The American Jewish Committee

In the Wake of Haifa, on the Eve of Iraq:

Minding our Language as We Face Momentous Events

Weekly Briefing on Israeli and Middle Eastern Affairs

March 7, 2003

Dr. Eran Lerman

Director Israel/Middle East Office

There are moments when words abandon you—or rather, when the words that flood your mind should not be thought at all, must not be uttered, must never see print.  This was how I felt away from home, on a hasbarah (public relations) mission in Greece (not an easy place for the Israeli case, nowadays, nor for the American, for that matter) when the news came, after the long lull since January 5, of the massacre in Haifa. I realized, with growing horror, that the attack took place on the corner of the pleasant, leafy street where I had lived for years in my youth, on the bus line (No. 37) I had regularly ridden as a boy, tearing apart children and young women and men from my old school, the “Re’ali,” and others whom I knew very well all these years. I began thinking, helplessly, about their families in their agony, which has just begun.

Anger comes rushing in, and anger is not only natural but necessary at such times. But the challenge lies in avoiding the counsels of general, overwhelming hatred that anger brings, and staying focused on the message—the very same message that I had been carrying to Greek audiences, in the Israeli-Palestinian context as well as in the Iraqi context: namely, that even under the terrible circumstances that tempt us to lash out in all directions, to lose all hope in the humanity of the other, we must strive as best we can to draw the line between the Palestinian or Iraqi people on one side, and the virulent politics of their leaderships on the other.

It is the Hamas leadership—with a nod and a wink, at least until recently, from Arafat and some of his men (although we must remember that there are other voices, even among Palestinian nationalists)—which systematically dehumanizes not only the Israeli government but all Jews, as “descendants of the pigs and monkeys,” and thus prepares a young man to blow himself up while surrounded by school kids he can see at eye level. It cannot be our way. At the very same time we were fighting in the messy urban warrens of Gaza, where the terror organizations dig in amidst densely populated areas, the Israeli government continued to transfer funds to the PA finance minister, the highly respectable Salam Fayyad; and gave the green light to the gathering in Ramallah of the PA and PLO bodies authorized to sanction the choice of a new Palestinian prime minister, a first step in the long and “performance-driven” road toward implementation of President Bush’s vision of June 24, 2002 (recently reiterated in his speech at the American Enterprise Institute).

Mahmud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, is the likely choice, but he has already said, as well he should, that he will not accept the job if it remains the truncated, French (or Egyptian) style of prime ministry, subject to an all-powerful presidency— a sign of many such wrangles yet to come. Yet, at the very same time that Hamas intensifies its despicable efforts of disruption—and Arafat, as usual, speaks from both sides of his mouth—the steady pressure of the United States and the “Quartet” is at last beginning to bear fruit.

Much the same distinction between the politics and ideologies of pure evil, which ultimately must be fought and defeated, and the messier and untidy, but ultimately more benign, forces that must rise in their place, is relevant for Iraq as well. At all times we must do our best not to forget—even as we bury our dead, because we now bury our dead—that our enemies are not the people on the other side, but the politicians and leaders, ideologies and cultures of hate, dragging them into the abyss. It is not always easy to know one from the other, but this will remain the challenge in the momentous events ahead.

In a very profound way, we must mind our language, to ensure that these distinctions are reflected in speech and in action: not “the War against Iraq” but the war to liberate the Iraqi people; not “the Palestinians” did this, but the terrorists (Fatah/ Hamas/ PIJ / new Hizballah-sponsored groups) who need to be destroyed as a functional force. Even in pain, we must remind ourselves that to succumb to the “zoological” categories is to fall in with the deepest purpose of the Palestinian leaders’ manipulations of the mass and Arab media.