What's behind all the talk about Arab hatred of the U.S.?
April 30, 2004

If you really think about it, it’s quite an odd thing, this endless talk about how U.S. policy is making Arabs hate America. Firstly, hatred is a powerful emotion, and it is always surprising to hear the media describe the feelings of Arab populations – nearly all of whom have had no direct contact with the U.S. – in such terms so casually. If they’ve in fact have reached the point of hating us, they’ve clearly being growing angrier for some time. And now that they hate us outright, can it get any worse? Are there degrees of hate, such that whereas earlier we faced “widespread grumbling,” now, due to Israeli assassinations and the occupation of Iraq we are at “pulling out hair and shouting,” which is one level above “fist-shaking” but a few levels below “spontaneous combustion”?

Secondly, the refrain about much Arabs hate the U.S. from leaders like Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak or the Qatari network Al Jazeera presumes that this is something Americans want to avoid. After all, why should Americans be concerned with this in the first place? Is it because there’s an ongoing worldwide popularity contest, and Americans need to be loved? Is it because we worry that if they get mad, they will stop selling us oil? No, the clear implication is that if they hate us long enough, some from among Arab societies will eventually act on their hate and do us harm.

And that is why, far from merely being some kind of observation, it is in fact an ultimatum. What are they really saying, if not this: you are doing something we don’t like, so we will hate you. If you stop, we will stop hating you. But if you don’t, be warned. The warnings about the rising anti-U.S. sentiments are not appealing to the American desire to be loved by Arab world, but playing on the American fear of it. But stranger, they are simultaneously telling us how much they dislike us, and demanding something. To see how ridiculous this actually is, imagine the U.S. responding with its own version of the ultimatum, demanding that Arab states stop blindly supporting the Palestinians, or else all Americans are going to start hating them, and gosh darn it, Americans won’t stop hating until they comply.

Or was there some reason that Arab nations have the right to support the Palestinians while Americans don’t have the right to support the Israelis? Arab nations support Palestinians because they share certain cultural and political characteristics. Fair enough, but ditto for the Americans and the Israelis, who both embrace the values and institutions of open liberal democracy. Common political systems lead to common interests, and common enemies. Lo and behold, the sworn enemy of every democracy – the transnational jihadist movement – just happens to set its sights on the U.S., Israel and the Western democracies (did anyone miss this article?). Were shared democratic values just a coincidence in producing the alignments of the Cold War, in which Israel sided with the U.S. and the Arab states placed their bets with the Soviet Union?

Support for Israel is the source of this anger, we’re told. But the U.S. has done more than any other country to bring peace to the Israeli and Palestinians. Yasir Arafat led the world in White House visitations in the 1990s, but blew his historic chance at peace when he abandoned the offer at Camp David of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak – 95% of the West Bank, territorial compensation for the other 5%, all of Gaza Strip, shared sovereignty over Jerusalem, limited right of return and a $30 billion compensation package. Rather, it is the Arab states that have done nothing to advance peace, and, quite the opposite, have done much to inflame the conflict.

When Arab leaders like President Mubarak demand “evenhandedness,” it is not out of some belief in impartiality as the key to peace, but an expression of their displeasure with the U.S.-Israel alliance. If they really valued “evenhandedness,” then they themselves might try a little evenhandedness. Step one could be closing the local offices and freezing the assets of terrorists group like Hamas, PFLP or Islamic Jihad, because those groups, I’m afraid, do little to help peace. Step two – Arab nations could recognize Israel diplomatically. At present, only two out of twenty-two Arab nations do so – how’s that for evenhandedness? They have done little to encourage moderation among Palestinians leaders, denying that is their responsibility, but then get angry if in their stead the U.S. tries to pressure PA leaders, or if Prime Minister Sharon presents his own plans.

As the following articles point out, Egypt not only churns out anti-American and anti-Semitic propaganda at the frenetic pace of an English coal mill during the Industrial Revolution, they remain on the U.S. dole while doing it – two billion per annum, to be precise (if you want to see it for yourself, go here). Our foreign aid to Egypt – the second largest amount after Israel – props up a dictator now serving in his fifth term of President (we call this a President-for-Life), who opposes our initiatives in the Middle East (namely democratization), who uses the money in corrupt and nepotistic fashions, and who allows raving anti-U.S. conspiracies to be broadcast by his state-controlled media.

Read "US hatred among the Arabs," by Jeff Jacoby, in the Boston Globe of April 25, 2004.

Read "$50 billion later, taking stock of US aid to Egypt," by Charles Levinson, in the The Christian Science Monitor of April 12, 2004.