“While in Israel and the West the role of political opposition is anchored in law, the governments of the Persian Gulf states tolerate no such criticism. Anyone defying the government is soon found in a cemetery or in prison or forced to travel abroad. ... The Gulf states have no real political parties, at least not as Westerners would define them. This is how countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Kuwait operate. In fact, with the exception of Kuwait, these countries have no parliament at all, and all power is vested solely in the royal families, who, we might remember, were handed the reins of rulership by the British in the early part of the 20th century. The power wielded by these families is absolute. ... The Gulf states are having trouble combatting popular opposition given voice by online social networks like Facebook and Twitter. And that only makes them more dangerous. Since the Arab Spring, many of these regimes have set up cyber units to hunt down those who criticize them online. ... Under these conditions, the Gulf monarchies are dictatorships in every respect. There is a total absence of human rights ... Acquiescing in economic considerations, the West continues to engage and do business with these monarchies, while all but ignoring their rampant violations of human rights.” “Democracy and Civil Rights,” Israel Today, Dec. 2018 Comments are closed.
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