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Roots Of Hatred

From the pages of the Jewish News
from this week 10, 20, 30, 40, 50
and 60 years ago.

Tel Aviv U. expert outlines factors fueling Islamist anger against Israel and the West.

1993

DON COHEN

Special to the Jewish. News

T

Litvak elaborated on this idea saying,
"Feeling increasingly humiliated by
the West, Moslems were perplexed by
this situation and hatred began to
develop against the Jews who had ben-
efited more from the Western penetra-
tion. This could be interpreted to
mean that 'the West threatens us; the
Christians and Jews represent the
West, and they are all the same."'
But it's not Israel or Jews who are
the root of Muslim extremists' ani-
mosity to the West.
"The issue is American culture and
American values," he said simply.
"They see this as a threat to them, and
it is. Beyond American sup-
port of Israel, they oppose
America's overall policy in
the Middle East, in Saudi
Arabia, Iraq and
Afghanistan."

he problem with Israel goes
well beyond border issues
for much of the Muslim
world; it goes to the very
existence of the Jewish state, according
to Meir Litvak, senior research fellow
and senior lecturer at the Moshe
Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and
African Studies at Tel Aviv University.
And while classic anti-Semitic
themes have become the gospel in rad-
ical parts of the Arab world, the fact
that Jews and Christians represent
Western values and culture is
also why Israel and Zionism
are seen as such a threat.
Litvak was in the United
States for two weeks recently,
speaking at campuses in
California, Utah and
Colorado and at Wayne State
Clash Of Cultures
University and the University
Litvak doesn't believe there
of Michigan. He also
is anything inherent in Islam
addressed a public program at
that makes it anti-Jewish,
the Jewish Community
Meir Li tvak
anti-Western
or anti-enlight-
Center in Oak Park on Feb.
enment.
"There
shouldn't be
3.
a 'clash of civilizations' between the
A Harvard Ph.D. specializing in
West and Islam. But there is a clash
modern Shiite history and Palestinian
between fundamentalist Islam and
politics, he is currently working on a
major study of Holocaust denial in the Western culture because the funda-
mentalists see it as a clash." .
Muslim world.
The real clash is in the Muslim
"By the late 19th century, there was
world itself, Litvak said. "It is both
violence against Christians and Jews,"
Lit-yak explained in an interview, refer- intellectual and violent. Militarily, the
fundamentalists are losing, but on the
ring to the 1860 Moslem massacres of
cultural level, they have made very
more than 10,000 Christians in both
important gains."
Damascus and Aleppo, Syria.
What do we do about it?
In fact, Jews often escaped attacks
"We should try to help alleviate the
directed against Christians because
serious socio-economic problems that
Christian Europe was seen as a bigger
breed extremism and simultaneously
threat, and Jews accepted an inferior
make it more difficult for fundamen-
minority status. But that changed
talists to act," Litvak said. "We need
when Europe dominated the Middle
to make it more difficult to funnel
East and Zionism developed, he said.
money to the fundamentalists and rec-
"Jews represented the West, and it
. ognize the distinction between free
was inconceivable that Jews could
dominate Muslims; the Jews were sup- speech and incitement to violence. I
believe a democracy has the right to
posed to be a dominated minority."
defeat those who try to destroy it."
In a recent online article for the
Asked if he believed poverty breeds
Jewish Council for Public Affairs,

2/14

2003

26

terrorism, Litvak was emphatic that it
is not that simple.
"You don't have terrorism without
ideology. There is poverty in India and
Brazil, but it doesn't lead to terrorism.
Economics raises the questions, and
culture provides the answers.
"There is a degree of despair,"
Litvak said, "but there is also indoctri-
nation. They are led to believe there is
a better life in the beyond."

Extremist Threat

Beyond religious indoctrination,
there's a one-sided perspective that
permeates the Arab media and educa-
tional system. In contrast, in the West
and in Israel itself, one can easily
access the vibrant debate on Israeli
actions and motivations.
"This is not the case in the Arab
world," he said. "What is presented
about Israel and the Jews is totally
biased and easy to digest. Why would
they have any doubts when they are
not exposed to anything else in the
Arab media?"
Traveling the U.S., Litvak has found
that among Americans "there is a real
thirst to know [about Muslim extrem-
ism], but I'm not sure Americans fully
realize the complexity and the depth
challenge that extremists pose.
of
Osama Bin Laden is an extremist
because he kills Americans, but there
is a much wider segment acting
against Jews and Israelis that are not
far from bin Laden."
For Amir Eyal, a Wayne State
University MBA student who lives in
Royal Oak, the speech at the Oak
Park JCC was of interest, but didn't
answer his burning question: What do
we do about it?
'An academic presentation is good,"
Eyal said, "but understanding the
problem isn't enough unless we can do
something about it. I think education
is the key. We need to influence Arab
education to be more analytical and
understanding, rather than educating
one political or religious line. But they
will resist it." El

WWII

The Ukrainian government, Tel
Aviv University and Odessa have
teamed up to organize an interna-
tional festival of music to be held
later this year
The Israeli government's Bezek
telephone company will now open
a special "fax-to-HaShem" depart-
ment where you can fax messages
to be inserted in the cracks of the
Western Wall by a Bezek represen-
tative.

1983

Reputed member of the organized
crime community Meyer Lansky
leaves an estate of only S110,000 to
his family; law enforcement officials
had estimated his worth up to $300
million.

1973

Tel Aviv University assists in the
publication of a previously unpub-
lished novel by the late Russian
Jewish poet and writer Peretz
Markish.

1963

Feb. 23 has been designated as
Hebrew Academy Sabbath by
Detroit area rabbis, focusing on the
role that day school education plays
in maintaining and enriching
Jewish heritage.

1953',
The Palestine Economic
Corporation and the Israel Wine
and Liquor Producers Association
have signed an agreement to estab-
lish the new company Carmel Co.
to centralize and expand the sale of
Israeli wines and liquors in in the
United States.

1943

Detroit leader Leon Kay is elected
vice-president of the newly formed
Midwest American Jewish Congress
Region.

— Compiled by Holly Teasdle,
archivist, the Rabbi Leo M. Franklin
Archives of Temple Beth El

