Saudis and Emiratis declare Rana Ayyub a ‘terror sympathizer’

Rana Ayyub is angry at the Indian right-wing because Saudis and Emiratis are trolling her, and the Indian right is poking fun at her. She tweeted, “Saudi trolls are being cheered on by Modi supporters in India. You missed nothing.” She also said, “Indian right wing is dancing with glee because Saudi trolls are attacking me for my tweets on the genocide in Yemen.”

But how did Rana Ayyub, who fights against ‘Islamophobia’ end up getting trolled by Saudis and also by Emiratis? I mean Saudi Arabia is the undisputed leader of the Muslim world, so why should Saudis criticise an activist who opposes ‘Islamophobia’? Well, this has to do with Yemen and one of Ayyub’s tweets about the Yemen war.

Read more: Saudi Arabia is all set to deport 800,000 Yeminis from its soil, and the repercussions could be disastrous for Iran and Houthis

How Rana Ayyub ended up angering the Saudis

Ayyub tweeted, “Yemen is bleeding and there is nobody to stop the bloodthirsty Saudis. These are people who call themselves the custodians of Islam. As a Muslim I am ashamed that these savages are guardians of the holy mosque. The world CANNOT stay silent thru this genocide. #YemenUnderAttack.”

Now, Saudi Arabia leads a multinational coalition against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. It is the Houthi rebels who started the Yemen war. They are the ones who stormed Yemen’s capital Sanaa and took control of the city in January 2015.

They were trying to overthrow the legitimate Yemeni government, and the Saudi-led coalition joined the war effort against Iran-backed Houthis only after a request for military assistance was made by Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. So, Saudis naturally got angry for being labelled “bloodthirsty” for a war instigated by the Houthi militia.

Read more: Yemen is a bloody war. Biden is turning it bloodier

Saudis troll Rana Ayyub

Saudi anger soon galvanised into relentless criticism on social media. Saudi engineer Gassan for example called Rana’s tweet “fake news”. Gassan added, “Saudi Arabia has launched military operations in Yemen, as part of a coalition of over ten countries in response to a direct request from the legitimate government of Yemen We supporting legitimate and U supporting terrorists.”

And then many other Saudi netizens started trolling Ayyub.

https://twitter.com/sclcldv/status/1485198955315179527?s=20

https://twitter.com/Abu_Sultan_KSA_/status/1485137171115872257?s=20

Emiratis join in

As if Saudi netizens weren’t enough, even Emirati social media users seem to be enraged over what Rana Ayyub had to say about Yemen.

Hassan Sajwani, an Emirati billionaire, said, “The likes of Rana Ayyub are the biggest culprits. Under the smokescreen of “Humanitarian Voice” they constantly back Houthis, Hamas, and Muslim Brotherhood aligned groups. Ms. Rana forgot that Houthis killed 2 innocent Indians (her countrymen) last week in Abu Dhabi. Shame !”

He also tweeted, “Assalam O Aleykom @RanaAyyub ! The Houthis you’ve been defending have just fired 2 ballistic missiles towards my city this morning ! Thankfully we intercepted !! Will you condemn them for targeting innocent Abu Dhabi civilians ?? Of course no …”

Indian netizens poke fun at Rana

Meanwhile, Indian netizens are having fun making Rana Ayyub realise that not all countries are as tolerant as India. Rana Ayyub thinks that “Modi supporters” are cheering “Saudi trolls”. But in reality, many of them only want to point out how India and the Arab world are different. India tolerates whatever is being said and many times, Indian netizens simply ignore propaganda.

However, Saudi Arabia and even the UAE are very different, and Rana Ayyub is realising this the hard way.