- "And why was there no attempt by the Western media
to prove [Mahathir] wrong by showing that the Jews are not proxy rulers?
Instead, they just indulged in bashing, name-calling and tagged him as
anti-semitic."
-
- Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's opening speech at last
week's Organisation of Islamic Conference Summit in Putrajaya has been
criticised by many in the West as being anti-Jew, disgusting and repulsive.
Is this a correct perception?
-
- No, really. Which bit of Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad's
speech at the opening of OIC summit is inflammatory, offensive, repugnant
and deserving of contempt? That he called on Muslims to use their brains
and not just brawn to fight their enemies? That he told them to stop blowing
themselves up? And not act out of anger as irrational acts only beget more
violence? Or that the Malaysian leader told Muslims they could learn a
lesson or two from the Jews? And that numbers alone do not make strength?
-
- This means unity - something the 1.3 billion Muslims
lack and the few million Jews have.
-
- Or was it his remarks that the Jews have become arrogant
and arrogant people make mistakes? Or that the Jews rule the world by proxy
and get others to fight and die for them?
-
- Now, really, which of these are untrue?
-
- Just take the Jewish-rule-the-world by proxy comment.
-
- Why the uproar about it? Isn't this a known fact? The
difference perhaps is that others have not expressed it in such blatant
terms as the plain-speaking Malaysian Prime Minister. But many have studied
and written on the powerful Jewish lobby in the US administration, their
control of the media, influence on economy and even Hollywood.
-
-
- A number of Jews sit in key positions in the US administration
and they steer much of the US foreign policy. Just take the current George
W. Bush administration. There's Paul Wolfowitz, deputy defence secretary
and close advisor of foreign policy, and Richard Perle, chairman of the
Defence Policy Board, the Pentagon's advisory panel. Perle comes with a
colourful past. In the 1970s, he was expelled from Senator Henry Jackson's
office for passing highly-classified documents to the Israeli embassy.
And later, he worked for an Israeli weapons firm, while Wolfowitz is said
to have close ties with the Israeli military.
-
- Another intriguing character is Elliot Abrams, who is
in the National Security Council (NSC), the principal forum for security
and foreign affairs for the US president.
-
- Hawkish, very pro-Israeli, Abrams is best known for his
role in the Iran Contra scandal where arms were illegally sold to Iran
to fight Iraq. He pleaded guilty in 1991 about lying to Congress over the
affair and a year later received a full pardon from Bush senior.
-
- And today Abrams advises Bush junior on Middle East affairs
and gets to present papers on policy to Condoleezza Rice, the National
Security Advisor. There's also Douglas Feith, undersecretary of Defence
and Policy Advisor at the Pentagon whose appointment caused quite a stir
in the Arab world.
-
- Arab-American Institute president Dr James Zogby called
it a "dangerous appointment" because having Feith, known for
his extreme anti-Arab bias, as a chief architect of the US foreign policy
was bad news for the Middle East.
-
- There are also others like Dov Zekheim the under-secretary
of Defence, Richard Haas ñ director of planning at the state department
and a strong advocate of the bombing of Iraq, Marc Grossman under-secretary
for political affairs, James Schelesinger, an advisor to the Pentagon,
Lincoln Bloomfield assistant secretary of state for political military
affairs and Robert Zoellick and Robert Satloff.
-
- With so many pro-Israeli American Jews in the US administration,
why is there a problem when someone states the obvious? And questions who
is really in charge? And puts in perspective why US policies are always
skewed in favour of Israel no matter how unfair?
-
- One should not also forget the 60,000-strong American
Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the influential Jewish lobby
group with deep pockets which funds election and re-election campaigns
of senators, congressmen and presidents.
-
- Although Jews make up only 2% to 3% of the US population,
Jewish political scientist and author Benjamin Ginsberg points out that
close to half of America's billionaires are Jews. Just take Bill Clinton's
re-election campaign in 1996.
-
-
- A member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organisations was quoted in a Jerusalem Post report that Jews alone
had contributed 50% of funds for Clinton's campaign.
-
- Therefore it is hardly surprising when Dr Fahed Fanek,
a leading Jordanian economics and media consultant, writes that AIPAC has
"enough clout to make or break politicians." Bush "trembles
with fear" at AIPAC which can "easily set the US media against
him," he says.
-
- That fear is understandable since the Jews own a great
chunk of the media and, in those they don't, they wield considerable influence.
-
- Ginsberg notes the three major television networks in
the United States have Jews as chief executive officers and that Jews own
the nation's largest newspaper chain and the influential newspaper New
York Times. Kevin McDonald's of California State University in his study
on Jews and the Media writes that the extent of Jewish ownership in media
is remarkable. These include holdings in major media companies like CNN,
Time magazine, CBS, ABC, Wall Street Journal and Newsweek.
-
- As for non Jew-owned media such as Fox News and NBC,
he says ethnic Jews hold major managerial roles there.
-
-
- There is also coercion of the media.
-
- Dr Fahed cites the example of the Los Angeles Times losing
1,000 subscriptions in a single day for printing reports deemed not sufficiently
supportive of Israel's military action in the West Bank.
-
- Another popular newspaper, he says was forced to apologise
to readers for printing a photograph of a pro-Israeli rally that had a
few anti-Israel demonstrators in the background!
-
- Even former US joint chiefs of staff Admiral Thomas Moorer
was once so exasperated with the Israeli- Jewish hold on the United States
and that no US president dared to stand up to them.
-
- "If the American people understood what a grip those
people have got on our Government, they would rise up in arms.
-
- "Our citizens certainly don't have any idea what
goes on," he had said.
-
- So wasn't Dr Mahathir at the OIC summit then just calling
a spade a spade and telling it as it is? And why was there no attempt by
the Western media to prove him wrong by showing that the Jews are not proxy
rulers?
-
- Instead, they just indulged in bashing, name-calling
and tagged him as anti-semitic.
-
- Syrian editor Fuad Mardoud who listened to Dr Mahathir's
opening speech at the summit says anyone who read or listened to the speech
would not get a feeling of anti-semitism from it.
-
- So he thinks the Western media take on the speech is
a deliberate attempt to defame the leader.
-
- "Dr Mahathir is rising as a great Islamic leader.
"The West anticipates that he will gain big results for the Muslim
world so this is their way to cut it short," he says.
-
- While some like Fuad may favour the conspiracy theory,
the angling by the Western media may just be a case of different worlds,
different perceptions, like some seeing half a glass of water as the glass
being half empty and others seeing it half full.
-
- The Muslim world has failed to unite on many issues in
the past; honestly telling the Muslims to pause and think out strategies
is certainly not "breaking news" as far as the international
media is concerned.
-
- It is far more exciting to stir up a controversy. That
makes sensational headlines. In the opening speech, Dr Mahathir stressed
that revenge, anger and violence was not the way for Muslims to go forward
but this did not attract much attention in the Western media.
-
- And really this shouldn't be such a big deal.
-
- Because what matters at the end of the day is whether
the Muslim leaders and 1.3bil Muslims worldwide get the message.
-
- And whether they take up the challenge to pause, think
and strategise to unite the Muslim ummah.
-
- Copyright © 1995-2003 Star Publications (Malaysia)
Bhd
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- http://202.186.86.35/news/story.asp?file=/2003/10/21/focus/6526592&newspage=Search
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