>June 28, 2002 

> >Times Online Analysis 
> > 
> >The anti-Semitic lies that threaten all of us 
> >by Harold Evans 
> > 
> >Rampant anti-Semitism in the Muslim world, from
schools to press, TV and 
> >internet, not only makes Middle East peace
impossible, but makes us all 
> >targets now. 
> > 
> > 
> >Just before he was given the boot by President
Bush, Yassir Arafat made an 
> >extraordinary offer - extraordinary because it was
not one of the specific 
> >demands Bush was about to make, extraordinary
because Arafat acknowledged a 
> >hidden horror: the indoctrination of the delusional
young people who carry 
> >out suicide bombings. In a six-page private
memorandum he sent to President 
> >Bush and Arab capitals outlining his 100-day plan
for reform, Arafat said he 
> >would "renounce fanaticism in the educational
curricula and spread the 
> >spirit of democracy and enlightenment and
openness". 
> > 
> >There is a lot under the stone Arafat has lifted.
Fanaticism has been bred 
> >into the suicide murderers and millions of young
people throughout the Arab 
> >nations with scant attention by media, governments,
academia and churches in 
> >the civilised world. The Palestinian schools,
financed by Europe, are open 
> >sewers in terms of the hatred they seed - hatred
not just of Israel, but of 
> >all Jews and all their friends. Dr Ahmad Abu
Halabiya, former acting rector 
> >of the Islamic University in Gaza, speaks the
message: "Wherever you are, 
> >kill the Jews, the Americans who are like them and
those who stand by them." 
> > 
> >Arab leaders come to Washington and London and
Geneva with formulas for 
> >peace, while at home they feed their populations
with similar incitements. 
> >It means that even if by some miracle there is
agreement on the shape of a 
> >Palestinian state, there will be no peace in the
Middle East for a 
> >generation. The Israelis may forget or forgive the
suicide assassins; the 
> >Palestinians may put behind them the humiliations
of occupation. But the 
> >political conflict over Palestine is only one
aspect of the fanaticism that 
> >has been fomented. It adds up to the dehumanisation
of all Jews and it has 
> >been manufactured and propagated throughout the
Middle East and south Asia 
> >on a scale and intensity that is utterly
unprecedented. This is something 
> >relatively new in the Islamic world. There was more
tolerance for Jews in 
> >the Islamic empire than ever there was in Christian
Europe. 
> > 
> >I was aware, as we all are, that the Palestinians
hate the state of Israel. 
> >What has surprised me is the virulence of this new
anti-Semitism throughout 
> >all the Muslim countries. It is frenzied,
vociferous, paranoid, vicious and 
> >prolific, and is only incidentally connected to the
Palestinian conflict. 
> >Hope, the familiar bromide, seems to have little to
do with it. The moment 
> >of high hope following Camp David saw a surge, not
a diminution, in the 
> >tide. It is a singular phenomenon; there is nothing
comparable to it in 
> >relation to Arabs or Muslims. 
> > 
> >Everyone talking about Palestine or terrorism is
talking in a vacuum, for 
> >nothing can be understood without a proper
appreciation of the way minds 
> >have been poisoned. A single skinhead assault on a
synagogue in Europe is 
> >news, but not the unremitting daily assault on Jews
waged from Morocco to 
> >Cairo to Damascus, from Baghdad to Teheran, the
Gaza Strip to Karachi. 
> > 
> >The paradox is that the world is connected as never
before in terms of the 
> >flow of current, but many of the wires are lethally
bare. The religious 
> >fanaticism that has spawned and condoned terrorism
and drives the new 
> >anti-Semitism is insensible to reason. Jonathan
Swift recognised our dilemma 
> >more than 200 years ago: "You cannot reason a
person out of something he did 
> >not reason himself into." 
> > 
> >What we are up against is best illustrated by what
the Jews did to the World 
> >Trade Centre. Everyone in the Muslim world knows
that September 11 was a 
> >Jewish plot to pave the way for a joint Israeli-US
military operation 
> >against not just Osama bin Laden and the Taleban
but also Islamic militants 
> >in Palestine. On the day of the bombing, 4,000 Jews
were absent from the 
> >World Trade Centre; they had been tipped off. 
> > 
> >I thought this canard had long ago vanished up its
own orifice, but it was 
> >being retailed with all sincerity by a Pakistani
taxi driver last week in 
> >New York of all places - which proves nothing
except that he is an accurate 
> >representation of a now unshakeable Muslim
conviction. Millions and millions 
> >and millions believe this rubbish, as a Gallup Poll
has found after 
> >questioning people in nine predominantly Islamic
countries - Pakistan, Iran, 
> >Indonesia, Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, Kuwait, Jordan
and Saudi Arabia - 
> >representing about half the world's Muslim
population. 
> > 
> >Some 67 per cent found the attacks morally
unjustified, which is something - 
> >why not 100 per cent? - but they were also asked if
they believed reports 
> >that groups of Arabs carried out the bombings. Only
in West-aligned Turkey 
> >was the answer Yes, but it was close; 46 per cent
to 43 per cent. In all the 
> >other eight Islamic countries, the populations
rejected the idea that Arabs 
> >or al-Qaeda were responsible. Repeat, that is a
poll just a couple of months 
> >ago, after millions of words from reporters and
exultant videos from the 
> >Osama bin Laden show. The majorities are
overwhelming in Pakistan, Kuwait, 
> >Iran and Indonesia - in Pakistan only 4 per cent
accept that the killers 
> >were Arabs. Thomas Friedman, of The New York Times,
reported last month from 
> >Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim state, that
nobody has any doubt about 
> >the Mossad conspiracy. 
> > 
> >Who could be naive/crazy/malign/misguided enough to
disseminate such 
> >fabrications? The effluent is from official
sources, newspapers and 
> >television in Arab states, from schools and
government-funded mosques, from 
> >Arab columnists and editorial writers, cartoonists,
clerics and 
> >intellectuals, from websites that trail into an
infinity of iniquity. The 
> >appearance of modernity in the Arab media is
illusory. More important than 
> >the presence of the hardware is the absence of the
software, the notion of a 
> >ruggedly independent self-critical free press. CNN
will film American bomb 
> >damage in Afghanistan; al-Jazeera and the Middle
East stations would never 
> >dream of talking to the orphans and widows whose
loved ones were blown apart 
> >by a suicide bomber. An Arab critic of America and
the coalition is always 
> >given the last word. How could people be so
susceptible to misinformation? 
> >Well, conspiracy theories simplify a complex world.
The absence of evidence 
> >is itself proof of plot: missing records at Pearl
Harbor, missing bullets in 
> >Dallas, missing bodies in Jenin. Preconceptions are
outfitted in fantasy. 
> >Contradiction by authority is mere affirmation of
the vastness of the plot: 
> >so he's in it, too. Conspiracy and rumour bloom,
especially where the flow 
> >of news and opinion is restricted and illiteracy is
high. 
> > 
> >But there is another explanation for the potency of
lies today. It is the 
> >aura of authenticity provided by technology, by the
internet. John 
> >Daniszewski, of the Los Angeles Times, asked an
editor of The Nation in 
> >Islamabad, Ayesha Haroon, why they blamed Israel.
"It is quite possible that 
> >there was deliberate malice in printing it," she
admitted. "I also think it 
> >has to do with the internet. When you see something
on a computer, you tend 
> >to believe it is true." Here in our new magic is a
source of much misery. An 
> >Indonesian visiting the Islamic stronghold of
Yogyakarta, according to 
> >Friedman, was alarmed by the tide running for jihad
against Christians and 
> >Jews. Internet users are only 5 per cent of the
population, but these 5 per 
> >cent spread rumours about Jews to everyone else.
"They say, 'He got it from 
> >the internet'. They think it's the Bible." 
> > 
> >The smear that defiles the Jews who died in the
World Trade Centre, that 
> >millions perceive as reality, owes its original
currency in September 2001 
> >to a website called InformationTimes.com, "an
independent news and 
> >information service" whose address was given as the
Press Building in 
> >Washington. I thought it worth asking the editor in
chief, Syed Adeeb, for 
> >the evidence. He told me his source was the TV
station Al Manar in the 
> >Lebanon. When I asked if he had any qualms about
relying on Al Manar because 
> >it was a mouthpiece for the terrorist group
Hezbollah, which exists "to 
> >stage an effective psychological warfare with the
Zionist enemy", Adeeb's 
> >reply was: "Well, it is a very popular station."
Adeeb clearly believed his 
> >story; when I mentioned that there were Jews who
died in the towers, he 
> >conceded that one or two might have died, but he
found it sinister that 
> >nobody could tell him just how many. 
> > 
> >He volunteered that he was an American citizen and
that some of his best 
> >friends were Jews. Adeeb's approach to the world
speaks for itself in his 
> >headlines: "Israelis with bomb material arrested in
Washington"; "Israeli 
> >mafia controls US Congress"; "Crazy Hindu
terrorists threaten America"; "FBI 
> >and CIA should investigate the Israeli lobby";
"Barbarous Israeli soldiers 
> >rape and torture 86 women in Nablus, Palestine". 
> > 
> >I asked for the source of that rape story and was
referred to the Labour MP 
> >for Birmingham Selly Oak, Lynne Jones. I checked.
Dr Jones did indeed put 
> >the atrocity in circulation, quoting an e-mail from
an Anthony Razook in 
> >Nablus, but she was careful to say that "this
report has not been 
> >authenticated". Such qualifications evaporate in
the endless laundering of 
> >information. 
> > 
> >Once upon a time stories such as this would
circulate only on smudged 
> >cyclostyled sheets that would never see the light
of day. But now Wizards of 
> >Oz such as Adeeb have a megaphone to a gullible
world, with this spurious 
> >authenticity of electronic delivery. In the
thirties, Cordell Hull 
> >complained of print and radio that a lie went half
way round the world 
> >before truth had time to put its trousers on;
nowadays it has been to Mars 
> >and back before anyone is half awake. At the end of
the line of incendiary 
> >headlines and the careless propagation of e-mail
there is Danny Pearl, 
> >tortured and butchered because he was a Jew and a
reporter. 
> > 
> >Unfortunately, reporting and comment in the West
all too often, with the 
> >best of motives, ingenuously reinforce the
anti-Semitic mindset. Israel is 
> >supported, in Lenin's phrase, like a rope supports
a hanging man. Equal 
> >weight is given to information from corrupt police
states and proven liars 
> >as to information from a vigorous, self-critical
democracy. The pious but 
> >fatuous posture is that this is somehow fair, as if
truth existed in a moral 
> >vacuum, something to be measured by the yard, like
calico. Five million Jews 
> >in Israel are a vulnerable minority surrounded by
300 million Muslims 
> >governed for the most part by authoritarian
regimes, quasi-police states 
> >that in more than 50 years have never ceased trying
to wipe it out by war 
> >and terrorism. They muzzle dissent and critical
reporting, they run vengeful 
> >penal systems and toxic schools, they have failed
in almost every measure of 
> >social and political justice, they deflect the
frustrations of their streets 
> >to the scapegoat of Zionism and they breed and
finance international 
> >terrorism. Yet it is Israel that is regarded with
scepticism and sometimes 
> >hostility. 
> > 
> >Take the battle of Jenin. The presumption in the
feeding frenzy in the best 
> >newspapers in Europe and in hours and hours of
television was that the 
> >Palestinian stories of 3,000 killed and buried in
secret mass graves must be 
> >true, though the main propagator of this story,
Saeb Erekat, has been 
> >accused of being a liar. The Guardian was even
moved to write the editorial 
> >opinion that Israel's attacks on Jenin were "every
bit as repellent" as 
> >Osama bin Laden's attack on New York on September
11. 
> > 
> >Every bit as repellent? Did we miss something? Some
American provocation of 
> >Osama comparable to the continuous murder of
Israeli women, children, the 
> >old and the sick? Was something going on in the
World Trade Centre as 
> >menacing as the making of bombs in Jenin, known
proudly to Palestinians as 
> >Suicide Capital? In fact, there was no massacre, no
mass graves. Human 
> >Rights Watch has since put the death toll at 54,
including, on their count, 
> >22 civilians - the Israelis say 3. Some Palestinian
militants in fact claim 
> >Jenin as a victory in the killing of 23 Israeli
soldiers. 
> > 
> >Of course, the press had a duty to report the
Palestinians' allegations of 
> >massacre; it was entitled to raise questions and
express alarm in the 
> >editorial columns. But truth did not lie in the
balance between competing 
> >statements, and it was ill served by hysteria. Big
stories such as this 
> >demand special rigour in the reporting, restraint
in the language, 
> >scrupulous care in the headlining, proper
attribution of sources and above 
> >all a sense of responsibility: "genocide" is too
agonising when real for it 
> >to be devalued by its use as small change. To
describe suicide bombers as 
> >"martyrs", as a recent British headline did, is to
endorse a barbarity; 
> >Palestinians can call bombers martyrs if they like
but it is a defamation of 
> >historic martyrs who gave their lives to save
others, not to kill randomly 
> >and for financial reward for their families. Words,
said Churchill, are the 
> >only things that last for ever. We should all have
as much care with the 
> >explosive power of words as we expect airports to
have with our luggage. 
> > 
> >Let me reject the sophistry that to question such
matters is to excuse 
> >everything done under the guise of protesting
anti-Semitism. It is not 
> >anti-Semitic to raise questions about Jenin, no
more than it is anti-press 
> >to raise questions about the reporting. It is not
anti-Semitic to report and 
> >protest at ill treatment of Palestinians. It is not
anti-Semitic to consider 
> >whether Sharon's past belies his promises for the
future. It is not 
> >anti-Semitic to deplore the long occupation, though
originally brought about 
> >by the Arab leaders who instigated and lost three
wars. 
> > 
> >It IS anti-Semitic to vilify the state of Israel as
a diabolical 
> >abstraction, reserving tolerance for the individual
Jew but not the 
> >collective Jew; it IS anti-Semitic to invent
malignant outrages; it is 
> >anti-Semitic consistently to condemn in Israel what
you ignore or condone 
> >elsewhere; it is, above all, anti-Semitic to
de-humanise Judaism and the 
> >Jewish people such as to incite and justify their
extermination. That is 
> >what we have seen thousands and thousands of times
over on a preposterous 
> >scale. 
> > 
> >The European Community recently voted more millions
to the Palestinian 
> >Authority. Corrupt as it is, one sympathises with
its need for the relief of 
> >suffering and poverty, but should it not have been
made a condition that the 
> >PA must cease using European money for racist
propaganda through its 
> >schools, its mosques, on television and radio, in
political rallies and 
> >summer camps? The fanaticism Arafat offers to
renounce - as a bargaining 
> >chip, not a moral principle - is the fanaticism
stimulated by his 
> >Palestinian Authority which, among other
enlightenments, makes educational 
> >films of little girls singing their dedication to
martyrdom. The degree of 
> >infection was manifest at Al-Najah University in
the city of Nablus, where 
> >the students put on a display entitled "The Sbarro
Cafi Exhibition". 
> > 
> >The Sbarro Cafi is the pizza parlour where a
Palestinian suicide bomber 
> >murdered 15 people taking a meal. The display,
according to the Associated 
> >Press and Israeli media, included an exhibit with
pizza slices and body 
> >parts strewn across the room. The walls were
painted red to represent 
> >scattered blood. 
> > 
> >It is hard looking for sanity to put in the picture
- especially in the 
> >Department of Psychiatry at Ein Shams University in
Cairo. Here is Dr Adel 
> >Sadeq, who is also chairman of the Arab
Psychiatrists' Association, on 
> >suicide bombings: "As a professional psychiatrist,
I say that the height of 
> >bliss comes with the end of the countdown: ten,
nine, eight, seven six, 
> >five, four three, two, one. When the martyr reaches
'one' and he explodes, 
> >he has a sense of himself flying, because he knows
for certain that he is 
> >not dead. It is a transition to another, more
beautiful, world. None in the 
> >Western world sacrifices his life for his homeland.
If his homeland is 
> >drowning, he is the first to jump ship. In our
culture it is different . . . 
> >this is the only Arab weapon there is and anyone
who says otherwise is a 
> >conspirator." 
> > 
> >Next patient, please! The Muslim world's relentless
caricatures of the Jew 
> >are boringly on the same one note; Jews are always
dirty, hook-nosed, 
> >money-grubbing, vindictive and scheming parasites.
They are barbarians who 
> >deliberately spread vice, drugs and prostitution,
and poison water. Among 
> >the fabrications: Israeli authorities infected by
injection 300 Palestinian 
> >children with HIV during the years of the intifada;
Israel poisoned 
> >Palestinians with uranium and nerve gas; Israel is
giving out drug-laced 
> >chewing gum and chocolate intended to make women
sexually corrupt; Jews use 
> >the blood of gentiles to make matzos for Passover
(Al-Ahram, Cairo). This 
> >past April, state-funded San Francisco students put
out a poster of a baby 
> >"slaughtered according to Jewish rites under
American licence". 
> > 
> >Incredibly, the Arab and Muslim media, and behind
them their states, have 
> >resurrected that notorious Bolshevik forgery, the
Protocols of the Elders of 
> >Zion. This supposedly occult document, which reads
like something discarded 
> >as too ridiculous for the script of Mel Brooks's
The Producers, is the 
> >secret Zionist plan by which satanic Jews will gain
world domination. It has 
> >had more scholarly stakes through its heart than
the umpteen re-enactments 
> >of Dracula, but this bizarre counterfeit is common
currency in the Muslim 
> >world. A multi-million dollar 30-part series was
produced in Egypt by Arab 
> >Radio and Television. With a cast of 400! And not
as satire. 
> > 
> >It is the Protocols that inspire Hamas, the Islamic
resistance movement, to 
> >teach their children that the Jews control the
world's wealth and mass 
> >media. According to Hamas - and who will be there
in the classroom or on the 
> >street to raise a question? - Jews deliberately
instigated the French and 
> >Russian revolutions, and World War I, so that they
could wipe out the 
> >Islamic caliphate, and establish the League of
Nations "in order to rule the 
> >world by their intermediary". 
> > 
> >When I checked on the website Palestine Watch, by
the way, to report on what 
> >they were telling the world about Israeli
propaganda, I drew a blank, but 
> >there it described Hamas as seeking nothing other
than peace with dignity, 
> >forbearing to mention the small matter that Hamas
is dedicated to the 
> >destruction of the state of Israel. 
> > 
> >Apart from the volume and intensity of the
multi-media global campaign, 
> >there has been an ominous change in political
direction. Arab frustration 
> >with the recognition of the state of Israel after
the Second World War has 
> >for decades been expressed as "why should the Arabs
have to compensate the 
> >Jews for the Holocaust that was perpetrated by
Europeans". 
> > 
> >Today the theme is that the Holocaust is a Zionist
invention. It is 
> >expressed with a vehemence as astounding as the
contempt for scholarship. 
> > 
> >A typical columnist in Al-Akhbar, the Egyptian
Government daily, on April 
> >29: "The entire matter (the Holocaust), as many
French and British 
> >scientists have proven, is nothing more than a huge
Israeli plot aimed at 
> >extorting the German Government in particular and
the European countries. I 
> >personally and in the light of this imaginary tale
complain to Hitler, even 
> >saying to him, 'If only you had done it, brother,
if only it had really 
> >happened, so that that the world could sigh in
relief (without) their evil 
> >and sin'." 
> > 
> >Hiri Manzour in the official Palestinian newspaper:
"The figure of six 
> >million Jews cremated in the Nazi Auschwitz camps
is a lie," a hoax promoted 
> >by Jews as part of their international "marketing
operation". 
> > 
> >Seif al-Jarawn in the Palestinian newspaper
Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda: "They 
> >concocted horrible stories of gas chambers which
Hitler, they claimed, used 
> >to burn them alive. The press overflowed with
pictures of Jews being gunned 
> >down . . . or being pushed into gas chambers. The
truth is that such 
> >malicious persecution was a malicious fabrication
by the Jews." 
> > 
> >Clearly here is a consistent attempt to undermine
the moral foundations of 
> >the state of Israel and it is espoused by a number
of supposedly moderate 
> >people. The former President of Iran, Ali Akbar
Hashemi-Rafsanjani, had this 
> >to say on Tehran Radio: "One atomic bomb would wipe
out Israel without trace 
> >while the Islamic world would only be damaged
rather than destroyed by 
> >Israeli nuclear retaliation." 
> > 
> >The brilliance of the whole campaign of
anti-Semitism is its stupefying 
> >perversity: the Arab and Muslim media and mosques
depict Israelis as Nazis - 
> >even the conciliatory Barak and the hawkish Sharon
are alike dressed up in 
> >swastikas with fangs dripping with blood - but
media and mosque peddle the 
> >same Judeophobia that paved the way to Auschwitz.
How can you talk to 
> >someone who conducts all discourse standing on his
head screaming? People in 
> >the West who adopt the same murderous metaphor for
Israel, and I heard it 
> >often on my recent visit to Europe, may be regarded
as a joke in their own 
> >country, but that is not where the action is. They
are moral idiots but they 
> >lend credibility to malevolent liars in the Middle
East. 
> > 
> >By comparison with the phantasmagoria I have
described, it seems a small 
> >matter that without exception Palestinian school
textbooks supplied by the 
> >PA Authority, and funded by Europe, have no space
in the maps for the 
> >sovereign state of Israel, no mention of its five
million people, no 
> >recognition of the Jews' historic links to
Jerusalem. 
> > 
> >The Palestinian claim to statehood is unanswerable,
and with wiser 
> >leadership it would have been flourishing for
years. It is tragic that the 
> >cause is now being so ruthlessly exploited with Jew
as a code word for 
> >extremist incitement of hatred of America and the
West. This is jihad. It is 
> >aimed at us all, at Europeans who "look like"
Americans because they believe 
> >in liberal democracy and are infected by American
culture. But its first 
> >victims are the Palestinians and the frustrated
masses of the Muslim world. 
> >Their leaders have led them into ignominy in three
wars. They have failed to 
> >reform their corrupt and incompetent societies. It
is convenient to deflect 
> >the despair and anger of the street to Israel and
the Jews who supposedly 
> >control the West, but terror and hate have a way of
poisoning every society 
> >that encourages or tolerates them. 
> > 
> >When Bernard Lewis observed 16 years ago that
anti-Semitism was becoming 
> >part of Arab intellectual life "almost as much as
happened in Nazi Germany", 
> >he added the comforting thought that it lacked the
visceral quality of 
> >Central and East European anti-Semitism, being
"still largely political and 
> >ideological, intellectual and literary", lacking
any deep personal animosity 
> >or popular resonance, something cynically exploited
by Arab rulers and 
> >elites, a polemical weapon to be discarded when no
longer required. 
> > 
> >But that was before the current electronic
efflorescence of hate, before the 
> >brainwashing I have sketched, before September 11.
Habits of mind tending to 
> >approve terror are becoming ingrained in the Muslim
world, sanctioned by the 
> >lethargy and prejudice in Europe: those
Palestinians who danced for joy on 
> >September 11 and those students who staged the
grisly exhibition of pizza 
> >parlour murders were not al-Qaeda, but their
acceptance of terror as a 
> >substitute for politics does not augur well for the
future of their country 
> >or the possibilities of peaceful political dialogue
in any of the Arab 
> >states. 
> > 
> > 
> >This article is abridged from a lecture prepared
for the 30th anniversary of 
> >Index on Censorship. Harold Evans, a former editor
of The Sunday Times and 
> >The Times, was most recently president of Random
House, New York, and 
> >editorial director of the Daily News, Atlantic
Monthly and US News & World 
> >Report. He is the author of The American Century. 
> 
> 



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