UAE’s attempt to defame Qatar with Paris conference fails miserably
Ever since the illegal blockade of Qatar began in June, there have been concerted attempts by blockading nations to defame the country.
However, Qatar largely weathered the storm unscathed. But that has not stopped the blockading nations from trying harder.
However, the latest attempt by the UAE to discredit Qatar — via a much-publicised conference — crashed and burned spectacularly after audience and French media rejected it outright, reported The Peninsula.
The conference organisers had to turn the event into a symposium as a face-saving gesture.
The ‘European Microscope on Middle East Issues’ explained that the conference is supported by the UAE, and is specially convened for ‘discrediting’ Qatar in French circles and accusing it of using European countries to support ‘terrorist groups.’
The conference was supposed to discuss ‘scientific’ issues according to what the organisers had announced earlier but failed to gather contributions of any influential figures in French decision-making or French society.
The conference did not discuss any of the agenda which included ‘Qatar and terrorism across continents,’ “Qatar and France/Short History,’ ‘Great Risks,’ and ‘Qatar Behind the Middle East Crisis,’ but instead concluded after short speeches in which speakers used improvised words in attempt to offend Qatar.
Euroscope, a European institution that monitors interactions of Middle East issues in Europe, has said that the conference intended to incite French society by accusing first Qatar of working to reject any normalisation of relations with Israel, and second by attempting to connect Qatar with the terrorist operations that took place in Europe.
The seminar — backed by the UAE — is one aspect of the media campaign against Qatar carried out by the UAE in France through a controversial Egyptian media person called Abdulrahim Ali.
Ali introduced himself to UAE during the past months to launch a media campaign against Qatar in France and for this purpose established office for ‘Al Bawaba News’ in Paris and the UAE paid millions of dollars for that.
The European microscope said that Abdul Rahim Ali, who opened the seminar seemed tense due to lack of attendance and absence of media, what prompted him to leave the room and talk to UAE’s Sky News, accusing French authorities of preventing media to attend the event.
