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Israel Wins Image War As Muslims Lose Faith And Cause
By Mohamed Khodr
25/06/2001
A surreal Associated Press (AP) photograph showed an Israeli soldier firing rubber-coated metal bullets at Palestinian youths demonstrating in Bethlehem while group of Western tourists coming off a bus photographed the soldier.
The picture, taken amidst violence in the city of Jesus' birth, conveys the desensitization and ambivalence of the Western tourists toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as their implied acceptance that the Israeli soldier is a hero simply doing his job to put down the violent and illogical Palestinian protest. Absent from the photograph were the Palestinian victims of those "benign" rubber bullets much akin to their absence from Western (especially American) media and conscience. And there's the rub.
The American public is deprived of the historical truth of the conflict, deprived of the logical premise that to every issue there are two sides, deprived of the pictures and sounds of Palestinian lives, homes, and blood being spilled in the Holy Land.
Who does the American public depend on for information and context of faraway conflicts? Naturally, on the government and media. By controlling and selecting the words and images that reflect the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the media exercises overwhelming influence and power over America's opinions and policies. Information is power, and the American media is now in the hands of a few multinational corporations, mostly Jewish dominated and pro-Israeli.
After the Holocaust, the only remedy for forgiveness and alleviation of guilt in the West was to support a Jewish homeland in Palestine and ignore the consequences of Europe's Jewish refugees forcibly creating Palestinian refugees in their own land. The American media and Hollywood, with a disproportionate representation in ownership and leadership by Jewish Americans, launched a sophisticated campaign that ensured support of Israel and the demonization of its Arab enemies. Israel became our essential "strategic ally," first against Communism, and now against the new "enemy du jour - Islamic fundamentalism."
Jewish and pro-Israeli academic and media "experts" adopted a descriptive two-prong strategy toward Israel and the Arabs. When discussing Israel, our media emphasizes that Israel is the "little", "besieged", "only democracy" and strategic ally." It is "a victim in a sea of Arab/Muslim hatred." It is "modern", "market oriented", and "highly educated and enterprising", to name a few of it "characteristics." Meanwhile, when discussing the Arab/Muslim world, the descriptions include: "terrorism", "Islamic fundamentalism", "extremists", "backward", "enemies of democracy and west", "ragheads, desert living, oil barons, and harem keeping women bashers", coupled with the new cliché of "slave traders."
Israel became identified as a Western extension of American values and morals in a sea of Middle Eastern tribal barbarism. Israel won the marketing war of "adjectives" while the divided, unsophisticated, uneducated Arab/Muslim world continues to embroil itself in hyperbolic, bombastic, internationally-ignored, lengthy, indignant speech-making, highlighting Truth, Justice, U.N. Resolutions, International Law, and the usually hypocritical condemnation of Israel and its "allies."
Hey, Salaam a'laikum, wake up and smell the humus - nobody cares for your faces or words, especially when most of you "leaders" imprison and kill your own people rather than uniting to face Israel.
Thus, the foundation was laid that Israel is America's only true democratic friend in the region deserving of America's support - meaning any and all money and weapons it wants.
America responded generously, albeit with no critical understanding or analysis of its support, or consequences, on both the domestic and international fronts. So far, it's doled over (what can be determined publicly) $150 billion to the seventeenth richest nation on earth. Israel receives a third of all American foreign aid and is America's fourth largest weapons recipient, as well as the world's seventh largest arms exporter. In addition, it gets all the tax breaks and tariff relief it wants. American laws are changed and even violated by Israel, such as Israel's use of F-16's to kill Palestinian civilians which violates the U.S.'s Arms Export Act, with the American government paralyzed to take any legal action due to the power and influence of the Jewish lobby.
Israel is America's Achilles heel, while America is Israel's bank, weapons shopping mall, veto provider, and sucker. Oddly enough, most Americans understand this one way "strategic relationship" but feel powerless to change it out of guilt, fear, and being labeled an "anti-Semitic." Israel, with at most 200,000 diehard Zionist Jews in America, is the tail that wags the superpower tail.
Given this scenario, what can the Arab world do to get attention for its suffering, injustice, murder of civilians, land confiscation, and legitimate international rights? To begin with, the Arab strategy and tactic in dealing with the United States is misconceived. In their weak lopsided negotiations with mighty Israel and its "honest broker subsidizer" America, Arabs are negotiating with the wrong power brokers and are using an ill-fated strategy. They naively think that America's political system is like their own - talk to the boss and things get done. Arabs need to understand that American politicians respond to their voting constituencies, to those who donate money, work in their campaigns, and to media owners and opinion shapers. Arabs approach America with the historical inferiority complex akin to their dealings with European colonialists. They are in awe of America's wealth and power, which incorrectly leads them to misinformed assumptions and unrealistic expectations of the country and its
government. They need a paradigm shift away from dealing with the pro-Israeli Congress to dealing directly with the American people, who are at heart generous and
honest.
Arabs need to also better comprehend American culture and its rapid paced lifestyle, which leaves its residents vulnerable to misinformation from the media. In reality, America's culture is apathetic politically and unsophisticated intellectually, leaving a political vacuum to be filled by powerful special interest groups. Public opinion is formed and determined by campaigns that raise the most money, are the best organized, and have developed sophisticated public relations apparatuses and ability to ensure that a message sound byte sticks in the public's psyche, irrespective of the validity or substance of the message. In America, "Image Is Everything." Sadly, power brokers have succeeded in creating an Arab image that is unflattering to most Americans.
Simply put, America is a nation isolated geographically and psychologically from the rest of the world, and driven by the consumption of goods and services, including force-fed opinions.
Americans are moved by what's "hot," and unfortunately, the only heat Arabs generate is in the desert.
Arabs need to fathom that America is an image-conscious nation that responds to catchy sound bytes, moving pictures, heart thumping music, and a feel good milieu. Americans, like their Western counterparts, are easily bored, carefree and form instantaneous opinions by watching the latest thirty-second commercial. Case in point: Canada. A thirty-second beer commercial restored Canadian patriotism and pride.
Many Americans, however, truly care about their country and the world, and do love peace and social justice. Unfortunately, their message is not media worthy. These are the ones Arabs/Muslims must reach out to with legitimate messages packaged in powerful image-filled sound bytes, using sophisticated marketing tools and a paid media campaign. The Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference must develop and fund a powerful media and public relations component, within their organizations (or one united division), that hires Western expert public relation firms to develop long-term campaigns utilizing all media outlets to convey and counter Israel's successful monopoly in this field.
Israel can't be defeated militarily, but it can be defeated in the arena of public relations. It's support in America and Europe is thin and superficial. But Americans and Europeans need an education that appeals to their hearts, not their minds or intellects. Couple a mesmerizing campaign with legitimacy and the just cause of the Arab/Muslim world, and Israel has no chance.
Israel won Arab land militarily, and won Western hearts, money, and weapons, emotionally through the most elaborate sophisticated public relations campaign in history. The Zionists knew that Americans are generous when moved, but they also knew of their political apathy, uninformed intellect on world affairs, short attention span, and disdain for confrontation. Thus they launched a grand metaphysical transformation of truth and history that, by the time it reached Western shores, was a mirror image of itself in which truth became lies and myths.
The Israeli victors became the besieged victims, and the true Palestinian victims were erased from the world's conscience. What was robbed by money, lobbying, arm-twisting, guilt dispensation, political and academic marketing, and public relations, can only be won using the same methods.
Oh, my Arab/Muslim brothers and sisters, stop buying weapons and spend your money on your people's health and education, and learn the tools of Western culture and language. Forget the hapless U.N. and its IN-SECURITY COUNCIL of nuclear nations who hold the life and death of poor nations in their hands, enforcing resolutions selectively by bombing an Arab country (Iraq) but ignoring dozens of resolutions on Israel. To reach America you need time, money, perseverance, and patience. To overcome decades of Israeli bigotry and lies you must use the best public relations campaign oil money can buy.
You must commit yourselves to democratic values of peace, social and economic development, and zero tolerance for "terrorism" to benefit your people, as well as win over Western opinion.
You can start by financially supporting American and European Arab/Muslim groups to help them truly become strong and active lobbies. They have made good progress with few resources. Invest in the American media and movie conglomerates in order to influence their biased anti-Arab/Muslim reporting. Develop cable channels that can speak directly to the American people telling them your story with pictures of Palestinian and Lebanese children being bombed and homes being demolished. The Arabic language is beautiful and poetic, but we think that words and moral righteousness and indignation alone will convince America. Hello, anybody home? Who do you think Americans will listen to, Arafat or Shimon Peres? Through a unified well-financed and targeted campaign, Americans will come to see the light and price of their blind support of Israel. Help America overcome its silence and intimidation by a Jewish minority - less than two percent of the population - a small minority that carries a big stick.
In America, Palestinian suffering occurs in silence and out of camera range.
Somehow, you have to make the cries and anguish of their four generations under occupation come alive in the disinterested psyche of the West. No matter the truth, in America and Europe:
IMAGE IS EVERYTHING.
Allah (SWT) says He will help those who help themselves. Islam is the grandest, fairest message humanity ever received. Yet, there is no ISLAM in the Muslim world. Until Muslims reject the Western indoctrination that Islam is undemocratic, intolerant, violent, and hinders material progress, we, as Muslims, will never succeed. It was Islam that brought Europe out of the dark ages and into the Renaissance. But while Europe progressed, Muslim nations abandoned their faith and became the servants of the masters we taught. It's time for an ISLAMIC INTIFADAH within Muslim nations.
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