They are still digging up the dead in Lebanon. The death toll as I write has now reached 1,300. Most were innocent civilians murdered in a senseless protracted conflict that was cheered on by the United States (the so-called bastion of the free world) in spite of its illegality, injustice and the immense human suffering it caused. They anticipate that several other Lebanese remain buried beneath the rubble of what were once their homes and are now, ironically, their final resting places.
Daily, rescue workers face the gruesome task of unearthing children clinging to their mothers for comfort in death much as they would have done in life whose frozen faces have been etched forever with the lines of terror and panic. What has emerged from this devastatingly unnecessary war is not just the fact that after 34 days of mercilessly pulverizing Lebanon in its magnanimous pretense to “help” the country, the Israelis retreated with their tails between their legs in defeat. Nor the astonishing David-over-Goliath-style victory of a guerrilla organization whose crude armaments could not be subjugated by the US-sponsored military capabilities of a nation state as powerful as Israel.
In retrospect, the most glaring outcome of these hostilities has been the duplicity, hypocrisy and treachery of some of our most important world leaders. Certainly we are no strangers to that as the annals of recent history have been recorded in the blood of those who have suffered from the same fate in Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan.
But what has also been exposed is the manner in which the majority of the American media has represented recent events with the sort of one-sided bias that is more reminiscent of the KGB than of a country which ostensibly has established itself on a constitution that espouses freedom of speech and freedom of the press. It is of course entirely possible that Uncle George has secretly scrapped the First Amendment altogether. You would just have to flick on any cable network news channel to see why. For there they were out in force last month, the buffoons (read “experts”) waxing lyrical their lunatic opinions about the Middle East. There was a wide selection of these “intelligent” (huh!) and “well-informed” viewpoints to choose from. You could take your pick from the theorizing of Ann Coulter, who had suggested after Sept. 11, 2001, that American policy toward the Middle East should be to “invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.” Or Michael D. Evans who specializes in doomsday scenarios.
In the same manner in which microwave popcorn and hamburgers are sold to the gullible American public, here we had a diet of good and evil, black and white, right and wrong being touted to a population that relies heavily on the power of the box to mold their perception of the outside world. No matter how distorted, far removed from reality or totally untrue that junk food for the soul may be.
I sat amazed as I watched the developing Western-serialization of the conflict by Fox News. The scene was set with a star cast that included some familiar faces. The sheriff was beautifully played by Uncle George. His sidekick is the dapper and reasonable sounding Ehud Olmert. Auntie Condi looked immaculate as the iron maiden who would stand by her man come rain or shine (Tammy Wynette would have been so proud!). Tony Blair, desperately clambering for attention with his tap-dancing and other wonderfully effusive talents, is mostly relegated to the background, although he does make a memorable contribution by cozying up to his hero.
The Israeli public are the good law-abiding citizens of the world. The baddies are played by the raucous, uncouth elements of Hezbollah who do not wash behind their ears. The Lebanese population had a tiny bit part that you would have missed if you blinked.
The plot is marvelously simple.
Hezbollah is an incarnation of the same faceless evil organization that blew up the county saloon a few years ago. (They are part of a wider network of crazy weirdoes that are against law and order. This bunch of anti-decency felons includes Hamas, Al-Qaeda, the governments of Syria and Iran and the Iraqi insurgents. A bit hard for the average viewer to digest; so let’s just call them “the Indians”.) The good people of Israel, therefore, have the blessing of Uncle George to blow up the Lebanese.
I told you. Marvelously simple.
It was, quite frankly, disgusting to see how the American media had turned so shamelessly into this one-eyed Cyclops when it came to basic coverage of the conflict. Any debate or discussion that did not favor Israel was treated with suspicion and a threat to national security.
When John Dingell, a Democratic Congressman from Michigan, urged the US to seek a speedy conclusion to the war instead of taking sides he was vilified and labeled a “Hezbollah apologist” in the mainstream press. When Joe Lieberman was defeated in Connecticut it was seen as a largely anti-Semitic anti-Israeli protest. In fact, Dick Cheney ventured to proffer that his defeat would be seen as a victory for “Al-Qaeda types” who tried to undermine the will of the American people! Even the massacre in Qana was alleged to have been a hoax until it was the Israeli Army itself that took responsibility for the bombing.
It is heartening to note that in spite of all this blatant propaganda there are many Americans and Jews who have voiced their opposition to this war. I am always surprised by the e-mails I receive from people who express their anger at Bush’s ridiculous foreign policy and their shame at how it has caused the destruction of yet another country.
I have many Jewish friends, grew up with them, went to school with them and broke matzo with them on the Sabbath. I learned the Torah and the Talmud with them, wrote letters demanding the release of the refuseniks from Russia with them and forged friendships that have lasted all of my life. Politics cannot change basic human bonds of love compassion and humanity. Many of my friends wanted an end to the suffering of the Lebanese and justice for the Palestinians as much as I do. I know of Israelis who have been imprisoned for refusing army service because of this very principle.
In the words of the San Francisco Rabbi Michael Lerner, “There is no major figure in American political life who has been willing to raise the issue of the legitimate needs of the Palestinian people, or even talk about them as human beings.” There are, it has to be said, many Jews who don’t agree with the policies of the Israeli government as there are many Americans who don’t agree with Bush’s agenda of US hegemony.
At least the British press is lively and irrepressible. Yesterday morning I awoke to read the front-page headline “Bush Is Crap, Says Prescott.” Come on John. Tell us something we don’t already know!
— Lubna Hussain is a Saudi writer. She is based in Riyadh.)
