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Widespread Arab Incitement Continues Against Jews and Israelis
For Immediate Release
The National Unity Coalition calls for full disclosure -- Egyptian, Syrian and Palestinian anti-Semitism is rampant in their official media. Malicious slander targeting Prime Minister Barak, Jews and Israelis continues to proliferate in official Egyptian, Syrian and Palestinian media. Very recent examples abound. On May 2nd an article by David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, published in the Washington Post, began by stating "As Israeli and Palestinian negotiators move toward a much-awaited permanent settlement, there has been a shocking rise in vitriolic anti-Semitism across the Arab world. This extraordinary paradox of Israeli and Arab political leaders attempting to build peace while official Arab media, schools, religious leaders and intellectuals actively demonize the Jewish people is startling." The article gives many illustrations of his basic premise and concludes by asking "Is there no acknowledgment of linkage of people_s perception of Israel and the daily venom fed them through the Arab media and school curriculum_all sanctioned by the respective Arab governments?_The antagonistic posture of the Arabs"_ hardly contributes to the climate and culture that are desperately needed to turn the region from conflict to cooperation." A large advertisement sponsored by CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America), appearing in the April 28th Forward newspaper, carries the headline "PA Textbooks Teach Palestinian Children to Hate Jews and Pursue War Against Israel". The ad further states "The American Media Ignores the Story_Palestinian Textbooks demonize Jews, deny Israel_s right to exist and promote war"_"Media omission of this critical story fosters continuing anti-Semitism and violence."
A Special Dispatch from MEMRI (The Middle East Media Research Institute) dated May 2nd details "Anti-Barak Rhetoric in the Egyptian Media. The criticism takes the form of typical anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic rhetoric, marking a serious change in the attitude towards the present Israeli government." The lengthy statements quoted are extremely inflammatory and libelous. The National Unity Coalition for Israel on February 24, 1999 held a Press Conference at the Capitol in Washington, DC featuring six important Members of the House of Representatives. They spoke on the issue of Palestinian media incitement to violence. Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, presented a 30 page report titled: "Promoting Hatred: The Systematic Use of Lies in the Palestinian Media Since the Wye Accord. " His detailed report evoked a strong response from the congressmen. (Report available upon request.) Under the Wye Agreement a 12 member Trilateral Commission, of which Itamar Marcus was a member, has been established. The Commission comprises four Palestinians, four Israelis and four Americans charged with the responsibility of investigating Palestinian incitement to violence and issuing their findings in the form of a written report. The National Unity Coalition for Israel, with its 200 member organizations representing 40 million Americans, demands a complete accounting of Palestinian incitement to violence. This report must be immediately forthcoming from the Trilateral Commission, as guaranteed in the WYE Agreement. Any future agreements or compliance with past agreements must be contingent upon receipt of such report. We call for a full Trilateral Commission disclosure of Palestinian incitement to violence. Certainly the Clinton administration should be held accountable for this important requirement of the Wye Agreement. It is scandalous that this mandatory report has never been issued.
By David A. Harris
As Israeli and Palestinian negotiators move toward a much-awaited permanent settlement, there has been a shocking rise in vitriolic anti-Semitism across the Arab world. This extraordinary paradox of Israeli and Arab political leaders attempting to build peace while official Arab media, schools, religious leaders and intellectuals actively demonize the Jewish people is startling. When the Islamic mufti of Jerusalem made deeply painful comments repudiating the facts of the Holocaust, they received wide attention in the Western world because they came during the remarkable visit to Israel of Pope John Paul II. Likewise, when the official Syrian government newspaper Tishreen recently asserted that "Zionists created the Holocaust myth to blackmail and terrorize the world's intellectuals and politicians," the editorial gained broad attention and condemnation because it appeared amid efforts to jump-start the stalled Israeli-Syrian peace talks. Less noted was the fact these two outrages are the rule, not the exception. Across the Arab world the language of Holocaust denial has become common. Editorials and columns similar to the one in Tishreen can be found in Al-Ahram, Al-Akhbar and Al-Gumhuriya, three of the official daily newspapers in Egypt. In recent weeks, Arab papers have stepped up their attacks on Israel--and on the Jewish people--by labeling in vile words and in gross caricatures Israel's prime minister and foreign minister as Nazis, and accusing Israel of the most bizarre machinations. The official newspaper in Qatar, one of two forward-looking gulf nations to open commercial ties with Israel, has warned that Israel dispatches beautiful women to advance trade--and undermine the sheikdom. "Whether these women are from Israel or from Russia, they have one thing in common: the transmitting of disease and evil in order to cause the collapse of our economy," states Al-Sharq. The official Qatari paper goes on to quote from the notorious anti-Semitic forgery, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," which is widely available in the Arab world and is often cited by papers in other Arab countries. While the Palestinian Authority is obligated through signed agreements with Israel to work against incitement, its official news organs do not hesitate to join in the vituperation of Israel and Jews. Arab schools are in dutiful step with the editorial writers and columnists. For example, a new study by the Middle East Media Research Institute reveals that Syrian textbooks for grades 4 to 11 are replete with anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, demonization of Israel and, most appalling, an open call to exterminate Jews from the earth. Arab media extol the skewed and widely repudiated views of Holocaust deniers. While the United Nations has declared anti-Semitism a form of racism that must be condemned, Arab intellectuals are preaching it as gospel. As the noted Johns Hopkins University scholar Fouad Ajami has observed in "The Dream Palace of the Arabs," "the custodians of political power" in the Arab world determined some time ago that "diplomatic accommodation would be the order of the day, but the intellectual class was given a green light to agitate against the peace." This has long been the situation in Egypt, where as recently as March 28 several Israeli diplomats invited to a conference at the University of Cairo were denied entry when they arrived. But it also is true in Jordan, where, despite the Hashemite Kingdom's landmark peace with Israel, professional associations remain adamantly opposed to any interaction with Israelis. When we raised our concerns about anti-Semitism in the Arab media during an American Jewish Committee mission to five Arab countries last month, our interlocutors proclaimed this the price of a "free" press and assured us that comprehensive peace would moderate the media. At the same time, when pressed on improving their relations with Israel, government officials plead for patience because, after all, while the government is more than willing to deepen ties with the Jewish state, "public opinion" is not yet ready. What a peculiar situation. Is there no acknowledgment of linkage between people's perception of Israel and the daily venom fed them through the Arab media and school curriculum--all sanctioned by the respective Arab governments? Israel is prepared to take calculated risks to achieve peace. But the antagonistic posture of the Arab media, schools, religious leaders and intellectuals hardly contributes to the climate and culture that are desperately needed to turn the region from conflict to cooperation. |