The war on Gaza continued to take center stage on the airwaves last night: The talking heads dedicated airtime to the ongoing aid effort, calls in some quarters to boycott Western companies for allegedly supporting Israel, and the latest eyebrow-raising statement from the lunatic fringe of Bibi Netanyahu’s war cabinet.

#1- Israel isn’t about to drop a nuke on Gaza: The nation’s talking heads all had something to say about yesterday’s call by the (now-suspended) far-right Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu to wipe out Gaza with nuclear weapons. In an interview on Kelma Akhira, political researcher Mahmoud Mohieldin sought to calm fears that Israel might resort to the nuclear option in its war against Hamas, pointing out that Eliyahu is not a prominent voice in the country’s security establishment. The comment was one of the “Israeli government’s tactics used to terrorize Palestinians residing in Gaza as part of its plan to displace them,” he told show host Lamees El Hadidi (watch, runtime:5:03).

Even Bibi is walking it back: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly rejected the idea and indefinitely suspended the minister. Ala Maso’uleety (watch, runtime: 6:31), Masa’a DMC (watch, runtime: 00:27) and El Hekaya (watch, runtime: 3:43) also had coverage.

#2- To boycott or not to boycott? Lamees tackled the issue last night in an in-studio debate focused on the economic implications of turning against brands that have (in fact or in legend) voiced support for Israel.

  • For: Boycotting Western brands is a great opportunity to promote local industry, said Mahmoud Al Asqalani, head of the Citizens Against Price Rises Association (watch, runtime: 2:43). “None of the products offered by the brands boycotted are difficult to replicate … we have an FX crisis and we need to support local industry,” he said.
  • Against: Some of the Western brands being targeted are franchises and owned by local or regional players, said the secretary-general of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Alaa Ezz (watch, runtime: 4:12), meaning that a boycott is unlikely to impact their operations. What’s more likely is that the campaign will negatively impact the livelihoods of people in Egypt, where multinational franchises employ some 700k directly and over 7 mn indirectly, he said.

#3- The ongoing aid effort:Talk shows had an eye on aid that has been allowed to cross the border between Egypt and Israel since it opened more than two weeks ago. Noha Talaat, secretary of the National Alliance for Civil Development Work (NACDW), told Al Hayah Al Youm that 65 trucks crossed the border on Sunday, including 50 from the NACDW and 15 from the Haya Karima Foundation (watch, runtime: 2:59). On Kelma Akhira, Lamees El Hadidi said that five planes carrying 58 tons of aid had landed at El Arish airport yesterday. In total, 78 planes carrying aid from 21 countries have landed since 12 October, but this is “still not enough,” she said (watch, runtime: 2:18). Masa’a DMC also covered the Haya Karima Foundation’s aid effort (watch, runtime: 00:26).

#4- Sisi x VDL: Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 3:00) and Masa’a DMC (watch, runtime: 1:24) covered President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s phone call with EU Commission head Ursula von der Leyen to discuss the situation in Gaza.

ALSO- In a rare slice of business / econ coverage on the airwaves… Masa’a DMC had an analyst on to give a positive spin on Fitch Ratings’ recent decision to downgrade our sovereign credit rating deeper into junk territory (watch, runtime: 7:31).

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