Saudi columnist: Number of Sharon's victims 'tiny' compared to Arab rulers

This is astounding. A columnist writing in the Saudi government daily writes that the number of Ariel Sharon's victims is 'tiny' compared to the number of victims of Arab rulers.

The article was written pegging off the death of Ariel Sharon and contains the usual extreme attacks on him. However, it is the lengths to which he is prepared to go to condemn the Arab world that will be surprising to many people. The excerpts quoted below are from MEMRI's translation from the original Arabic.

"...as we ponder the news of the death of the [former] Israeli prime minister [Ariel Sharon], we find that, despite the horrific acts of massacre he carried out against the Palestinians, the number of his Arab victims is nowhere near that of the number of Arabs who have been murdered by tyrannical Arab [rulers] or killed in suicide bombings carried out by Arab terrorist groups. This is the truth, whose shame will haunt us throughout history."

There is certainly an agenda against the Arab Spring in columnist Khalaf Al-Harbi's writing and his anti-Zionism is, of course, a given. Nonetheless, his assault on violence and oppression from Arab leaders and terror groups is devastating, as is his recognition of Israeli democracy:

...

The writer goes on to say:

"Today we understand that, even using nuclear bombs, Sharon could not have done the Arabs more [harm] than they have caused themselves. The schisms and the blood feuds ongoing throughout the Arab homeland in general, and in Palestine in particular, exceed our enemies' greatest hopes.

"Moreover, [until recently,] every extremist Zionist who tried to portray Arabs as a barbaric people who only understand the language of force [had to] base his argument on a few small lies.

"Today, however, [we face] a reality that exceeds imagination, [and includes] decapitations, bombing houses with explosive barrels, the rape of women, and the expulsion of millions of innocent civilians. [Now] the Zionists no longer have to try and distort the image of the Arabs using American cinema and global media, [for] the Arabs have provided them with a short cut.

"Now the world need only follow the news in order for to know how cheap human life is in Arab countries!"

 For a Saudi government newspaper to write this is simply astounding.