Community Views
Editor's Notebook
Prejudice Toward Israel
Can Distort History
The Needle Really
Wasn't That Long
PHIL JACOBS ED TOR
BERL FALBAUM SPEC AL TO THE JEW SH NEWS
A high-school stu-
dent receives an
assignment to
write a paper on
the Middle East.
The student uses
Global Insights for
the research and
reads: " ... on May
14, 1948, the Jew-
ish state was created on Pales-
tinian land."
Then, referring to World His-
tory, the student learns: "Arab
nations supported the demands
of Arabs in Palestine for self-de-
termination."
In Exploring World Cultures,
the student discovers that the
late Egyptian President Nasser
was a "reformer, who instituted
land reforms, built industry and
improved the life of Egypt's peas-
ants."
These are only a few examples
of an insidious "movement" —
and it must be described as a
movement — which is rewriting
history. This movement will have
a devastating effect on Israel and
Jews all over the world for a va-
riety of reasons.
Future generations will dis-
cuss and argue Middle East poli-
cies on the "facts" learned by
today's students who will become
the leaders of tomorrow. Even if
they will not hold leadership po-
sitions to direct international pol-
icy, they will help form policy by
molding public opinion — a force
which prompts leaders to "follow"
rather than lead.
While imbalance, unfairness
and adaption of double standards
may exist presently in develop-
ing Middle East policy by the
world as it relates to Israel, for a
period which lasted perhaps five
to 10 years after the 1967 war, Is-
rael had the "facts" on its side.
Decision makers and the pub-
lic understood the history of the
Israeli-Arab conflict. But that has
changed — and changed quick-
ly. As one writer pointed out, the
Arabs achieved in the arena of
Berl Falbaum is a public
relations specialist and a free-
lance writer.
public opinion what they failed
to win on the battlefield.
They and their supporters fol-
lowed a strategy of repeating lies
often enough until, as has been
observed over the years, they
were accepted as the truth.
The media, as an institution,
have demonstrated a terrible
prejudice against Israel, serious-
ly distorting history and only
David Bar-Ilan of the Jerusalem
Post has continually reported on
this bias.
The media's one-sided report-
ing, one can safely assume, has
taken its political toll and orga-
nized Jewry has not, unfortu-
nately, attacked this very serious
issue.
Jewish leaders may argue that
the media are recognized as "su-
perficial" and the bias is "not dan-
gerous." While such a conclusion
is wishful thinking and rational-
ization for inaction, revisionism
in textbooks and, indeed, schol-
any encyclopedias is a political
phenomenon not so easily dis-
missed.
Revisionist Middle East histo-
ry is appearing in travel maga-
zines, encyclopedias, professional
journals and other publications
once considered the very essence
of scholarly objectivity.
One can only speculate
whether this revisionism of Arab-
Israeli history is a planned strat-
egy or an ad hoc occurrence.
Given the universal nature of
turning history on its head, the
latter seems improbable.
The citations from Global In-
sights, World History and Ex-
ploring World Cultures come
from a study published by the
American Educator in its Sum-
mer 1994 issue as part of a spe-
cial project, "The Education for
Democracy: How School Materi-
als Teach and Misteach World
Affairs."
Included in that study is an in-
vestigation by Barry Rubin, who
teaches at Tel Aviv University
and Hebrew University and who
was charged with reviewing high-
school textbooks- covering the
Middle East. The seriousness of
his findings was emphasized by
the magazine's introduction
which made the important point
that " ... textbooks have long shelf
lives and undergo major revisions
only once in a long while."
Here are some of Mr. Rubin's
findings:
* " ... when inaccuracies and
political biases appear in these
texts they tend to be in one di-
rection. This can be summarized
as apologizing for, legitimizing or
prettifying revolutionary, na-
tionalist and leftist regimes."
* "None of the most widely
used texts mentions Arab ter-
rorism against Israel."
* "Few discuss the refusal of
the Arab states to recognize Is-
rael, and not one offers a single
example of a hardline statement
against Israel by any Arab ruler
or leader."
* "The effect of the textbooks
is to undercut the idea that Israel
has a real security problem."
Discussing changes in texts
over the years, Mr. Rubin adds,
"While no one change is egregious
(apart from factual errors), the fi-
nal result of all the changes is to
give the impression of a unified
Arab world rightly aggrieved by
unilateral, unjustified Israeli ac-
tions."
Ample examples are published
of the textbooks' onesidedness
and superficiality in reporting
Middle East history, generally at
the expense of Israel.
Should anything be done and
what, if anything, can be done
about that which already has
been "institutionalized"?
The answer, of course, is that
something must be done even
though we already have paid a
dear price for our apathy toward
this revisionism. It will take a to-
tal philosophical, political and fi-
nancial commitment, but nothing
is more important.
We have lost many a political
battle with the "facts" on our side.
Consider what will happen in
years to come when "history" no
longer supports our position.
Let us hope that the leaders of
organized Jewry understand
what is at stake and then act ac-
cordingly. ❑
OK, chickens
gather around.
t Your attention,
please. Those of
you who have
changed your
own motor oil,
told your mother
that you love
your wife more
than her, and have donated
blood can stop here. There's a
good story about our commu-
nity photo project on Page 1;
Danny Raskin is on Page 84;
and you all know where the
obits are.
Let's hone in on this blood
deal. The thought of doing this
is unthinkable for many. Us
chickens have heard it all. A
friend told me about the longer-
than-usual needle used. That
was enough to keep me away
for life. Another described the
blood filling the plastic bag. For-
get it.
But then I ran into a friend,
Rose Newman, a Southfield
neighbor whose husband, Dr.
Bruce Newman, is the medical
director with the local chapter
of the American Red Cross.
Rose mentioned a blood drive
to be held in two weeks at
Young Israel of Southfield.
Sure, I'll do it. Two weeks is far
off; it'll be forgotten. The
thought of that long needle will
never turn real.
Then came a reminder card
to confirm my time. We were
a week away. It was at this
time that I started confessing
fear to my friends, almost all of
whom had given blood before,
and probably changed their
cars' oil as well. The thought of
it all really hit on Shabbat
when I started pinching my
arm to simulate needle pain.
Before you could say pass the
plasma, I was taking down my
sukkah on Sunday - morning.
The phone rang. Another friend
telling me to be at the blood dri-
ve five minutes early. They
were expecting me. I couldn't
run. Blood donors are supposed
to eat a good meal at least half
an hour before the blessed
event. I ate my peanut butter
and jelly as if it were my last
meal, carefully drinking orange
juice and seeing that in 10 min-
utes I had to check in for blood.
At Young Israel, a kind lady
told me to follow the directions
in filling out the application.
Seems I even took on the mind
of a chicken, because answer-
ing simple questions such as
country of origin became diffi-
cult.
There were two people ahead
of me. Then there were two
empty folding chairs. I was next
for the all-important pre-dona-
4
tion interview and earlobe pin-
prick. Chickens, stay with me
here. It's OK, I promise. You see
just a little blood, and your ear
just bruises a little. It's the
questions the Red Cross nurse
asks you about AIDS that seem
scarier than any needle.
Back into the lobby. I get to
tell the next person to go inside.
We're part of the team now.
Sat down, two people ahead
of me, I can relax, right?
Wrong.
"I need the next three peo-
ple," an all-too-musical voice
says. By now, my first-timer
cover has been blown by a cou-
ple of friends. Everyone, in-
cluding the nurse who will
inject the needle, knows. A guy
whom I've never seen before in
the bed next to me tells me it
only takes 10 minutes for the
pain to go away. Yuk, yuk, yuk.
A friend across the room says,
"Is this really your first time?"
I have only been asked that
once before in my life. I won't
tell for what.
"I need the
next three,"
said the voice.
Chickens, gather around. I've
got a secret for you, just for you.
Yeah, the needle hurts, but no
more than any shot you've got-
ten. The anticipation is far
worse than the event. Serious-
ly, I didn't look at the bag once
while it was filling up. My
friend who advised me about
the pain, had to tell me how
quickly I was filling up the bag.
But besides that, the nurse had
me apply pressure to the injec-
tion site, and it was bandaged.
By the way. I brought a book
to read, one on the American
Civil War. Held the paper back
and stayed on the same 'sen-
tence. There was more reading
that was more appropriate on
the wall above my head.
There in Hebrew was a
framed version of Modim, a
prayer of Thanksgiving.
"We gratefully thank You, for
it is You Who are Hashem, our
God and the God of our forefa-
thers for all eternity; Rock of
our lives."
The Red Cross nurse asked
me how the reading went.
It couldn't have been better.
The orange juice and cookies
were great afterward. .
For a little bit of pain, we
could all learn from the mira-
cle of life that the sharing of our
blood provides.
But I also learned it from the
writing on the wall. ❑