First Signs
Dr Bouthaina Shaaban
25
Sept. 2009
Commenting
on statements made by former US president Jimmy Carter, in which he said that
many white Americans believe that “African- Americans are not qualified to lead
this great country,” Bonnie Greer wrote in The Guardian, “It's nasty.
It's scary. But face it, it's not new –
The same can be
said about the results of the Goldstone report which confirm yet again that the
Israeli government is committing nasty and scary crimes. But this is not new.
We all recall the
‘targeted killing’ lists announced and carried out publicly by Israeli
leaders. They are even proud of these
assassinations. Nevertheless, these
criminals - according to any set of standard - are given red-carpet receptions
in most Western capitals and hold press conferences with western leaders in order
to talk about ‘democracy’ and ‘fighting terrorism’.
The fundamental question is: would the West condone such
crimes had they been perpetrated against a European, Western or white
people? Since the answer is certainly
no, there is no word which could better describe the long and silent acceptance
of killing the other and not raising any qualms about the value of his/her life
and the crime of taking the life given by God, except ‘racism’.
The problem is that a lot of noise is made about the use
of the word not the brutal practices which the word was coined to describe.
When former president Jimmy Carter wrote his book, Palestine:
Peace Not Apartheid, Zionist circles launched a media campaign against him
smearing him with all kinds of false accusations.
Today, despite the impeccable international reputation of
Judge Goldstone, and despite the fact that he applied the
highest professional standards in his investigation, Zionist circles considered
the report which condemns Israeli crimes against humanity as a mere ‘criticism’
and launched a diplomatic and media campaign against it. This in itself is a racist attitude because
it does not show any respect for the life of the people subject of the report
and refuses to answer the questions raised about their right to live.
The
headlines which appeared in Western media after the publication of the report
also show the absolute bias of the ‘free’ media in favor of Israel, even when
it destroys the lives of millions of Palestinians depriving them of life,
freedom and human rights. What is
important for
A
quick review of the headlines shows that Israel’s and its friends’ concern was for ‘Israel’s
reputation’ and ‘the freedom of movement’ of
crime perpetrators in Western capitals, not achieving justice for the
victims who lost their lives as a result of a direct and blatant aggression
against them without the least respect for their humanity.
In The
Independent, Donald Macintyre wrote, “UN says Israel should face war-crimes trial over Gaza”. The same headline in The Daily Telegraph
attributes the results to the UN report but quotes from it: “
1.
Despite the fact that the report proves that hundreds were killed in a
premeditated and brutal way, Western media write about ‘claims’ and
‘criticisms’ and about Israeli responses and the precautions its commanders
should take to avoid arrest abroad.
Where is Western democracies’ concern for the right of all humans to
life; or is the life of an Arab Palestinian not equal to the life of a
Westerner?
Let us imagine for a moment
that the case was reversed: an Arab country accused of killing this number of
Israelis or white Westerners. We would
have found western media, for weeks, publishing pictures of the victims, their
life stories and the tragedies their families suffered in the aftermath. They would be commemorated every year. But since the victims are Arab Muslims, there
is no mention of a victim or his photograph or the suffering of his
family. The whole emphasis is on
If this position towards
Palestinians is not racist, what does racism mean then? And if all these racist practices do not stir
an emotion in the democratic world, why does President Carter’s accurate use of
the word in relation to
Reports on human rights in the
occupied territories have for years said that
The sad thing, however, is
that the official Arab role in all this is shabby and dismal. But the cause of Palestine which Israel and
its friends are trying to take off the agenda of human struggle for freedom is
today a question of international justice, and that is why champions of freedom
in the world, like Carter and Goldstone are carrying its torch; and they will
no doubt be followed by other champions of freedom throughout the world. Zionism will not be able to silence those any
longer, because the history of Zionist crimes has started to unravel, and none
of the friends and supporters of Zionism will be able to defend these crimes or
cover them up. As the holocaust became a
stigma on German history for a long period of time, so will the shame of the
massacres in
Prof. Bouthaina Shaaban is Political and
Media Advisor at the Syrian Presidency, and former
Minister of Expatriates. She is also a writer and professor at