The exceptionally efficient organisation of the World Cup and the endearing Arab hospitality have dented previous unfounded criticism against Qatar, a panel discussion organised by the Qatar Press Center (QPC) and the Qatar News Agency on Sunday was told.
"The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 has achieved the unity of the Arab people, and proved that it is their meeting place," QPC president Saad Mohamed al-Rumaihi stated in his inaugural address at the discussion on the 'Western campaigns against Qatar and the Arab countries'.
Moderating the event, QPC vice president and Gulf Times Editor-in-Chief Faisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka stated that Qatar has faced a vicious and unfair campaign by some Western media ever since it won the bid to host the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 but such voices started to decline as soon as the first match kicked off.
He pointed out that Qatar's success in organising the mega sporting event is well-known across the world and attributed much of the Western censure to the persistent mentality of hate and racism fostered by them.
The Middle East Council on Global Affairs director Dr Tariq Mohamed Yousef, Prof Dr Khaled al-Hroub (Professor in residence of the faculty of liberal arts at Northwestern University in Qatar), and Nazim Bessol (Algerian journalist and a member of the executive office of the International Sports Press Association- Africa region) were the panellists.
Dr Yousef said that the voices criticFising Qatar and its World Cup hosting since the kick-off of the tournament, grew lower after seeing and experiencing the on-the-ground realities. Upon watching the distinguished World Cup opening ceremony, the anti-Qatar campaigns faded, with major issues and topics replacing the superficial and side issues.
Prof Dr al-Hroub ascribed the motives of the Western attack on the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, to the Western sense of superiority and centrality as well as the orientalist legacy that provides a distorted picture of the region.
"The World Cup in Qatar revealed the depth of that Western centralism and racism, while nourishing it with the classic and new orientalist thought that stands behind many distorted Western stereotypes about the Arab region," he stated.
Bessol said the campaigns against Qatar were more severe and fierce than those targeting other countries in the past.
"The attack on Qatar is for being an Arab country with an Islamic religious culture," he asserted while ascribing the criticism to the negative stereotypes promoted by Western press and cinema.
"The fans who attended the tournament's fascinating organising, Arab generosity, ancient traditions and Islamic culture, ultimate security, and unprecedented atmosphere, contributed to altering these disinformation campaigns," he said.