While browsing X – or, as I still like to call it, Twitter – I came across a tweet from a political science professor attacking Al-Arabiya and describing it as “Ben-Gvir's channel” (referring to Israel's far-right national security minister). Although I don't follow this professor, my curiosity led me to visit his page. It became clear that he is a frequent tweeter; in the past 24 hours alone, he posted 20 tweets, 19 of which criticised “Zionist” media professionals, with only one retweet about a fire in Tel Aviv.
Since the onset of Hamas's 7 October attack on Israel and the subsequent war on Gaza, there has been an orchestrated campaign to label anyone with different views on the situation as "Arab Zionists". Some people found themselves on the list because of their opinions or affiliations, while others claim these people's names appeared on lists found on an Israeli computer shortly after the 7 October raid. The idea that Israel would keep a list of its “collaborators” in an Excel file on a computer highlights the absurdity to which some will go to smear their opponents.
On Twitter, I noticed a call to demonstrate in front of the Egyptian embassy in Paris to break the siege on Gaza and condemn the aggression. My first thought was: isn't there an Israeli embassy in Paris? Wouldn't it make more sense to demonstrate there?
Two months ago, journalist Tahar Baraka announced that he had been banned from visiting Lebanon for the past six months due to a complaint filed against him with the Military Public Prosecution for interviewing the Israeli army spokesperson on Al-Arabiya.
Baraka is neither the first nor the only Lebanese journalist at Al-Arabiya to face such a complaint. Lebanese journalists working for Arab and foreign channels have been interviewing guests from Israel for decades, yet no one has moved to “punish” them for doing their job.
