Nobel Prize Winner Criticized for Advocating ‘Necessity of Equality’ for Yemeni Jews (VIDEO)
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Arab media blasted Yemini Nobel Peace Prize winner Tawakkol Karman for demanding that local Jews be allowed in government positions, blogger Elder of Ziyon reported on Monday.
Claiming that Yeminis consider the call to be “outrageous” one newspaper said about Karman, a Muslim, that “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
Karman’s comments were made during a United Nations webcast about equality for “religious minorities” in Yemen.
“We stress the necessity of equality for Jewish Yemeni citizens to their fellow citizens in enjoying all political rights, including the right to be nominated to the parliament, to local councils and the presidency,” she said.
Local activists, cited in the Arabic media, said, “It is not strange for someone who belongs to the [Muslim] Brotherhood to say this.”
“After all, Issam Eryan also demanded that the Jews return to Egypt and that their possessions be given back to them,” they added. “This video is the price that Tawakkol paid for getting the Nobel Peace Prize [in 2011].”
Karman has been repeatedly accused by her political opponents in Yemen and Egypt of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, according to Elder of Ziyon. The political party she belongs to includes Muslim Brotherhood members and she has railed against the rule of Egypt’s army chief Abdul Fattah el-Sisi.
Watch a video of Tawakkol Karman’s U.N. webcast below: