From: wmuhanna@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Waleed A Muhanna)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic,talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Re: Kissinger, Ajami, and Rather display Anti-Arab Bigotry at Israeli Benefit
Keywords: racism, CBS, New Republic, U.S. News and World Report
Date: 19 Aug 92 18:45:16 GMT
Article-I.D.: magnus.1992Aug19.184516.11856
Organization: The Ohio State University

In article <1992Aug18.171142.695@das.harvard.edu> adam@endor.uucp (Adam Shostack) writes:
>In article <1992Aug17.195626.16284@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> wmuhanna@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Waleed A Muhanna) writes:
>
>>	If a former U.S. secretary of state flatly declares that "you
>>can't really believe anything an Arab says," would that be big news?
>
>This Secretary of State delt extensively with Arabs leaders and
>diplomats.  If its his opinion that he was consistently lied to, then
>no, it wouldn't be.
>
>>	Or are we so accustomed to anti-Arab prejudices that this
>>statement by Henry Kissinger - first publicized in the article you are now
>>reading - won't be considered newsworthy?
>
>Is this prejudice, or a statement based on his personal experiences
>with the movers and shakers of the Arab world?  We only get a small
>quote, relieved of any possible contextual explanation, so we don't
>know if he was speaking of all arabs, or if he was talking about
>negotiating with Arab governments.

For someone like Mr. Shostack whose antennas are hyper-sensitized to
anything even remotely smelling of "anti-semitism," the above response
is particularly revealing.

Kissinger's sentence in any context is racist.  Kissinger said 
       "you can't really believe anything an Arab says".
The statement is clearly racist -- no ifs or buts.  I cannot imagine a
context that mitigates this.  Either he didn't say it, or he uttered a 
racist remark.  Period.   FAIR has it on tape and you can order the
transcripts from them.

Kissinger basically lumped all 180 million Arabs into one being whom you
"can't really believe."  He rendered an unconscionable verdict against an 
entire ethnic group.  This is clearly racist regardless of the context.  
This is not the first time, by the way, that Kissinger uttered things 
which clearly show his hatred towards the Arabs.   But, I suppose that
is perfectly okay for Mr. Shostack and the Shamir crowd since it serves 
to reinforce zionist propaganda and spreads hatred and bigotry against 
the Arabs.

It would have been perfectly fine had Kissinger said "You really can't believe 
anything Sadat (or King Faisal) said" -- assuming for the sake of argument 
that those leaders with whom he had dealt had lied to him.  He didn't, of 
course, choosing instead to characterize ALL Arabs as being pathological 
liars.

Shostack, I am sure, would have been among the first who would jump up and
down, raise hell, and yell "anti-semitism" has anyone (let alone a public 
figure), in any context, said "You can't really believe anything a Jews 
says" or "You can't really trust a Jew,"  even if the person who utters 
such racist remarks had been lied to or cheated by Jewish leaders.   
When the target of the racist remarks is the Arabs, instead of the Jews, 
and when those remarks and others slurs are made during a benefit for Jewish 
settlers, a setting where Arab bashing is guaranteed to be a crowd 
pleaser,  Shostack suddenly (and hypocriticly I must add) attempts to
summon a flimsy excuse for the inexcusable.   Pretty revealing and sad.

> [rest deleted]

>Adam Shostack

Waleed Muhanna
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"the man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny"
			Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic,talk.politics.mideast