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I teach
at ITAM (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México), a university that takes
academic freedom seriously. This means that I can document such topics as the
historical ties between the Palestinian and German Nazi movements and keep my
job. I can also say positive things about the State of Israel and keep my
job. I can even say nice things about the Jews, and Judaism, and denounce
antisemitism, and keep my job. Lucky
for me. For I
teach a course called ‘Antisemitism, and the Political History of the West.’
The point of it is to investigate how, throughout the centuries, repressive
ruling elites have mobilized antisemitism as a tool to keep themselves in
power and to enslave the general population—Jews and non-Jews. The German Nazis were a dramatic example but the
pattern, as I strive to demonstrate in my course, holds for two and a half
millennia and is still quite current. This course is a labor of love and it
is open to all, whether or not they are students at my university. I teach it
every semester. A few
days ago, in reply to our publicity emails for this semester’s course, due to
begin February 10, we received a reply expressing that my course
is clearly nothing more than “vulgar, Zionist propaganda” going quite beyond
“limits that should not be exceeded.” Anyone, allegedly, can see this: “One
hardly needs to be an expert in history, in geostrategic studies, or in the
philosophy of religion to understand [it].” Moreover, “it is morally
repugnant that right as Palestine is being abused the way the Zionist
government daily abuses her, you [meaning my university] should bring to
Mexico an individual who dedicates himself to such blatant proselytizing in
favor of the most racist and odious regime in the world [meaning Israel].” The
author—a professor at the most prestigious philosophy department in my
country (UNAM)—is entitled to his own opinions. But I ask: How can he make a
living as an academic and dare to say that a modicum of research is entirely
beside the point for informed opinions about a course he has not taken and
whose subjects lie outside his field? My hypothesis: this professor assumes
that consuming news is quite enough—the media, speaking always without bias,
have already done the research and supplied him with ‘correct’ opinions. For an
anthropologist like myself, interested primarily in the transmission of
‘memes’ (norms, ideas, behaviors, etc.), it is interesting to learn more about
the processes that lodge these ‘correct’ ideas in the minds of my country’s
most prestigious academics. I was recently given a peek at such processes,
courtesy of José Hamra Sasson, former News Director of Mexico’s Canal Once
(Channel 11 - TV). Hamra
has engaged me in a public debate on the ideology of PLO/Fatah (i.e. the ‘Palestinian Authority’). I claim this ideology
is in essence that of the German Nazis: it seeks the extermination of the
Israeli Jews. Hamra replies: nothing could be further from the truth. In
support of my hypothesis, I have pointed to the close relationship that
existed between Hajj Amin al Husseini, founding father of the Palestinian
movement, and the German Nazis. (This relationship is one that few people
have any clue about, though their numbers have grown since last October, when
Benjamin Netanyahu explained this to world audiences.) No mere
‘collaborator,’ Husseini played a leading role in the Final Solution. And he
hoped to do more: with Hitler, he planned to exterminate the Jews living in
what is today the State of Israel. The
latter plan could not be carried out during the war. So what was a frustrated
genocidal monster to do in his postwar years? I have claimed that, after escaping to Cairo, Husseini
mentored Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas, creating PLO/Fatah. What
for? My hypothesis: to chase his dream: the genocidal destruction of Israel.
This hypothesis is consistent with PLO/Fatah’s key role in the creation of
the theocratic Iranian state, an international exporter of
antisemitic terrorism that, to this day, renews every month its promise to
exterminate the Israeli Jews. Since PLO/Fatah
is now the ‘Palestinian Authority,’ poised to receive strategic territory of
the Jewish state, this implies a rather serious danger to Israel. What does
Hamra say to all this? He does
not dispute my claims about Husseini’s leading participation in the WWII
Holocaust. So we agree on that. But Hamra does
deny that Husseini had anything to do with creating PLO/Fatah or mentoring its leaders. In
fact, he denies Husseini any significant role in the postwar Palestinian
movement. On Iran, Hamra grudgingly concedes PLO/Fatah’s support for Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamist Revolution, but
he denies that one may justifiably infer from this that PLO/Fatah shares Khomeini’s—and his
successors’—genocidal goals. Hamra has to say these things if he is to
keep himself consistent with his position, stated for the record over the
years, that a ‘Palestinian state’ governed by PLO/Fatah would be the best thing for peace in the Middle East. It is
in search of this elusive ‘peace’ that Western governments have publicly
premised their interventions in the Middle East. To evaluate these policies,
Westerners need to see proponents and opponents debate them in public, all
the better to examine the arguments and evidence presented by each side in
the various controversies. Hence, though my sparring with Hamra may be good
sport, it is also an educational opportunity for democratic citizens. This,
mind you, is no ordinary sparring partner, but one with an impressive CV. Hamra
has a B.A. in sociology from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (México City)
and an M.A. in political science from McGill University (Montreal, Canada).
He is a specialist of the Arab-Israeli ‘peace process’ (it’s the subject of
his Master’s thesis), of ‘Arab studies,’ and of the question of ‘exile.’ The
latter is at the center of his current doctoral studies in ‘Critical Theory’
at ‘17, Instituto de Estudios Críticos,’ in Mexico City (where, I am
guessing, they teach the most advanced postmodernist theory). Hamra’s
international relations research has been supported by CIDE (Centro de
Investigación y Docencia Económicas) and he has taught the subject at
Universidad Iberoamericana. That’s
quite a list of prestigious universities. But there is more. From
1998 through 2004, Hamra was News Director of Mexico’s Channel 11 (TV), a
powerful educational force. Its audience may not be the largest, but it has
influence, for Channel 11, run by Mexico’s esteemed National Polytechnic
Institute, is a resource cherished by Mexicans with higher education. And
Channel 11 reaches beyond. “Known
as the channel by which university TV broadcasters in Latin America chart
their paths,” it is “considered
the dean of university TV broadcasters in Latin America.”
Moreover, “the network is also available in the United States via
satellite from DirecTV and also various cable outlets on ‘Latino’ or
‘Spanish’ tiers,” reaching many people, as well, through its
webcasts on the Internet. As News
Director at Channel 11, José Hamra became an important shaper of opinion for
self-consciously educated Spanish speakers throughout the American
continent—in particular, for those who call themselves ‘intellectuals.’ And
there is life after Channel 11. From 2004 to 2009 Hamra led the section ‘The
Middle East: An Entire World’ in the news show Revista Antena Radio
(Horizonte 107.9 FM, Instituto Mexicano de la Radio). Since
then, Hamra has continued to appear everywhere, as the news media routinely
seek him on all questions relating to conflict in the Middle East—as one
might expect, for most of the mainstream media, here and elsewhere, take a
stance on Middle Eastern affairs quite similar to Hamra’s own. On
matters Middle Eastern, therefore, my exchanges with Hamra can teach us
something about the quality of Western political journalism writ large, and
perhaps also the quality of the Western university system.
In this
connection, Hamra’s initial efforts to censor my views (details to follow)
are food for thought. It is unusual for those confident in the quality of
their own arguments to try and silence their opponents. But more to the
point: Shouldn’t those in charge of ‘the news’ be interested in transparent
reporting and open debate? Are they supposed to be taking sides in political
controversies to the point of stifling the free expression of those whom they
disagree with? How is the public served by this? I
invite you to read my exchanges with Hamra and make up your own mind on the
various issues discussed, and on the central question: Is the ‘Palestinian Authority’ planning to repeat the Holocaust? Francisco Gil-White,
anthropologist and historian, is a professor at ITAM (Mexico City) and author of
‘Hajj Amin al Husseini’, Tome 1 of The Collapse
of the West: The Next Holocaust and its Consequences (for sale at
Amazon). |
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