Anti-Semitism in the Arab Press: Expressions of Anti-Semitism in the Arab Press

A sharp increase in anti-Semitic expressions in the Arab press has been apparent from the beginning of the year. Most propaganda does not differentiate between Jews, Israel and Zionism and the expressions are intermingled. Israeli leaders are compared to Hitler and the Nazis, and Israel's policy to that of the Nazis during the Holocaust. Paradoxically, while Israel's policy is compared to the actions of the Nazis, extensive use is made of Holocaust denial and praise of Holocaust deniers' work. Arab propaganda uses a number of developments and events in the world to attack Israel and the Jews: the conference on the Holocaust and racism in Stockholm, the David Irving trial in Britain, the success of Joerg Haider's Freedom Party in the Austrian elections and its joining the coalition, the Israeli Army's bombing of Lebanon in response to Hizballah's killing a number of soldiers, the Pope's visit to the Middle East and recently, Foreign Minister David Levy's harsh speech delivered in the Knesset against Hizballah's actions. It is noteworthy that these expressions appear in the official media of the various Arab countries, the most prominent being Syria and Egypt.

- Egypt
- Syria
- Jordan
- Lebanon
- Iraq
- Saudi Arabia
- Qatar
- Summary

Egypt

In the 12 January, 2000 issue of 'Al-Ahram', Jalal Duwaydar writes that the Israelis 'go crazy' when their attitude to the Palestinians is compared to Fascism or Nazism. Duwaydar believes that Israel stole Palestinian land through deceit, conspiracy and exploiting the Arabs' mistakes. It also blackmails Germany, other countries, banks and international organizations to compensate the so-called 'victims' of the Nazis. Duwaydar continues in the style of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' and believes that Zionist organizations and the Jewish lobby control U.S. politics.

The 'Al-Shaab' opposition newspaper of 24 January, 2000 published an article which posed a seemingly rhetorical question: 'Is is not strange that the Jewish imperialistic military machine has not stopped since the signing of the first peace agreement with the Jews 20 years ago? The only meaning of the' culture of peace' for the other side, the hostile side, has continued till now to be killing Arabs and Muslims, polluting their holy places, their contempt of them, the effort to transform them into a market for Jewish goods, sowing disputes among them and obscuring their Islamic identity through malicious intrigue. Moreover, since the signing of the first peace agreement between the Arabs and Jews, the Jewish robbers have aimed to Judaize our occupied land. Since this agreement was signed, the strength of the Jewish military power has increased unprecedently. The study of the Jewish Talmud in occupied Palestine in no way reflects the culture of peace, but is intended rather to nurture conceit, arrogance, contempt for Arabs and Muslims and aims to suppress and destroy them'.

Articles Referring to the Irving trial in Britain and the Conference to Commemorate the Holocaust in Stockholm:

1. 'Rose al-Yusuf' weekly of 21 January, 2000 - Hamdi Al-Husseini writes an article on Irving which is based mainly on the statements of experts who, among other things, maintained that the Jews exploited the principles of democracy and liberty on which European legal systems operate, to force them to adopt the ban on Holocaust denial and enable them to sue those who advocate it - as in the case of Garaudy. The obvious conclusion is that the Jewish people was not harmed by the Second World War, but even profited by it and took over Palestine. According to the experts, the Holocaust is only a wicked joke to blackmail the West and gain sympathy for the Jews' stands in their struggle against the Arab world. The article is decorated with anti-Semitic caricatures portraying the image of the Jew (long nose, beard, black coat and hat) in situations of the 'Holocaust Anniversary Festival', raising his cry to the world which exposes his lies, and when he plots murderous schemes, as a means to achieve his goals.


2. 'Al-Akhbar' of 26 January, 2000 - Vagia Abu Dhakr - who in the past published anti-Semitic and Holocaust denial articles - considers the trial decisive proof that after half a century, during which Israel burdened the conscience of the world by pretending that Hitler destroyed six million Jews in the Second World War in installations especially prepared for this, in the past two years historians have dared to prove that the Holocaust was a fantasy that Zionism fabricated. Abu Khakri devotes a place of honour to Roger Garaudy who in his book 'Lies of the Political Establishment in Israel' claimed that the crematoria were intended to destroy the Nazi forces' clothes that were infested with diseases, that at the Nuremberg trials no proof whatsoever was presented that the crematoria were meant to destroy Jews and that the most active elements in the Gestapo were Jews.


3. 'Al-Ahram' of 26 January, 2000 - Salah Al-Din Hafez writes that the trials of Irving and Garaudy put an end to the 'era of Zionist lies and falsification of history;' by the Jews who claim that they have been persecuted down through history. He thinks attention should also be paid to research which refutes the claims of Jewish persecution in Pharonic Egypt, thereby putting an end to the Jewish aspiration in our era to reform human thought.


4. 'Al-Ahram' of 25 January, 2000 - Marsay Said Al-Din defends David Irving ('Hitler's historian'), claiming that Irving has become a target of an organized attack by World Jewry and rejected by all the publishers who fear the Zionist lobby. To prove his claim, Said Al-Din relates how these same Jewish/Zionist circles have struck terror into the Swiss government and forced it to pay compensation to Holocaust victims.


5. 'Al-Akhbar' of 3 February, 2000 - Dr. Hassan Rajib writes that he does not object to holding an international conference in memory of the Holocaust in Stockholm, since Hitler's crimes are worthy of denunciation. But he does object to turning the whole world into a 'Wailing War' for the Jews. The Jews were not Hitler's only victims. Why, therefore, is such concentration put on the Jews? Could the lament over the Holocaust victims from the very beginning be only 'crocodile tears' through which Israel extorts the world morally and materially?


6. 'Al-Ahram' of 6 February, 2000 - Salameh Ahmad Salameh writes in his column that the Jews were not satisfied with the billions that they have received till now as compensation from governments and companies, or the Holocaust Museum established in New York, memorials set up in many European capitals and dozens of films produced to commemorate the Holocaust, not even the persecution of historians and philosophers who dared research the historical facts concerning this subject. Now they are even holding international conferences on this subject which will be held regularly and will only lead to increasing racism among the new generations.


7. 'Al-Ahram' of 8 February, 2000 - Ahmad Bahghat praises Roger Garaudy's statements in an interview to Al-Ahram where he describes holding a conference in Stockholm in memory of Jews who perished in the Holocaust, a 'shameful act'. Bahghat defines Garaudy as almost the only Western intellectual who tells the truth while all the rest wrap themselves in silence and indifference.


8. 'Al-Akhbar' of 7 February, 2000 - Accuses Israel and Jewish groups of using the 'weapon' of accusation of racism and anti-Semitism in order to conduct terrorism and blackmail, with U.S. help.



'Al-Shaab' of 28 January, 2000 - Muhammad Ibrahim Mustafa, chairman of the Teachers' Committee in the Education Directorate, accuses the Jews and Zionists of sowing in all the societies of the world the seed of absolute liberty in order to corrupt everyone, with no exception, and to take control of all the sources of capitol, the media, schools and universities, most of which are owned by Jews and Zionists. He adds that 'whoever calls for normalization or relations with the Zionist enemy, is either naïve and Zionism has misled him in its cunning and he is not acquainted with the history of this enemy, the slaughters it has perpetrated, the instructions of the Talmud and the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion', its schemes which have filled the entire world with wars and evil actions , and its aim to take over the world, or he himself is an enemy … A study of the distorted parts of the Torah reveals the causes of treachery and the fierce hatred Jews feel towards Gentiles and their real goals.

Articles Connected with the Election of Joerg Haider's Freedom Party

1. 'Al-Akhbar' of 6 February, 2000 - A reporter described Israel's steps as no less barbaric than the crimes of the Nazis and denounced Israel and Zionism for their opposition to the 'incorporation of Haider into the Austrian government and for the fact that Jews try to turn the world into a 'Wailing Wall'.
   
2. 'Wahd' of 9 February, 2000 - Ali Abu Al-Khir referred to Garaudy and Austria together as the 'brave man' and the 'brave country' for choosing to stand up against the 'World Zionist organization'.

Radio 'Sawat Al-Arab' of 10 February, 2000 - A commentator stated that Israel's rulers raised a great outcry when the French philosopher Roger Garaudy stated the facts regarding the real figures of those murdered by the Nazis. He asks whether David Levy now has the right to speak once more about Hitler's crematoria when his own government is making a real crematorium on the Nazi model against the Lebanese people.

The opposition 'Wafd' of 10 February, 2000 - Dr. Rif'at Said wonders 'How do the Jews, victims of the gas chambers, explain their behaviour towards the Palestinian people who have been their victims since 1948 and up to the present? Is it permissable for those who faced annihilation, as it were, to destroy another nation, to take its place and construct crematoria for it which are more cursed than the gas chambers? Is this how Israel guarantees that no one will speak again of this deceitful act called the 'Holocaust'? This is at a time when there is evidence in neutral books that prove that the claim that Jews were burned in Nazi crematoria is a complete lie.

'Al-Akhbar' of 14 February, 2000 - In an article entitled 'The New Nazis in Israel', the newspaper attacks Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister David Levy. It accuses them that the Israel Army's actions in Lebanon and the Israeli statements against it, are an example of the return to the time of Hitler and the Nazi regime. But this time, it is not the Jews who are the victims, but rather the Lebanese people. Furthermore, the Israelis are the new Nazis.

The national Egyptian radio 'Sawat Al-Arab' of 20 February, 2000 - A commentator maintains that 'Israel creates a real crematorium according to the Nazi model against our Lebanese brothers'. The popular Egyptian newspaper 'Al-Akhbar' also accuses the Israeli leadership of acting by Nazi methods. In a sharp article entitled 'The Neo-Nazis in Israel', the following appeared: 'For the past 50 years till today the leaders of Israel and the Jews throughout the world have been crying and wailing, denouncing and condemning Hitler only in order to blackmail Germany to pay them compensation, while all the actions of the Jews against the Arabs are legal and permissible! Flyers were pasted in the universities in Egypt and placards and announcements were distributed against Foreign Minister David Levy, with Nazi motifs.

'Al-Ahram' of 26 February, 2000 - A caricature appeared in the center of a page full of articles attacking Israel. The U.S. is depicted as 'Uncle Sam' putting coins and banknotes into the mouth of an Israeli soldier who has a weapon made in the U.S. Uncle Sam, however, is a Jew (with a long nose, of course).

The Pope's visit to Egypt was the focus of dozens of articles which discussed, among other things, the agreement between the Vatican and the Palestinians on Jerusalem and the necessary dialogue between the religions, referring, of course, only to Islam and Christianity. In connection with this, an editorial appeared in the 'Egyptian Mail' of 26 February, 2000, which wonders in connection with the relation between the Vatican and the State of Israel, who needs an apology. The writer, the newspaper's editor Ali Ibrahim, maintains that ' we cannot keep to ourselves an additional negative opinion related to another Vatican document, which absolves the Jews of killing Jesus. Do other churches, not Catholic, agree with this exoneration? If so, who else betrayed Jesus? This absolution erases all of history, the prayers and the rituals which were an integral part of Christianity. We cannot reject the thought that it was the U.S. which was behind this absolution, in order to help Israel to significantly increase its strength…'.

The weekly 'Al-Ahram Al-Arabi' of 26 February, 2000 - A caricature shows Prime Minister Barak, before Lebanon, destroyed and in flames, in the image of Hitler, wearing a uniform and swastika on his left arm. His right arm is holding a Star of David and is raised in a Nazi salute. Other anti-Semitic caricatures: 'Al-Gomhourriya' of 29 February describes Foreign Minister Levy as a street artist, whose brush is dipped in a pail on which 'Diplomacy According to Levy' is written. He is drawing a Star of David, with a swastika in the middle of it, on the wall. In 'Wafd', on the other hand, Israel is portrayed as a long-nosed man in black clothes, wearing a skullcap and a beard, holding a bag of money in one hand. The other hand is throwing missiles that hit the back of the Arab world which is able to ignore the Israeli blows as it is compensated with money by 'Uncle Sam'. Above this caricature an article appears by Wafd's reporter in the Netherlands who describes the efforts of the Jewish lobby in the Netherlands to vilify Egypt there and describe it as responsible for reviving Arab hostility against Israel.

Syria

'Tasrin' of 31 January, 2000 - A number of extremely anti-Semitic articles appeared in the official newspaper. Among the theories held in the articles: Israel maintained a policy which caused a holocaust in the occupied Golan Heights, Palestine and South Lebanon and it causes a holocaust at every opportunity for a just and comprehensive peace which will restore the rights to its owners. Zionism invented the Holocaust myth in order to blackmail the world and to strike terror in the world's leaders and intellectuals.

The editor-in-chief, Muhammad Khir Al-Wadi, writes in an article, entitled 'the Third Millenium Plague': 'We call on the countries of the world who strongly denounced Nazi crimes, to confront the new Nazi plague, which is festering in Israel and spreading its poison and dangers everywhere it reaches …. Israel and Zionist organizations insist on reminding the world of the policy of the Holocaust, as it were, in order to achieve two goals:

1. To receive additional funds from European countries and institutions to compensate Holocaust victims. In this way, Israel acquired tens of billions of dollars.


2. To exploit the myth of the Holocaust as a drawn sword over the neck of anyone opposing Zionism or anyone standing in the way of its plans of aggression and expansion.



This is a type of oppression and ideological and physical terrorism, the like of which the dark centuries in Europe did not know. Zionism is the plague of the twentieth century, which passed on to the third millenium'. The editorial also adds that the Zionists strangle any voice that refutes these claims and illusions, for example: 'The historians Garaudy and Irving proved that the Holocaust is actually an illusion of the developed imagination of the Zionist organizations. These Zionist efforts are made only to erase the historical memory of humanity, but are also an attempt to undermine logic and common sense and bring about a distorted concept of reality. Israel, which presents itself as the heir of the Holocaust victims, committed and now commits crimes against the Arabs, more terrible and hateful than those of the Nazis'.

The editor of Tasrin reiterates the same anti-Semitic ideas as when he granted an interview to the radio following his article on the Holocaust.

Radio Damascus of 15 February, 2000 - The commentator stated that 'Israel not only adopted the racist methods of Hitler, but outdid them in their cruelty and killing of innocent people'. According to him, the recent events in Lebanon completely expose the spirit of aggression which strikes again in the Zionist entity (…). The Israelis who occupied Palestine and expelled its residents with the excuse of fleeing from the Nazis, adopted Hitler's methods'.

The national Syrian television channel on 19 February, 2000 - An item was broadcasted praising the leader of the radical right-wing party in Austria, Joerg Haider. After the article of praise, pictures were shown of Adolph Hitler delivering a speech against the background of destruction caused by the Second World War. Syrian television compared Hitler's actions to those of the Israeli army in Lebanon and showed pictures of the Israeli Air Force and that of Foreign Minister David Levy - immediately after that, pictures of Hitler.

Jordan

'Al-Arab Al-Yom' of 5 January, 2000 - Zia Abu Ghanima writes that the twentieth century was the Golden Age for the Jews. In that century they realized their eternal dream of establishing their state on the Arab and Muslim land of Palestine. They prepared the ground for this by expanding the Ottoman empire and receiving the Balfour Declaration with the help of Jewish ministers in the British and French governments. In the twentieth century the Zionist movement recorded its greatest achievement when it perpetuated its control and influence in the world through the arms of an octopus, namely, Zionist pressure groups in the powers and the Freemasons organization which is the strongest arm of the Zionist octopus for perpetuating the political, media, industrial and economic control of the Jews.

'Al-Arab Al-Yom' of 6 January, 2000 - Sahad Said Al-Azawi outdid himself when he wrote an extremely anti-Semitic article in the style of blood libel. He claims that Jewish religious ceremonies required bleeding a non-Jew to death. Since this is considered a crime punishable by death, it is done in secret. The Babylonian Talmud, for example, which is the holy constitution of the Jews, maintains this explicitly and upholds it. There are Jews whose conscience was aroused and they testified concerning the tortures and the bloodletting. They left the Jewish religion, became Christians and wrote their memoirs in which they detail the barbaric crimes … England, France and Spain expelled the Jews after they discovered the murder for the purpose of bloodletting innocent children… The blood of all the victims was let till the end. The victims were bled to the end in various ways. For example, several rabbis lay the victim down and choke him. These acts are usually done in a secret ceremony to which junior rabbis are invited to teach them the method. Also invited to the ceremony are Jewish notables for a blessing and to incite against Christians and Muslims. The writer continues with seemingly exact descriptions of every method of bloodletting…'They collect the blood in order to use it in holy religious events. The rabbis keep the blood in the synagogues and sell it at events.…'. The article is full of horrific descriptions of Jewish ceremonies and extends over a number of columns.

Lebanon

'Al-Diyar' of 12 February, 2000 - Zari A'asi writes: 'The Israeli attacks on Lebanon continue. Informed political sources note that it recalls the days of Hitler's Nazism. Today, the new Nazis in Israel - Levy, Barak, their Chief of Staff and the rest of the hawks - compete against each other in their proposals to react to Hezbollah actions by destroying Lebanon and Syria, These same 'Nazis' make sure to work against peace and to abandon the region to terror and dread, just as Hitler did when he invaded Europe. The great paradox is that the Israeli Nazism actually gets backing from the world and American support which help to present it as a hero of peace. All this takes place while Europe and America mount a campaign of incitement, strengthened by stormy incitement in Israel against a right-winger who rose to power in Austria…'

The Lebanese and pan-Arabic television channels on 25 February, 2000 - A short propaganda film was broadcast which was made by Lebanese students of the media to protest the statements of Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy in the Knesset on 23 February. The short film , accompanied by Hebrew and English subtitles, compares Israel to Nazi Germany and David Levy to Hitler. At the beginning of the film a swastika is seen and beside it is written 'The Original'. Beside it is a Star of David, near which is written 'The Copy'. This is followed by scenes of Levy's speech in the Knesset and of the parliament in Nazi Germany. The foreign minister's speech is translated into English and Arabic. At the same time pictures are seen of Adolf Hitler's speeches and the subtitle 'the same speech, the same hate'. Pictures of the Israel Army's attacks in Lebanon are shown parallel to pictures of actions of the German army in World War II and the subtitles say 'the same racism, the same crime'. Against the background of pictures of a wounded Lebanese child, is the suffering of citizens during World War II with the words, 'the same history'. David Levy's remarks in the Knesset are heard throughout the entire film. At the end the words appear, 'They are killing the children of Lebanon, they are burning its land', alongside a Star of David. The film is 52 seconds long and was also broadcast over Damascus television.

Iraq

'Al-Thawra' of 13 January, 2000 - Basel Al-Shikhli, a journalist who reviewed the book of the French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy, claims that European Jewry tried to perpetuate a myth and ideology in order to explain the present on the basis of the 'glorious' past and to moderate the tension caused by straying from tradition. The myth of the 'Holocaust' or the six million Jewish victims became a belief which justifies the violations and extortion of the Zionists in Palestine, in the Arab homeland and throughout the world, as if it were above international law. It thus plays with public opinion, the media, literature, the cinema and even textbooks. This myth is exploited politically by a 'country' which committed crimes in an effort to divert the mind from the massacres committed by the Zionists who presented themselves as victims. On this basis, they established their state and set it up beyond any international law.

'Babil' of 23 and 26 January, 2000 - Articles were published dealing with Iraqi Jews. One article describes the occupations of Iraqi Jews in commerce and finance. Among other things it states that 'the Jew by nature loves material things tries to control them in any way. He differs from all other peoples living in the region by his materialistic attitude, his great patience and his ties with the rest of the members of his community who try to improve their living conditions at the expense of everyone else. Ever since the Jews arrived in Iraq, their prime concern was to gain control of Iraqi commerce. They began to work in banking in the service of the rulers'.

'Al-Gomhourriya' of 8 February, 2000 - refers to the issue of the new government in Austria and wonders whether the reaction of the U.S. and the EU to the matter is not a result of open Zionist blackmail after the Stockholm meeting in memory of the 'supposed Holocaust'.

Saudi Arabia

'Al-Medina' of 24 February, 2000 - The editorial compares Foreign Minister David Levy to Hitler and calls on Israel to return him to the ghetto where he came from or Israel will find itself in its own large ghetto. The newspaper adds that Levy's threats show that he has not yet freed himself from the ghetto complex and may possibly sometimes feel the lack of the ghetto since in the 'Jewish neighbourhood' isolation gives a false sense of security.

Qatar

'Al-Sharq' of 26 January, 2000 - An article refers to information that was received a few days previously that Israel makes use of beautiful women to promote trade with Qatar: 'This is the beginning of Zionist activity in the Gulf region from spying up to call girls, in order to totally destroy our customs. All their books - the Torah and the Talmud - are full of abominations and corruption. How can peace be made with such a corrupt nation? They use their corrupt tradition, which is full of lies, even about God. Whether the women come from Israel or from Russia, they have one thing in common, spreading diseases and evil in order to collapse our economy. To quote from the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion' which is the basis of the Zionist state: 'We must abolish all the religions that are not Judaism and replace them with material things'.

'Al-Raia' of 4 February, 2000 - writes that everyone knows, even in Israel, that the Holocaust subject was exploited politically in order to find a justification for bringing the world Jews to Palestine, at the expense of the Palestinian people who were hurt by dozens of massacres before the 'tragedy' that occurred in 1948.

Summary

There has been an increase in the intensity and quantity of attacks against Israel in the Arab press and a marked rise in the anti-semitic content of this material. It is obvious that for a considerable part of the Arab media, Zionism-Jews-Israel are one entity and the Jews of the world and all their written sources and modern Zionism made up the story of the Holocaust in order to establish a state, destroy the Palestinian people, undermine Islam and take control of the world. The fact that many accusing articles appear in the press and the official media, makes one wonder whether they express the stand of the various governments which in many cases own the media.

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Sources: Israeli Foreign Ministry