The Arab World's Lingering Hatred of Jews

The Arab World's Lingering Hatred of Jews

Richard Cohen
Washington Post
March 1, 2011

During World War II, the leader of the Palestinians lived in a Berlin villa, a gift from a very grateful Adolf Hitler, who clearly got his money's worth. Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem and as such the titular leader of Muslim Palestinians, broadcast Nazi propaganda to the Middle East, recruited European Muslims for the SS, exulted in the Holocaust and after the war went on to represent his people in the Arab League. He died somewhat ignored but never repudiated.

Husseini might have been a Nazi to his very soul, but he was also a Palestinian nationalist with genuine support among his own people. The Allies originally considered him a war criminal, but to many Arabs, he was just a patriot. His exterminationist anti-Semitism was considered neither overly repugnant nor all that exceptional. The Arab world is saturated by Jew-hatred.

Some of this hatred was planted by Husseini and some of it long existed, but whatever the case, it remains a remarkable, if unremarked, feature of Arab nationalism. The other day, for instance, about 1 million Egyptians in Tahrir Square heard from Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an esteemed religious leader and Muslim Brotherhood figure whose anti-Semitic credentials are unimpeachable. Among other things, he has said that Hitler was sent by Allah as "divine punishment" for the Jews. His al-Jazeera program is one of that TV network's most popular.

I have read the assurances of scholars and journalists alike that the Muslim Brotherhood has mutated into the Common Cause of Egypt (Jordan, too) and that its anti-Semitism is merely an odd and archaic quirk, like the anti-fluoride positions of some American conservatives. I hope this is the case. But in truth, I put more faith in the staying power of anti-Semitism than I do in the forecasting gifts of my colleagues. If they are right, wonderful. If not, we all have something to worry about.

The trouble with democracies is that they tend to cater to the prejudices of the people -- not just to their good sense. This explains why almost all the nations of Central and Eastern Europe turned rabidly anti-Semitic when democracy was instituted after World War I. Anti-Semitism was a popular sentiment and it was exploited by unprincipled politicians. The result in Poland, for instance, was the stated policy of declaring the Jews -- about 10 percent of the country -- personae non gratae. By then, they had been in Poland for only about 1,000 years.

There are nearly no Jews in Arab lands -- they were kicked out after Israel was established in 1948. Nowhere in the Middle East is peace with Israel popular. Nowhere in the Middle East is anti-Semitism considered aberrant or weird. It is inconceivable to me that Arab politicians will not attempt to harness both sentiments, combining nationalism with anti-Semitism -- a combustible and unstable compound. History instructs about what follows.

Israeli leaders are well aware that they face a new reality in their region. Whatever regime arises in Egypt, it is likely to chill even further what is already called a cold peace. The same might hold for Jordan. King Abdullah is secure for now -- the Bedouin tribes need him to avoid chaos -- but he, too, will have to listen to popular sentiment.

Consequently, now would be the propitious time for Israel to settle with the Palestinians. I am aware that resolution of the Palestinian issue will not satisfy anti-Semites or extreme Arab nationalists -- Israel is not going to give up all of Jerusalem nor, for that matter, disappear -- and both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza have only been emboldened by recent events. Still, the creation of a Palestinian state -- the lifting of all the onerous restrictions on Palestinian movement -- will take some air out of this particular balloon and, possibly, improve Israel's deteriorating moral standing in Europe and elsewhere. This is no small matter.

Israel's critics have a case. Yet they make no case when it comes to Arab anti-Semitism. The prominence of Qaradawi cannot be reassuring to Israelis. They know that words can be weapons and hate is a killer. Nonetheless, since the days of Husseini, a true Hitlerian figure, Arab nations have shamefully been granted an exception to the standards expected of the rest of the world, as if they were children. If I were an Israeli, I'd be worried. If I were an Arab, I'd be insulted. If I were a critic only of Israel, I'd be ashamed.

The other day, for instance, about 1 million Egyptians in Tahrir Square heard from Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an esteemed religious leader and Muslim Brotherhood figure whose anti-Semitic credentials are unimpeachable. Among other things, he has said that Hitler was sent by Allah as "divine punishment" for the Jews. His al-Jazeera program is one of that TV network's most popular.

That doesn't prove anything, certainly not that they all listened to him. If the KKK turned up at a protest against something Obama had done that was unpopular, would that mean anything other than that the KKK turned up at the rally?

Of course anti-semitism exists in the middle east, of course it is the core of many Islamist groups to warn against "Zionists Plots" (Aaronovitch amusingly comments in Voodoo Histories that "Zionists" are portrayed by such extremists as a type of "indestructible super Jew"). Hate and appealing to emotion, particularly anger and a sense of injustice (and finding a scapegoat for their ills) is how ANY extremist group maintains its support. It isn't exclusive to Islamists.

Israel's critics have a case. Yet they make no case when it comes to Arab anti-Semitism.

Or Christian anti-Semitism, because that exists too and if we are going to use underhand tactics in implying that Islam itself promotes anti-Semitism then we also have to point the finger at Christianity. Lets not have double standards here.

Richard Cohen

Suddenly it all becomes clear.

Richard Cohen, hmm? Let's see what wiki says.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cohen_(columnist)

This bit is funny:

In 2009, Cohen was recognized as the "World's Worst Writer" by Wonkette.[18] Salon.com named him the #1 "Hack" in 2010.[19] Alex Pareene wrote for Salon, "He's not so much an old liberal who grew conservative as he is a simplistic old hack who believes his common prejudices to be politically incorrect truths and his Beltway conventional wisdom to be bracing political insight."[19]

See, this is why I don't pay too much attention to opinion pieces. Of course there are people whose opinions I love to read, but I'm very selective about journalists, and even the ones I respect - like Hitchens - I read with a massive pinch of salt.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:

The other day, for instance, about 1 million Egyptians in Tahrir Square heard from Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an esteemed religious leader and Muslim Brotherhood figure whose anti-Semitic credentials are unimpeachable. Among other things, he has said that Hitler was sent by Allah as "divine punishment" for the Jews. His al-Jazeera program is one of that TV network's most popular.

That doesn't prove anything, certainly not that they all listened to him. If the KKK turned up at a protest against something Obama had done that was unpopular, would that mean anything other than that the KKK turned up at the rally?

Agreed. So there were a million people gathered, and this guy turned up and gave a speech? Well, so what. Did the crowd know this guy was going to give a speech? Did they attend the gathering specifically to hear this guy? Or did they have bigger things on their mind, like a revolution? Everyone knows the MB didn't start the revolution, they just jumped on the bandwagon after it had already been going on for three weeks. So no, it proves nothing.

That said: although it proves nothing, if the Pew survey from 2006 (which I linked in one of the Libya threads) is accurate, then something like 95% of Egyptians hold unfavorable views of Jews. Which would mean Cohen is not wrong, he just doesn't understand the concept of backing his claims.

Israel's critics have a case. Yet they make no case when it comes to Arab anti-Semitism.

Or Christian anti-Semitism, because that exists too and if we are going to use underhand tactics in implying that Islam itself promotes anti-Semitism then we also have to point the finger at Christianity. Lets not have double standards here.

The article doesn't mention Islam at all, though; I don't even see any hidden references. I really don't think this piece is about religion so much as an ugly undercurrent in Arab culture.

Richard Cohen

Suddenly it all becomes clear.

Lol. Though apparently the guy is no Zionist at all.

BecMacFeegle wrote:Richard Cohen, hmm? Let's see what wiki says.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cohen_(columnist)

This bit is funny:

In 2009, Cohen was recognized as the "World's Worst Writer" by Wonkette.[18] Salon.com named him the #1 "Hack" in 2010.[19] Alex Pareene wrote for Salon, "He's not so much an old liberal who grew conservative as he is a simplistic old hack who believes his common prejudices to be politically incorrect truths and his Beltway conventional wisdom to be bracing political insight."[19]

See, this is why I don't pay too much attention to opinion pieces. Of course there are people whose opinions I love to read, but I'm very selective about journalists, and even the ones I respect - like Hitchens - I read with a massive pinch of salt.

Does Richard Cohen himself really matter, though?

Does Richard Cohen himself really matter, though?

His career as a journalist and how he's regarded in that capacity is of value. I'm all for letting an article stand on its own merits - but if it's an opinion piece, not so much. Especially if he's widely regarded as a hack and that article reads as pretty damn hacky. Life is too short, especially when I'm making a point about op-eds.

I agree. If the guy is seen as a joke by his peers, enough to be given the journalistic equivalent of a 'Razzie' then I think we ought to treat his work mostly with scepticism. After all who would read a book called The Ultimate Guide to Film Making if it was written by Uwe Boll?

I disagree. You guys are making an ad hominem argument.

You're also making way too much of the two (2) magazines that have panned him. Two is not "widely." Two is not large enough to generalize to the set of "his peers." Seriously, if that's all there is, that's not even notable enough to warrant a "Criticism" subsection, IMO. Also, he's a 4x Pulitzer Prize finalist, so opinion on him is at least somewhat mixed.

But none of that matters. We should be discussing the content of the article, not the author. The author is uninteresting and unimportant--a mere vessel to bring us a proposition to discuss.

kronos wrote:But none of that matters. We should be discussing the content of the article, not the author. The author is uninteresting and unimportant--a mere vessel to bring us a proposition to discuss.

I have to agree there. I personally know nothing about Cohen other than his name is known and that's all. But the same can be said about Bill O'Reilly. Most people on the left can't stand him for whatever reasons. But I post his weekly opinion and he brings up good point and others not so good. I can disagree with Bill like I did last night when he was harping on the Westboro thing by the USSC. He sided with the one dissenting judge and not the majority. He was wrong on that. Meg Kelly hammered him on it. She's a lawyer.

You're right, I was taking the piss a bit too much I apologise.

But I did address some of his points, I still find his article lacking in substance on several fronts.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:You're right, I was taking the piss a bit too much I apologise.

My choice of phrase is forever a source of amusement for you isn't it Tex?

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:My choice of phrase is forever a source of amusement for you isn't it Tex?

As always. Some of the things you Brits say is funny to us Americans.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:But I did address some of his points, I still find his article lacking in substance on several fronts.

Totally. Wasn't implying you hadn't said anything substantive before that. I was just talking about that one comment, in isolation.

You're right, I was taking the piss a bit too much I apologise.

Where were you taking it?

Don't you start

Okay... now this thread is getting interesting...

And there can be little question that the Arab world does not have any great love for Israel or the Jews; regardless of this author's credentials.