April
29, 2003, 9:00 a.m.
Lots of Arab Shock, but Not Much Awe
They still hate
us.
By Michael
Freund
lot of things may have changed in the Middle East since the Stars and
Stripes were raised triumphantly over Baghdad, but the Arab world's hateful
anti-Western rhetoric certainly isn't one of them.
While the sweeping
assertion of American power initially left much of the Arab world in a state
of utter disbelief, that incredulity has quickly dissolved into the familiar
stream of fierce and violent rhetoric.
Take, for example, some of the prayer sermons that were broadcast a week
ago Friday on official state-run channels throughout the region. Delivering
their homilies before nationwide audiences, the sheikhs and imams of the
Arab states left no doubt about their feelings vis-à-vis America
and its policy in Iraq.
"O Allah, deal with the enemies of Islam including Zionists and Americans.
O Allah, shake the land under their feet, instill fear in their hearts,
and freeze the blood in their veins," cried the Yemeni preacher in
Sanaa's Grand Mosque, as his words were carried live across the southern
Arabian peninsula.
Further north, in Saudi Arabia, the message delivered over the country's
airwaves was no less shrill or confrontational. In a sermon broadcast on
the kingdom's official TV2 television station, the impassioned cleric lambasted
America for invading Iraq, beseeching the heavens as follows: "O Allah,
deal with them for they are within Your power. O Allah, make their plans
destroy them. O Allah support jihad for your sake everywhere."
A similar theme ran through the oration on Syrian radio that day, where
the speaker, addressing a gathering of worshippers at Damascus' al-Zahra
mosque, referred to Coalition forces in Baghdad as the "new Mongol
invaders." With evident pride, he openly acknowledged that Syria had
sent people across the border to Iraq to fight American troops, saying,
"Our youths, who went to the aid of the Iraqi people, were noble and
chivalrous. You could see real manhood in their faces. We are proud of them."
And if you thought that the presence of Central Command headquarters in
Qatar's capital of Doha would have a moderating influence on that country,
think again. Qatari television carried a sermon from the Omar Bin-al-Khattab
mosque in Doha, in which the presiding sheikh said that the "infidels"
(i.e. America) may have the military might, but their "oppression"
would not continue forever.
But perhaps the sharpest tones could be heard coming from the Palestinians,
whose regret over the fall of Saddam was laced with outrageous accusations
against the United States. Official Palestinian television aired a sermon
delivered at a Gaza mosque in which the preacher accused America of overseeing
the devastation of Iraq. "America organizes the systematic destruction
of Iraq," he said. "America organizes the looting, plundering,
and destruction operations... America organizes these campaigns by thieves
and traitorous plotters in order to strike at honest Iraqis and the upcoming
Iraqi resistance."
Lest anyone doubt where the Arafat-appointed preacher's sympathies may lie,
he concluded his harangue by praying for victory for the Palestinians and
Iraqis "against the Jews, Britain, and the United States and their
allies."
It would be easy to dismiss all this as just more of the same boisterous
Middle Eastern rhetoric that often characterizes this part of the world.
Easy, but dangerously misguided.
After all, television and radio stations throughout the Arab world are not
independent outlets broadcasting a range of views. They are mouthpieces
for their respective regimes, feeding the public a stream of pre-approved,
carefully calibrated messages for public consumption. They represent the
ideas and attitudes which the governing powers wish to convey to their subjects.
As such, the pattern that emerges is clear and unequivocal: The Arab world
still hates America and everything it represents. There may be lots of shock
ringing throughout Arab capitals, but there appears to be very little awe.
— Michael Freund served as deputy director
of communications and policy planning under former Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. He is currently a columnist for the Jerusalem
Post.
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lot of things may have changed in the Middle East since the Stars and
Stripes were raised triumphantly over Baghdad, but the Arab world's hateful
anti-Western rhetoric certainly isn't one of them.
