AJC Urges U.S. Reject Anti-Semitic Activity In Arab World

American Jewish Committee
Wednesday, 5 April 2000

American Jewish Committee Executive Director David A. Harris today urged the United States Congress to give "urgent attention" to the shocking revival of vitriolic anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial across the Arab world.

"Islamic anti-Semitic activity in the Middle East can no longer be ignored or downplayed or viewed as little more than an Arab negotiating tactic in the complex Arab-Israeli peace talks," said Mr. Harris in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "There is an urgent need to reject this behavior unconditionally."

Mr. Harris was invited to testify on anti-Semitism in Europe and the Middle East at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on "The Legacies of the Holocaust," to be held at 2:00 p.m. today at 419 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Citing examples in Egypt and other Arab nations as recent as last week, Mr. Harris said anti-Semitic activity is "ever present in countries already at peace with Israel, and in others that have opened ties to the Jewish state following the significant peace process breakthroughs over the past decade."

Comments by the Islamic Mufti of Jerusalem trivializing the Holocaust during the pope's historic pilgrimage last month are more the rule than the exception, said Mr. Harris. "Holocaust denial language has become common in the Arab media," said Mr. Harris, who provided the Senate committee with examples from papers in Egypt, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.

"While Western nations, especially Germany, are engaged in dialogue and programs aimed at preserving the memory of the Holocaust, Arab media are extolling the widely repudiated views of infamous Holocaust deniers who claim that the Nazi extermination of six million Jews never took place," said Mr. Harris.

Arab media in recent weeks have portrayed Israel's prime minister and foreign minister, in words and in cartoons, as Nazis, while also continuing to print editorials and articles that accuse Israel of spreading poison and viruses in Palestinian areas and as far away as the Arab nations of the Gulf.

"When we raised our ongoing concerns about anti-Semitism in the Arab media during an American Jewish Committee mission last month to Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, our interlocutors characterized this poison as 'the price of a free press'," Mr. Harris reported to the Senators. "One would be hard-pressed to find examples of this sort of condemnation and criticism leveled against the regimes these news organs serve."

"This extraordinary paradox of Israeli and Arab political leaders attempting to build peace while official Arab media, schools, religious leaders, and intellectuals actively demonize the Jewish people is startling," said Mr. Harris.

"Over the long term the antagonistic posture of the Arab media, schools, religious leaders, and intellectuals hardly contributes to creating the necessary climate and culture of peace that is so desperately needed to turn the region from conflict to cooperation," said Mr. Harris, who called on the United States to use its "unprecedented position" to make a difference.

"Our government should condemn hateful rhetoric in the clearest of terms. To some degree at least, the fate of the region depends on it," said Mr. Harris.

Turning to Europe, Mr. Harris expressed particular concern about the growth of neo-Nazi groups, the rise of extreme nationalist parties, especially the Freedom Party in Austria, and the escalation of Islamic extremist activity in Europe.

"History has taught us that there is a strikingly close correlation between the level of anti-Semitism in a society and the level of general intolerance and violence against other minorities," said Mr. Harris, who condemned the attacks on immigrants and other minorities in Europe.

He urged the United States to take a more active role in preparatory meetings for October 2000 European Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, and for the 2001 World Conference Against Racism.

Mr. Harris also recommended that the United States "begin to take a more active role in ensuring that the United Nations and other multilateral organizations face the important challenge of reducing anti-Semitism."

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org