Moroccan Journalist Vilified at Home for Posing With Book of Psalms on Jerusalem Visit
by Joshua Levitt
Moroccan journalist Ghislaine Taibi was attacked at home for photos taken of her proudly holding an open book of Hebrew Psalms of David at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and an even more brazen photo in front of a cafe, wearing a Jewish Chai pendant necklace and a revealing tank top with the Hebrew word ‘Shalom.’
Taibi, who works for the French-speaking 2M channel in Morocco, was vilified by commenters online, according to Morocco World News on Thursday, and flagged by blogger Elder of Ziyon on Friday.
“The bulk of comments on the picture associate Taibi to the Zionist cause in a derogatory way and attack the private channel 2M. ‘Pigs go back to their origins,’ read one of the comments. ‘Truth need be revealed about this filth,’ read another comment referring to Moroccan channel 2M,” MWN reported.
Taibi said, “I’ve never considered responding to these trivial and unjustified attacks, carried out by people who don’t even know the real reasons for my visit there, and who ignore the principles of my work as a journalist.”
She said her visit was for background for a book on religion.
Elder of Ziyon noted that “Taibi also visited the Church of the Nativity during her trip. She didn’t get nearly the same reaction to posing with Christian religious objects as she did in the photo above where she is holding a Hebrew book of Psalms. Which goes to show that her Moroccan critics weren’t as insulted at her visit to Israel as they were with her associating with anything Jewish.”
Commenters on the blogger’s site said Taibi was trying to make a pro-Israel statement, especially in her “Shalom” shirt and “Chai” pendant, with one exhorting other readers to “show her some love” on Facebook, where the photo was posted.
Another said, “Morocco has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel but the ties between the two countries have usually been good. But a lot of Moroccans simply don’t like Israel and it takes a lot of courage for people like Ghislaine Taibi to break the taboo against normalization with the Jewish State.”