Dear Nigel:
Here's a basic outline of what happened at my meeting with Israel Shamir a few weeks ago. I went to the meeting, which I had asked Shamir's Washington contacts to arrange, in order to try to gain some insight into a man whose work had left me both impressed and disturbed. The first two of his articles I read, "We Failed the Acid Test" and "The Rape of Dulcinea" were stylistically very impressive, but I strongly felt that subsequent offerings have tended to the crude bashing of Jews in general and the implication that the United States, if not the world, is controlled by some sort of Jewish cabal. Also, it seemed curious that no one had heard of him, if he was, as he claimed,
"one of Israel's most respected journalists."In other words I went to the meeting with serious concerns and doubts, but also with a good deal of hope that we could clear things up and lay the basis for developing a working relationship.
Rather than being reassured, I was deeply alarmed by this meeting. Without going into all the details, Shamir suggested that Jews indeed do control the United States. He compared their role here with the role of Alawis in Syria, which I found to be a ridiculous comparison. He evinced no understanding of the complexities of power in this country, which he has never been to before, but seemed convinced that he knows it all. What may be even more disturbing, he absolutely dismissed the notion that Arab Americans could ever aid the cause of Palestinian liberation, since we will never be able to match the power and influence of the pro-Israel Jews and that we are totally wasting our time in even trying. He told me that I did not understand the
"way in which this community has been operating for over 1,000 years, maybe 2,000 years"and that we are helpless before them. He suggested that the only thing that would assist the cause of Palestinian liberation is the marginalization of the American Jewish community. I strongly felt that he was implying a campaign to promote mistrust of the Jewish community among the Christian majority in the United States, as he insisted that
"only the majority can control this minority group."I asked him if this was the essence of his project in his writings, and he told me
"it could be."I urged him to be more direct, but he declined on the grounds that we had never met before.
He then told me that what he came to this country for was to find a sponsor to send him to the churches in this country on a long speaking tour. He especially seemed keen on right-wing style churches. I asked him how he would preach anti-Zionism to a dispensationalist congregation which yearns for the battle of Armageddon, and he said he would convince them that Sharon is
"the Jewish anti-Christ."He then said that what he was most looking for was a source of funding for a stipend or salary paying for these articles. He told me that it was
"a sign of the immaturity"of our community that no Arab American had arranged for this yet.
I spoke with him at length about the need for him to moderate his outrageous language (remember this is before the Tufts speech and the Easter Message) and to be aware of the sensitivities of political discourse in the United States. I tried to explain why I had a problem with some of his rhetoric and why it would be counterproductive to the Palestinian movement in the United States. He dismissed these concerns out of hand. It was clear to me that he had been steadily increasing this rhetoric in his articles, and I left with a sinking feeling that it was only going to get worse. The "Easter Message" was the last straw.
Yours,
Hussein Ibish
(acting solely in his private capacity)