The Sept. 11 attacks spawned a mess of urban legends from the hopeful (a man was able to sail on a piece of wreckage to a safe landing on the ground) to the harrowing (a tourist had his picture taken on the observation deck as one plane was about to crash). Most of these legends are like other urban legends--speculative, designed to inject sensationalism.
One of these urban legends, however, is something more than juvenile fascination. Just a week after the attack, the Jordan-based Al-Watan newspaper reported that 4,000 Jews did not show up to work Sept. 11--implying that there was some kind of Jewish conspiracy not only to destroy the towers but also blame Islamic terrorists for the attacks. Various Arab diplomatic sources cited sources in Israeli intelligence that confirmed the speculation. The myth spread like wildfire across the Arab world.
The claim is unsubstantiated--no facts have been found to confirm it, and it appears to be based on concerns by Israeli leaders for the 4,000 Israeli citizens living in New York--a handful of who worked at the WTC. Nonetheless, the story quickly was leaked and twisted by many mainstream Arab-world newspapers as well as white supremacist websites. The myth has also pervaded several governments--most notably in Syria, where Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass asserted last October that the attacks were organized by Israeli intelligence and offered the myth as evidence.
Is the propagation of this myth by powerless people like journalists or the Syrian defense minister to be taken lightly? No. This lie and its popularity in the Arab world (a poll by PakNews, a Pakistani news service, found 71 percent of Arab people believed the myth was "possibly true") are indicative of the real problems of the Arab world--deep rooted anti-semitism is the chief dictate of foreign and domestic policy. Pure hatred is the most popular political movement.
It wasn't always this way. In the 15th century, after the Catholic monarchy kicked every last Moor out of Spain, Jews faced similar persecution. They found refuge among Moors in the Ottoman Empire. There was not a lot of animosity between the two until the 19th century, when there were larger struggles for land between many warring cultural factions.
In 1948, when the state of Israel was created, the Arab world's descent into extreme anti-Semitism began. Radical sects of Islam, basing their traditions on narrow, fundamentalist readings of the Quran as well as extreme nationalism and racism, began to seize power--not just in the Mosques but also in the state. The radical, racist governments took hold, squashing the rights of their own citizens and turning the people's ire toward Israel and America (we played a role in the establishment of Israel and our country is viewed by the Arab world as being run by Jews, despite our battles against the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo). Judaism and Western thought were tied together and sharply labeled as evil.
This downward spiral has led to a peculiar similarity of thought among neo-Nazis and Arab people. In our sometimes regrettably politically correct world, we often wrongly dismiss Islamic and Arab antisemitism as a construct of faith and as an unfortunate, but necessary result of the establishment of the state of Israel. That this antisemitism is allowed to persist as a means of identifying culture is the real crime--it is time to start calling a spade a spade.
Last September, when Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suggested that Western culture, because of its embrace of democracy and cultural freedom, was superior to Arab culture, other Western leaders insisted that he apologize. Fortunately, he did not. Berlusconi's assertion, flawed without its caveat, has some truth to it. Is the West perfect? No. Does capitalism harm the third world? Certainly. Can you name a Western nation that is led by a fundamentalist dictatorship that exploits its own citizens for wealth and maintains order in its nation with a firm hand and popular hatred? Imagine a U.S. political party built around hatred of "infidel" Canadians.
Antisemitism is a given right now in the Arab world and the near total lack of popular opposition to oppressive, racist regimes is the tragic flaw of the modern Arab world. No one liked the Taliban, but did any of the Arab neighbors--Saudi Arabia especially--do anything to stop a regime of hatred and murder? Quiet compliance with intolerance is unacceptable; the current war will make the perils of complacency all too clear.
That is not to excuse other nations--we all have a part to play. When Israel elects a murderer masquerading as leader like Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, they hold their own country back in similar ways. When the United States continues its economic exploitation for every drop of oil, we assist in the collapse of the Arab world. Our country should continue to provide humanitarian aid, as well as incentive to revolt against the hate-filled dictatorships of the Middle East.
In the end, the ball is firmly in the court of the Arab people. One cannot call for cultural tolerance and economic liberation from the globe in one breath, and call for the heads of their neighbors in the next. The attacks have spawned more than urban legends for the Arab world and the current prevailing Arab culture; it is time to decide to sink or swim.
Trinity senior Martin Barna is projects editor of The Chronicle and film editor of Recess. His columns appears on alternating Wednesdays.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.