Dubai wrongly projected as sex tourism hub

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While a section of Arab news outlets is busy in sabotaging the ongoing flow of bilateral relationship between Israel and the countries in the Middle East, Iranian and Qatari regime are spending significant amount of cash towards sponsoring such propaganda. Here is just a single example from a pro-Hamas, pro-Muslim Brotherhood and pro-jihadist Arab news site named Middle East Monitor (MEM). During the last three weeks, it has published numerous reports and op-eds mostly with the ulterior motive of sabotaging ongoing relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. MEM projects Dubai as the sex tourism hub, clearly with the nefarious agenda of tarnishing the good image of the UAE.

On January 5, 2021, MEM published an article titled – ‘Israeli ‘sex tourism’ is the fruit of normalisation with the UAE’, writer by Dr Adnan Abu Amer. Although at the end of this article, MEM has put a disclaimed, there are few more anti-Israel propaganda on this site, such as another item titled – ‘Israel tourists stealing from Dubai hotels’.

In the ‘Israeli ‘sex tourism’ is the fruit of normalisation with the UAE’ article, Dr Adnan Abu Amer wrote:

It is hard to believe the testimonies of Israeli tourists returning from the UAE, in which they describe Dubai as the Las Vegas of the Middle East. This is specifically in terms of the spread of prostitution and the sex trade that does not befit an Arab Muslim country.

Reports from Israel suggest that 8,000 Israelis travelled to Dubai to celebrate the New Year. They apparently took hashish and marijuana with them to the UAE, despite its strict drug laws, with up to 20 years imprisonment and sometimes execution for convicted drug smugglers.

One Israeli who admitted to smuggling drugs into Dubai told Israel’s Channel 12 that he was not worried about being arrested. “All we did was smuggle some hashish and marijuana to celebrate [New Year’s Eve] and get high,” he explained. “It isn’t cocaine, they are light drugs. I don’t believe that we’ll get in trouble. A death sentence for a few hundred grams in our suitcases? We only smoke in our hotel room.”

According to an Israeli resident in Dubai, the increasing number of fellow Israelis visiting the UAE in general, and Dubai in particular, has made them think that they’re at home and can do whatever they want. “Most Israeli tourists in Dubai don’t wear masks, don’t keep social distancing and risk receiving very high fines.” About 50,000 Israelis have visited the UAE since the normalisation agreement was signed in September.

A new development is that the tourist advertisements and posters about Dubai conceal a dark reality, represented by gangs of Israeli men who set out for the new holiday destination with prostitution in mind. They fill their pockets with thousands of dollars and with little or no conscience spend their time in the UAE moving from one woman to another.

It has become clear that any Israeli tourist in Dubai can go up to a hotel room to attend a party, pay $1,000 and jump into the pool of iniquity. All of this is happening openly, while the Emirati authorities turn a blind eye to tourists spending a week in Dubai for sexual purposes.

Another individual involved in this sordid business in Dubai said he went to Bucharest six times, but now believes with certainty that Dubai has become the biggest brothel in the world with its large and luxurious beach hotels. He pointed out that in the early evening, dozens of women sit on the colourful chairs outside the restaurants and bars around the complexes.

Data available from Israeli tourists returning from the UAE indicates that they are charged between 1800-2000 dirhams ($600). They have discovered a new “meat market” and operate unhindered in the Emirates, as if they are wandering around Bucharest, Burgas or Bangkok.

An Israeli journalist who met with young men leaving for Dubai revealed that his conversations included shameful sexual statements that are hard to swallow, but reflect what is happening in the UAE today. The can sit and eat next to a swimming pool while watching frenzied scenes of sexual activity.

“This involves a mixture of alcohol, girls and sex parties, and they choose whatever they like on an iPad or a mobile phone,” explained one Israeli. “Everything is open, like a menu with pizza toppings. There are also cards offering car prostitution services in Dubai, especially with girls of Eastern European descent who are sex workers in Dubai. Such services cost 1,000 dirhams, approximately $300.”

The Israelis go to nightclubs in Dubai, he added, and there are prostitutes hanging out with everyone. “They look like models, like Instagram girls in swimsuits. They all meet in the lobby of a hotel filled with 100 to 150 girls who work in the ‘meat market’ in Dubai, like the US. Each person spends NIS 50,000, about $15,000, during the week. It’s a lot of money. On any given day, I take 5 girls up with me to the hotel penthouse.”

Israeli sex tourists have revealed that Dubai hotels host prostitutes from all over the world, including Brazil, Russia, Peru and Bolivia, and they cost over $700 a night. “This is an expensive trip and only Israelis with money go to Dubai. A weekend trip to Dubai costs $30,000. Everything is expensive. Club entry is NIS 1,000 per person, then you buy the bottles, then you eat, then a girl comes to you, and the night ends up costing $5,000 to $6,000.”

It is hard to believe that Dubai is witnessing the worst excesses of the sex industry, but it is true. Israelis are going to Dubai like they would go to Bucharest or Thailand, only in Dubai the price is much higher and prostitutes are found everywhere. According to a random sample of Israeli sex tourists, Dubai is now a top destination for them; the number one city for sex; and it is easier for them to travel to Dubai than to Romania, although it is more expensive.

What is happening in Dubai is an extension of the Israeli sex industry, with prostitution apps advertising women operating in Dubai. The UAE has become the sin city of the Gulf and one of the sex tourism capitals of the world. The fruit of normalisation is that Israelis are now heavily involved in the whole shameful business.

In another news report titled – ‘Israel tourists stealing from Dubai hotels’, MEM said:

Israeli tourists visiting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been stealing items from hotel rooms in Dubai, Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

“I have been visiting the UAE for many years and doing business there,” stated an Israeli businessman. “Last month I arrived at the hotel I was staying in and was terrified when I saw in the hotel lobby, Israelis are being searched for stolen items from the rooms.”

Complaints of Israeli tourists stealing from hotels comes a month after the first commercial passenger flight from Israel to the UAE to off, as part of a new regular service.

Moreover, a manager of a hotel overlooking the world’s tallest building the Burj Khalifa, said: “We host hundreds of tourists from all countries of the world, some of them create problems, but we have not seen items stolen before.”

“Recently we have seen Israeli tourists come to the hotel and pile up all their bags, stealing towels, tea and coffee bags, and even lamps.”

He added: “One time an Israeli family came with two children to check-out, and we discovered that things were missing in the room, and when the hotel staff tried to tell them that things in the room in which they were staying were missing, they started screaming.”

“After the conversation, they finally agreed to open their bag and we discovered that they had ice containers, hangers, and face towels. After we told them that we would inform the police, they decided to return the things and apologised.”

Dr Abd Al-Aziz Al-Khazraj Al-Nasari, a Qatari presenter, published a video claiming a number of Emirati hotel owners contacted him detailing the thefts they discovered.

In the video which went viral across social media, he warned: “They should know that normalisation with Israel means having to give up room objects for now, and maybe land later on.”

The UAE and Israel agreed to establish full diplomatic, cultural, and commercial relations following the signing of the controversial agreements on 15 September at the White House.

Who are behind Middle East Monitor?

Middle East Monitor though pretends to be a news site published from the Middle East, it actually is published from Britain by a group of anti-Israel individuals, including members of Hamas. On its website’s About Us page, MEM states:

The use or misuse of information is central to the conflict in the Middle East. There has been a growing need for supporters of, in particular, the Palestinian cause, to master the art of information gathering, analysis and dissemination. This requires well organised, focused and targeted operations. Such initiatives are virtually non-existent in the West today.

The Middle East Monitor (MEMO) was established to fill this gap.

While there are several outstanding media monitoring networks online, their main activity is invariably confined to exposing the flaws in existing coverages. We go one step further; reaching out to opinion-makers and decision-makers in a deliberate, organised and sustained manner.

Advisers of MEM are:

Dr Salman Abu Sitta, Palestinian author and member of the Palestinian National Council,

Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham, member of The House of Lords,

Baroness Jennifer Tonge of Kew, member of The House of Lords,

Dr Maria Holt, Lecturer of Democracy and Islam in the Centre for the Study of Democracy in the University of Westminster,

Oliver McTernan, Co-Founder and Director of the Forward Thinking organization.

Team of the Middle East Monitor comprises the following people:

Dr. Daud Abdullah, Director; Ibrahim Hewitt, Senior Editor; Amelia Smith,

Anjuman Rahman, Elif Selin Calik, Jehan Alfarra, Lauren Lewis, Motasem Dalloul, Nasim Ahmed, Omar Ahmed, Muhammad Hussein, Aisha Elmasri and Mohammed Asad.

Regular contributors of MEM are:

Asa Winstanley, Abderrahim Chalfaouat, Ramona Wadi, Dr Ramzy Baroud, Dr Samah Jabr, Professor Kamel Hawwash, Khalil Charles and Yvonne Ridley.

Hamas, MEM, Iran and Qatar

According to Israeli scholar Ehud Rosen, a senior researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, MEM supports Islamist positions within Palestinian’s terrorist agenda. According to Andrew Gilligan, the Middle East Monitor promotes a strongly pro-Muslim Brotherhood and pro-Hamas viewpoint.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reporter Anshel Pfeffer described MEM as a “conspiracy theory-peddling anti-Israel organization”.

MEM has been described by Marc Rich as promoting conspiracy theories about Jews, Zionists, money and power. This has included a claim that MEM had “questioned the suitability of Matthew Gould for the post of UK ambassador to Israel simply because he was Jewish”.

According to Yiftah Curiel, an employee of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, some of the staff of the Middle East Monitor as well as the similar Middle East Eye are also active in Interpal, which has been designated in Israel as a terror-supporting group, as well as being on the United States Treasury’s list of specially-designated terrorist organizations. The site itself is sympathetic to Hamas, and the Hamas website and social media accounts post and share material from the Middle East Monitor.

MEM has been characterized as a pro-Hamas publication by John Ware of BBC News.

Exposing Middle East Eye

Another UK-based pro-jihadist publication is Middle East Eye (MEE), which claims to be an independently funded online news organization, founded in April 2014. On its website, MEE says: “We aim to be the primary portal of Middle East news and our target audience are all those communities of readers living in and around the region that care deeply for its fate”.

There is no mention of the names of people involved in this pro-jihadist website or any mailing address. It looks similar to the websites operated by Al Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS).

But, after surfing the internet, following information about Middle East Eye was found.

MEE is edited by David Hearst, a former chief foreign leader writer for the British daily, The Guardian. MEE is owned by Middle East Eye Ltd, a UK company incorporated in 2013.

According to the news editor, Dania Akkad, most of the content is written by freelancers that approach Middle East Eye.

MEE employs about 20 full-time staff in its London office. The director of Middle East Eye Ltd is Jamal Bessasso (whose surname is alternatively spelled Bassasso), a former director of planning and human resources at Al Jazeera, a news outlet owned by the Qatari regime.

Notable writers of MEE are:

British MP Alistair Burt, Ian Cobain, Jonathan Cook, Former Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu, Richard A. Falk, Professor Emeritus of International Law at Princeton University, British MP Daniel Kawczynski, Faisal Kutty, Canadian lawyer, law professor at Barry University and Osgoode Hall Law School, Gideon Levy, Columnist of Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Moncef Marzouki, former president of Tunisia, Joseph Massad, professor, Columbia University, Peter Oborne, columnist of the Daily Mail, Madawi al-Rasheed, visiting professor at the Middle East Institute of the London School of Economics, and Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch.

Jamal Khashoggi’s MEE connection

According to information, Muslim Brotherhood member and a propagandist of Osama Bin Laden, the notorious Saudi-born Islamist writer Jamal Khashoggi used pseudonym and spread false propaganda against Saudi Arabia and Israel through Middle East Eye in exchange for hefty amount of cash. It was earlier learned that Jamal Khashoggi was under monthly payroll of Iran and Qatar and his Turkish fiancé was an undercover spy for the Turkish spy agency, who is loyal to Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official said MEE and its chief editor David Hearst had exclusive access to Hamas propaganda materials. He said, MEE was registered by a former employee of Interpal, which is a United Kingdom-based charity designated by the US Treasury Department as a financial supporter of mega-terror outfit Hamas. He further said that Hearst had penned editorials praising and defending Muslim Brotherhood.

According to Samuel Tadros of American think tank, Hudson Institute, MEE and Middle East Monitor were launched by Muslim Brotherhood affiliates as an alternative to the Qatari-based Al Jazeera to feed western readers with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas point of views.

The UAE newspaper The National, claimed Middle East Eye coverage to have an anti-Emirati bias and noted several members employed by MEE to be originally part of Al Jazeera. The National also accused MEE of being associated with multiple members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Middle East Eye is also an open supporter of Turkish dictator Erdogan.

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