Anti-Semitism in the Syrian Media
Syria, long one of Israel's most intransigent enemies, entered face-to-face
negotiations with Israel at the 1991 Madrid Conference, with subsequent
bi-lateral negotiations held at the State Department in Washington and at the
Wye River Plantation in Maryland. No public negotiations have been conducted
since February 1996. With the signing of the Israeli-Palestinian Wye
Memorandum in October 1998, the United States declared the hope of progress on
the Israel-Syria track and has expressed a willingness to reengage in these
negotiations.
Should Israel and Syria return to the negotiating table, the basis of the
talks will be territorial compromise by Israel in return for Syria
establishing normalized relations with the Jewish State. Following the
precedent set in the peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan, and the interim
agreements with the Palestinians, such normalized relations will include a commitment to
speak out against and prevent anti-Semitic and anti-Israel incitement in the
government-controlled Syrian media. (There is no independent media in Syria.)
Syrian Daily Al Baath,
October 21, 1998 |
There are frequent anti-Semitic articles and caricatures in the Syrian
media, including classical anti-Semitic stereotypes, comparisons of Israel
with the Nazis and Holocaust denial. After Roger Garaudy, the French Holocaust
denier, was invited to Damascus by the Ministry of Information, the
government-owned newspaper Tishrin praised Mr. Garaudy for
"exposing the lies of the Zionist movement which exaggerated what
happened to Jews during the Second World War for political purposes." A
recent theme is the "international Jewish conspiracy" behind the
Lewinsky affair. Commenting on the situation in August 1998, Defense Minister
Mustafa Tlass (the author of the widely available book The Matza of Zion,
which attempts to prove the 1840 blood libel against the Jews of Damascus)
declared, "it is a plot fabricated by worldwide Zionism." Mr. Tlass
claimed a "Jewish lawyer" told Kenneth Starr about the Lewinsky
affair, concluding "all this definitely proves that worldwide Zionism and
particularly American Jews are in the service of Israel."
The following is a compendium of recent anti-Semitic
statements and caricatures in the Syrian media.
- Jews as Nazis
- Jews as Enemies of Arabs
- Zionist Control of the U.S. Government
- Monica Lewinsky Affair, a Jewish
"Plot"
- Holocaust as "Myth"
Jews as Nazis
- "We all know how the Nazi Germans administered their affairs, as
they had many scientific, technological and industrial achievements. The
Nazi seizure of power resulted in a tragedy for the nations of the world.
The question is, will the fate of the Israelis today be different from the
fate of the Germans then? Though via force one can maintain facts on the
ground exactly as it was in Nazi Germany, which annexed unto itself most
of the territory of Europe and many territories in Africa and Asia, but
Hitler disappeared in the end and the battles in El Alamein, Normandy and Stalingrad became
the symbol of the defeat of Nazi Germany."
Syrian Daily Tishrin,
March 15, 1997 |
- May 19, 1998 Damascus Radio
- "The same theory of making demands by which Netanyahu operates was
also supported by Adolf Hitler in his time, who ignored decisions of the
United Nations and did not take them into account. Indeed, he displayed a
great deal of arrogance and conceit, the results of which are known. The
Israelis must ask themselves if there is any difference between Hitler's
policies and Netanyahu's current policies and whether they have come to
terms with these policies while ignoring the results that occurred in Nazi
Germany."
- April 28, 1998 Damascus Radio
- "The efforts made [by the European Union] for two years [to promote
the peace process] failed only because they sought to flatter Netanyahu
and speak to him logically and sensibly, which is in definite
contradiction to Talmudic tales Netanyahu believes in and to his
despicable racism. There is no doubt that the European countries are more
aware than all the other countries of the world of the danger inherent in
a person who is motivated by hostile tendencies and expansionist aims. We
do not think that they have forgotten the dangers and the destruction
stemming from flattering Hitler and from refraining from extricating
themselves from the Nazi aspirations. We do not think that Hitler was more
extreme or more aggressive than he was. If there is a difference between
them it is only in capability."
- April 20, 1998 Damascus Radio
- "The arrogant behavior encountered by European emissaries to the
Middle East when they visit Israel is reminiscent of the arrogance of Nazi
Germany.... Netanyahu is following in Hitler's path."
- March 19, 1998 Al-Baath
- "Netanyahu's radical government approved Israeli pharmaceutical
companies carrying out tests of medicines, (which were proven injurious)
on Arab prisoners in Israeli jails. What goes on in Israeli jails is
reminiscent of Nazi crimes against humanity. Besides the torture and the
insufferable conditions, the Israeli jails have become a field for
carrying out deadly scientific experiments on Arab prisoners, to serve the
racism goals of Israeli racist supremacy and to realize their dream of the
'Chosen People.' Israeli labs and institutions are currently completing a
shocking research whose purpose is to pave the way for 'progress' which
has heretofore never existed in the sphere of racist biology, as planned
by Nazi Hitlerism. The terrible examinations also recall those carried out
on the Blacks in the U.S. by racism American groups."
- November 4, 1997 Syria Times
- "The rash behavior that European emissaries to the Middle East
encounter when visiting Israel recalls the arrogance of Nazi
Germany...Netanyahu is following the path of Hitler."
- March 19, 1997 Al Baath
Jews as
Enemies of Arabs
- "I have explained all this to you so that we may be acquainted with
our enemies and be aware of their evil deeds from a long time ago. In
these days, all of us, Arabs and Muslims, must stand together against the
Jews in the face of their lies, promises, threats and declaration so that
they do not destroy the Arab home and the Muslim home. We must stand forth
as did the Prophet against them so that we may be victorious. Our enemies,
especially the Jews, lack all principles and virtues such as justice and
honesty. The Jews distort all the facts in order to achieve their goals.
How glorious will the day be when all of us join as one person against the
enemies of history and mankind to restore them to their natural size,
because if we stand up against them divided, this will be the end of
mankind and human culture."
- June 19, 1998 Dr. Ziad Al-Ayubi on the "Religious Morning
Discussion" on Damascus Radio
Syrian Daily Al-Thawra, October
1, 1998
- "There are some Arabs that live under an illusion. They are
convinced that they have emotional barriers that can prevent them from
having a comfortable relationship with Jews. And therefore, some of them
tend to break down these barriers and claim that this is a very brave
thing to do...But the psychological barriers on the other side [the Jews]
are more deeply rooted and are higher because of their very high opinion
of themselves. This is a historical hostility based on the Jewish hatred
of the Arab. If this hatred was characterized in the past by tricks and
schemes, it is manifest today in insolent and cruel murder with no remorse
or word of sorrow."
- August 15, 1997 -- Al-Thura
Zionist Control of the U.S.
Government
- "...the American patron suffered insults, abandoned the initiative
and the patronage and gave in to Zionist blackmail and sacrificed
everything even the interest of the American people, in order to serve the
Biblical plan."
- July 22, 1998 Al-Baath magazine
Syrian Daily Al-Thawra, June
14, 1998
- "As usual and whenever Israel's 'viewpoint' is different from
America's in settling the conflict in the Middle East, the Zionist lobby,
especially in the Congress, operates the machine of blackmail and
pressure."
- January 25, 1998 Syria Times
Monica Lewinsky Affair, a
Jewish "Plot"
- "The Netanyahu government has become convinced that the U.S.
administration is unable to carry out any pressing role due to the
Monica-gate scandal which began to shake the very foundations of the oval
office. This scandal is undoubtedly the making of the Jewish lobby in the
U.S. and it is run politically by the Zionists allied to the Likud-led
government in Tel Aviv."
- September 14, 1998 Syria Times (English language)
Syrian Daily Al-Thawra, September
4, 1998
- "This is not unusual for the Jews who have connections with the
Zionists. Their history is full of devising conspiracies, even against the
countries in which they live, whose citizenship they bear and whose
benefits they enjoy. U.S. President Clinton is acquainted with the example
of the destructive role played by the Jewish lobby in the U.S. Anyone
interested in documents from World War I can learn about the role German
Jews played in organizing conspiracies to undermine Germany, harm its
economy and weaken its capabilities, which deteriorated to the extent that
it led to its defeat. Whoever studies these documents can also understand
why the hatred of Jews consequently increased so severely."
- September 2, 1998 Damascus Radio
- "Monica is a Jewess, the lawyers who volunteered to defend her were
Jews, Monica's friends who recorded the hot phone conversations between
her and President Clinton were Jewesses and the 'Washington Post'
newspaper which published the affair for the first time is a Jewish
newspaper. Is it mere chance that Lewinsky kept the blue dress with the
stain for almost two years and presented it as evidence of the connection
with the President? The scheme was planned carefully from the beginning
until the present. Her goal was to embarrass President Clinton, to
blackmail him and weaken his status before Netanyahu's government."
- August 24, 1998 Tishrin Al-Usbu'a
Holocaust
as "Myth"
- "The campaign of Jewish blackmail began in Switzerland and later
extended to Germany, Romania and other Western countries. This raises many
legitimate doubts concerning everything connected with the myth of the
Nazi ovens used for the destruction of the Jews. Many authors and
researchers around the world have concluded that all the stories about
this matter were exaggerated and fabricated, since many Jewish officers
served in the Nazi command, among whom several were close to Hitler. It is
therefore impossible that any nation in the world would be compelled to
pay reparations to fictitious victims for dubious tragedies..."
- November 7, 1998 Damascus Radio
Source: Copyright Anti-Defamation League
(ADL). All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
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