Anti-Arabism
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Anti-Arab prejudice is hostility or violence towards Arabs and, in the USA, Arab Americans. Anti-Arab sentiment may be expressed in negative stereotypes. In particular, Arabs are deindividualized and are often portrayed as intolerant or backward, while positive aspects of Arab culture are seldom given attention. There are other stereotypes regarding clothing, or clichéd notions about Middle Eastern culture.
Although neither so established, virulent, nor institutionalized as Anti-Semitism, Anti-Arab sentiment is not uncommon. Some Arabs claim that they currently suffer discrimination in the Western world on a far greater scale than Jews. This is a popular claim among Arab American youths and especially Arab Muslims living in France.
After the end of the Cold War, American films began to feature Arab villains disproportionately. The Arab Oil Embargo of 1973 saw a rise in anti-Arabism in the United States. Following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center there were reports of assaults on individuals simply because they were perceived to be Arab. These reports were generally given national prominence in the US media, and President Bush issued a strong statement condemning the incidents.
Anti-Arab feelings are complicated by issues of Middle Eastern politics. As in the case of anti-Semitism, prejudice against Arabs should be distinguished from opposition to the policies of Arab states or of certain Arab populations (specifically the Palestinian). Equally, as in the case of anti-Semitism, such opposition can be the result of hatred towards Arabs. In Europe the perception of Arabs as lazy, dirty, unscrupulous, violent and primitive or foreign results in discrimination and social isolation. The perception in the USA of Arab equating to Muslim adds to a stigma held especially after September_11, that Muslims are terrorists, and thus Arabs as well. This view often holds little truth in reality however. Upwards of 75% of Arab Americans are in fact Christian, and obviously, all Muslims are not terrorists.
Owing to the etymological meaning of anti-Semitic, some argue that anti-Arabism, as well as miso-Judaism, constitutes anti-Semitism. By way of compromise, some writers on the subject (such as Emil Fackenheim of the Hebrew University) now use the unhypenated term antisemitism to refer to Anti-Semitism against Jews as opposed to anti-Arabism. While the point is technically correct, using any form of the term anti-Semitism to refer to anti-Arab sentiment is likely to cause confusion unless carefully elucidated.
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Anti-Arab quotes
"One million Arabs are not worth a Jewish fingernail." -- Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, Feb. 27, 1994 [Source: New York Times, Feb. 28, 1994, p. 1]
"It is forbidden to be merciful to them. You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable." --Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, head of the Israeli Shas party, regarding "Arab murderers and terrorists", 10 April 2001 [1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1270038.stm).
"The Arabs slaughter Jews irrespective of the fight for the land. It’s in their blood. Genetic. I haven’t done a study, but I believe it. You can’t believe an Arab even after they spent 40 years in the grave." -- Likud MK Yehiel Hazan in the Knesset, Feb. 24, 2004 [2] (http://www.ariga.com/2004-02-24.shtml)
"There is no condemnation, no regret, no problem of conscience among Arabs and Muslims, anywhere, in any social stratum, of any social position." --Dr. David Bukay, Political Science professor at the University of Haifa
"They [Arabs] are products of a culture in which to tell a lie creates no dissonance. They don't suffer from the problem of telling lies that exists in Judaeo-Christian culture." --Ehud Barak [Source: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/687950/posts]
"When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle." --Raphael EitanNew York Times, 14 April 1983. [3] (http://www.fpp.co.uk/Letters/hate/Stuart030902.html)
Anti-Arabism in polls
In March 1990, according to a poll reported in Le Monde:
- 76% of those polled said that there were too many Arabs in France (46% said there were too many blacks);
- 39% said they had an "aversion" to Arabs (21% to blacks). [4] (http://www.isreview.org/issues/02/LePen.shtml)
Groups that fight against discrimination
There are a number of Arab American groups in the USA and Europe that work to protect the civil rights of Arabs, and fight against anti-Arab discrimination, such as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) (http://www.adc.org/)
(More needs to be written on Arab and Muslim groups.)
Many Jewish groups have committed themselves to rejecting Anti-Arab prejudice. The Central Conference of American Rabbis (Reform Judaism) states that "Our commitment to the State of Israel also implies a commitment to helping it realize values which we as liberal Jews hold dear; peace with her neighbors and full civil, human and religious rights for all citizens, Jews, Muslims, Christians and others. Whether or not we or those dear to us are living there, our commitment to the State should impel us to work with those in and outside the Land to achieve the vision of a society in which Reform Jewish values and practices can help create a better life for all. Peace, of course, does not merely mean the signing of peace treaties, as much as we have longed for that, but for the establishment of political, economic and cultural relations with Israel's neighbors which can create a peace which will enhance the lives of all the citizens of the region." (Source: Commentary to the Pittsburgh Principles of Reform Judaism)
The Israel organization Rabbis for Human Rights is dedicated to promoting peace, and ending what it sees as anti-Arab discrimination in Israel.
The Anti-Defamation League, (ADL) dedicated to combating anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, gave this response shortly after the terrorist attacks on 9-11. "We are disturbed that a number of Arab Americans and Islamic institutions have been targets of anger and hatred in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. At this time of profound anger and anxiety, no group in this country should be singled out for hatred, prejudice or blame based on their ethnicity or religion. Threats, harassment or acts of hate-motivated violence against members of a group are un-American and must be forcefully condemned. In laying blame on an entire people, we undermine our nation's core values of equality and respect for the individual."
During July 2003 the Anti-Defamation League urged the Speaker of the United States' House of Representatives to approve a bill condemning bigotry and violence against Arab-Americans and American Muslims. (The bill was resolution 234.)
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) issued similar responses.
There are many organizations working to end Anti-Arab bias among Israelis, as well as to end Anti-Semitic bias among Arabs. See the entry on projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs.
See also
Organizations
References
- J. G. Shaheen, Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood vilifies a people, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 588 (July 2003), 171-193. Also see an interview with the author (http://www.thirdway.org/files/articles/antiarab.html).
External links
- Rabbis for Human Rights (http://www.rhr.israel.net/)
- ADL statement against Anti-Arab prejudice (http://www.adl.org/PresRele/dirab_41/3919_41.asp)
- ADL Urges House of Representatives to Consider Resolution Protecting Arabs, South Asians, Muslims and Sikhs (http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Mise_00/4288_41.htm)
- AJC statement on avoiding stereotyping or scapegoating (http://www.ajc.org/Terrorism/StatementsDetail.asp?did=223&pid=757)
- AJC deplores slander against Palestinian Arabs (http://www.ajc.org/InTheMedia/PressReleases.asp?did=76)sv:Antiarabism
Categories: Arab | Persecution | Prejudices | Racism | Discrimination