Ta'if Editorial

It is fair to say that Ta'if is becoming more than a little bit tired of some of the tactics being employed in this dispute. In fact we are positively bored, disappointed and frustrated. We are in no way the only ones.

Back in June of this year Euromoney Magazine wrote a commentary about a whole series of emails that it and many other media outlets had received from addresses that centre around the term 'fraudwatch'. Given the extent to which these emails attack Maan Al-Sanea, it is not hard to surmise that they are being sent by someone (or persons) who are sympathetic to the Gosaibis' claims. Far from being of any merit, however, as Euromoney reported back in June, all these emails demonstrate is that “the senders...might hold a slight degree of malice towards Al-Sanea.”

Sadly these emails have continued and we must assume are being sent to hundreds, if not thousands of people. They have also become a lot more sophisticated (although in this case, that's almost a contradiction in terms). The most recent message contained a mock flight safety card, drawn up to repeat the Gosabis' accusations against Al-Sanea. Ta'if will not be presenting this here because we believe it does not deserve any kind of oxygen. But we do want to echo Euromoney's sentiments.

This dispute is a serious one. It has had, and will have, serious ramifications. These emails have no place in it, nor indeed in any kind of 'campaign'.

More than anything we are bemused that the emails' authors – and we make no accusations as to who they may be – could possibly think they are influencing media and public opinion. The emails are so flagrantly, so blatantly, so unrepentantly biased that they cannot be having any effect. Which makes you wonder why someone is going to all this effort. It's laughable really, which is why we believe there is really only one way to describe this kind of tactic: beyond juvenile.

Ta'if will be treating any further fraudwatch emails that it receives with what they deserve: “Mark as spam”. We imagine we are not the only ones.

Read the original Euromoney article here.