Arafat's use of "Turnspeak" to say Israel
causes terrorism
Arafat and the Big Lie
Another day, another terrorist attack.
This time, eight dead and 20 hurt near
Holon. Technically, Hamas claims responsibility for the bus assault. Technically,
Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Authority have plausible deniability. I
emphasize the word "technically."
Just read what Arafat actually said about
the attack for yourself to see how he not only excuses it, he continues
to condone this type of terrorism.
"The combined attack on the Palestinian
people by (Prime Minister Ehud) Barak and (Prime Minister-elect Ariel)
Sharon has a direct effect on the mood of the people. The Israeli escalation
is what brought about the attack," he said in Jordan.
Arafat has mastered a propaganda technique
known as "turnspeak." Turnspeak is achieved when you attack someone but
claim, with some success, to be the victim of the attack. Over and over
again, we see this happen in the Middle East on a daily basis.
In effect, a purveyor of turnspeak disseminates
information that is the exact opposite of the truth -- making it difficult
for the real victims to respond in a way that is clearly understandable
to the world.
Guess where turnspeak was first employed
as a propaganda tool? In March 1939, some enterprising journalists recognized
that Adolf Hitler was using "the big lie" in justifying Germany's invasion
of Czechoslovakia.
Whose fault was it that Germany was forced
to invade? It was the fault of the Czechs, of course. They were trying,
Hitler claimed, to provoke a regional war by attempting to claim their
land as their own.
"Thus the plight of the German minority
in Czechoslovakia was merely a pretext … for cooking up a stew in a land
he coveted, undermining it, confusing and misleading its friends and concealing
his real purpose … to destroy the Czech state and grab its territories,"
wrote William L. Shirer about Hitler's gambit.
How did much of Europe respond? They bought
the big lie -- hook, line and sinker. They didn't want to risk an all-out
war. So they rationalized that Hitler had some legitimate claims on Czechoslovakia.
Tell a big enough lie often enough and
some people -- often many people -- will believe it. That is the lesson
of turnspeak. And Arafat has learned it well -- from his masters.
What do I mean? It's not uncommon for the
Arabs today -- Arafat included -- to refer to the Israelis as "Nazis" or
fascists. Why do they do that? To provide cover for their own similarities
and ties to the Nazis.
As Joan Peters points out in her Middle
East history, "From
Time Immemorial," Hitler's crimes against the Jews have frequently
been justified in Arab writings and speeches. In 1940, Haj Muhammed Amin
al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem, requested the Axis powers to
acknowledge the Arab right "to settle the question of Jewish elements in
Palestine and other Arab countries in accordance with the national and
racial interests of the Arabs and along the lines similar to those used
to solve the Jewish question in Germany and Italy."
Yasser Arafat's given name, as an Egyptian,
was Abd al-Rahman abd al-Bauf Arafat al-Qud al-Husseini. That's right.
He called the former mufti his "uncle."
Arafat will continue to say day is night
and war is peace. We should expect it from him. That is the way the big
lie works.
But how many more body bags do we need
to see from terrorist incidents before the whole world recognizes Arafat
for what he is -- a bold liar whose ultimate goal remains as always the
annihilation of the Jewish state?
Oh yes, Arafat will continue to maintain
plausible deniability with regard to Hamas and Hezbollah and other terrorist
operations. He will portray himself as a reasonable man, a man of peace.
He will wax persuasively about his own victimhood. He'll tell you that
the Israelis are the true obstacle to peace.
Understand what all that means when you
hear it. That's just the way turnspeak works. He's practiced at the art
of deception. He moves quickly in an effort to remain at least one step
ahead of the truth. What he says is usually the exact opposite of reality
-- and he knows it.
Joseph
Farah is editor and chief executive officer of WorldNetDaily.com and
writes a daily column.
This page was produced by Joseph
E. Katz
Middle Eastern Political and Religious
History Analyst
Brooklyn, New York
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Source: "From Time Immemorial" by Joan
Peters, 1984
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