UAE, Bahrain activists hail Israel army as ‘defenders of humanity’

Members of a UAE-Bahraini delegation on a visit to Israel hailed the Israeli army as “defenders of humanity”.

In an interview with Israeli blogger Hananya Naftali prominent UAE legal adviser Majid Al-Sarrah said: “You will not see these heroic soldiers on the media or on television or cinema, but you will only see them in reality as they preserve the lives of many children and women.”

“Many times we met Israeli soldiers who are doing a wonderful job in saving lives in many humanitarian aspects. Humanity should thank the soldiers because they protect humanity,” he continued.

Regional head of the British Centre for Middle East Studies and Research, Bahraini Amjad Taha, added: “We went to the Golan and found Israeli soldiers protecting the borders and helping Syrian refugees and children.”

“Jews, Arabs and people of different sects coexist and work together in harmony within Israel,” he said.”We must thank these soldiers for their fight against terrorism, Hezbollah, the Syrian dictator and the Iranian regime, which supports many terrorists and militias in Gaza and across the world.”

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The pair were visiting Israel as part of a delegation from the Gulf countries which have recently signed normalisation pacts with the occupation state. During their visit members of their group met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and took part in the candle lighting ceremony to mark the Jewish festival of Hanukkah in occupied Jerusalem.

This comes as human rights groups continue to condemn the Israeli army’s use of undue force against unarmed Palestinians. The occupation state is also the only country in the world that automatically prosecutes children in military courts that lack fundamental fair rights and guarantees.

The systematic ill treatment and torture of Palestinian children has been widely documented in recent years, with Amnesty International finding that Israeli forces had “tortured and otherwise ill-treated Palestinian detainees, including children, particularly during arrest and interrogation”, with methods including “beating with batons, slapping, throttling, prolonged shackling, stress positions, sleep deprivation and threats.”