The fires ravaging Israel have prompted expressions of joy on social media across the Arab world.
A Dubai security chief tweeted “Israel banned the muezzin and caught on fire”, while a Kuwaiti imam wished “Best of luck to the fires :)”.
The Arabic hashtag “Israel is burning”, was used in over 128,000 tweets as of Thursday afternoon, at one point becoming the third most popular worldwide.
#IsraelIsBurning because they ignored the signs of doing the right thing and that was to help those from whom they occupied the land from!!!
— watchheadlinessatan (@watchheadlines) November 25, 2016
"They tried to ban the muezzin's call, and Allah rained fire on them," Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq tweeted.
Twitter user Hussain Shinan wrote: “Poetic justice. Allah Akbar.#IsraelIsBurning.”
Yet another wrote: “It’s God’s punishment.”
#IsraelIsBurning because they ignored the signs of doing the right thing and that was to help those from whom they occupied the land from!!!
— watchheadlinessatan (@watchheadlines) November 25, 2016
“After a long and hard work day, #israelisburning will give me an exceptional weekend , let’s party!!!!” wrote another
.Another said: “Finally they got what they did to Palestinians. Now y’all feel how our hearts burned when you killed my brothers & sisters #israelisburning.”
Some of the sick, vile hate I've received on-line from people celebrating #HaifaFire & #israelisburning! The sheer depravity of some! pic.twitter.com/bMuhrCBuaQ
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) November 24, 2016
Some Arab social media users expressed the hope that the fire would destroy strategic facilities in Israel, such as IDF bases
.One wrote, "All of Israel's neighbours must aid it—I suggest they send planes filled with gasoline and rain it down on the burning areas. I want to inhale the smell of barbecue from the Zionists."
Another hoped: "God, add more fire to them until it is their end."
As people flee their homes in #Israel, the twitter-sphere rejoices. #israelisburning has a despicable amount of hate! A sad day for humanity pic.twitter.com/IFDqgPM4XR
— Arieh Miller (@AriehMiller) November 24, 2016
So far, 12 people have been arrested for sparking or inciting at least some of the hundreds of fires that have threatened Israeli towns and forests this week.
The Arab world watching Israel burning down. #israelisburning pic.twitter.com/VeZ3ZNi9iB
— Yes, meen? (@YasmeenMS) November 24, 2016
On Friday a 24-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of inciting people to deliberately start fires.
The suspect, a Bedouin from southern Israel, was accused of posting messages on Facebook urging arson.
According to Ynet, the suspect was the son of a prominent leader of the Islamic Movement and his Facebook post had said:
“There are still forests where the fire has not reached, we need our crazy youths to do what is needed.”
However, the Palestinian Authority said it would send four firetrucks to help Israel combat the blaze.
The PA’s Director of Civil Defence, Maj. Gen. Yousef Nassar, said he made contact through the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, and would send fire crews to combat the blazes around the country, according to the official Wafa news agency.
