Islamist media is reporting that Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood leader Rachid Ghannouchi has made the extraordinary and highly dubious claim that unidentified Arab countries were funding Israeli military action in Gaza. According to a Middle East Monitor report:
Rachid Ghannouchi
President of the Tunisian Nahda Movement Rashid Al-Ghannouchi said in a Friday sermon yesterday that the Israeli assault on Gaza exposed countries, parties, and organisations which were complicit in the aggression because of their silence.
He accused Arab countries, which he did not name, of funding the Israeli onslaught. He also accused the United Nations of ‘failure’ to defend human rights which are being violated in Gaza.
‘There is no room for neutrality in this war. You either support justice, or tyranny and occupation,’ he said.
Ghannouchi referred to public opinion polls conducted in Western countries, pointing out that the majority of the world’s youth support the Palestinian cause.
‘The Zionist media machine has not succeeded in mobilising international public opinion in its favour. Protests erupted everywhere in the world to support Gaza against the terrorism perpetrated by Israel,’ he added.
Ghannouchi argued that the success of the resistance in Gaza is part of a series of successes in countering coups against the Arab Spring.”
The GMBDW reported in July that Mr. Ghannouchi, widely described as a leading “moderate”, had issued a statement on the Gaza violence adopted Hamas language to describe the conflict.
In May 2013, the GMBDW reported that Mr. Ghannouchi had called for young people to realize that “Jihad belongs in Palestine.” In 2011, Mr. Ghannouchi gave anArabic-language interview in which he predicted the end of Israel, a viewpoint which is not surprising given that he has had a long history of ties to Palestinian extremism and calls for terrorism. In March 2014, the GMBDW reported on a dinner held in Washington DC to honor Mr. Ghannouchi that was attended by numerous US government officials.
