A Closer Look at Mendacity
Paul Eidelberg
Of course the "Palestinian" Arabs want this film of the Temple Mount removed from YouTube: It exposes them as liars. But who, apart from the ignorant, does not know that mendacity is a deeply ingrained trait of Arab culture. Yes, but this also places in question the veracity of Israel's ruling elites. Ponder the following:
The late Hebrew University Professor Y. Harkabi, who once served as Director of Israeli Military Intelligence and who was a confidante of Shimon Peres, was an expert in Arab-Islamic culture. One of his major books is Arab Attitudes to Israel (1973).
Writing at a time when one did not have to fear the mindless charge of racism, Harkabi refers to Islam as a “combatant,” “expansionist,” and “authoritarian” creed. He admits that “The idea of the Jihad is fundamental in Islam,” in consequence of which “hatred,” “hostility,” and “conflict” are endemic to Arab culture (133). Moreover, he informs us that “There are many examples in Arab national literature of comparisons between the Arabs and other peoples, of self-glorification by denigration of others” (138).
Furthermore, and of profound significance, Harkabi acknowledges that “the use of falsehood,” “distortions of the truth,” and “misleading slogans” are typical of Arab political life. “Political scientists, sociologists and historians,” he musingly writes, “seem to feel reluctant to mention this aspect of their analysis of the Arab world” (337). He nonetheless cites one “balanced observer” who refers to Arab achievements in “the reinterpretation of the truth.” If only because of the Arab’s inordinate pride and national aspirations, “defeats become victories, history is rewritten ... and slogans for the future are endowed with hypnotic power.”
Harkabi goes so far as to suggest that mendacity is “second nature” to the Arabs, that one may rightly regard “falsehood as an expression of [Arab] national character.” For support he quotes the liberated Arab sociologist Sonia Hamady: “Lying is a widespread habit among the Arabs, and they have a low idea of truth” (348).
Moshe Dayan once spoke of the Arab addiction to “lie-pills.” This conditioning attains sociological perfection by the practice of taqiyya (dissembling).
But if all this is so well known to Israel's political and military echelons, why have Israeli Prime Ministers doggedly persisted in negotiating with Arab leaders? Why have they signed agreements with them, such as the Oslo Accords, publicized as harbingers of peace? This suggests that these prime ministers are also liars, that they too are dissemblers?
Palestinians are demanding that this film be removed.
Send this to as many people as you can.
It is the only way that YouTube will not remove it:
http://www.israelifrontline.com/2011/04/why-arabs-want-this-video-removed.html
