The Arab honor/shame mentality and the Abraham Accords can help save lives

EoZ ^ | 15 Oct 2023

[Conservat1]

Pro-Hamas rally in Iraq, October 14

In 2008, Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri bizarrely castigated Hamas, saying that their "blessed Qassam rockets" do not differentiate between Israeli soldiers who are legitimate targets, and children and Arabs who are not.

Hamas was embarrassed at being given a morality lesson from Al Qaeda, and it went on to deny that they targeted civilians, saying all of their rockets were only aimed at military sites.

After that incident, Hamas press releases on their rocket fire changed the names of the targets from "settlements" to "military bases" that has the same names - like "military base Sderot" which didn't exist.

What this shows is that Hamas can be shamed when the criticism comes from fellow Arabs. And this is key.

We've written and spoken before about how powerful shame can be as a weapon against the terror groups, since they subscribe to an honor/shame culture. They avoid shame at all costs, plus they want to consider Islam to be more moral than Western society, so they are very sensitive to be told they are immoral.

In all my time watching Palestinian reaction to terror attacks, I can only think of one attack that was considered immoral: the horrific attack against the Fogel family in Itamar killing two parents and three children, one of them three months old. There was no pride in that attack, although it was not done by any organized group. Every other attack has been cheered.

But even this time, as Western media have been aghast at the massacre, Hamas has shown signs of shame, denying against all evidence that they killed any children or raped any women. 

Their allies are latching onto their denials and, after the first day, the attack is being reported in Arab media as a military victory and the murders of children and women are simply not mentioned.

Israel, and to an extent the Western world, needs to take advantage of the fact that most Muslims would not defend this attack if they knew the details.

Israel needs to speak to its friends in the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco. The message is: "We value your friendship, but your "both sides" statements are not acceptable. If you cannot clearly condemn Hamas for this reprehensible crime as s standalone statement, the Israeli companies you are partnering with might have second thoughts about working with you in the future. Condemning baby beheadings and kidnappings is a pretty low moral bar, and if you cannot condemn that, perhaps our friendship is not as deep as you have been saying publicly. We need you to condemn Hamas, unequivocally, now."

If they ask for more proof, Israel can respond that this is an insult but it can provide all the proof they need.

Similarly, Israel should tell Jordan, you know that water and natural gas you purchase from us? We can sell them elsewhere if you cannot make a statement clearly condemning Hamas.. 

Israel's Western allies who are pledging their support for Israel can put their money where their mouths are. They can tell Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Egypt and Tunisia that they have to choose to publicly side with the baby-killers or condemn them. Let the world know exactly where they stand.

The Arab countries can say they are pro-Palestinian. They can say they support a Palestinian state. But they must say they condemn the Hamas baby-killers.

If Hamas sees a string of Arab countries saying that they are reprehensible, they are far more likely to release at least the children hostages to the ICRC. And the masses of Arabs now supporting them could dwindle as op-eds and commentators start to back up their government positions.

This is a chance to use the honor/.shame dynamic for good. The West has a weapon to improve the Arab world - now is the time to use it.

Comments:

___

Charles:

Oct 3, 2023, Haaretz had racist PLO's Elias Zananiri slurring Israel with terminology, which Haaretz reserves only for non-Arabs. The papers' trend to demonize those fearing racist, fascist anti-Jewish terror, wave of Arab supremacy/ Arabization and radical Islamist bigotry.

___

Gina:

Poll: One-third of Palestinians support Itamar attack

Apr 6, 2011 — One-third of Palestinians support the attack in Itamar in March, in which an Israeli family of five was murdered ...
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/poll-one-third-of-palestinians-support-itamar-attack _

But your point of public shaming is true.

[Bayard]

Arabs will shame whoever it is profitable for them to shame at the time.

[MuttTheHoople]

Arabs are either at your throat, or at your feet.

[UnwashedPeasant]

“Honor” must have a different meaning in Arab culture.

[whitney69]

Unless you have been there and seen the acts of the terrorist organizations, you might be misled by the press releases. These people have lied, stolen, murdered, raped and publicly executed people for decades. Their word is not to be trusted and they can’t be off the leash at any time or they will harm. This is the mentality and it is how they are trained in childhood. So how can anyone with this type of orientation be shamed? They can’t and don’t care what people think unless it is to protect their own keysters. And their religion boysters it. Everything about them is evil and those that follow this evil through not doing their research to decide about good and evil is foolish. They are all not to be trusted.

wy69