Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Arab American academic racist
Arab American Professor Naseeer Alomari unable to distinguish between racism and "anti-zionism". This was published in the Jordan Times. The Jordanian born author teaches at Marist College in New York State.
Even after 9-11 Arab-Americans feel comfortable scapegoating Jews in a way they would never accept for themselves. The following Article is by a Jordanian-American professor at Marist College in New York State.
If a college professor wrote similar racist rants about Arabs and/or Muslims no doubt they would be fired.
By Dr Naseer Alomari
THE BLOODTHIRSTY proponents of an attack on Iraq are driven by the clandestine Israeli agenda in the White House and American Congress. Their zeal and unfathomable insistence on an unprovoked attack on Iraq can only be explained in the context of the perceived Israeli need to preemptively strike openly anti-Israeli regimes in the region.
The religious dedication of the neoconservatives and the pro-Israel congressmen and congresswomen to go after Iraq despite the universal pleas against military action in the region can only be traced down to the Jewish lobbies' desire to reap the benefits of the upcoming midterm elections. During the next couple of months of campaigning, the Jewish lobbies will have unfettered access to the White House and Congress. During the next couple of months, the attack on Iraq will be put forth as the price for the Jewish vote and financial support. Most Republicans and Democrats will be more than happy to compete for this bid.
The fanaticism of the Jewish lobby, Likud Party and right-wing neoconservatives that propels them to take on Iraq despite the risk of destabilising the region is reminiscent of Ariel Sharon's mindset and belief that tanks and fighter jets can solve all political disputes. The Sharonian concept is simple: if you bomb them, you won't have to negotiate with them.
The Bush administration has squandered the post-Sept. 11 international consensus against terrorism by insisting on unilateral mishandling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the impenetrable insistence on attacking Iraq. The only way to understand the shortsighted policies of this administration is to recognise the low political instincts that have been driving the Bush administration with regard to the Middle East conflict.
Lacking any real plan to reinvigorate the economy on the eve of the upcoming midterm elections, Bush has attempted to maintain a heightened sense of imminent terrorist danger by repeating trite and recycled threats against terrorist groups, countries and regimes. The game plan is to ride the Sept. 11 war sentiment well into the fall by broadening the scope of war rhetoric to include linking Iraq to terrorism against America. The patience of the American people has started to wear off with regards to using terrorism as a technique to avoid dealing with the deteriorating economy.
The international audience has also started to see through the unilateral, stubborn and biased mishandling of the Middle East conflict. The opposition to attacking Iraq and the discontent with the unconditional support for the state of Israel have caused many European allies to become more vocal in opposing the Bush administration.
The Arab governments have the ability to determine whether military action will take place against Iraq and help the international community prevent a military campaign that will only benefit the state of Israel.
The writer, a Jordanian assistant professor of education at Marist College, New York, is involved in local Arab and Muslim community centres. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$190.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network
I guess I missed the anti-Semitic part. I seemed like an op-ed piece and compared with the anti-Arab crap in the mainstream media, it was quite subdued.
"It is yet another case of antisemitism disguised as valid political thought. When your life is threatened, as Israel and America are, it is your right to defend yourself."
Never mind that the American/Israeli duo is the most powerful military and economic power in the world. The idea that their life is being threatened is insane. With people like Bush and Sharon having their fingers on their huge skockpile of nukes there is good reason for the entire world to be concerned at what is really being threathened.
The professor makes a good point regarding the bloodthirsty, right-wing types who are in favor of the U.S. bombing of any and all Arab/Muslim country.
A few months ago Senator Lieberman's invitation to the right-wing, Israeli former Prime Minister to address the Senate with his poisonous spechmaking, at the very time Powell was on his peace mission to the Mideast for President Bush was a treasonous act.
It is time for American politicians to quit the annual giveaway of billions of our tax dollars to support the murderous and inhumane occupation.
The professor may want to note that a recent survey showed that only 6% of Jews considered themselves "right wing" although it doesn't say how many of them considered themselves the "bloodthirsty" type. SO if the war is being promoted by right-wingers, and very few Jews and rightwingers, obvously the professor is scapegoating Jews, like has become such an obsesson in Arab/Muslim culture, for a decision very few have promoted.
"If a king will arise from the House of David who is learned in Torah and observant of the mitzvot [the Torah's commandments], as prescribed by the written law and the oral law, as David his ancestor was, and will compel all of Israel to walk in [the way of the Torah] and reinforce the breaches [in its observance]; and fight the wars of G-d, we may, with assurance, consider him the Moshiach. "
"If he succeeds in the above, builds the Temple in its place, and gathers the dispersed of Israel, he is definitely the Moshiach....
"If he did not succeed to this degree or he was killed, he surely is not [the redeemer] promised by the Torah. [Rather,] he should be considered as all the other proper and complete kings of the Davidic dynasty who died. G-d only caused him to arise in order to test the many, as [Daniel 11:35] states; "and some of the wise men will stumble, to try them, to refine, and to clarify until the appointed time, because the set time is in the future."
X claims that "The professor may want to note that a recent survey showed that only 6% of Jews considered themselves "right wing" although it doesn't say how many of them considered themselves the "bloodthirsty" type. SO if the war is being promoted by right-wingers, and very few Jews and rightwingers, obvously the professor is scapegoating Jews, like has become such an obsesson in Arab/Muslim culture, for a decision very few have promoted."
I find it funny that anyone would take such an absurd poll questions as a basis for any commentary.
If in America, Canada, France or in any other western country, people were asked if they were right-wingers the percentage who would answer yes would be about the same 6% (my estimate). Most right-wing types understand that this characterization is negative and not surprisingly they do not admit to being right-wingers.
The real percentage of people who are righ-wing types in Israel, America, Canada, etc. is probably more like four times that percentage. On IMC postings the percentage would appear to be about 33%?
In any event that 6% in Israel meansnothing and it has no relationship to the actual government which is considered either conservative (or right-wing). The majority of Israelis (over 59%) elected this government--one that believes in military solution over more humane resolutions to difficult problems.
Wars or military solutions are never started by politicians with only 6% of support. I'm sure the professor is pragmatic enough to know that. Sharon, Bush and other war lovers have the support of more than 50% of the people---whether we like it or not.
Free Pallestine
The Palestinian Issue
May 20, 2001
Q - Is it true that Neturei Karta International supports Palestinian sovereignty over all of the Holy Land?
A - Our answer is, unequivocally, yes. However, this answer requires some prior explanation. We are an anti - Zionist, Orthodox organization. Our quarrel with Zionism exists on many levels. First, by establishing a state in Palestine which is forbidden according to Jewish law, it denies the Divine punishment inherent in the Jewish people's exile and seeks to remedy what is essentially a spiritual state by this worldly means. Second, it has devoted much of its energy to the uprooting of traditional Torah faith. Third, it has committed a grievous moral evil in its treatment of the Palestinian people.
Q - What do you advocate?
A - We demand, without compromise, the peaceful dismantling of the Israeli state. As to whether or how many Jews may remain there once this process is completed, that decision is totally up to the Palestinian leaders and people.
Q-Aren't you afraid what this might result in for the Jews living in the Land?
A - Actually, we fear far more for the Jews in the present hopeless situation. After 53 years, five wars, endless terror and counter terror, innocent civilians dead on both sides, there is no solution in sight. Both the Israeli right and left have failed miserably to rectify this situation. We are offering an alternative to what is clearly a tragic experiment.
Q - But don't Jews deserve a homeland?
A - No Torah faithful Jew in the 1900 years of our people's exile believed that we should seek to reclaim the land by military means. Instead, they believed that at the end of days, when the Creator chooses to redeem all mankind then all peoples will join in the worship of Him. This will not require the subjugation or dispossession of peoples. It will be a time of universal brotherhood with its spiritual in the Holy Land. Until then the Jewish people have a particular task in exile.
Q - And what might that be?
A - To accept in faith their exile. And, by word and deed, quietly and unobtrusively, to act as moral and spiritual paragons. And, in general to attend to G-d's service via Torah study, prayer and good deeds.
Q - How do you view the Palestinian people?
A - They are the victims of the Zionist movement's moral blindness and obstinate refusal to take into account the existence of peoples other than themselves. The Palestinian people have a right to their homeland. And they have a right to financial restitution for property loss and damages inflicted upon them over the past decades.
Q - What efforts have you brought to this cause?
A - We have frequently published statements in support of Palestinian claims and in sympathy with their suffering. We have joined Palestinians in protest against the abuses that they have been subject to. We have, in general, attempted to maintain a public presence in both the Jewish and Islamic world in order that the venerable tradition of Jewish, Torah based anti - Zionism be not forgotten.
Q - What is your opinion on the peace process, Oslo accords and similar efforts?
A - Any Jewish support for the suffering Palestinian people is a step in the right direction practically and evidence of a moral conscience which every Jew should have. However, we believe that all these plans, although they may be well intentioned, are doomed to failure. Jews are forbidden to exercise political sovereignty over the Hold Land. They are called upon to seek peace with all men. The Zionist enterprise is metaphysically doomed to moral and practical failure.
Q - What should be the Jewish approach to the Islamic world?
A - Jews are called upon to deal ethically and honestly with all men. This is our task as a "kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Zionism has misled many Jews into acts of aggression against the Palestinian people. Therefore, it behooves all Jews, as best we can, to rectify this situation by seeking peace, reconciliation and dialogue when dealing with Palestinian people and all Islamic nations. This is one of the great spiritual tests confronting the Jewish people - to establish a moral relationship with their Islamic brethren.
Q - Realistically speaking, does your program have any chance of implementation?
A - First, the Creator runs the world and with Him all things are possible. Second, there is a tremendous sense of disillusionment and exhaustion among Jews world wide with the Israeli state and Zionism in general . Many realize that following Zionist principles leads to one dead end after another. They are longing for another solution. Our solution, which is simply the ancient tradition of the Torah, is appearing increasingly plausible to many and may, in the not too distant future, with the help of the Creator, carry the day.
Until then we hope and pray that no more innocent blood be shed, be it Jewish or Arab. We yearn for the day when many will come to realize that the only real path to peace lies in the Jewish people returning to their true task in exile, the undivided service of G-d and devotion to morality, integrity and honesty.