Monday, December 29, 2008

Saudi and Egyptian

Saudi and Egyptian media are on the defensive. They are going out of their way to explain their stances. After being attacked for ignoring the Gaza horrors, AlArabiyya changed its tune on the second day, especially when it was dubbed "The Hebrew One" in a speech by Hasan Nasrallah. The anchor explained the next day that they are not ignoring Gaza. But today, the defensiviness turned into counter-attack: Egyptian newspapers are filled with attacks on Hasan Nasrallah (and on Shi`ites in general), but the Saudi media are always treading carefully because it is very clear that the Saudi public (and the Egyptian public) is solidly in sympathy with Gaza, the propaganda of the governments notwithstanding. The Egyptian media today rolled out...Dahlan to explain the Palestinian situation to the Egyptian public. This is like asking the Grand Wizard of the KKK to explain the race situation to an audience of African-Americans.