US media's punching bag

by George S. Hishmeh

In the din of the presidential campaign here, cheap shots at Arab and Muslim concerns are regularly taken by all, but it is most shocking when these are fired by widely read commentators who sometimes write perceptively and sympathetically, but at times their otherwise discordant views are hardly challenged.

Take the case of Thomas L. Friedman's piece last Sunday in The New York Times. He said he found "a steadily rising perception across the Arab-Muslim world that the great enemy of Islam is JIA - `Jews, Israel and America' - lumped together in a single threat."

Here, he too participates willingly in bashing the favourite American punching bag - the Arab media, particularly television networks and especially Al Jazeera, the most popular station in the Arab world, which at one time won American admiration. Friedman charged that this anti-JIA "trend has been fanned by Arab satellite TV stations, which deliberately [emphasis added] show split-screen images of Israelis bashing Palestinians and US forces bashing the Iraqi insurgents".

What escapes Friedman's analysis, surprisingly, is the fact that these two subjects are indeed the Arab world's prime concern; there's hardly a day that passes without reading of additional killing of Palestinians, including women and children, by the Israel army in the Gaza Strip, or more bloodshed reported in strife-torn Iraq, thanks to the American-led invasion and continued occupation of this virtually war-ravaged Arab state.

He certainly must be aware, for example, that the American media have hardly exposed Israeli machinations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, thanks to the Bush administration's lovefest with Ariel Sharon and preoccupation with Iraq - (but to Friedman's credit he finds the Bush team in this respect "inept at diplomacy"). There's hardly an in-depth report, on television or in the mainstream print media, about the devastation that Israel has wrecked upon the Gaza Strip, which it promises (for ulterior motives) to evacuate next year.

For a start, the American media can investigate Israel's lame excuse by highlighting the underground tunnels it said the Palestinians had dug across the Israeli-controlled Palestinian-Egyptian border to smuggle in arms. Or they can examine the deplorable living conditions of the Palestinians in the UN-run refugee camps which served as killing fields for the marauding Israeli troops. But the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, if every it is discussed, is now reserved to the back pages of the leading newspapers.

Another Times columnist, William L. Safire, a buddy of Sharon's, is concerned that the "stunning reversal of opinion within a growing voting bloc [of Arab and Muslim Americans] is having an impact" in the presidential election. There are about half a million Arab Americans in Michigan, one of the battleground states, and he reports that, according to the Arab-American Institute, "most have turned anti-Bush". Accordingly, he continues, "Jewish American voters who differ with their Arab and Muslim compatriots, one might logically conclude would seriously consider supporting the candidate who many Israelis believe have been their best friend in the White House," President George Bush. But this is not the case, he pointed out, obviously disappointed that "8 out of 10 Jewish American voters will still vote as a bloc to oust him".

Safire offers a lopsided cover-up: "... most Jewish Americans quite properly base their vote on the issues like social justice, civil liberty, economic fairness and not primarily on what may be good for Israel."

Hogwash. I will bet my last dollar that had Senator John Kerry, the Democratic challenger, come out for a fairer consideration of the Palestinian position, the Jewish American community would have backed Bush, come hell or high water.

This is not to defend Arab actions, in the media or elsewhere, come what may. In fact, this brings me to the agonising case of Margaret Hassan, the British aid worker who has lived in Iraq for 30 years and is the wife of an Iraqi national. Hassan, an Iraqi citizen who has worked with an international relief agency to help Iraqis in their hour of need, is the highest profile figure to fall victim to the wave of kidnappings sweeping Iraq, totalling some 150 of all nationalities and walks of life. She should be released forthwith to her husband, an Iraqi national.

It is these unconscionable actions that provide ammunition to those who seek every opportunity to give Arabs and Muslims a black eye. This practice of hostage taking in Iraq, as well as the indiscriminate killing of innocent people have immeasurably hurt the cause of Iraqi independence and has denied Iraqis worldwide sympathy for their struggle against occupation. It is high time to end this shameful practice and seek more honourable ways to end Iraq's torment.

This article was published in the Friday-Saturday, October 29-30, 2004 edition of the Jordan Times. It is used here with permission.