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Google search “Arab anti-Semitic cartoons”
Nature would seem by nature anti-monoclonal. It is elaborate and vigorous in invention, and perhaps “the survival of the fittest” refers not only to niche competitions among species over time but “survival of all that fits!”
In anthropology, culture, language, and religion, a great variance fits (and as great a legacy has been buried by time and left to recovery by scholars).
Wikipedia. “List of religions and spiritual traditions”.
The World Atlas of Language Structures Online – Sub-page “Languages”
One God, perhaps; many voices, most definitely!
As a Jew, I believe in God in two dimensions: Tevye’s, to whom one may speak, and Einstein’s, the presence of which in every aspect of the universe fills one with awe.
Be that as it may, the world’s confrontation with Islam, which shimmers in perceived scale and threat, looming large at times when violence against any of its avatars’ endless array of targets has made it the news focus of the day, growing small in the company of Muslim associates and friends facing the same foe, comes freighted with an unseemly anti-Semitic streak, a fair part of it supported by officials in Muslim-majority states. Herewith a haphazard assembly of excerpts and links to more on the lowest standard of all: the quiet acceptance of the promotion of anti-Semitic bigotry (which usually belies other prejudices as well) in the Arab sphere.
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First, however, a paragraph of rose colored counterpoint:
“Amongst the politicians elected in Egypt’s first democratic elections, one still hears the occasional anti-Semitic remark. Fayza Abul Naga, a secular 61 year-old woman who is a holdover from the Mubarak regime, recently claimed that Freedom House, an American NGO that conducts research into democracy advocacy, was ‘a tool of the ‘Jewish lobby.”’
This is ugly and regrettable, but not, I think, insidious — and not because there are almost no Jews left in Egypt, but rather because Jew hatred is a relatively new, imported phenomenon that has little history in Egypt and does not seem to run very deep.”
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“Whatever you do, don’t accuse the person of being Jewish. That may cause an irrevocable breach, and could even provoke violence.
“Anti-Semitism, the socialism of fools, is becoming the opiate of the Egyptian masses. And not just the masses. Egypt has never been notably philo-Semitic (just ask Moses), but today it’s entirely acceptable among the educated and creative classes there to demonize Jews and voice the most despicable anti- Semitic conspiracy theories. Careerists know that even fleeting associations with Jews and Israelis could spell professional trouble.”
Goldberg, Jeffrey. “In Egypt, Anti-Semitism is Back in Fashion.” Bloomberg, August 6, 2012.
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“During World War II, the leader of the Palestinians lived in a Berlin villa, a gift from a very grateful Adolf Hitler, who clearly got his money’s worth. Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem and as such the titular leader of Muslim Palestinians, broadcast Nazi propaganda to the Middle East, recruited European Muslims for the SS, exulted in the Holocaust and after the war went on to represent his people in the Arab League. He died somewhat ignored but never repudiated.”
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“The cartoons in this compilation are consistent with anti-Israel and anti-Semitic caricatures regularly appearing in the Arab and Muslim world depicting Jewish and Israeli power over the international community, demonic imagery to stereotype Jews – including big noses, black coats and hats Ð blood libels and animal references Ð snakes and spiders – to sinisterly portray Israel.”
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“In the run up to the 2012 US presidential elections, media outlets across the Middle East have been featuring cartoons depicting the candidates – President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney – as well as the Democratic and Republican parties and the US electorate as subservient to Israel and the Jews.”
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Out of Syria recently:
“We have to build a society of respect and brotherhood in accordance with the Prophet’s commandments,” he told me in Urdu. “We will treat non-Muslims kindly, but we have a big fight against the Jews ahead of us. We will take that up, God willing.” This manifesto for the future was identical – almost word for word – to what Yahya Mujahid, a senior leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based outfit charged with carrying out the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, told me in Lahore in 2009: that the LeT would take up the “fight” with the Jews after “liberating” Kashmir from Indian rule.”
Komireddi, Kapil. “Rebels with an anti-Semitic cause.” Haaretz, September 21, 2012.
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“The purported “Franklin Prophecy” has been an anti-semitic staple since it was created in the 1930s. The version quoted in Al Madinah is similar to this:
There is a great danger for the United State of America. This great danger is the Jew. Gentlemen, in every land the Jews have settled, they have depressed the moral level and lowered the degree of commercial honesty. They have remained apart and unassimilated; oppressed, they attempt to strangle the nation financially, as in the case of Portugal and Spain.
The Elder of Ziyon Blog. “Today’s anti-Semitism out of Saudi Arabia.” November 1, 2012. EZ will go on in his article to note, “There are anti-semitic articles in the mainstream Arab media every day. And not once have I seen any backlash, corrections or apologies.”
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“Several years ago, there was a survey (methodology unknown) that asked Saudi school children what they thought of Jews. Now, none of these children had actually met a Jew. They were uniform in their reactions, though: they should be spat upon or chased away with stones or simply killed. That reaction did not spring unattended from the minds of these children: it was put there.”
Crossroads of Arabia Blog. “Saudis and Antisemitism.” April 23, 2009.
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“Despite a promise to the USA in July of 2006 to undertake a program of textbook reform by eliminating all passages that disparage or promote hatred toward any religion or religious groups,” the report finds that “the encouragement of violence and extremism remains an integral part of Saudi Arabia’s national textbooks. As before, there continues to be a great preoccupation throughout the texts with Jews and with Israel. Rank antisemitism saturates the curriculum. Repeatedly, Jews are demonized, dehumanized, and targeted for violence.”
Directly related and something of an update:
“The Saudi justice minister said that the Protocols is treated as part of Islamic culture because it is a book that has long been found in plentiful supply in Saudi Arabia (one of the relatively few non-Muslim books to be so), and was a book that his father had in his home.”
Shea, Nina. “Major Publishers Protest Saudi Textbook Content.” Hudson Institute, October 17, 2012.
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Recommended: Stav, Arieh. Peace: The Arabian Caricature: A Study of Anti-Semitic Imagery. PDF Available.
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