Part I
UAE – Israel – A hearing on the appeal of Fidaa Kiwan’s death sentence.
Yesterday, the Israeli President Isaac Herzog, together with the Israeli Minister of Regional Affairs Issawi Frej, visited Dubai to offer their condolences to the Emirates following the death of the Emirati President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed.
According to local sources, the UAE is expected to hold a hearing on the appeal of Fidaa Kiwan, the young Israeli citizen from Haifa who received a death sentence for drug trafficking charges.
Despite her anti-Israeli views, and initially refusing to accept any assistance from Israel, officials have been working on various channels to mitigate the sentencing of the Israeli citizen.
Presumably, the timing here is not coincidental. In the last two weeks, the same Minister Issawi Frej arrived at the Emirati Embassy in Tel Aviv, and handed an official letter to the Emirates regarding Kiwan’s case, publicly promising that the Israeli government would do everything in its power to help.
[Editor’s Update: Sentencing was delayed after an appeal by her lawyer. The case will come before the judge again on May 31, 2022.]
Part II
The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) employee who attacked his co-worker and tore down Israeli flags at his office is Fidaa Kiwan’s older brother.
The following story was featured on various Israeli media channels in recent days.
תיעוד מטורף – אירוע חריג ואלים התרחש במשרדי תאגיד השידור – עובד ערבי הוריד דגלי ישראל והכה עובד אחר שהעז להעיר לו pic.twitter.com/oRPRcYl9lT
— gershon belik (@gershon27) May 15, 2022
Last year on Israeli Independence day, a producer working for the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation was upset with Israeli flags hung around the offices, so he took them down. The producer later physically attacked a colleague who confronted him on the matter and asked to put the flags back where they were.
What wasn’t revealed at all, and came to my attention today, is that the producer, Ghaleb Kiwan, is the brother of Fidaa Kiwan, the Haifa resident who received the death sentence in the UAE.
Ghaleb was fired from the IPBC following the incident, but that didn’t stop him from being interviewed yesterday on “Makan”, the IPBC’s Arabic radio program, regarding his sister’s case.
