Dear Arab world,
Don’t thank us! We’re givers.
The Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that for the first time, Israel will broadcast the 2018 FIFA World Cup via satellite free of charge to Arab nations in the Middle East, complete with pre-game discussion and live commentary in Arabic.
Though Egypt qualified for the soccer tournament, along with Morocco, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, the country did not purchase the rights to broadcast the games. In previous years, viewers had to purchase a subscription to the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network to watch the games.
This year, Egyptians, Jordanians and others in the region will be able to watch an Arabic satellite transmission free of charge via Israel’s national broadcaster, Kan.
According to the Egypt Independent news site, Kan purchased the rights for €6.3 million ($7.8 million).
When it was announced on Egyptian television, several critics were angry that Israel would broadcast to a large Arab population, with one television host suggesting that Israel may use the broadcasts to send other messages to the country.
Actually, that’s a great idea. Maybe we can use our patented Zionist Subliminal Messaging Device of DoomTM to bring about some peace!
But soccer fans love their soccer, so there were also positive reactions. Many were looking forward to watching the games, leaving messages on social media praising Israel for the move.
I bet the haters and BDS-holes of those countries will not stick to their “principles” and will take advantage of this kind offer. I bet that Ismail Haniyeh is already arranging some soccer and popcorn evenings as we speak.
All joking aside, this is actually a rather brilliant move by Israel. A goal in the back of the net, if you will.
This article was originally published at israellycool.com here.