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Arab Programming Relies on Historical Anti-Semitism

Arab Programming Revives Historical Canards, inclucing “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”

SEE VIDEO REPORT ON THE AIRING OF “PROTOCOLS” PIECE ON EGYPTIAN TELEVISION CLICK HERE [1]

The connection between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is a hotly debated issue. Over the past two years, many Arab satellite television stations, ironically, have done their best to blur the distinction. Egyptian, Lebanese and Iraqi stations, to name but a few, are squeezing what they can out of a 19th century Russian forgery concocted by the Czarist authorities. ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ describes a Jewish plot to take over the world. Having been discredited by all legitimate scholarship, the tome had been consigned to the trashcan of historical forgeries until Arab government-run satellite channels revived it as a tool in its campaigns to equate Zionism with racism and to discredit the State of Israel, which they describe as the realization of the ‘Protocols.’

On Sunday, December 15th, several Arab satellite television stations, including the Hizbullah station, Al-Manar, and two Egyptian television stations screened a section of the serial, “A Rider Without a Horse”. The episode rehashed common stereotypes of religious Jews. Some 15 people, replete with beards, side locks, black cloaks and skullcaps, were filmed meeting by a chanukiah, a common Jewish symbol, discussing how to control the world. The piece begins with an elderly man who is dressed like a rabbi declaring, “My friends, gold, gold…”. He is clarifying that the Jews already have copious amounts of gold, but it is not enough to control the world. Money and violence is the required combination.

Very recently, the Iraqi satellite television station screened a documentary on the history of Zionism. This documentary also made extensive use of quotes from the ‘Protocols’ as if they were historical truth. These films and documentaries attempt to link the “secret plans of the Jews” with the contemporary situation. For example, Arab television talks at length about how Zionism is the successor of Western colonialism. The piece broadcast on Sunday ‘explains’ how the Jews use international terrorism as an excuse to engage in terrorism themselves.

[Note: This is a worrying development in the Arab world and is sure to impact on U.S.-Arab relations in the near future. The ascendancy of anti-Semitism in the Arab world, which includes talk of how America is controlled by the Jews, is symptomatic of anti-Americanism. The Arab world has undergone many ideological experimentations and revolutions in the past few decades. None have led to economic prosperity or social harmony. The last-ditch attempt of the dictators of the Arab world to keep their populace on the safe side of revolution leads them to the history books in order to find and revive medieval examples of successful tools of incitement. – Simon Lassman]