Death of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed leads the talk shows
Leading the airwaves last night: The death of UAE President and Abu Dhabi ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan dominated airwaves at home, with news on President El Sisi traveling to the Gulf nation to offer his condolences after announcing a three-day period of mourning in Egypt. The story got coverage from Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 5:41), Ala’ Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 1:59), Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 3:41) and others.
The formal election of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed as the UAE’s president also got a lot of attention, with El Hekaya’s Amr Adib describing it as a “smooth transfer of power” (watch, runtime 2:40) and Kelma Akhira’s Lamees El Hadidi picking up news on El Sisi congratulating MBZ on his election (watch, runtime: 1:47). Lamees also discussed Egypt and UAE’s relationship over the last half-century (watch, runtime: 2:44).
The killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli forces and subsequent beating and teargassing of mourners at her funeral got special mention from El Hadidi (watch, runtime: 2:05), who denounced “double standards” by the West for remaining tight-lipped over crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians. El Hadidi also spoke with Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, Mustafa Al Barghouti, who said that investigations by the Palestinian side have been nearly finalized, with it being “crystal-clear” that Israeli forces were behind the killing (watch, runtime: 6:25).