Arabic press review: Israel praises Saudi cleric over Auschwitz visit

'This is true Islam': Saudi cleric visits Auschwitz

An Israeli army spokesman has praised the secretary-general of the Muslim World League for praying for the souls of Holocaust victims during a visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp on Thursday. 

The visit by Muhammad bin Abdul Karim al-Issa, along with other Muslim religious leaders, came ahead of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the camp from German forces on 27 January 1945. 

"This is true Islam," Avichay Adraee said, adding in a tweet that "brotherhood among religions is the source of all goodness".

In another tweet, Adraee posted a picture of Issa, a Saudi cleric and the kingdom's former minister of justice, noting that the initiative conveyed a "message of tolerance and fraternity between religions" and was "an impressive and significant moment".

Adraee also posted a report by Saudi Arabia's Al Arabiya channel in which Issa said: “We are advocates of peace. In Islam, we do not have double standards, and crimes against humanity are rejected in all religions.”

Egypt on high alert on anniversary of revolution

Public squares in Egypt are witnessing intensive security measures and a concentrated deployment of security forces after popular calls to celebrate on Saturday the ninth anniversary of the Egyptian revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak, reported Arabi21.

The Ministry of Interior has intensified the state of emergency in all sectors, banning officers and soldiers from taking leave until 31 January, in conjunction with calls from the opposition forces and activists to demonstrate on Saturday, the report said.

Mohamed Ali, the Egyptian contractor, actor and whistleblower, has called on Egyptians to occupy all public squares to celebrate the anniversary of the 25 January revolution and demand the departure of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Last Monday, the Egyptian National Action Group announced its support for "all forms of revolutionary movements on the revolution's anniversary", and called on "the free world and all the parliaments of countries" to protect the rights of peaceful protesters.

Related Twitter hashtags have also spread since the beginning of this month, calling on Egyptians to revolt and Sisi to quit. 

Saudi Arabia denies first case of coronavirus

Saudi Arabia denied India's claim that an Indian nurse in Saudi Arabia has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, which has recently spread from the Chinese city of Wuhan.

India's minister of state for external affairs, Vellamvelly Muraleedharan, announced in a tweet on Thursday that an Indian nurse working in Al-Hayat National Hospital in Khamis Mushayt, in the southwest of the kingdom, has been infected with the virus.

"About 100 Indian nurses mostly from Kerala working at Al-Hayat hospital have been tested and none except one nurse was found infected by Corona virus. Affected nurse is being treated at Aseer National Hospital and is recovering well," Muraleedharan said in the tweet.

The minister said that the nurse was currently undergoing treatment in the Saudi Asir Central hospital, stressing that she "is recovering well". 

Hours later, however, the Saudi Center For Disease Prevention and Control said that there were “no cases of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Saudi Arabia so far”.

Israel sentences Jordanian over alleged stabbing attempt

An Israeli court has sentenced Mohammad Abdel-Fattah Musleh, a Jordanian citizen, to five years in prison for trying to carry out a stabbing attack last summer, charges his father described as false, the New Khaleej has reported. 

On 23 June, Israeli forces arrested Musleh, 21, in the town of Hadera in the occupied Palestinian territories on charges of a stabbing attempt after he was hit with two bullets in his left leg.

Abdel-Fattah Musleh, Mohammad's father, said that his son had left Jordan to work for his relatives in Palestine.  

He said Mohammad fled when Israeli forces started interrogating him because he did not speak Hebrew and the Israeli soldiers had shot him in the leg.

Abdel-fattah said his son had no intention of carrying out a stabbing attack, describing the charges against him as "false".

He demanded his immediate release, or, in the worst case, that he should serve the sentence imposed on him in a Jordanian prison.

* Arabic press review is a digest of reports that are not independently verified as accurate by Middle East Eye.