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Egyptian TV host Ibrahim Eissa said in a December 9, 2020 show on Al-Kahera Wal-Nas TV (Egypt) that it was the West, and not the Arab world, that has been developing vaccines for COVID-19. He said that this means that the Islamic world must ask itself some hard questions about its place in civilization and the world. Saying that the Arabs should stop hating the West, he added: "[We say that] the West [is] our enemy, [but] we sit and wait for the West to send us the vaccine." For more about Ibrahim Eissa, see MEMRI TV clips No. 7852, 7295, 7172, 6767, 6530, 6416, and 5150.
Ibrahim Eissa: "The [COVID-19] vaccine is coming from the West, sir. When you look at the Arab countries, or at the countries that the majority of their citizens are Muslims, or at the countries that call themselves 'Islamic states' — from Turkey to Mauritania... When we examine what these states and societies have contributed to humanity in a crisis like the coronavirus pandemic... We are not talking about contribution in financial or material terms, but in terms of contribution to civilization. Did we stand with the rest of the world and help saving humanity? Were we the ones who initiated and were active, or did we follow others and wait?
"The whole issue has nothing to do with Muslims, Christians, or Jews. Because those who developed and produced the vaccine — whether it is the American-German vaccine, the Russian one, the English one, the Indian one, or the Chinese one — belong to all religions. They are Muslims, Christians, and Jews, and there is no problem at all. I am not talking about the scientists, the researchers, the physicists, the chemists, and the doctors who worked on the vaccine. I am talking about the society that has produced all of them, about the society that has this scientific ability to save humanity. Is it us, the Arab and Islamic East, or is it the West? Things should be perfectly clear. What was the world and humanity waiting for? For Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Libya, Tunisia, or Turkey to invent the vaccine? Or was all of humanity waiting for the West to produce the vaccine?
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"This obligates us to ask ourselves some hard questions: What role do we play in humanity? Where is our place in civilization? How much longer will Arab society continue to invest its emotions and feelings in hatred towards the West? [We say that] the West is against us and conspires against us. The West is our enemy, does not wish us well... But at the same time, we sit and wait for the West to send us the vaccine."
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