Panel Members Denounce Israel, Blame U.S. Mideast Policies

Panel Members Denounce Israel, Blame U.S. Mideast Policies

by Rachel Zuckerman, Staff Writer
The Jewish Exponent
9/30/2004

At a recent panel discussion, three speakers blamed different facets of American foreign policy for straining relations with Middle East nations. However, one common thread was established: Each speaker offered a censure of U.S. support of Israel.

Some 100 students and community members attended “A Philadelphia Town Hall Meeting: Perceptions of Power and Security: Media Between the U.S. and the Middle East” on Sept. 23 at the University of Pennsylvania’s Houston Hall.

Americans for Informed Democracy, a nonprofit group, sponsored the event, as part of 30 similar meetings nationwide to promote dialogue on American-Islamic relations. The event was also sponsored by the People Speak, a nonpartisan organization that holds forums on global issues, and the Middle East Institute.

Danielle Dougherty, 22, a Penn senior who planned the event with fellow student Vanesa Sanchez, said the program filled a gap. “I think that in the United States, there’s a side missing — we don’t get as many different political views from people in the Middle East.”

Speaking first, David Chambers, director of programs at the Middle East Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think-tank, blamed two individuals that “epitomize U.S.-Muslim problems” — President Bush’s chief political strategist Karl Rove and Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. He denounced Rove for creating the image of Bush as a “cowboy.” He pointed out that Bush’s references to the current campaign in Iraq as “crusades,” along with terms like “shock and awe,” are interpreted by Muslims as belligerence against their own people.

He labeled bin Laden, in turn, “Al Qaeda’s Rove.” He reserved his criticism of Israel for the subsequent question-and-answer session, where he asserted that Arab resentment of the Jewish state stems from U.S. support, without which “Israel wouldn’t have the most powerful army in the region or a first-world standard of living.”

Richard Ben Cramer, a former correspondent for The Philadelphia Inquirer, described reactions to his recent book, How Israel Lost: The Four Questions, “like hitting a hornet’s nest with a baseball bat.” He argued points from the book’s thesis that the Israeli national identity became corrupted following the 1967 reclamation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip; among his suppositions was the idea that “the occupation itself has become the sole purpose of the State of Israel.”

Ben Cramer asserted that Mideast media outlets portray Americans “as bullies who enable their brother Muslims to be beaten up in Palestine every day.”

Claude Salhani, international editor for United Press International and an Egyptian national who holds both French and U.S. citizenship, focused on the proliferation of “120 Al Jazeeras,” a generic term he attributed to media outlets not controlled by Arabic governments.

The editor denounced Israel in the context of the failed Camp David peace negotiations, which he claimed were a failed last resort of former President Bill Clinton to achieve a legacy as a peacemaker in the region.

You may contact Rachel Zuckerman via Email: rzuckerman@jewishexponent.com