Saudi Arabia, the authoritarian regime which has been accused of sawing up a Washington Post journalist and starving Yemeni children, has found a new target, or at least its loyal media outlets have: America's rising class of female Muslim political leaders, including incoming congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Detroit.
An article this week in Foreign Policy declares: "Gulf Arab monarchies are using racism, bigotry, and fake news to denounce Washington's newest history-making politicians."
Political alliances in the Middle East can be mystifying to Americans, but it seems to go this way: Politicians like Tlaib, and her fellow incoming freshman representative, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, threaten the entrenched power structures in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which are strongly authoritarian and generally support President Trump, who they see as an ally.
Rep.-Elect Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, and Abdul El-Sayed, a fellow Democrat who lost the 2018 primary for Michigan governor.
It can all dovetail with fringe Republican conspiracy theories -- remember Patrick Colbeck implying Michigan gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed was a secret member of the Muslim Brotherhood? -- and comes out in a different form in state-controlled media over there, as explained by columnist Ola Salem:
The midterm elections have amplified an existing suspicion in Middle Eastern media of Muslim political activism in the United States. Academics, media outlets, and commentators close to Persian Gulf governments have repeatedly accused Omar, Rashida Tlaib (another newly elected Muslim congresswoman), and Abdul El-Sayed (who made a failed bid to become governor of Michigan) of being secret members of the Muslim Brotherhood who are hostile to the governments of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. On Sunday, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya published a feature insinuating that Omar and Tlaib were part of an alliance between the Democratic Party and Islamist groups to control Congress.
The article accused the two of being “anti-Trump and his political team and options, especially his foreign policy starting from the sanctions on Iran to the isolation of the Muslim Brotherhood and all movements of political Islam.” . . .
The rise of politicians like El-Sayed, Omar, and Tlaib also undermines a core argument advanced by dictators in the Middle East: that their people are not ready for democracy. “People would not have access to power in their countries but they would if they leave; this destroys the argument by Sisi or bin Salman,” El-Sayed said, referring to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“What’s ironic is there is no way I would aspire to be in leadership in Egypt, the place of my fathers.”
Many of these Persian Gulf governments have spent millions on public-relations campaigns advancing their positions, and are threatened by "any policymakers with an independent interest in and knowledge of the region."
Knowledge really is power.
