Israeli Jewish Reporter Snooping in Makkah and Arafat!

Ayman Ahmed

Muharram 03, 1444 2022-08-01

News & Analysis

by Ayman Ahmed (News & Analysis, Crescent International Vol. 51, No. 6, Muharram, 1444)

How did an Israeli Jewish TV reporter enter Makkah and even go to Arafat and report from there? The question is pertinent because non-Muslims are not allowed to enter Makkah, home to the holiest mosque in Islam.

On July 18, Israel’s Channel 13 News aired a 10-minute video clip from Saudi Arabia in which its reporter Gil Tamary was shown travelling in a car near Masjid al-Haram, the sacred Mosque in Makkah. He was also shown climbing Jabal al-Rahmah (the Mount of Mercy), that oversees the plain of Arafat.

Tamary spoke into the camera in a hushed tone when speaking in Hebrew. He also spoke in English in order to camouflage his identity as an Israeli. Accompanied by a local guide whose face was blurred to prevent his identification, the Israeli reporter seems to have no problem moving around Makkah and Arafat.

Tamary proudly proclaimed: “I am the first Israeli journalist to broadcast from here, even in Hebrew.” This was an insult to the nearly two billion Muslims worldwide for whom Makkah and Madinah are sacred places and reserved exclusively for Muslims.

So, how did an Israeli reporter enter Saudi Arabia in the first place when the medieval regime has no diplomatic relations with the zionist entity? It has now been revealed that Tamary obtained a visa using another country’s passport to arrive in Jeddah to cover the so-called Security Summit that US President Joe Biden also attended.

It can be surmised that Tamary was using either an American passport or that of a European country. This is what Israeli spy agency Mossad’s operatives do when they want to enter countries that do not have diplomatic relations with the illegitimate zionist entity, to carry out their criminal activities.

The Twitter hashtag “A Jew in Mecca’s Grand Mosque” trended after the Israeli TV report was aired. The Saudi regime has since announced that the person who acted as Tamary’s guide has been arrested. This appears to be an attempt to deflect criticism of its policy of kow-towing to the zionist regime and moving toward normalization with the zionist occupiers of Palestine.

Tamary’s entry into Makkah raises other troubling questions. After all, every person—Muslim or non-Muslim—is screened at al-Shumaisi checkpoint before they enter Makkah while travelling from Jeddah. Non-Muslims are diverted to another road that bypasses Makkah. How did Tamary gain entry into Makkah?

Was his passport not checked at al-Shumaisi to see whether he had a visa for Makkah which would be either a Hajj or Umrah visa? He certainly could not have obtained a Hajj visa that ended a few days earlier.

The Saudi regime’s visa policy for Hajj is extremely restrictive. In addition to arbitrary limits on the number of Muslims allowed to perform Hajj each year, some Muslim activists are specifically barred from performing Hajj. Imam Muhammad al-Asi is one of them. He has been refused a Hajj visa on the specific orders of the Saudi interior minister.

So, while committed Muslims are barred from Makkah to perform Hajj, Israeli Jews seem to have no problem. Let us explore this issue further.

Tamary must have applied for a visitor’s visa at a Saudi embassy in some country. His background should have been checked. This is standard practice in embassies and consulates of all countries around the world.

Are we to assume that the Saudis are so incompetent that they did not know what the real identity of Tamary was? It is possible. The Saudis are grossly incompetent but in Tamary’s case, there appears to be another agenda at work.

For years, the Saudis have been moving toward normalizing relations with the zionist entity. A day before the Jeddah summit of July 16, Saudi Arabia announced that that it was opening its airspace to Israeli carriers and flights from Israel. This was done under the pretext that it has opened its airspace to airlines from a number of other countries. This was merely a confirmation of what was already happening for years, as far as Israel is concerned.

Prior to the airing of Tamary’s provocative video clip, several Israelis were allowed to enter the Masjid al Haram and even participate in the tawwaf. Lest some naïve Muslims get excited, the zionists, among them some rabbis, had not converted to Islam. On the contrary, they have a sinister agenda.

In their maps of ‘Greater Israel’, the zionists show Madinah as part of their territory. Talk of chutzpah. At the time of the Prophet’s (pbuh) arrival in Madinah, there were three Jewish tribes residing there. They were the Banu Nadhir, Banu Qaynuqah and Banu Quraydhah.

The Prophet (pbuh) made great efforts to cultivate friendly relations with them. He showed them respect and accepted them on par with the Muslims because they were considered people of the Book. But at every opportunity, they betrayed the Muslims violating their covenant agreement with the Prophet (pbuh) and committing treason.

After every act of treachery, the offending tribe was expelled from Madinah until all of them were expelled from Madinatun Nabi (the city of the Prophet). Upon his deathbed, the Prophet (pbuh) announced that non-Muslims are barred from entry into the Arabian Peninsula. This was reserved exclusively for Muslims. The Saudis are guilty of violating this express Prophetic command.

The zionists have the gall to claim Madinah as their own. The Bani Saud (the Bedouins from Najd) are facilitating such encroachment and possible occupation (may Allah forbid such a thing).

Muslims beware of the Bani Saud and Bani Israel.