WASHINGTON, 25 June — Word has it that these days it can be difficult to buy a copy of the New York Post in some New York neighborhoods. The reason is simple: Some Arab-American newsstand vendors are boycotting the newspaper because they say the daily paper is publishing false information about Muslims, and turning American society against them.
Arab storeowners, even those who continue selling the Post, are considering severing all ties with the publication. They say the paper "curses them" by supporting Israel in the war with Palestine and by placing anti-Islamic editorials.
According to Polish Daily News, a New York paper published in Polish, of which Arab News received a translation, many of the Arab-American vendors are quite frank about the sudden disappearance of one of the city’s main newspapers, while others are more discreet.
Responses can vary from: "The paper is sold out." To: "We stopped selling this paper two months ago because they write bad things about Arabs."
"People look at us as if we were terrorists," a Saudi who has been in the United States for 10 years and considers this country his second home, told Polish Daily News.
The paper quotes Abdullah, a Yemeni man who works at a newsstand in Brooklyn, who asked why he should sell a newspaper that, he says, publishes untrue opinions about his country. "Think about it," Abdullah explains, "a customer reads in the paper that the vendor is a murderer and illiterate. I don’t think he’ll come back to me after reading something like that. If Poles had to distribute anti-Polish newspapers I’m sure they wouldn’t do it."
Abdul from Nassau and Manhattan Avenues, gave up selling the Post after reading it for a few months. He said he hoped the editors would become less vitriolic and report the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with less bias. "Unfortunately, the stupid opinions continued so I said ‘No, thank you’ to the distributor. You haven’t been able to buy this daily paper here for more than a month," Abdul told the paper.
Polish Daily News reports most of the newsstands in the Brooklyn area are planning to stop distribution of the paper very soon. "Right now, the boss is on vacation, so we are waiting for him to come back. He’ll make the final decision. I trust he will do what others have. No Arab can remain indifferent in this matter," confesses Ali from Yemen, a vendor on Greenpoint Avenue. His peers from across the street think the same. "We have to support the Palestinians," they say.
Ismael who owns a store on Manhattan Avenue told New York Polish Daily News: "We will give up the Post very soon because there is no big demand for it. The Post writes badly about us and our stores. They put us in the same bag with the extremists who destroyed the World Trade Center. It hurts because each nation has its black sheep and it’s wrong to generalize."
