgence is apparent in almost every aspect of Israeli life, from politics to traffic. There are surely all kinds of psychological explanations, including the holocaust and anti-Semitism, but it does damage to Israel’s image in the world and if anything will increase anti-Semitism.
Israel doesn’t need “Heroes” like Gil Tamari.
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