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Editorial
Don't Discount The Virulence Of
Internet-Inspired Anti-Semitism
T
he anti-Israel, anti-Jewish
canards central to the
Islamic world's sustained
outrage to the anti-Islam film trailer
posted on YouTube more than two
weeks ago are disheartening, but not
surprising.
From Tehran to Gaza to Algiers
to Sana'a to the Sinai, Zionism has
been on the hot seat in protest to
the inflammatory film Innocence
of Muslims damning the prophet
Mohammad.
The initial announcement that
a so-called Israel American real
estate developer, financed by more
than 100 Jewish donors, produced
the "$5 million" film caused riot-
ers to target not just Israel, Islamic
extremism's Enemy No.1, but
America as well. The U.S. govern-
ment was roundly condemned for
not indicting the people who made
the film.
When Nakoula Bassely Nakoula,
a 55-year-old Egyptian Coptic
Christian from California, was identi-
fied as the true filmmaker, the winds
of anti-Semitic violence whipping
the Muslim world hardly eased. U.S.
embassies abroad were singled out.
And the perception that Jews had
concocted the crude film to incite
anti-Muslim hate was taking root.
Protestors were relentless in
spreading the lie that the Jews, and
by extension Israel and America,
were guilty of blasphemy toward the
most revered prophet in Islam.
The lie invoked shades of Adolf
Hitler. The Nazi Germany fuhrer, a
master of propaganda, first wrote in
his autobiography Mein Kempf that
if you tell a lie long and loud enough,
people will believe it.
In recent times, Islamists, the radi-
cal cohort of Islam, have blamed the
Jews and Israel for the 9-11 terrorist
attacks. A later myth propounded
that Israeli doctors harvested organs
from Haitian earthquake victims.
The provocative film trailer
gained traction on Sept.11. First,
rioters breached the U.S. Embassy
walls in Cairo and destroyed its
American flag. Then heavily armed
men, tied to a preplanned Al Qaida
offensive to "honor" 9-11, stormed
the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi
and killed American ambassador J.
Christopher Stevens and three staff
members. The film trailer didn't
precipitate these killings, but it did
move further into the global spot-
light as a result of them.
Since then, violent protests to the
film have killed dozens throughout
the Muslim world, AP reported.
Vrz
According to the Anti-Defamation
League, the anti-Semitic conspiracy
theory postulated that the Jews and
Israel made the film at America's
behest to sow world violence — or
that the Jews made it to hurt U.S.
efforts to mend relations with the
Muslim/Arab world. Muslim and Arab
newspapers were quick to print car-
toons and caricatures ridiculing the
Jews.
In a Huffington Post blog, ADL
National Director Abraham Foxman
cited that:
• In Algeria, the Muslim
Brotherhood blamed "the American
Jewish lobby" for producing the film.
• In Lebanon, Israeli and American
flags were burned in protest.
• In Egypt, a Coptic Church bishop
railed against the "Zionists" for the
decision by the American Copts to
insult Islam through the film.
Meanwhile, an Islamic terrorist
group, Ansar Jerusalem, claimed
responsibility for a Sinai attack that
killed an Israeli soldier in response to
the film. In contrast, a small group of
Muslims protested peacefully in Tel
Aviv, outside the U.S. Embassy.
Iran's supreme
leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, injected
the Persian nation
into the fray by
ignoring the truth
about the film's pro-
duction. He declared
Ali Khamenei
the "prime suspects
in this crime are
Zionism and the U.S. government"
and demanded "a punishment propor-
tionate to this great crime."
Federal authorities told ABC
News that Nakoula admitted mak-
ing the film with his son. They
spent $50,000-$60,000, financed
by his wife's relatives in Egypt. He
wrote the script while in prison for
bank fraud and identity theft. In
America, filmmaking isn't a crime,
but Nakoula is facing charges in
connection with violating his proba-
tion, which prohibits him from using
Internet-connected devices without
approval from his probation officers.
Fighting Back
In the case of Innocence of Muslims,
the conspiracy theory the film
unleashed tore through parts of the
world where Israel is the object of
utter scorn. Conveniently ignored
was that the film, though hateful,
was a privately made expression
of the freedom of speech. Outside
of Western culture, that freedom
typically is not only foreign, but also
treachery. It's a freedom we must
earnestly protect. But we also must
isolate and denounce religious and
ethnic hatred.
Certainly, not all Muslims are guilty
of fomenting anti-Semitic hostility
and disdain.
Foxman put it
well: "We need
good people around
the world to stand
up and loudly and
clearly counter any
efforts to portray
these latest con-
Abraham
vulsions across
Foxman
the Middle East
as the manifesta-
tion of a stereotypical, all-powerful
Jewish plot. Unless good people
speak out, unless Western leaders
can make their voices heard, unless
those voices are joined by leaders in
the Muslim world, the anti-Semitic
rumors most likely will continue to
circulate unabated for many years to
come."
World Jewry and the West togeth-
er must stay vigilant to prevent it
from metastasizing like uncontrolled
cancer.
Applying Sukkot's Lesson To Curb Anti-Semitism
T
' he festival of Sukkot, which
began at sundown Sept.
_
30 and lasts seven days,
is a tribute to the perseverance
and determination of the Israelites
under the leadership of Moses.
During this z'man simcha-
teinu, the "time of our gladness,"
American Jews will remember how
the Israelites lived in huts while
wandering in the desert before
reaching the Promised Land, a
sojourn that set the course of
Jewish history. May we celebrate
our people's will by rejecting the
anti-Jewish virulence that's at the
heart of Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's United Nations
address on Yom Kippur.
Consider this strident passage
aimed at Israel: "Unilateralism,
application of double standards,
and imposition of wars, instability
and occupation to ensure economic
interests and expand dominance
over sensitive centers of the world —
[all] have served to be the order of
the day."
There's a tinge of American hatred
woven into that vitriol. But make no
mistake who he meant to target: the
Zionists governing the state he'd like
to erase from the globe.
In his eighth and final address as
president of the Islamic Republic,
Ahmadinejad decried the "arms
race and intimidation by nuclear
weapons" and the "weapons of mass
destruction by the hegemonic pow-
ers."
He said, "Continued threats by
the uncivilized Zionists to resort to
a military action against our great
nation is a clear example of this bit-
Applying on page 38
October 4 d 2012
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