The Tragedy of Arab Antisemitism | OpinionOct 25, 2023 at 9:51 AM EDT
By Lee Habeeb
Newsweek Columnist, Vice President of Content at Salem Media Group and host of "Our American Stories"
As I watched the demonstrations across the Arab world—and America and Europe—that followed the worst terrorist attack in Israel's history, the only feeling I could muster was disgust. Disgust at fellow Arabs celebrating the deaths of innocent Jews. And millions more silently celebrating. Tragically, it came as no surprise to me. Because there are too many Arabs across the world who hate Jews, and too few who don't.
I didn't know much about Arab antisemitism as a Lebanese kid growing up. It wasn't until I attended college—one with a large number of Arab students, some born in America and others from around the world—that I discovered the depth of the problem.
I was writing for my college newspaper and defended Israel—and criticized Arab states—on points I've long forgotten. What I never forgot was the backlash I got from fellow Arabs. It started with disappointment. Then came the insults. It didn't take long for me to learn that I'd broken a secret code: Arabs don't speak unkindly of Arabs in public, or kindly about Jews.
It startled me, the response by Arab friends and strangers alike. Some accused me of being a self-hating Arab. They said I was exploiting my ancestry to ingratiate myself to white America and the Jews who thrive here—and in Israel. That I was selling out "my people" for personal advantage.
What, I wondered, was the source of this Jew hatred? It was obviously deeper than any land or public policy dispute. I'd never seen such vitriol heaped upon dictators like Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi. When Rafic Hariri, prime minister of Lebanon, was murdered by Hezbollah along with 21 others in 2005, I witnessed no vitriol from Arab friends. When Beirut was destroyed years later, the Arab world shrugged. President Bashar al-Assad's reign of terror in Syria prompted little outrage from Arab friends or the Arab street. But mention Israel or Benjamin Netanyahu to Arab friends and out pours the outrage. Like I'd set off an emotional tripwire. Like the entire Arab world hinges on the West Bank and Gaza.
I initially ascribed the hatred I'd witnessed to one word: coveting. It destroys hearts and minds, and craves more of what others have, replacing love of God with hatred of neighbor. There's a reason the 10 Commandments warn against it.
Too many Arabs, I concluded, hate Israel because this small country—this small slice of the world's population—achieves so much. Here's one fact: Jews make up 0.2 percent of the world's population, but 22 percent of the world's Nobel Prize winners, a staggering achievement. In recent decades, Israel's become a world leader in technology and innovation, earning the nickname "Startup Nation."
And it's no accident. Israel's flourishing is a byproduct of its Jewish roots. Its legal and moral roots trace back to the Torah. A young person in Israel can work in the best high-tech companies in the world or pursue a life dedicated to Talmudic studies. I often ask Arab friends this question: where in the Middle East is it better to be gay or a woman than Israel?
Israel's tolerance extends to its Arab citizens, who account for 2 million of the nation's 9.6 million citizens, all of whom have the same legal rights as Jewish Israelis. There have been Arab members of the Knesset since Israel's founding. Currently, that number stands at 10.
By contrast, Middle Eastern and North African nations have a collective population of 580 million, but only 12,000 are Jews—or 0.002 percent. Christians are vanishing from the Middle East, too. Their population has gone from 20 percent to 4 percent in the last century, much of that decline occurring in the last 20 years. Muslims now make up 90 percent of the Arab world's population, not exactly a model of diversity or inclusion.
But there's more than envy and intolerance behind Arab hatred Israel: fear is another driver. Israel, like America itself, is a threat to dictators, kings, mullahs, and clerics who despise freedom of conscience and the sanctity of the individual. Better to unite the Arab world against a manufactured common enemy than face the enemy looking back at you in the mirror.
Such self-deception has tragic implications, not least of which is Arab self-doubt—a deep worry that maybe Jews are better at unearthing their God-given potential than Arabs. That maybe Arab nations aren't good at cultivating cultures that engender the flourishing of individual freedom and ingenuity. Better to play the role of victim than lift up your own people.
But the biggest reason so many Arabs hate Jews is more elemental: too many hate Jews because Jews are Jewish. One need only look at textbooks throughout the Middle East to discover routine depictions of Jews as agents of evil. One potent example of state-sponsored anti-Jewish propaganda is Arab governments' promotion The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. "This work is used to shape the collective consciousness of Arab populations," wrote Nina Shea of the Hudson Institute. "The Protocols is a century-old fabrication that purports to record the machinations of Jews conspiring to rule the world through treachery, fraud, and violence." The book was used to inspire anti-Semitic pogroms in Russia in the early 20th century, as well as Adolf Hitler's genocidal ambitions.
Add to this the Marxist trope peddled at American and western European universities that Israel is an oppressor nation and Palestinians an oppressed group of innocent victims and it's not hard to understand the protests on campuses worldwide.
Not all Arabs buy this reductionist rubbish, and some Arab nations are working to scrub Jew hatred from their schools and culture. And there's reason for hope in the Middle East. The Hamas attack came amid negotiations over a deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalize relations. These followed the history-making Abraham Accords in 2020, which established diplomatic relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco. That good news is now on hold, and it will take strong Arab voices to unite and condemn not just the Hamas attacks, but antisemitic tropes in Arab culture.
There are legitimate objections to Israeli policies in Gaza and the West Bank, and nowhere are they more present than in Israel itself. Many young people murdered at the Negev music festival were sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. Millions of Jewish Israelis and Americans are, too.
If only more Arabs would renounce antisemitism—and muster sympathy with Israel's legitimate fears and desires—the region might have a shot at a long-term peace.
But it's impossible to have a meeting of the minds if one negotiating partner hates the other for just having been born a Jew.
An Arab Writer On Why Israel Cannot Catch A Break
Reply With Quote
