World
Israeli reporters harassed at Qatar World Cup
Protestors have waved Palestinian flags behind several television presenters
November 21, 2022 16:48
Protestors have waved Palestinian flags behind several television presenters
November 21, 2022 16:48A string of Israeli journalists have faced protests and harassment as they attempt to report from the Qatar World Cup.
In one incident, video footage posted online shows a group of protestors brandishing Palestinian flags behind a reporter as he presents a piece to camera.
The crowd continues to chant over the journalist as he attempts to speak.
When a Channel 12 correspondent tried to speak to Lebanese fans in Arabic they initially refused to talk to him after discovering he was Israeli, while a Kan 11 channel reporter also had a Palestinian flag held behind him as he delivered a report.
يلّا يلاّ يلّا
— Ghada Oueiss غادة عويس (@ghadaoueiss) November 20, 2022
الإسرائيلي برّا pic.twitter.com/XXVNdPTfKJ
Iran’s state broadcaster meanwhile hailed the snubbing of the “Israeli apartheid regime” by “Lebanese and Saudi youths”.
In an online report, Press TV claimed Lebanese fans told an Israeli reporter: “There is no such thing as Israel. It is Palestine. Israel does not exist.”
Saudi fans also refused to talk to a journalist after he said he was from "Israeli TV," they added.
A video published by Doha News showed a Qatari man also declining to speak to an Israeli television crew.
After a journalist approaches the man beside a stall in Doha’s street market, he asks them what channel they are from.
They reply that they are from “the public broadcaster from Israel,” to which the man hesitantly asks, “you are from Israel?”
“Is it ok?” the reporter responds, before receiving a firm “no" in response.
After he attempts to ask the Qatari man what he does for a living, the man insists, “actually I don't want to interview. [sic].”
The incidents follow claims that Qatar has banned cooked kosher food and public Jewish prayer during the World Cup.
On Sunday, President of the World Jewish Congress Ronald S Lauder said: “I am outraged by reports that Qatari authorities have banned the sale of cooked kosher food as well as prohibited Jews from congregating for public prayer, in connection with their presence at the World Cup.
“With tens of thousands of observant Jews expected to travel to the country in the coming weeks, this announcement effectively makes their attendance impossible."