In a January 9, 2017 interview with BBC Arabic TV, internationally prominent Jordanian businessman Talal Abu Ghazaleh presented his "easy solution" to the Palestinian problem: "Let every Palestinian return to Palestine and every Jew return to his own country." He himself, he said, had decided not to return to his home in Jaffa because MEMRI – which he claimed "monitors all our broadcasts, including this one right now" – "consider[s] my statements to be antisemitic because I want to cleanse Palestine of the Jews."
In a previous MEMRI TV clip, dated July 14, 2010, Abu Ghazaleh had said that 9/11 was carried out by the Taliban as part of a Zionist scheme, and that the U.S. had sunk in a quagmire as a result of "Jewish hatred of Americans."
Abu Ghazaleh is extremely well known internationally. According to his resume, in the past two decades he has chaired nearly a dozen United Nations and other international bodies.[1] In addition, he is president of the Arab International Society for Management Technology,[2] and chairman and founder of the international Jordan-based Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization.[3] He is the founder of the Talal Abu Ghazaleh University College of Business in Manama, Bahrain, and the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Graduate School of Business at the German Jordanian University in Amman. He has also founded numerous professional service firms in the fields of management, consulting, legal services and information technology. Abu Ghazaleh has been dubbed the "godfather of Arab accounting,"[4] and in 2007 was inducted into the IP Hall of Fame in Chicago, which honors "those who have made an outstanding contribution to the development of IP property law and practice."[5]
To view the clip, click here or below:
The following is the transcript of the clip:
Interviewer: "Have you been back to Jaffa? Have you gone to see your home...?"
Talal Abu Ghazaleh: "No, I haven't. Do you want me to tell you why on air?"
Interviewer: "Why not?"
Talal Abu Ghazaleh: "I need courage for this. I was interviewed on Abu Dhabi TV on economic matters. At the end of the interview, the TV host decided to ask me about the solution to the Palestinian problem. She asked: 'Is this a vicious circle with no solution?' I said that the solution is easy. 'What is it?' she asked. I said: 'Just like the Jews believe in the Right of Return, we Palestinians believe in the Right of Return. Let every Palestinian return to Palestine and every Jew return to his own country.' The first to leave should be the Israeli foreign minister at this time, Lieberman, whose job is secure. I'm prepared to secure jobs for them all, and to run an international plan to transfer them. They won't need to worry about passports or visas, because they all have dual citizenships – Israeli citizenship and citizenship of his country of origin.
"Israel has this organization called MEMRI, which monitors all the broadcasts, including this one right now. Its job is to determine whether something that was said is antisemitic. They consider my statements to be antisemitic, because I want to cleanse Palestine of the Jews."
Interviewer: "So that's why you didn't return to Jaffa."
Talal Abu Ghazaleh: "Therefore, I am a wanted man, an antisemite, in their view."
[1] Akms.org/upLoad/file/2016/TAG-E-2016.pdf, accessed January 17, 2017. He chaired the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development (2009-2010); the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (2004-2006); the Advisory Committee on Internet Governance, United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (2003-2004); the International Chamber of Commerce Task Force (ICC TF) on Internet Governance, Paris, France (2003-2004); the Advisory Committee on Internet Governance, United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (2003-2004); the Working Group on Human Resources and Capacity Building (HRCB) of the United Nations Information and Communications Technologies (2001-2002); the Arab Regional Network of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (2001-2004); the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (2001-2004); the United Nations Committee of Experts on Professional Qualifications Standards, Geneva, Switzerland (1995-1998); and the UN Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (1995-1996), and many more. He was also Board of Directors, UN Global Compact (2006-2008).
[2] Akms.org/page.aspx?page_key=chairmans_bio
[3] Tagorg.com/
[4] Arabianbusiness.com/power-100-2009/list?view=profile&itemid=155923#.WH5FQBsrJO8, accessed January 17, 2017.
[5] Iphalloffame.com/about/, accessed January 17, 2017.
