Egyptian BDS denounces plans to host Israeli festival at military-linked resort in Sinai

The Egypt-based branch of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) of Israel movement strongly denounced on Wednesday plans to host an Israeli music festival at a hotel affiliated with the Egyptian army in the south of the Sinai.

The Nabia festival is set to be held from 17 April to 20 April in Tolip Resort and Spa in Taba city. 

"Every year we take pride in the heroes of the 1973 war with our family and neighbours. We listen to the heroic stories of resistance and how the [the Bar-Lev Line] was crossed, which the enemy considered impossible...Until we realise [now] that the Zionist occupation has returned to Sinai again," the official social media account of the Egyptian BDS movement tweeted.

فى كل عام نفتخر ونتباهى بأبطال حرب عام 73 مع أهلنا وجيراننا ونستمع إلى حكايات المقاومة الباسلة وكيف عبرنا ما كان يعتبره العدو الإسرائيلي مستحيلًا. لكن للأسف ونحن نُعد منشورًا احتفاليًا مثل كل عام اكتشفنا أن الاحتلال الصهيوني .. يعود إلى سيناء من جديد!! pic.twitter.com/tHbWpEYCIE

— BDSEgypt (@BdsEgypt) April 13, 2022

The New Arab reach out to Tolip's administration for comments but have yet to receive a response. 

Since the time of Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat, who became the first Arab leader to make peace with Israel, the Egyptian public has bulked at the Egyptian authority's successive normalisation with Israel.

Most Egyptians view Israel as a colonial entity on Palestine since the 1948 war, and both an oppressor of the Palestinian people and a former occupier of Egypt's the Sinai Peninsula.

However, at the diplomatic level, Egypt treats Israel as a friendly country and has developed strong ties in a variety of fields.