Arab press laments Israeli superiority in education, innovation, justice

Jerusalem Post reports:

Several Arabic-speaking newspapers published articles discussing Israel's superiority over Arab states and which steps have to be taken in order to improve in comparison, according to a Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) report released this week.

The articles cited Israel's education, innovation, democratic values, the country's ability to prosecute corrupt officials and its political stability as the source of its success.


Former governor of Egypt's Al-Sharqiya province Reda Abd Al-Salam wrote on the Egyptian news site the Nile Press in January that Israeli superiority was due to the country's continuous investment in education, health and science and technology, as well as Israel's building a democracy.

"The Arab and Muslim peoples live under regimes that for decades have engaged not in developing their peoples and establishing themselves in economy, society, science, and democracy but in establishing their [own] rule... During this time, those we called 'the sons of apes and pigs' engaged in real building. They focused on education, health, economy, and technology, and of course on democratic process," a MEMRI translation of the article read.

Abd Al-Salam further emphasized that Israel's progress was not at all the result of aid, but of hard work. "Don't say that [this is because] the US supports Israel, because over the past decades Egypt has received tremendous support, in billions of dollars, from its Arab brothers and also from the international institutions for developing education, roads, and the like. Where has [this money] gone and whose pockets [does it line]?"

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