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Iraqis wrestle with Jewish factor
| quote: | > > Iraqis wrestle with Jewish factor
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> BAGHDAD - When Imam Mahdi al-Jumeili of the small Hudheifa mosque in
> Baghdad's Shurti neighborhood met three American officers to resolve a
> dispute over soldiers entering the grounds of his mosque, his first
question
> to them was "are any of you Jews"? When he was satisfied that none were,
he
> allowed the meeting to proceed. Prior to the arrival of the Americans, he
> made his prejudices about them clear: "We are sure they came here to steal
> the country and protect Israel," he said, adding that "Judaism and
Masonism
> are at war with Islam".
>
> These views are common in Iraq, where references to "al-Yahud", or "the
> Jews", are made everywhere and they demonstrate the degree to which the
> outside world is misunderstood and feared by Iraqis whose views were
shaped
> by years of authoritarianism, control and fear, with little access to
> information not dictated by Ba'athist or religious sources.
>
> And the prejudices appear to still flourish. For a journalist, not a day
> goes by without mention of Jews and Israel. Even taxi drivers talk about
the
> Jews when they grumble about the occupation. "We are Muslims!" one
declared
> proudly during an evening ride to a hotel, "and Jews come to our land?"
When
> asked who he was referring to, he said, "They are all Jews. The Americans
> are all Jews and mercenaries. We know their religion." When asked if he
> wanted a Sunni or Shi'ite leader in Iraq, this driver said. "We are all
> Muslims, it makes no difference. Only the Jews want to separate Sunnis and
> Shi'ites, they are non-believers."
>
> Another taxi driver explained that "America and the Jews are one. We know
> this from their interests, their relationships and America's defense of
the
> Jews. They don't give rights to Arabs, only Jews. America and Jews are the
> same because they have the same goals and the same faith." A third taxi
> driver explained that the Jordanian embassy was bombed because Jordan was
> organizing the migration of Jews into Iraq.
>
> In the market of Abu Ghraib, a town west of Baghdad, when asked about the
> Americans, one angry man replied: "Saddam was better. At least he was a
> Muslim. Isn't that better than Jews?" When pressed on the issue, he
> explained that "the Americans are Jews, their work is Jewish. Nobody
accepts
> them". The prayer leader of Abu Ghraib's local mosque agreed. "They are
all
> Jews and Christians, these occupiers," he said.
>
> Signs on the walls of the Abu Hanifa mosque warn Iraqis that Jews have
come
> to the Ekal Hotel and they plan to purchase land, just as they did in
> Palestine, to drive Iraqis out of their country. "Do not stab your fellow
> Iraqis in the heart" by selling land to the Jews, exhorts the sign. A
visit
> to the Ekal Hotel proves that it is closed for renovations and has no
> guests. The same signs warning of Jewish real estate agents invading Iraq
> are distributed by university students.
>
> On the walls of the mosque in Maalef, a Shi'ite slum in Baghdad, large
> spray-painted graffiti says, "Kill the Jews". In Baghdad's Mansour
district,
> at the Rahman mosque, faithful Shi'ites heard Sheikh Ali al-Ibrahimi
condemn
> a recent decision by the Iraqi Governing Council to permit certain
non-Iraqi
> citizens to obtain Iraqi citizenship. Ibrahimi warned that "if Jews reside
> in Iraq then they will become Iraqi citizens and they will own Iraq and we
> will be their guests". He explained that the founders of the US initially
> feared letting the "owners of money" enter the country, but that "this
> happened when the Jews came. The Americans and others became their
guests".
>
> In the large slums of Sadr City, Seyid Hasan Naji al-Musawi, the leader of
> the Muhsin mosque in this Shi'ite neighborhood declared that the Mahdi,
> Islam's version of the Messiah, "will be coming soon and when he comes he
> will kill the Jewish leadership", which he equated with the Americans,
> adding that Julius Caesar was Jewish, and the Jews were the Romans.
> Al-Musawi quoted a verse from the Koran prognosticating the eventual
defeat
> of the Jews.
>
> A common belief in Iraq and the Arab world in general is that when held to
a
> mirror and reversed, the Coca-Cola logo says "No Mecca No Mohammed". This
is
> attributed to the alleged Jewish ownership of Coca-Cola. It is said that
all
> night long trucks smuggle Iraqi oil through Jordan into Israel. And the
> rumors continue ad nauseam. The fact that the Old Testament contains
> references to Jewish hegemony over the lands between the Nile and the
> Euphrates does little to ease concerns.
>
> Works purporting to be scholarly are available in every book market,
> elaborating on themes of the Jewish threat. The ubiquitous Protocols of
the
> Elders of Zion detailing a Jewish plot to rule the world, long proven in
the
> West to be a fabrication written at the behest of a Russian czar, is sold
in
> Arabic. Volume one and volume two. Another book called The Crimes of the
> Jews is on display on Baghdad streets alongside a book about Drugs and the
> Sons of the Devil. On further reading, the book reveals that the Jews are
> the "sons of the devil" the title refers to. A book in Kurdish is also
> available, its cover bearing a Star of David, and inside it a monster with
> blood dripping down its fangs. The book is called In the Jaws of the Jews.
>
> The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a member of the
> US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, sells a book called Jewish Nights,
> refuting various Jewish claims about their history, and in Najaf, the
office
> of the cleric Seyid Muqtada Sadr sells a book called Ali and the
> Jews,detailing Ali's conversion of Jews to Islam.
>
> Iraqis are clearly very concerned about Jews. Islam is traditionally
> ambivalent to the Jews, condemning them often in the Koran but mandating a
> modus vivendi with them at the same time, relegating them to an inferior
and
> protected status called dhimi. Hostility between different religions is a
> normal phenomenon, resulting from their competition for the same market of
> believers and their inherent belief that their religion purveys the truth
> and therefore the others are necessarily false.
>
> As the oldest of the three monotheisms, Judaism was viewed with derision
by
> the other two for its rejection of their newer prophets. In the Christian
> West, this led to anti-Semitism, the belief that Jews are a race or nation
> to be disparaged. Judaism was a stain that could not be removed by mere
> conversion. Martin Luther lamented the existence of Jews whom he viewed as
a
> "damned, rejected race". In Islam, with its explicit rejection of races,
it
> led only to anti-Judaism, the belief that the Jewish religion was the
> problem and if individual Jews became Muslims and recognized Mohammed,
then
> they were no longer Jews and these individuals would be treated just like
> any other Muslim.
>
> With the creation of Israel, the Jewish state, and with its successful
> defeat and occupation of Arabs and Muslims, as well as its oppression of
> occupied populations, Jews became a threat rather than an anachronistic
and
> vestigial relic. Arab and Muslim authors incorporated European racist and
> anti-Semitic theories about Jewish conspiracy theories to explain the
> existence and strength of Israel, as well as its influence over American
> policy. While the Koran is a vast book with statements that can lead to
> variegated interpretations, those seeking them can find many verses in the
> Koran to give these theories religious blessing and validity.
>
> "Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews
and
> pagans" instructs the Koran in 5:85, implying that Jews and pagans are of
> equal stature and that Jews are the enemies of Muslims, leading to the
> conclusion that they are therefore God's enemies as well since they are
the
> enemies of those who believe in him. In 2:97-8 God declares that he is the
> enemy of whoever is the enemy of the Angel Gabriel. And this is generally
> interpreted to refer to the Jews.
>
> The Koran, the Old Testament and the New Testament are all quoted to prove
> the treachery of the Jews. The Jewish worship of the golden calf after God
> had made a covenant with them (2:92-3) and their recurring violations of
> pacts made with the Prophet Mohammed (8:56-8) prove that Jews are not to
be
> trusted. In 2:96 Jews are unfavorably compared with idolaters. "Of all
> people the most greedy for life - even more than the idolaters" are the
> Jews. In Verse 88 of "the Cow" chapter, the Koran describes Jews as
follows:
> "They say our hearts are the wrappings (that keep God's words) nay God's
> curse is on them for their blasphemy. Little is it they believe." Verse 2
of
> this chapter asks "is it not that every time they make a covenant, some
> party among them throw it aside?" In 2:58 the Koran attributes punishments
> wrought on the Jews for their blasphemy: "and abasement and poverty were
> pitched on them, and they were laden with God's wrath; that because they
had
> disbelieved the signs of God and slain prophets unrightfully; that because
> they disobeyed, and were transgressors".
>
> Jews are viewed as unbelievers, disobedient and treacherous, rejecting God
> and his messengers. In 2:87 the God states "and we gave Moses the book and
> followed him up with a succession of messengers; we gave Jesus the son of
> Mary clear signs and strengthened him with the holy spirit. Is it that
> whenever there comes to you a messenger with what you yourselves desire
not,
> you are puffed up with pride? Some you called imposters and others you
> slew." In 4:157 it is stated that "they boasted 'we killed Christ Jesus
the
> son of Mary, the messenger of God'." In verse 58 of "the Table" chapter
the
> Koran states that God himself has cursed the Jews. Verse 86 of that
chapter
> implies that Jews "shall be the companions of hell fire". Verses 79 and 80
> describe the "evil" works and deeds of Jews. Verse 51 of the chapter
"women"
> accuses Jews of believing in evil.
>
> In 5:66, God scolds the Jews for not obeying their Torah and therefore
> rejecting both Jesus and Mohammed. Verse 56 of "the Spoils" chapter
> describes how Mohammed fought and defeated the Jews at the battle of
> Khaybar. In 5:78 both David and Jesus curse the Jews for "disobedience"
and
> "excesses".
>
> Thus the basis exists, for those who choose to use it, to promote the
> hostility and palpable fear of Jews that confront journalists in Iraq on a
> daily basis. The many Iraqis who now have access to satellite television
can
> also watch a Syrian Ramadan series aired on the Lebanese Hezbollah-owned
> channel "Al-Manar" that provides a tendentious version of recent Jewish
> history. "Al-Shatat" or "the Diaspora", as the series is called, tells the
> story of Zionism from 1812 until the establishment of Israel. The series
> contains familiar themes of Jewish plots to dominate the world. The first
> episode began with a description of a 2,000-year-old Jewish creation of a
> world government and attempts by Jews to provoke wars among non-Jews.
> Subsequently, Jews are shown plotting to kill non-Jews, dominate various
> countries, oppose other religions, and incite Germany to enter a
succession
> of wars. Actors play famous Jewish figures, such as the wealthy Rothschild
> dynasty, the founder of Zionism Theodore Herzl and the falsely-accused
> Alfred Dreyfuss. Jews are shown committing brutal acts of murder and
> dismemberment against non-Jews and Jews who betrayed the race. Such a
> program is consistent with a wide body of literature produced in the Arab
> world, including recent Iraqi newspaper articles.
>
> After the war, with the flowering of new Iraqi publications, newspaper
> articles contained numerous Jewish themes, helping to spread the panic
that
> Jews were indeed invading the country. The independent Iraqi daily al-Yawm
> al-Aakher reported, that "the frantic campaign to resettle the Jews [in
> Iraq] has aroused the annoyance of Iraqis, particularly the clerics".
> Al-Adala, a newspaper published by the Supreme Council of the Islamic
> Revolution, warned that "a number of Jews are attempting to purchase
> factories in Baghdad". The article went on to describe an eyewitness who
> observed Jews purchasing factories. In fact it seems nearly everyone in
> Baghdad has a friend or relative who was an eyewitness to Jews buying
land.
> An editorial in al-Rassed also warned that Jews were attempting to
purchase
> land as a result of the occupation. Dar al-Salam, a newspaper owned by the
> Iraqi Islamic Party, reported that Mosul's association of clerics issued
an
> edict prohibiting the sale of land to non-Iraqis because it may end up in
> the hands of Jews. Meanwhile, al-Sa'ah warned Iraqis to check Taiwanese
and
> Chinese-made appliances for concealed Stars of David because the Israelis
> would be surreptitiously selling their products in Iraq.
>
> Another rumor going around is that Michel Aflaq, the now-hated founder of
> the Ba'ath Party, was a secret Jew who had converted to Christianity. It
is
> also rumored that in Israel, Jewish brothels are built to look like
mosques,
> even with the minaret, or tower. Shi'ites believe that a final battle
> between Jews and Muslims will occur when the Jews come to the city of
Kifil
> on the Euphrates to visit the tomb of an alleged Jewish prophet. Here
> Muslims and Jews will fight, and the Jews will hide behind rocks, which
will
> speak and say "there is a Jew behind me", and the Muslims will be
> victorious.
>
> (Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
> contact [email protected] for information on our sales and syndication
> policies.)
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