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Iraqis wrestle with Jewish
factor
By Nir Rosen
BAGHDAD -
When Imam Mahdi al-Jumeili of the small Hudheifa mosque
in Baghdad's Shurti neighborhood met three American
officers to resolve a dispute over soldiers entering the
grounds of his mosque, his first question to them was
"are any of you Jews"? When he was satisfied that none
were, he allowed the meeting to proceed. Prior to the
arrival of the Americans, he made his prejudices about
them clear: "We are sure they came here to steal the
country and protect Israel," he said, adding that
"Judaism and Masonism are at war with Islam".
These views are common in Iraq, where references
to "al-Yahud", or "the Jews", are made everywhere and
they demonstrate the degree to which the outside world
is misunderstood and feared by Iraqis whose views were
shaped by years of authoritarianism, control and fear,
with little access to information not dictated by
Ba'athist or religious sources.
And the
prejudices appear to still flourish. For a journalist,
not a day goes by without mention of Jews and Israel.
Even taxi drivers talk about the Jews when they grumble
about the occupation. "We are Muslims!" one declared
proudly during an evening ride to a hotel, "and Jews
come to our land?" When asked who he was referring to,
he said, "They are all Jews. The Americans are all Jews
and mercenaries. We know their religion." When asked if
he wanted a Sunni or Shi'ite leader in Iraq, this driver
said. "We are all Muslims, it makes no difference. Only
the Jews want to separate Sunnis and Shi'ites, they are
non-believers."
Another taxi driver explained
that "America and the Jews are one. We know this from
their interests, their relationships and America's
defense of the Jews. They don't give rights to Arabs,
only Jews. America and Jews are the same because they
have the same goals and the same faith." A third taxi
driver explained that the Jordanian embassy was bombed
because Jordan was organizing the migration of Jews into
Iraq.
In the market of Abu Ghraib, a town west
of Baghdad, when asked about the Americans, one angry
man replied: "Saddam was better. At least he was a
Muslim. Isn't that better than Jews?" When pressed on
the issue, he explained that "the Americans are Jews,
their work is Jewish. Nobody accepts them". The prayer
leader of Abu Ghraib's local mosque agreed. "They are
all Jews and Christians, these occupiers," he said.
Signs on the walls of the Abu Hanifa mosque warn
Iraqis that Jews have come to the Ekal Hotel and they
plan to purchase land, just as they did in Palestine, to
drive Iraqis out of their country. "Do not stab your
fellow Iraqis in the heart" by selling land to the Jews,
exhorts the sign. A visit to the Ekal Hotel proves that
it is closed for renovations and has no guests. The same
signs warning of Jewish real estate agents invading Iraq
are distributed by university students.
On the
walls of the mosque in Maalef, a Shi'ite slum in
Baghdad, large spray-painted graffiti says, "Kill the
Jews". In Baghdad's Mansour district, at the Rahman
mosque, faithful Shi'ites heard Sheikh Ali al-Ibrahimi
condemn a recent decision by the Iraqi Governing Council
to permit certain non-Iraqi citizens to obtain Iraqi
citizenship. Ibrahimi warned that "if Jews reside in
Iraq then they will become Iraqi citizens and they will
own Iraq and we will be their guests". He explained that
the founders of the US initially feared letting the
"owners of money" enter the country, but that "this
happened when the Jews came. The Americans and others
became their guests".
In the large slums of Sadr
City, Seyid Hasan Naji al-Musawi, the leader of the
Muhsin mosque in this Shi'ite neighborhood declared that
the Mahdi, Islam's version of the Messiah, "will be
coming soon and when he comes he will kill the Jewish
leadership", which he equated with the Americans, adding
that Julius Caesar was Jewish, and the Jews were the
Romans. Al-Musawi quoted a verse from the Koran
prognosticating the eventual defeat of the Jews.
A common belief in Iraq and the Arab world in
general is that when held to a mirror and reversed, the
Coca-Cola logo says "No Mecca No Mohammed". This is
attributed to the alleged Jewish ownership of Coca-Cola.
It is said that all night long trucks smuggle Iraqi oil
through Jordan into Israel. And the rumors continue ad
nauseam. The fact that the Old Testament contains
references to Jewish hegemony over the lands between the
Nile and the Euphrates does little to ease concerns.
Works purporting to be scholarly are available
in every book market, elaborating on themes of the
Jewish threat. The ubiquitous Protocols of the Elders
of Zion detailing a Jewish plot to rule the world,
long proven in the West to be a fabrication written at
the behest of a Russian czar, is sold in Arabic. Volume
one and volume two. Another book called The Crimes of
the Jews is on display on Baghdad streets alongside
a book about Drugs and the Sons of the Devil. On
further reading, the book reveals that the Jews are the
"sons of the devil" the title refers to. A book in
Kurdish is also available, its cover bearing a Star of
David, and inside it a monster with blood dripping down
its fangs. The book is called In the Jaws of the
Jews.
The Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq, a member of the US-appointed Iraqi
Governing Council, sells a book called Jewish
Nights, refuting various Jewish claims about their
history, and in Najaf, the office of the cleric Seyid
Muqtada Sadr sells a book called Ali and the Jews,detailing Ali's conversion of Jews to Islam.
Iraqis are clearly very concerned
about Jews. Islam is traditionally ambivalent to the
Jews, condemning them often in the Koran but mandating a
modus vivendi with them at the same time, relegating
them to an inferior and protected status called
dhimi. Hostility between different religions is a
normal phenomenon, resulting from their competition for
the same market of believers and their inherent belief
that their religion purveys the truth and therefore the
others are necessarily false.
As the oldest of
the three monotheisms, Judaism was viewed with derision
by the other two for its rejection of their newer
prophets. In the Christian West, this led to
anti-Semitism, the belief that Jews are a race or nation
to be disparaged. Judaism was a stain that could not be
removed by mere conversion. Martin Luther lamented the
existence of Jews whom he viewed as a "damned, rejected
race". In Islam, with its explicit rejection of races,
it led only to anti-Judaism, the belief that the Jewish
religion was the problem and if individual Jews became
Muslims and recognized Mohammed, then they were no
longer Jews and these individuals would be treated just
like any other Muslim.
With the creation of
Israel, the Jewish state, and with its successful defeat
and occupation of Arabs and Muslims, as well as its
oppression of occupied populations, Jews became a threat
rather than an anachronistic and vestigial relic. Arab
and Muslim authors incorporated European racist and
anti-Semitic theories about Jewish conspiracy theories
to explain the existence and strength of Israel, as well
as its influence over American policy. While the Koran
is a vast book with statements that can lead to
variegated interpretations, those seeking them can find
many verses in the Koran to give these theories
religious blessing and validity.
"Strongest
among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the
Jews and pagans" instructs the Koran in 5:85, implying
that Jews and pagans are of equal stature and that Jews
are the enemies of Muslims, leading to the conclusion
that they are therefore God's enemies as well since they
are the enemies of those who believe in him. In 2:97-8
God declares that he is the enemy of whoever is the
enemy of the Angel Gabriel. And this is generally
interpreted to refer to the Jews.
The Koran, the
Old Testament and the New Testament are all quoted to
prove the treachery of the Jews. The Jewish worship of
the golden calf after God had made a covenant with them
(2:92-3) and their recurring violations of pacts made
with the Prophet Mohammed (8:56-8) prove that Jews are
not to be trusted. In 2:96 Jews are unfavorably compared
with idolaters. "Of all people the most greedy for life
- even more than the idolaters" are the Jews. In Verse
88 of "the Cow" chapter, the Koran describes Jews as
follows: "They say our hearts are the wrappings (that
keep God's words) nay God's curse is on them for their
blasphemy. Little is it they believe." Verse 2 of this
chapter asks "is it not that every time they make a
covenant, some party among them throw it aside?" In 2:58
the Koran attributes punishments wrought on the Jews for
their blasphemy: "and abasement and poverty were pitched
on them, and they were laden with God's wrath; that
because they had disbelieved the signs of God and slain
prophets unrightfully; that because they disobeyed, and
were transgressors".
Jews are viewed as
unbelievers, disobedient and treacherous, rejecting God
and his messengers. In 2:87 the God states "and we gave
Moses the book and followed him up with a succession of
messengers; we gave Jesus the son of Mary clear signs
and strengthened him with the holy spirit. Is it that
whenever there comes to you a messenger with what you
yourselves desire not, you are puffed up with pride?
Some you called imposters and others you slew." In 4:157
it is stated that "they boasted 'we killed Christ Jesus
the son of Mary, the messenger of God'." In verse 58 of
"the Table" chapter the Koran states that God himself
has cursed the Jews. Verse 86 of that chapter implies
that Jews "shall be the companions of hell fire". Verses
79 and 80 describe the "evil" works and deeds of Jews.
Verse 51 of the chapter "women" accuses Jews of
believing in evil.
In 5:66, God scolds the Jews
for not obeying their Torah and therefore rejecting both
Jesus and Mohammed. Verse 56 of "the Spoils" chapter
describes how Mohammed fought and defeated the Jews at
the battle of Khaybar. In 5:78 both David and Jesus
curse the Jews for "disobedience" and "excesses".
Thus the basis exists, for those who choose to
use it, to promote the hostility and palpable fear of
Jews that confront journalists in Iraq on a daily basis.
The many Iraqis who now have access to satellite
television can also watch a Syrian Ramadan series aired
on the Lebanese Hezbollah-owned channel "Al-Manar" that
provides a tendentious version of recent Jewish history.
"Al-Shatat" or "the Diaspora", as the series is called,
tells the story of Zionism from 1812 until the
establishment of Israel. The series contains familiar
themes of Jewish plots to dominate the world. The first
episode began with a description of a 2,000-year-old
Jewish creation of a world government and attempts by
Jews to provoke wars among non-Jews. Subsequently, Jews
are shown plotting to kill non-Jews, dominate various
countries, oppose other religions, and incite Germany to
enter a succession of wars. Actors play famous Jewish
figures, such as the wealthy Rothschild dynasty, the
founder of Zionism Theodore Herzl and the
falsely-accused Alfred Dreyfuss. Jews are shown
committing brutal acts of murder and dismemberment
against non-Jews and Jews who betrayed the race. Such a
program is consistent with a wide body of literature
produced in the Arab world, including recent Iraqi
newspaper articles.
After the war, with the
flowering of new Iraqi publications, newspaper articles
contained numerous Jewish themes, helping to spread the
panic that Jews were indeed invading the country. The
independent Iraqi daily al-Yawm al-Aakher reported, that
"the frantic campaign to resettle the Jews [in Iraq] has
aroused the annoyance of Iraqis, particularly the
clerics". Al-Adala, a newspaper published by the Supreme
Council of the Islamic Revolution, warned that "a number
of Jews are attempting to purchase factories in
Baghdad". The article went on to describe an eyewitness
who observed Jews purchasing factories. In fact it seems
nearly everyone in Baghdad has a friend or relative who
was an eyewitness to Jews buying land.
An editorial
in al-Rassed also warned that Jews were attempting to
purchase land as a result of the occupation. Dar
al-Salam, a newspaper owned by the Iraqi Islamic Party,
reported that Mosul's association of clerics issued an
edict prohibiting the sale of land to non-Iraqis because
it may end up in the hands of Jews. Meanwhile, al-Sa'ah
warned Iraqis to check Taiwanese and Chinese-made
appliances for concealed Stars of David because the
Israelis would be surreptitiously selling their products
in Iraq.
Another rumor going around is that
Michel Aflaq, the now-hated founder of the Ba'ath Party,
was a secret Jew who had converted to Christianity. It
is also rumored that in Israel, Jewish brothels are
built to look like mosques, even with the minaret, or
tower. Shi'ites believe that a final battle between Jews
and Muslims will occur when the Jews come to the city of
Kifil on the Euphrates to visit the tomb of an alleged
Jewish prophet. Here Muslims and Jews will fight, and
the Jews will hide behind rocks, which will speak and
say "there is a Jew behind me", and the Muslims will be
victorious.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online
Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact content@atimes.com for
information on our sales and syndication
policies.)
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