In this edition: Anti-Semitism - Abandoning ABM Treaty: US Deprived the World From Achieving Global Peace and Freedom!
Anti-Semitism
Firas Al-Atraqchi's piece on anti-semitism would be laughable if it were not so sad and inaccurate. From
beginning to end, Mr. Al-Atraqchi's comment in demonstrative of the sheer nonsense that continues to pass for Arab
propaganda.
It is interesting that Mr. Al-Atraqchi chooses to begin with a quote from reclusive chess-whiz Bobby Fischer.
Fischer is hardly a representative Jew, or even a representative self-hating Jew; he is an active denier of the
Holocaust and reputed to have held membership in neo-Nazi organizations over the years. Nevertheless, it is hardly
surprising Mr. Al-Atraqchi includes his statements here; Arab propagandists often cite the views of extreme and
unrepresentative Jews in attempts to distort and ridicule mainstream Jewish opinion. The widespread use by anti-Jewish
and anti-Israel activists of the statements of extreme anti-Zionist Naturei Karta sect, which believes that there should
be no Jewish state until the coming of the Messiah, exposes the true goals of these movements; rather than seek peace,
they are seeking the end of the Jewish state and the expulsion of Jews from the Middle East.
After this opening miscue, Mr. Al-Atraqchi presents us with an odd collection of half-baked facts meant to prove
that the term 'anti-semitism' when applied to Arabs is oxymoronic because Arabs are themselves Semites. Usually, Arabs
who waste time on the semantics of anti-Jewish hatred are unaware that the term originated in nineteenth century
Germany, thereby giving the Semites of the Middle East about as much in common as the semites of anti-semitism as
American Indians, so termed by Renaissance-era European explorers, have with citizens of India. It is therefore all the
more strange to find that Mr. Al-Atraqchi is quite familiar with this history, and yet chooses to look for a hidden
agenda anyway.
Mr. Al-Atraqchi's recital of this history is itself quite disturbing; it is improperly conveyed and full of
inaccuracies. After recounting the history of the Crusades and remarking on anti-Jewish incitement in Christian
education, he inexplicably says that militant bigotry did not begin until the late 19th century. This is nonsense;
hatred of Jews in Europe was far from benign before the nineteenth century. In addition to being expelled from virtually
every European entity, from England in 1191 to Spain in 1492 to German states at numerous times, Jewish communities were
subject to constant pogroms, many of which resulted in dozens of deaths. Christian leaders went far beyond condemning
Jewish complicity in the death of Christ; Martin Luther compared Jews to vermin and called for the burning of every
synagogue in Europe. Militant anti-Jewish hatred clearly began far before the nineteenth century.
Mr. Al-Atraqchi asks why policy makers accuse Arabs of what is essentially a European creation. He suggests that
it is a construct of pro-Israel propagandists. But Mr. Al-Atraqchi need not go further than the Arab presses,
particularly those in Palestine, to find daily hatred directed toward worldwide Jewry that bears close resemblance to
the anti-semitism that prevailed in Germany during the Third Reich. Only two weeks after September 11, Palestinian
Authority television broadcast a Friday night sermon that included the following: "Oh beloved of Allah… One of the Jews'
evil deeds is what has come to be called ‘the Holocaust,' that is, the slaughter of the Jews by Nazism. However,
revisionist [historians] have proven that this crime, carried out against some of the Jews, was planned by the Jews'
leaders, and was part of their policy… These are the Jews against whom we fight, oh beloved of Allah." (See:
www.memri.org). These types of statements, common in Palestine and throughout the Arab world go far beyond simple
opposition to an occupation or even the state of Israel.
Currently, television stations throughout the Arab world are broadcasting an Egyptian- produced 24-part series.
Is it an epic based on the Koran? Is it about the trials and tribulations of the prophet Mohammed? Is it coverage of the
war in the Afghanistan. No. It is a dramatization of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the infamous anti-semitic
forgery which alleged that Jews had plans for political and economic world domination.
Rather than focusing on whether hatred directed toward Jews by Arabs should be classified as anti-semitic or
anti-Jewish, perhaps Mr. Altraqchi should focus on why so many Arabs are stuck in medieval mindsets that are so full of
hate and why one small Jewish state in the midst of 22 Arab states causes the Arabs to feel claustrophobic.
Michael Brenner
Woodmere, NY
USA
Abandoning ABM Treaty - US Deprived the World From Achieving Global Peace and Freedom!
Abandoning ABM Treaty - US Deprived the World From Achieving Global Peace and Freedom! (Deepak Sarkar, Victoria, BC,
01/09/2002).
Just when the entire world was coming together to resolve the basic world problems including eliminating hunger, taking
care of the environment, eliminating land mines and biological weapons, US President (Not Democratically Elected) Mr.
George Bush withdrew from these worldwide good efforts, taking the world political stage back to the time of World War I
(1914).
In fact, all the countries labeled by US as rogue countries voted unanimously for these treaties except US, under Mr.
George Bush. US itself acted like a rogue country acting alone and ignoring the welfare for the entire world.
Abandoning the ABM(Anti Ballistic Missiles) treaty would lead to further arms race and military spending depriving most
human being of their basic human rights of peace, good environment, education, shelter and health care!
US spends 25% of its yearly budget on military spending ignoring the sufferings of its own people from massive
homelessness, working poor, medically uninsured and despicable domestic crimes. Coincidentally, US also contribute to
25% of the world pollution which makes US the environmental terrorist as well.
In other words, under president George Bush US is acting like a rogue country possessing a massive amount of weapons of
mass destruction, depriving the world from establishing peace and true free market globally.
Deepak Sarkar, Trans Canada Highway, Victoria, Canada