Tuesday July 26, 2005

Column:

The bodies were still lying scattered around Sharm el Sheik when al Jazeera television conducted an interview with an Egyptian analyst who explained how Israel was responsible for the horrific attacks that tore the city asunder and took the lives of almost ninety innocents.

Egyptian TV ran a number of pieces with their analyst, a retired general who went on record saying that it was in Israel's interest to create the terror that rocked Sharm. He said that Israel would gain from terror attacks in Egypt. He also said that the October 7 terrorism in Taba was perpetrated by a Palestinian who had connections with the Israeli security forces.

Well, Arabs are supposed to hate Jews. Isn't that what we've always been told?

So what about this: On July 7, when the four nearly simultaneous bombs exploded in London, rumors circulated that the Israelis had received advance warning of the bombing. Just like the rumor that circulated on 9-11. Israelis had advance warning, they knew what was about to happen, so the Jews stayed home. And that, according to the rumor mill, explains why so few Jews were murdered on that fateful September morning.

People really say these things. What's worse is that the media prints and broadcasts what I can only call anti-Semitism.

The Mayor of London stands tall and boldfaced and addresses the people of his city and by media extension, the world, and makes not-so-veiled anti-Semitic remarks. And when he finishes, he turns his back and walks away. Unchallenged.

Call me obsessive, call me prejudiced, I am totally intolerant of anti-Semitism. And to me, anti-Israel sentiment is, at its core, just a misplaced politically correct version of anti-Semitism.

If left unchecked, anti-Semitism has the power to galvanize otherwise mild mannered people into an extremely dangerous movement. And today, once again, anti-Semitism is in the air.

It comes as no surprise that the Muslim masses do not stand up and object when they are preached bizarre rhetoric and outright lies. But what about the citizens of London? What about the non-Muslim world?

Egyptian TV is state controlled TV. It is the same television that recently produced a new version of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. A production that debuted, coincidentally, while President Bush was making a visit, again coincidentally, to Sharm el Sheikh. In state owned totalitarian regimes everything that is broadcast on television, without exception, reflects the attitude of the ruling power. That following an attack on their country by their fellow Arabs the State sanctioned anti-Semitism makes perfect sense.

Egypt needed to blur the reality that the al Qaeda terror in Egypt came from within. It is a constant, and notorious, theme in many of these totalitarian regimes to blame Israel for whatever problems beset them. Blaming Israel deflects responsibility from the rulers and unites the people against a common enemy.

But why did al Jazeera do the same thing? Why did al Jazeera resort to anti-Israel cum anti-Semitic rhetoric?

Because al Jazeera believes in The Conspiracy Theory. Because for al Jazeera the theory that Jews control the world, which is also the main theme of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is the perfect US versus THEM. And al Jazeera, for all the good it does, for all the news it filters through to the Western world, believes strongly in US against Them. It not only deflects responsibility but, more importantly, it is the foundation for their understanding of the story.

None of this would happen if Israel did not exist. That is the fundamental bottom line for all the evil that happens in or to the Arab world. All the terror in Iraq is because the United States went in to stabilize the region to protect Israel. Al Qaeda is fighting to protect the weak Palestinians against the mighty, evil Israel. The list goes on. It is the mantra of the Muslim Arab world.

Why? Why do Arab leaders have to feed this hatred to their people? Because they are scared. The real fear among Arab leaders is that freedom and democracy and peace will actually work, that the lives of their people really will improve, and what happens then.

There is a famous Heinrich Heine quote about those who burn books. It is those people who will soon burn people. The books are burning and it's called anti-Semitism.