TEHRAN- The recent controversy ignited by a Saudi-owned television channel has spotlighted the animosity of certain Arab states towards the Palestinian resistance and their struggle against the Israeli occupation.

Last week, MBC Media Group aired a report in which it tried to demonize regional resistance leaders and military commanders who have been assassinated by Israel and the United States. 

It described Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar along with Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who were assassinated by Israel this year, as well as Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a veteran Iraqi resistance official, assassinated in a US drone strike in January 2020, as “faces of terrorism.”

The offensive action provoked outrage among the Iraqi populace, leading them to demonstrate outside the Baghdad offices of the Saudi broadcaster.

Iraq’s commission governing media said on Saturday that it would take steps to revoke MBC’s license in the country.

It said in a statement that its duty was to “deter violators of national values and public morals” and that MBC had repeatedly violated the rules in “its assaults on the martyrs.”

Saudi Arabia has attempted to distance itself from the insulting move. Its regulatory authority for media said it had referred “officials of a TV channel to investigation due to a news report that violates the Kingdom’s media regulations and policy.” 

People in West Asia revere the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance leaders for their indomitable spirit and struggle against Israel’s decades-long atrocities. 

General Soleimani is also widely esteemed in the region for helping the Iraqi and Syrian military forces to defeat the ISIL terrorist group. 

Some Arab states including the UAE and Bahrain normalized ties with Israel in 2020. Saudi Arabia has not done so, yet its clandestine connections with the Tel Aviv regime are widely recognized.

Close relations between Arab states and Israel come as people in the Arab world are opposed to the normalization of ties with the regime. Their move has been condemned as a stab in the back of the Palestinian cause. 

Presently, the MBC’s report is in line with Israel’s nefarious activities against regional resistance leaders and commanders. In fact, the Saudi-owned channel has condoned Israel’s assassination campaigns and turned into the regime’s mouthpiece.