‘Kabul airport scenes will happen at Ben Gurion’, claims pundit

A TV pundit has been criticised as “vile” after claiming the scenes around Kabul airport will be repeated at Ben Gurion in an anti-Israel rant.

Abdel Bari Atwan, who has appeared on mainstream channels such as the BBC, said that Israelis should learn how to swim because their only option to escape “will be the Mediterranean Sea.”

Speaking in Arabic on a Lebanese channel, the former editor of Al Quds Al Arabi said that Yasser Arafat told him he would see “Israelis fleeing Palestine like rats on a sinking ship,” adding: “Today I believe that this prophecy will come true.”

He said: “Israel today is in a state of confusion and panic. They know very well what happened in Kabul airport will repeat itself at Ben Gurion airport.

“But Ben Gurion airport will be closed, there will be no planes in it. They will have no other option but to flee through the sea.

“By Allah, they should listen to the advice of  [Hezbollah leader] Hassan Nasrallah and start learning how to swim because their only option will be Cyprus, their only option will be the Mediterranean Sea.”

The interview was translated by the Washington-based Middle East Research Unit, which posted it on Twitter.

Atwan has previously appeared on the BBC, CNN and Sky News, despite being criticised for his views.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre said the video was “genocide-seeking haters of Jewish state inspired by Afghanistan debacle” while Michael Dickson of Stand With Us labelled Atwan a “raving propagandist.”