ABU DHABI// There was uproar in the FNC on Tuesday after a video of an Israeli professor deriding the technological achievements of Arab countries’ was screened.
Members were discussing the funding and attention dedicated to scientific research with the Minister of Higher Education, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak, when Sheikha Al Owais (Sharjah) played the YouTube clip to highlight the need to maintain excellence in this field.
The clip, which has been widely circulated on social media around the Arab World, showed an Israeli professor bragging about the scientific innovation in his country.
He said Israel had done “great things” through its scientific, technological and academic achievements, whereas Arab scientists had not achieved as much.
The FNC Speaker, Mohammed Al Murr (Dubai) refuted the arguments made in the video.
"Even if the Israeli society is set on a large scientific database, this does not deny the historical truth that they raped an Arab country and destroyed holy monuments and have put the Palestinian people in misery," he said.
The UAE’s technological and scientific advances in such a short time proved to the world that the Arab community is not backwards if it “arms itself with knowledge and a wise leadership and it can reach the highest civilisational levels”, he added.
“So no matter how scientifically capable their people are ... it is impossible for it to be considered free and have ethical excellence and their scientific excellence will remain limited.”
Sheikh Hamdan also objected to the clip, saying: “This video is unacceptable, a person is bragging about an aggressive country.”
hdajani@thenational.ae
