Kuwait anchor: The silent majority support building ties with Israel

Controversial Kuwaiti writer and TV host, Fajr Al-Saeed, has sparked outrage on social media after she appeared on an Israeli TV channel and expressed support for normalising ties with Israel.

A video of Al-Saeed’s interview with KAN11 TV went viral yesterday, in it she claimed to be a representative of “the silent majority [in Kuwait] who is inclined to peace” adding that she is a “huge supporter of normalisation with Israel”.

Al-Saeed remarked on Israeli Member of the Knesset Abbas Mansour who has recently agreed to form part of a government coalition in an effort to oust Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The new government would be led by far right leader, Naftali Bennett. Al-Saeed said she does not recognise Abbas, because he is practically, intellectually and ideologically affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Abbas, 47, is the deputy chairman of the southern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which in 1995 split from the northern branch of the Islamic Movement led by Sheikh Raed Salah in an effort to run in Israel’s election the following year. He established the Ra’am party which is also known as the United Arab List.

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Al-Saeed went on to criticise the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, and its leader, Ismail Haniyeh, claiming the Palestinians are being punished because of him and the movement’s policies.

The controversial statements sparked uproar on social media with many users calling for her to be punished, especially as her views go against the country’s official position on Israel.

In May, in the wake of the Israeli aggression on the besieged Gaza Strip, the Kuwait’s National Assembly (parliament) approved in principle amendments to tighten penalties in the law prohibiting dealing or normalisation with Israel, in an effort to reaffirm Kuwait’s position towards the Palestinian cause, KUNA reported.