Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) : Justifying Israel’s apartheid policy and genocide on Palestinians is possible only, because Hollywood’s propaganda industry has deprived the entire Arab people from their humanity. It is time to set the record straight and to confront the enemies of truth.
The decades-long extermination of Palestinians,their Arab, Islamic and Christian cultures would not have been possible had people in the U.S.’and Europe had access to objective media reports and facts about the situation in Palestine and Israel.
In reverse, European and U.S. Citizens have tolerated their governments tolerance and complicity with Israeli crimes against Palestinians because billions are spent on a propaganda industry that positions Arabs as villains and sub-human while Israelis, Jews and indeed U.S.’ and European citizens are positioned as the noble victims. The themes vary, depending on the contemporary political discourse but the dehumanization, denigration and positioning aims at the same goal.
Movies during the 1970s, for example, predominantly positioned Arabs as maniacal Palestinian Marxist terrorists. Post-1990 and especially post-2001 we see the radical Islamist. The Arab and North African oil embargo during the 70s prompted movies about super-rich, decadent oil-sheiks who rape “white” American and European women. In most cases, the positioning justifies the mass killing of Arabs by American, European or Israeli “heroes”.
How pervasive this propaganda is was documented in Dr. Jack Shaheen’s book Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People
and a movie under the same title, produced by The Media Education Foundation.
and a movie under the same title, produced by The Media Education Foundation.
Shaheen documents how badly Hollywood has contributed to positioning Arab people as uncivilized, brutal villains, terrorists and right out inhumane or sub-human.
Dr. Shaheen compares Hollywood’s positioning of Arabs with Nazi Germany’s anti-Jewish propaganda. He analyzed more than one-thousand Hollywood movies from the oldest in the archives up to the latest Blockbusters in 2001. Nearly 25 percent of all Hollywood movies demean Arabs, concluded Shaheen.
The Disney Classic “Aladdin”, that has been watched by hundreds of millions of people worldwide is recycling almost all of the stereotypes used to demean Arabs. It’s particularly effective propaganda because it is watched by children and because adults have their guards down when they watch a kid’s cartoon. The theme song of Aladdin is setting the Arabland scene:
“Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face, it’s barbaric, but hey, … it’s home”.
People worldwide, especially children, were coached into believing that Arabland is a place where innocent women have their hands amputated for forgetting to pay at a bazaar. Other movies describe Arabs as super-rich, imbecilic, sex addicted tyrants who mistreat women, and most importantly white American women who are kidnapped and auctioned off.
Meanwhile, there is a steady stream of Hollywood productions which portray the suffering of the European Jews during the 1930s – 40s. No movie has ever been made about the 25.000 Germans who were burned to death during the fire-bombing of Dresden or the at least 17.500 who were burned to death during the firebombing of Pforzheim.
Dr. Jack Shaheen documents that the dehumanizing of Arabs began after World War II and the establishment of Israel. It increased significantly during the Arab oil embargo in the early seventies and again after the Islamic revolution in Iran.
The Hollywood entertainment industry and corporate western mainstream media establish the skeleton for a western consensus reality that deprives Arabs their culture, identity and most of all, their humanity. Once an enemy has been deprived from his humanity, there is no limit to the outrages that will be tolerated by the people.
Nazi Germany succeeded at likening Jews to rats. Hollywood is using exactly the same strategy. The only difference is that it has become more sophisticated, more pervasive and more persuasive. Propaganda explains why the Jewish suffering during World War II is perceived as legitimate while the suffering of Palestinians is ignored.
Human beings have an innate resistance against taking the life of another human being. As long as we don’t speak in terms of psycho-pathology it takes months of rigorous military training before a person can become a soldier and months more to train a sniper who aims and shoots to kill without a doubt.
Tear down the stage set for Arabland and you will be surprised how different the world looks.
The occupation of Palestine is an illegal military occupation. Settlements and outposts are illegally occupied Palestinian territories. The organized armed forces of Palestinian factions are, under the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and Hague Conventions legally formed military forces which resist an illegal military occupation.
The 2004 bombing of Gaza was the illegal terror bombing of densely populated civilian territories. It was launched without a formal declaration of war and approval from the UN Security Council and thus a war crime, no matter how much the one and the other report attempts to cover-up that fact.
The euphemism targeted assassination covers over the fact that Israel and the United States engage in premeditated homicide.
The alleged unique suffering of the Jewish people omits legitimate Palestinian suffering. It also omits the fact that forced labor in the former Belgian colony Congo contributed to the death of about 20 percent of the colony’s population.
There are two common denominators for the suffering of European Jews, Palestinians, the Congolese in the Belgian colony and those butchered and maimed in, for example Rwanda.
The first common denominator is innocenticide; that is, the inflicting of suffering on millions of innocent people.
The second common denominator is that none of the above would have been possible without firstdepriving the victims their humanity.
On Friday morning, June 6, 2014, Israeli police stormed the offices and studios of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) in occupied East Jerusalem. PBC stated that police raided the TV channel’s offices and studios and arrested “Good Morning Jerusalem” director Nader Bebers, Pal Media Coordinator Ashfar Shweiki, and the show’s guest Ala’ al-Haddad at gunpoint.
Al-Haddad is a member of the Jerusalem section of the Committee of Palestinian Detainees. All three were reportedly released after several hours of questioning without being offered legal representation.
Israeli media reported that the show incited violence while Jerusalem police falsely claims that PBC does not have a license to broadcast. The raid took place against the backdrop of a weeks-long hunger strike of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.
The incident sends a clear message. Those behind the propaganda, the denigration, the dehumanization, the builders of Arabland are afraid of the truth. They will go to any length to oppress it. The challenge is to go to any length to deconstruct the stage set for Arabland; to show the true face of Palestine and the true face of Zionism. Its time to set the record straight. Silence is complicity.
Ch/L – nsnbc 10.06.2014
NOTE: Two other articles have been published over the theme of “Arabland” and dehumanization as precondition for genocide, as well as Zionist propaganda to justify the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and Israel:
One is published at PRESS TV under the title: ‘Zionists seek to demonize Palestine’
An in depth article on the theme, including a chapter on the need for a teleological approach to the language of the political discourse has been published in nsnbc international under the title: “Palestine Israel, History and Theirstory”. I warmly recommend this comprehensive article on the theme, and I warmly recommend Dr. Jack Shaheen’s book and documentary “Real Bad Arabs: How Hollywood vilifies a People”. – Christof Lehmann
About the Author
Uprooted Palestinian 
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Blog!
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