Raphael Israeli - Hatred, Lies, and Violence in the World of Islam

Copyright 2014 by Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

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Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2013042981
ISBN: 978-1-4128-5400-9
Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Israeli, Raphael, author.
Hatred, lies and violence in the world of Islam / by Raphael Israeli.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4128-5400-9 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. AntisemitismArab countries. 2. ZionismForeign public opinion. 3. JewsForeign public opinion. 4. IsraelForeign public opinion. 5. Public opinionArab Countries. 6. Arab-Israeli conflictInfluence. I. Title.

DS146.A67I57 2014

305.892401767dc23

2013042981

Ubi solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant
(Wherever they sow desolation, they call it peace)
Tacitus, Historia

Foreword

Ayn Rand has made in her great classic novels, The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged , the seminal distinction between creators, who are the prime movers and the doers, on whose instincts, stamina, diligence, determination, rebelliousness, and restlessness rests the progress of society and humanity (such as Roark, Rearden, and Dagny); and the second-handers who feed on them and hate them for that (such as Toohey, Jim Taggart, and most others). Even on the international arena prime movers among countries, such as America in the world, or Israel in the Middle East, attract most of the international scorn for their success, which constantly reminds the others of their own impotence. Thus, the second-handers face two options: either to elevate themselves to the level of the doers by emulating them, befriending them, and collaborating with them in recognition of their achievements, or to battle against them, to demean them, demonize them, boycott them, destroy them, and delegitimize them, so as to remove from their horizon the successful counter-example of their own failures, and put an end to their own humiliation. Exactly as Rands masterful narratives follow this pattern of behavior and action on both sides of the divide, so on the international arena, one can detect similar molds of conduct, which lead the doers and movers to do, innovate, and move forward, while the second-handers watch with envy and sink themselves in hatred, in lie manufacturing, in violence, and in rationalizations to try in vain to salvage their self-respect and self-image.

Since the execution of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad in 2005, it seemed that the persistent image of a latter-day Saladin, the Muslim hero who can challenge the Christian world and defeat it, had been removed from popular imagery in the Arab and Muslim world, for it seemed that there was no other candidate worthy to inherit his mantle after the thirty-year long era of Saddams mythical and charismatic leadership had revolved. Before him, it was legendary Gamal Abdel Nasser, who ruled Egypt from 1952 until his death in 1970, and was crowned as the undisputed leader of Arab nationalism, who had won that renown to which lesser leaders such as Hafez Assad, Yasser Arafat, Hassan Nasrallah, and Muammar Gaddafi had also furtively aspired. Since the 2000s, a new seeming candidate has emerged, in the form of egomaniac Teyyip Erdoan, the prime minister of Turkey, who has been hailed in the Arab world as the new reincarnation of that Muslim hero, though like Saladin, he is not an Arab. All these leaders, who professed an intense hatred of Jews and Israel, who by her own inventiveness, initiative, success, and ingenuity has accomplished many acknowledged achievements in spite of her minor size and dearth of resources, have also presided over the most intensive fabrication of lies to justify and rationalize their hatred to Jews, Zionism, and Israel, both vis--vis their own populations and the outside world, so as to concoct the underpinnings of their strategy of delegitimation of Israel.

The intensity of hatred toward Jews and Israel in the Islamic world, which is only matched by the volume of lies manufactured to express it, is articulated daily in one part of the Islamic world or another, where gross acts of libeling them with all manner of abominable crimes have become routine. Unlike Western countries, where libel laws can be sustained in court so as to restrain the spread of false accusations, in most Islamic lands these acts are encouraged by whatever authorities are in place, or simply ignored and allowed to pass. For example, on April 23, 2013, the International Central Committee of the Global March to Jerusalem held a preparatory meeting in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, where Members of the Central Committee and representatives of national and international committees representing a large number of countries from different continents attended the meeting. The official communiqu of the meeting stated:

The Committee discussed the ongoing Zionist crimes and threats against the city of Jerusalem, its people, and holy sites. It expressed grave concern about the Judaization and alteration of the citys sanctities. The Committee also pointed to the racist policies adopted by the occupation toward the Palestinian citizens, which are intended to force them out of Jerusalem in a process of ethnic cleansing. The Israelis aim was to evacuate the citys Arab residents and replace them with Jewish settlers. The attendants discussed a wide range of issues, which included decisions and measures to guarantee the success of the Global March to Jerusalem. The March is scheduled to commence on Friday, June 7, 2013, which coincides with the forty-sixth anniversary of the occupation of the eastern part of the city. The March will depart from all the Palestinian cities toward the closest point to Jerusalem. At the same time, people in the neighboring countries will walk toward Jerusalem or the closest cities in their countries to it. The Global March will be popular and peaceful. It will express solidarity with Jerusalem and Palestine and affirm the necessity of popular measures to liberate them from Zionist racism. The March will also denounce all Zionist crimes and violations against the holy city, its inhabitants, and its identity.

At the end of the meeting, the Central Committee agreed to:

• Establish the March as an annual occasion of solidarity with the Palestinian people for the defense of Jerusalem and its holy sites.
• Highlight through this March the issue of the holy city and to place it at the top of the agendas of the popular forces in the world.
• Encourage all popular committees, organizations, and solidarity groups around the globe to exert their utmost efforts to work for the success of this March and its accompanying activities.
• Call upon all forces and individuals in Palestine and Jerusalem to take part in these national activities under a central slogan which is: All people of the world demand the liberation of Jerusalem all the people of the world demand an end to the Zionist occupation of Palestine.