In his August 12, 2024 column in the daily Okaz, Saudi journalist Muhammad Al-Sa'd came out against the resistance axis, including Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, for embroiling the Arab peoples in "misguided wars" and "unrealistic adventures" that cause them significant human and material losses and then propagating false and illusory narratives about victory and about Israel's weakness. While marketing these false narratives, he added, this axis comes out against Arab parties that refuse to join its ventures, blames them for its defeats and accuses them of betrayal and abandonment while inciting against them.
According to Al-Sa'd, the resistance axis led by Iran is not genuinely working for Gaza but is acting to establish its own political agenda and overthrow governments that do not support it. Therefore, the Arabs, including their media, have only two choices, he says: to oppose the political agenda of the resistance axis or to align with it and one day discover that their own countries have been taken over.
Muhammad Al-Sa'd (Image: Al-marsd.com)
The following are translated excerpts from his column:[1]
"Military defeats have their own literature and sins have their own narratives. The defeated, the losers and those who become embroiled in these [situations] insist on presenting their narratives instead of the truth, and insist even more that you believe their [narratives], cooperate in spreading and marketing them, and conspire with them to conceal the real story. Otherwise, they will demonize you, intimidate you and incite the masses against you.
"This is true of the defeated people who have sinned against their nations and against the Arab world by embroiling it in all their adventures and futile actions that do not follow any rules and are unrealistic, [and have been ongoing] since the defeats of the Arab armies to Israel decades ago, until today.
"The half-warriors and quarter-warriors of the resistance axis[2] now embark on misguided and mistimed wars while spewing their canned narratives and false stories.
"[All they have is] poor capabilities, wishful thinking, illusions and dreams that are incompatible with the magnitude of the conflict and of their rival [Israel]. When they find themselves in trouble, they begin to spin a different tale, far from the truth, a story about false victories that bear no connection [to reality and emanate from] their throats and from the cables of the microphones that convey their speeches and yelling. These speeches are aimed at preserving the image of 'resistance' they have cultivated for years, as part of which they market illusions regarding their readiness and their mobilizing for the day of the great campaign, which [ended] in defeat and in an adventure that did not spare their peoples.
"The day after their defeat, they blame others – those who avoided becoming embroiled [in their adventures] or tried to dissuade them from their sins. They attack them fiercely, falsely accuse them of betrayal and abandonment, and finally incite the rabble and the masses against them in order to launch a carnival of curses, allegations and accusations of heresy and of turning into Zionists…
"To become a media outlet accepted by the so-called 'resistance' and its supporters, you must first adopt their narrative and then spread concepts in the spirit of the [2006] Lebanon War, in which Hezbollah suffered a humiliating defeat, and of the recent conflict in Gaza, where we are witnessing severe suffering and damage. These concepts include, for example: 'The enemy does not dare to carry out a ground invasion'; 'the enemy cannot tolerate having its soldiers taken prisoner'; 'the enemy will be forced to negotiate [the return of hostages] because the so-called 'resistance' has captured civilians.'
"When the Israeli tanks, armored vehicles and soldiers roll into Gaza, the concepts become: 'Gaza is the cemetery of the invaders'; 'the sands of Gaza swallow up the enemy army'... 'the Merkava [tank] is defeated by Qassam rockets'; 'the tunnels will swallow up the Israeli army.' [But] then we discover that the Israeli army advanced without [encountering] any resistance that changed the course of the battle and that it has tunnels beneath the Hamas tunnels that cost the Palestinians billions of dollars without providing any military or civilian benefit."
"[Additional claims circulated by the resistance are]: 'The enemy fears direct conflict' and [will be] 'dragged into street battles.' Yet we saw the enemy moving freely through the streets of Gaza. [They also claimed that] 'the enemy cannot tolerate casualties,' but then we discovered that the Israeli army bombs every point that serves its interests, even if there is an Israeli there. [They said:] 'We have 50,000 rockets,' but these are clearly ineffective metal pipes, not deterrent missiles that could change the course of the conflict; moreover, their launching was stopped on day two of the war. [They asserted:] 'The Israelis are suffering'; 'the Israeli economy is faltering'; 'Jews are leaving the country'; 'Israeli society is fragmented and in crisis.' [But] all these statements are nothing but wishful thinking that has turned into narratives repeated since 1948. Israel has not yet packed its bags and left the region, its economy is not faltering, its society is not fragmented, and the Western world has not abandoned it. In fact, Hamas' economy is dependent on the Israeli shekel..."
"So, in order for the so-called resistance to be satisfied with you, you must adopt the narrative of the killer [i.e., its own narrative] and hurl accusations at the other killer [i.e., Israel]... An example of this is the murder of Arab [Druze] children in Majdal Shams. You are expected to believe Hizbullah's narrative, even though you know for certain that [Hizbullah] was responsible [for killing them]. Then you must take part in clearing Hizbullah of the children's murder, which was clearly not the first of its kind, because Hizbullah killed Sunni children in 2008 after its takeover of Beirut..."
"This entire media narrative and this large-scale attack, which are not new, and which are endorsed by the so-called resistance axis – from Tehran to the Dahiya [district] in Beirut through various capitals that act as Iran's proxies – are merely [aimed at] marketing a transient political project. The goal of this project is to deceive the masses and steer them towards agendas that have nothing to do with Gaza, including the overthrow of governments and the moral assassination of peoples and countries that do not adopt the narrative of the so-called resistance.
"At this point, you have two options: either resist this political project, its narratives and its stories, or become a part of the project and then one day be surprised to discover that, after your intellect and conscience were taken over, your land and sovereignty were taken over as well."
[1] Okaz (Saudi Arabia), August 12, 2024.
[2] This is an allusion to statements made by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in 2006 against the Arab leaders who did not support Hizbullah in its war with Israel that year. Assad called these leaders "half-men." The speech, which was delivered at the fourth general conference of the Journalists Union in Damascus, included unprecedented criticism against Arab leaders and led to a crisis between Syria and Saudi Arabia.
