By: Kayhan Int’l Staff Writer

It was a double slap, or more properly getting thrashed on both the cheeks for Abu Dhabi and the entire 7-state confederation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), when Lebanese competitors participating in tournaments in the Emirati capital withdrew after a streak of winning, rather than face an Israeli opponent.
The young lady, Maggie Kassem Fawaz, who is Lebanon’s junior chess champion after defeating Brunei’s Wafa Yacoub, Saudi Arabia’s Saleh Abdali and Emirati Wafia Darwish al-Maamari, pulled out of the fourth round of the 28th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival, rather than play against a Zionist from the illegal entity.
She added that her move was a show of solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine, and condemnation of establishment of the dubious diplomatic relations with Israel by certain Arab regimes.
Last week, the Lebanese player Charbel Abu Daher withdrew from the 2022 Youth Mixed Martial Arts World Championships in Abu Dhabi to avoid playing against an Israeli opponent for the same reason.
This is indeed a shame for the UAE, and other Arab regimes for their treason against the oppressed people of Palestine and the sanctity of the al-Aqsa Mosque.
These regimes which claim to be Muslim do not seem to know even the basics of the Islamic faith, let alone the dignity of the Arab people of which even the Palestinian and Lebanese Christians are fully aware.
Any conscientious person, whether athlete or journalist, or for that matter scholar or businessman, will not be a traitor to either their profession or their creed, by having relations with the enemies of humanity.
Usurper Israel, which has no right to exist in Palestine or any other place in West Asia, is a tyrannical racist entity of Zionists of Khazar origin with no connection to Judaism and to the ancient Israelite tribes of Semitic origin, of whom the truly-bred Arabs are the main branch.
Not a day passes when Israeli and the Zionist rogues that make up its population do not attack the Palestinian people, desecrate Islamic and Christian sanctities, plot against Lebanon, and violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria – in addition to the continued threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In view of these facts, in the first instance the UAE should not have invited the illegal Zionist entity to the sporting events. And now since it has been shamed on its own turf for treason against the Arab/Islamic cause, it is still not too late to rectify the wrong by asking the Israeli participants to leave the Emirates.
Do these unrepresentative regimes have the courage, or more properly the guts to tell the Zionists to pack up their bags and leave?