A TIME TO SPEAK
Vol. III:9 (No. 33)
September 2003 - Elul 5763/Tishri 5764
BELIEVE IT . . .
OR NOT
"We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves." -- Eric Hoffer
"O power of fantasy that steals our
minds." --
Dante, from Purgatory
"Why the black answer of hate
to your existence
Israel?" -- from poem by Nelly Sachs
It is a deplorable but commonplace practice
to plant falsehoods about a rival or an enemy. It is also commonplace that
those who plant the falsehoods are aware that they are indeed falsehood. After
they invent and circulate a lie, they do not come to believe it is truth
and act as though it were indeed truth.
If they do come to believe in their own lies,
then their deceit becomes their delusion. They fail to distinguish between
fantasy and reality, and so cannot make rational choices. Tales that are absurd
or even comical can still inspire folly and lethal deeds.
The line between propaganda and hallucination
is flagrantly blurred in the Arab war against Israel and against the Jews.
After spinning monstrous charges against Israel and the Jews, can they then
be willing to co-exist in peace with the monsters? After spinning a false
history for themselves and false claims to what was never theirs, can they
then betray that history or relinquish those claims?
Thus, in trying to persuade others that their
enemy is evil, they persuade themselves that indeed Israel gives Arab children
toys with bombs inside . . . Israel gives Arab children poisoned candy . .
. Israel deliberately spreads disease among Arabs . . .
* * * * * * *
Some of the current deceits have medieval roots:
1] In the Middle Ages, Jews were accused of
poisoning wells. Now, Madam Suha Arafat, addressing a group of Americans that
includes Hillary Clinton, tells them that Israel deliberately contaminates
the Palestinian water supply, and also uses some special poison gas that singles
out Palestinian women and children.
2] In the Middle Ages, in both Europe and the
Muslim Middle East, Jews were victims of the blood libel -- that they kill
non-Jews to use their blood as an ingredient in Jewish cuisine. Now, Mustafa
Tlass, Minister of Defense of Syria, enjoys considerable success for his book
The Matzah of Zion, that endorses and perpetuates the antique
blood libel.
Tlass
is quoted by MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute), 4 September 2003:
[. . . . ] It is natural that Zionism sees me
as an enemy, and this is an honor for me . . . [The plot] of 'The Matzah of
Zion' was set in Damascus. I did not invent it, and it is backed up by documents.
It shows some Jewish rituals. How can the Zionists deny this reality? They
want no one to know about their hostile morality, and thus direct their hostility
towards anyone who exposes their activity. [. . . .]
Comment: The Damascus Blood Libel was a vicious hoax,
perpetrated in 1840 with the assistance of the local French Consul. It caused
the torture and death of scores of entirely innocent Jews.
A professor in Saudi Arabia last year added
a new blood libel, with a dissertation on how Jews use the blood of Christian
and Muslim adolescents in pastries for the Purim festival.
3] "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a
forgery of Czarist Russia promoting a wild canard that the Jews secretly conspire
to rule the world, is accepted as truth throughout the Arab world. A King
of Saudi Arabia distributed expensively bound editions to visiting journalists.
Government TV in Egypt recently ran a long series of programs acting out
the script of the Protocols.
Some of the fantasy-beliefs are of more recent
origin.
1] Mahmoud Abbas, a/k/a Abu Mazen, wrote his
Ph.D. thesis and was awarded his doctorate for his argument that the Holocaust
never took place. (Well, yes, some Jews died, but nothing worth a fuss.) This
is among the items on his curriculum vitae that won him a brief tenure as
"prime minister" of the PLO entity.
Not all Arab scholars deny that the Holocaust
took place. There is a different school of thought that the problem with the
Holocaust is not that it is invented or exaggerated but that it was inadequate,
because some Jews survived it.
2] Prince Najel Ibn Abd Al-Aziz, Saudi Arabia's
Minister of the Interior, charges that Israel perpetrated the massive terrorism
at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He asks himself rhetorically,
"Who benefited from events of 11 September?" He answers himself, "I think
they [the Zionists] are behind these events".
3] Syria's official press promotes its theory
that Israel, by way of Zionist Occupation Forces in Iraq, that bombed the
United Nations Compound, the Jordanian Embassy, and the water main in Baghdad.
4] Saudi Arabia's official press warns that
Israel is trying to take over Iraq, and reveals that "Jewish rabbis" issued
a fatwa defining Iraq as part of Greater Israel. [Comment: Neither a Jewish
rabbi nor any other kind of rabbi issues fatwas.]
* * * * * * *
A particularly cherished fabrication is that
Jews have no genuine history in the Land of Israel or in Jerusalem. Instead,
the "Palestinians" -- a nationality invented for the first time in 1967 --
have been the people of that Land before the beginning of history. Israelites
and Judeans are either obliterated or expropriated, from "Abraham the Iraqi"
to "Jesus the Palestinian".
It is frequently stated with a straight face
that no Jewish Temple(s) ever existed in Jerusalem. The PLO's own mufti asserts,
"There is not a single stone in Palestine that proves the (historical} Jewish
existence."
A
study on the website of the Egyptian Government State Information Service
splatters confusion on the subject, as quoted by IMRA (Independent Media Review
and Analysis}, 24 August 2003:
All along human history, Jerusalem has always
been an Arab Palestinian city. There
is no clearer evidence than the events and incidents of history that prove
this Arab right with documents and scientific facts.. . . . Historical facts prove that Jerusalem
has witnessed Arab urban and human stability since the year 3000 BC. In 2500
BC, Arab Jebusites, descendants of the Jebusite Ben Canaan, made the City
their capital and called it Orsalem, from which the Europeans derived Jerusalem,
which means the City of Light.
In 1479 BC, the City came under the Pharaohs
who used to govern Palestine through one of its citizens. In 1006 BC, the
City came under the rule of kings David and Solomon consecutively. During
the rule of King Solomon, a wall around the City, in addition to the Temple,
were built. After the death of King Solomon, the City was divided into two
kingdoms, Judea in Jerusalem and Israel in Samarrah. The Chaldean King Nebuchadnezzar
expelled the Jews from the two kingdoms. In 580 BC, he destroyed the City,
burned the Temple and expatriated the Jews to Babylon in Iraq.
Since then, namely 600 years BC, the political
history of the Jews had ended in Palestine. [. . . . ]
Israel has carried out many excavations under
Al Aqsa Mosque in an attempt to find historical scripts
to prove its alleged right in Jerusalem. [Comment: Israel has never
touched or approached the Al-Aqsa Mosque.] On the contrary, those excavations
have proven the following:
Excavations under the western wall (the base
of the so-called Wailing Wall) proved nothing related to the Israelis. All
What they found were only two sentences on some rocks about Isaiah engraved
in type of writing that makes attributing them to Kings David or Solomon impossible.
[Comment: Correct. References to Isaiah cannot date to the time of
David and Solomon.] [. . . .]
Al Aqsa Mosque was built on a site far from
that of the Temple of Solomon. [.
. . .] There is no historical evidence that Al Bouraq Wall, the so-called
Wailing Wall, was part of the Temple of Solomon. [Comment: Correct.
It is part of the Second Temple.] Besides, the real name of this wall is Al
Bouraq Wall as mentioned by Prophet Mohammed, PBUH in his Hadith (speech)
about his journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and his Ascension to seventh heavens."
Comments:
1] With the remark that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was
"built on a site far from that of the Temple of Solomon" the learned author
seems to say that the First Temple was not on Temple Mount. He simply ignores
the Second Temple, and thereby ignores the testimony of, among others, Ezra,
Nehemiah, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
2] The source on the Night Journey speaks only
of an al-aqsa mosque ["far-away place"], without a name or location.
A later poem on the subject introduces the name "Jerusalem", and that literary
embellishment is the sole foundation for the claim that Jerusalem is holy
to Islam, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque -- that was originally a Christian Church
-- is of unique sanctity.
However, an article recently published by the
Egyptian Ministry of Culture argues that the unnamed "far-away place" is actually
Medina in Arabia. If so, then al-aqsa is indeed far from the site of the Temple of
Solomon.
3] The full text includes the obligatory lament
on the "Judaizing" of Jerusalem. If Jerusalem had not been "Judaized" 3,000
years ago, it would be no better known or remembered today than Jarmuth, Eglon,
Hormah, Madon, Achshaph, and other lost and forgotten towns of Canaan.
But at least one passage in the Bible is taken
with great seriousness:
And the Egyptians urged on the people
[of Israel], hasting to send them away out of the country . . .
. And the Children of Israel did according to the word
of Moses and asked from the Egyptians vessels of silver and vessels of gold,
and garments. And The Lord gave the people favor with the Egyptians, and
they let them have what they asked . . . . -- Exodus 12:33-36
The dean of an Egyptian law school elaborates
upon this passage, with additional material drawn from some source he does
not disclose.
"Egyptian Jurists to Sue 'The Jews' for Compensation for 'Trillions'
of Tons of Gold Allegedly Stolen During Exodus from Egypt," dispatch by MEMRI
(Middle East Media Research Institute), 22 August 2003. This item is here
quoted in its entirety:
The August 9, 2003 edition of the Egyptian weekly
Al-Ahram Al-Arabi featured an interview with Dr. Nabil Hilmi, Dean of the
Faculty of Law at the University of Al-Zaqaziq who, together with a group
of Egyptian expatriates in Switzerland, is preparing an enormous lawsuit
against 'all the Jews of the world.' The following are excerpts from the
interview:
Dr. Hilmi: Since the Jews make various demands of the
Arabs and the world, and claim rights that they base on historical and religious
sources, a group of Egyptians in Switzerland has opened the case of the so-called
'great exodus of the Jews from Pharaonic Egypt.' At that time, they stole
from the Pharaonic Egyptians gold, jewelry, cooking utensils, silver ornaments,
clothing, and more, leaving Egypt in the middle of the night with all this
wealth, which today is priceless.
Question: What will the group of Egyptians in Switzerland
do about this issue?
Hilmi: Dr. Gamil Yaken, vice president of the Egyptian
community in Switzerland, came to Egypt to collect information. We set up
a legal team to prepare the necessary legal confrontation aimed at restoring
what the Jews stole a long time ago, to which the statute of limitations cannot
possibly apply. Furthermore, [the theft] is based on their holy book, the
same source on which they relied when they invaded other peoples.
The Egyptian Pharaoh was surprised one day to
discover thousands of Egyptian women crying under the palace balcony, asking
for help and complaining that the Jews stole their clothing and jewels, in
the greatest collective fraud history has ever known.
The theft was not limited to gold alone. The
thieves stole everything imaginable. They emptied the Egyptian homes of cooking
utensils. One of the women approached Pharaoh, her eyes downcast, and said
that her Jewish neighbor who lived in the house on the right of her house
had come to her and asked to borrow her gold items, claiming she had been
invited to a wedding. The Jewish neighbor took [the items] and promised
to return them the next day. A few minutes later, the neighbor to the left
knocked on the door and asked to borrow the cooking utensils, because she
was having guests for dinner. Using this same deceitful system, they took
possession of all the cooking utensils.
Question: It is clear why they stole the gold, but why
the cooking utensils?
Hilmi: Taking possession of the gold was understandable.
This is clear theft of a host country's resources and treasure, something
that fits the morals and character of the Jews. Yet what was not clear to
the Egyptian women were the reasons for stealing the cooking utensils, when
other things may have been of greater value. However, one of the Egyptian
priests said that this had been the Jews' twisted way throughout history;
they seek to cause a minor problem connected with the needs of everyday life
so as to occupy people with these matters and prevent them from pursuing them
to get back the stolen gold.
A police investigation revealed that Moses and
Aaron, peace be upon them, understood that it was impossible to live in Egypt,
despite its pleasures and even though the Egyptians included them in every
activity, due to the Jews' perverse nature, to which the Egyptians had reconciled
themselves, though with obvious unwillingness. Therefore, an order was issued
by the Jewish rabbis to flee the country, and that the exodus should be secret
and under cover of darkness and with the largest possible amount of loot.
The code word was 'At midnight.' In addition, the Jewish women were told
to steal the gold and cooking utensils of the Egyptian women, and that is
what happened.
Question: Did they leave individually or as a group?
Hilmi: They left in a convoy of 600,000, that is,
about 120,000 families. There were a few wagons in the convoy, and a long
line of donkeys loaded with the stolen goods. They crossed the desert in the
heart of Sinai, in an attempt to confuse Pharaoh's army, which was on their
trail. Later they rested and began to count the stolen gold, and discovered
that it reached 300,000 kg of gold.
Question: But the Jews can cast doubt on this story
with their usual methods. What is the religious evidence you said is in the
Torah?
Hilmi: Naturally, the Jews cast doubt on this story
because that is in their interest. But the answer would be that the story
is based on what is written in the Torah. It can be found in Exodus, [Chapter]
35, verses 12 through 36.
Question: So what arguments can be made in support of
getting back our stolen gold?
Hilmi: There are two types of claims, one religious
and the other legal. From a religious standpoint, all monotheistic religions
have called not to steal. It is also in the Ten Commandments, which the Jews
were ordered [to observe]. Therefore, they have a basic religious obligation
to return what was stolen, if it exists.
From a legal standpoint, fleeing with the Egyptians'
goods could be for the purpose of borrowing or for the purpose of stealing.
If it is for the purpose of borrowing, legally it has a temporary dimension,
not a permanent dimension, and therefore they must return [the gold], with
interest, to its owners.
On the other hand, if the Jews took the goods
from the Egyptians not for the purpose of borrowing it but to keep them for
themselves, by legal norms this is theft, and therefore they must return the
stolen goods to their owners, in addition to the interest for its use over
the entire period of the theft.
Question: What do you think is the value of the gold,
silver, and clothing that was stolen, and how do you calculate their value
today?
Hilmi: If we assume that the weight of what was stolen
was one ton [its worth] doubled every 20 years, even if the annual interest
is only 5%. In one ton of gold is 700 kg of pure gold and
we must remember that what was stolen was jewelry, that is, alloyed with
copper. Hence, after 1,000 years, it would be worth 1,125,898,240 million
tons, which equals 1,125,898 billion tons for 1,000 years. In other words,
1,125 trillion tons of gold, that is, a million multiplied by a million tons
of gold. This is for one stolen ton. The stolen gold is estimated at 300
tons, and it was not stolen for 1,000 years, but for 5,758 years, by the
Jewish reckoning. Therefore, the debt is very large.
The value must be calculated precisely in accordance
with the information collected, and afterward a lawsuit must be filed against
all the Jews of the world, and against the Jews of Israel in particular, so
they will repay the Egyptians the debt that appears in the Torah.
Question: Is a compromise solution possible?
Hilmi: There may be a compromise solution. The debt
can be rescheduled over 1,000 years, with the addition of the cumulative interest
during that period."
Dr. Hilmi is probably unaware that his proposed
suit constitutes double jeopardy. In a tradition preserved in the Talmud,
representatives of Egypt brought this claim for judgment by Alexander the
Great. The Jews then presented a counter-claim for reparations for centuries
of unpaid forced labor in Egypt. Alexander gave the Egyptians three days to
frame their response. They never came back.
Case dismissed.
* * * * * * *
A
criminal offense in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) was detected by an alert
child, as reported in Gulf News Online Edition,
16 August 2003:
A UAE national complained last week to municipality
officials that the dress he bought for his wife had the Jewish Star of David
on it. Naji Montasir said that he had bought the dress from a boutique . .
. and that he did not notice it at the time.
The dress was a gift for his wife. Even she
did not initially notice it, but when she put it on their eight-year-old son
recognised the star and told them about it. Montasir thereupon took the dress
to the police and filed a complaint against the owner of the shop. . . .
the police directed him to the municipality, which is responsible for inspecting
the markets. Montasir filed a case here as well.
Inspectors searched the shop and confiscated
all the dresses bearing the symbol, to be destroyed later. Mubarak Ali Al
Shamsi, Director General of the municipality, meanwhile pointed out that the
UAE has official bodies to monitor the entry points at the ports and airports.
They are given clear instructions not to let Israeli goods in the country,
he noted.
He added these goods do not penetrate the UAE
markets from Israel directly, but pass through some other third-party countries.
Whenever these products enter the UAE, the authorities here try to seize and
destroy them, the official noted. However, he clarified that the owner of
the shop selling these dresses will not be punished as he has nothing to
do with it.
Al Shamsi also urged the public to report such
violations at the municipality to keep the country free of Israeli products.
Comment: Wherever the dress was made, it was almost
certainly not Israel. The Shield of David (not "Star of David") is an emblem
formed of two interlocking triangles, easily confused with the common geometric
pattern of a six-point star.
A more acceptable item of ladies' apparel is
a frock designed in Saudi Arabia and modeled at a fashion show in Beirut.
It is tastefully decorated with tanks and colorful splashes simulating Jewish
blood, and worn with an intifada headscarf.
* * * * * * *
Gulf News Online, Dubai, UAE, 12 September 2003:
Palestinians have thrown a tight security cordon
around President Yasser Arafat fearing his assassination by unconventional
means that could be construed as 'a natural death', [. . . .]
The new security steps include searching and
close monitoring of all Arafat's visitors. The sources said that one speculated
method of assassination could be the direction of poisonous rays towards Arafat's
brain. These rays can cause palpitations in the heart leading to a failure
of brain resulting in gradual stop in breathing and ultimate death.
[. . . .] Meanwhile, sources in the Islamic
group Hamas, said that Dr Abdul Aziz Rantissi and other leaders have recently
refused to give interviews to foreign television channels, especially after
the failed assassination of Al Rantissi and the Israeli intention to assassinate
the entire Hamas leadership.
There are fears that [an] assassination attempt
will be repeated on other leaders by a device emitting poisonous rays embedded
in a video camera.
* * * * * * *
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has banned the American
Barbie doll, on the grounds that she is immoral, she is a source of corruption
for Arab girls, and the model for the doll is Jewish.
END