From: adam@endor.uucp (Adam Shostack)
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: 18 Aug 92 17:11:42 GMT
Article-I.D.: das.1992Aug18.171142.695
Organization: Aiken Computation Lab, Harvard University

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.


>	Time will tell.
>	We have obtained a tape recording of Kissinger's comment, made two
>months ago at a fund-raising which the New York Times termed an "Israel
>benefit."
>	Kissinger, who sits on the CBS board of directors, was joined in
>the panel discussion by two prominent CBS News employees - anchor Dan
>Rather and Middle East analyst Fouad Ajami, described by Rather that
>evening as "a very longtime CBS News consultant, one of our in-house wise
>men."

Were they there as prvate citizens or representatives of CBS?

>	But neither the anchor nor the "in-house wise man" uttered a word
>of objection when - during the $250-a-plate dinner in New York City for the
>Jerusalem Foundation on June 3 - Kissinger rendered the verdict against an
>entire ethnic group.

Did he?  Why don't we get more context then?

>	Imagine if a former secretary of state had publicly declared, "You
>cannot really believe anything a Jew says." Or, "You cannot really believe
>anything a black says."  It's hard to believe the CBS anchor would have
>let such a statement pass without challenge.

Or, Fuck the jews...

>	At the Jerusalem Foundation event, Ajami drew laughs by making fun
>of Bedouin Arabs.  He belittled the Palestinian cause, and repeatedly
>proclaimed that Arabs were incapable of practicing democracy.

Dr Edward Said has said as much: ~"We Palestinians are of one voice as
to our representaion."  Doesn't sound to me like Dr Said believes in
palestinian democracy, either.

>	Kissinger's ethnic slur that night was in sync with tenor of the
>entire evening.

Other examples, perhaps, or do we only get 30 words out of "the entire
evening?" 

>	After Peretz introduced Rather - "the moderator, the chairman,
>really, of this evening" - as "my favorite newsman," the CBS anchor took
>turns with Kissinger and Ajami in playing to the prejudices of the
>audience.  The result was fore than 10,000 words of unmitigated praise for
>Israel, along with recurring mockery of Arabs.

Recuring, eh?  And we only get 30 words?

>	Rather said that "many of us celebrate" 25 years of Jerusalem
>"united under Israeli rule." He didn't mention the numerous U.N. Security
>Council resolutions declaring Israel's annexation of Palestinian East
>Jerusalem illegal.

He also didn't mention the Zionism=racism resolution.  Whats your
point?  Besides, parts of "Palestinian" east Jerusalem were Jewish
before the riots of 1933 and 1939.

>	Why didn't Rather object to Kissinger's assertion that "you can't
>really believe anything an Arab says"? Perhaps the explanation has to do
>with the attitudes that prevail at his workplace. To watch the CBS Evening
>News is to see the Middle East through the eyes of Israel.  And in the
>world view, Palestinian people look very small and far away.

Watch it guys.  This is begining to sound like "the Jews control the
media."  It would be pretty sad to see a piece decrying racism decend
into anti-Semitism...

>	If Dan Rather is so eager to up with chronic Arab bashers, that's his
>prerogative.  But perhaps in the future his reports on the Middle East
>should be labeled "commentary."

Why? Dan Rather doesn't write the news, he just reads it.

>	And perhaps the new media of this country will tell Henry
>Kissinger that he owes Arab people an apology.

Only if we get to see a full transcript of the evening, to see what it
was Kissinger actually said.  I won't damn anyone on partial evidence
in a newspaper column.

Adam



Adam Shostack 					adam@das.harvard.edu

What a terrible thing to have lost one's .sig.  Or not to have a .sig
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Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic