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Algerian journalist Hadda Hazem said in an October 19, 2020 interview on Sky News Arabia (UAE) that Algeria's support for the Palestinian cause is undying, but that Algeria should not fight Israel instead of the Palestinians. Hazem elaborated that Algeria would support the Palestinians whether they choose war or peace with Israel, but that if Algeria's government is reexamining its relations with other peoples, perhaps it should also reexamine its relations with the Israeli people. She clarified that she is not calling for normalization with Israel. Later in the interview, Hazem accused the Palestinian leaders of having abandoned the Palestinian cause, and she said that some Israelis and Jews have defended the Palestinian cause more than many Arabs have. In addition, Hazem said that Algeria should reexamine its educational curricula because they have inspired terrorism and extremism.
Hadda Hazem: "I believe that the Algerian support for the Palestinian cause is constant and continuous and there is no need to reaffirm it, just like the President said in his last speech in front of the UN General Assembly. The question I posed was: Until when are we going to be the only ones in the Arab world who say that we stand by Palestine whether it is an oppressor or is oppressed? I reject this saying because we stand by the oppressed, and not the oppressors. The Palestinian cause is a just cause of an oppressed people. I posed a question regarding normalization. I did not call for normalization, as some people claimed. I only said that if the new Algeria is reexamining its positions towards all the peoples of the world, why shouldn't it include the Israeli people? However, I did not call for normalization, as a matter of fact.
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"I believe that the successive Algerian leaders have planted this idea in the minds of the Algerian people, and it was linked to [the issues of] Jerusalem and Islam, and it presented Jerusalem as the symbol of Islam, but this concept is wrong. I believe that this saying itself is wrong. I stand by the Palestinian people in what they ask from us, but I will not fight Israel in their place. We will support the Palestinian cause, according to what the Palestinians ask. If they say that they want to advance towards peace, we will support them, and if they say that they want to go to war, we will support this, but we will not be more Palestinian than the Palestinians themselves. I think that those who have abandoned the Palestinian cause are the Palestinian leaders. However, this does not diminish the legitimacy of the Palestinian cause.
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"They believe that Jerusalem is [Islam's] second [sic] direction of prayer, and that all Muslims are therefore obligated to defend it. The idea was planted in the minds of the Algerians since the [pulpit of the] Al-Aqsa Mosque was set on fire, in 1967 I think, I don't remember the exact date... The Algerians have been collecting donations for Jerusalem ever since. They consider it to be a religious cause, but this perception is wrong, because the Palestinian cause has been defended by non-Muslims and non-Arabs, and even by Israeli citizens. Israelis and Jews have defended the Palestinian cause more than many Arabs have.
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"We should reexamine the educational curricula because the Algerian schools, for many years, were the ones that sprouted terrorism and religious extremism..."
Interviewer: "Hadda, these are very serious claims. Please expand. Algeria's schools have been sprouting terrorists?" Are you blaming the Algerian education system for creating this disaster?"
Hazem: "For many years, the schools... Yes, a finger should be pointed at the Algerian schools because the Islamic education curricula are extremist. It is true that they were reexamined before. However, those who control the schools today, and who extort the government using the schools and the fate of its students, most of them are from the Islamist unions that thrived in the 90s under the auspices of the dismantled Islamic Salvation Front."
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