Do you exist?
According to Joseph Farah, if you are Palestinian é the answer is no.
“Palestine has never existed é
“There is no language known as Palestinian, there is no distinct Palestinian culture.”
What is more shocking than this remark, is the fact that it was said by an Arab.
Arab-American Joseph Farah is a long time critic of Arabs, Islam and America, which he calls a “moral wasteland.”
Who is Joseph Farah?
Farah, born and raised in New Jersey, is of Syrian-Lebanese decent. He earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science from Purdue University and a masters in Political Science from the University of Chicago.
Farah writes weekly commentary for the Jerusalem Post and Chicago Sun-Times, and has been published in the Wall St Journal, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and many other publications.
Farah has authored several books including his latest, Taking America Back where he develops a 12 step radical program for Americans to embrace and implement including: running a national with no government, a more active church role, repealing gun laws, ending school funding and withdrawing from all international treaties.
As founder, editor and CEO of Worldnetdaily.com, Farah maintains a staff of about 25, all with similar gripes and critiques of everything from education to Chinese firecrackers. This site is also home to his own personal column “Between the Lines”, which he uses to propagate his radical views and concepts. Founded in May 1997 by Farah and wife, Elizabeth, the site claims to be “an independent news–site created to capitalize on new media technology, to reinvigorate and revitalize the role of the free press as a guardian of liberty, an exponent of truth and justice, an uncompromising disseminator of news.”
Liberty, truth and justice é many would disagree that any of these three ideals are found on this site.
Particularly focused on the Palestinian/Israeli situation, Farah has been especially vocal in his pro-Israeli stance, using his column as a tool and his self-promotion as an “Arab” to win him validity.
Farah has been adamant and outspoken in his belief that Palestinians do not exist, and never have.
“The truth is that Palestine is no more real than Never-Never Land,” wrote Farah in his column, “Myths of the Middle East.”
“Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc.,” he continued.
Farah repeatedly professes that Palestine and the Palestinian people are nothing more than a myth or fantasy created by Arabs but have no basis in history.
“You have to give the Arabs credit,” Farah said in an article titled “Arab Journalist Puts Lie to Palestinian Claims,” published by the Canadian Jewish News. “This Palestine fiction is the most effective propaganda campaign that the world has ever seen.”
This denial of the existence of a Palestinian people is further exemplified in his claim that even the Palestinian leader is no exception.
“It’s time to point out to those who do not yet know that the leader of this movement é Arafat é is not a ‘Palestinian’ at all. Indeed, he was born in Egypt,” wrote Farah in a sequel column called “More myths of the Middle East”.
According to this logic, Farah himself (born in the US) then is American and not an Arab at all. In fact, using this formula of birthplace determining ethnicity, any person born in the United States loses their ethnic background and has no other culture than that of being American.
But that is not all he had to say about Arafat, or as Farah likes to call him, “the inventor of terrorism”.
Farah sums up his feelings for the Palestinian leader in one phrase.
“Let this be Arafat’s final political epitaph: He was a terrorist. He was a murderer. He was a liar. He was pro-Nazi scum.”
Farah has added the label “settler” to that list. He bases this theory on Arafat being born in Egypt and later moving to Jerusalem.
“If, at the moment, he is living in the West Bank, he is a ‘settler’ there, not a native. Indeed, most of the Arabs living within the borders of Israel today have come from some other Arab country at some time in their life. There are all ‘settlers’,” asserted Farah in his column titled, “The ‘Settlements’ Issue.”
However, Farah does not apply this sentiment to the multitude of Jews from all over the world that have migrated to Israel.
Selective application of this “settler” theory does not apply to the Jewish population, in the eyes of Farah é as he sticks to the traditional biblical story of Israel being the promised land for the Jews.
In fact, he hardly sees what all the settlements controversy is all about. Having visited these areas, Farah described them in his “Between the Lines” website commentary.
“Much to my surprise, I found these ‘settlements’ to be nothing more than communities é peaceful Jewish communities that don’t interfere with nor abrogate anyone else’s rights. They reminded me of suburban developments in Southern California more than threats to peace,” he stated.
Farah made no mention about whether he visited the slums and camps that the Palestinians across the way from the picturesque “Southern California” homes were degraded to living in. He also never mentioned whether the Israeli enforced curfew imposed upon Arabs presented a problem during his visit to these “peaceful Jewish communities”.
As a result of the Oslo Accords, control over the West Bank and Gaza was to be transferred to the Palestinians. However, the ‘Farah Accords’ have a different interpretation.
“Under the Oslo Accords, there are no restrictions whatsoever on Israeli construction in Judea, Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza. None. Zip. Zilch. Nada. These ‘settlements’ are perfectly legal. And I, for one, can see no legitimate reason for them to stop,” claimed Farah in his column.
Not surprisingly, Farah has much to say about Iraq as well. When it comes to the Middle East, there is no shortage of his opinions.
March 2001, Farah had a firm and passionate anti-war stance. He drew upon its violation of the Constitution, one of the few things, besides Israel, of which he is a strong advocate.
“The continuing military campaign against Iraq is a mistake é a counterproductive and wholly unconstitutional effort that should be ended at once,” he wrote before the war in a piece titled “American Mideast Journalist: ‘Free Lebanon Now!”
A little over a year later, the war on Iraq began. Again, Farah took a firm and passionate stance é although it was a different stance all together. On April 10, 2003, Farah described the war on Iraq as a “righteous mission,” blatantly contradictory to his view the previous year.
He went on in his column that day to write: “I’ve been saying for years that all people yearn to be free. It’s a universal feeling. The Iraqi people were brutalized into submission. They could not have achieved their freedom without U.S. intervention.”
This turn of views was not only contrasting and reminiscent of “fair weather friends”, but has gone beyond the realm of patriotic and into that of brutal.
Quick to brand others as violent, Farah viewed all of Baghdad as a “legitimate military target” showing no concern for women, children or civilians in general.
“New rules of engagement need to be considered. It’s time to stop worrying about minimizing civilian casualties in Baghdad and to start worrying about minimizing the casualties of U.S. and coalition forces,” he remarked in his April 3, 2003 column.
The war on Iraq is not the only war that is being fought today, alleges Farah.
In Farah’s war, Islam is the frontline waging a “Global Jihad” which he dates back to the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
“Islam is at war with us. In fact, Islam has been at war with the West, with Christianity, with Judaism é ever since the days of Muhammad,” Farah wrote in another column dated June 25, 2002.
Farah maintains that everyday, throughout the world, there are reports of Moslems attacking non-Moslems, citing Israel, India, the Philippines, Indonesia and the United States as specific examples. Further, he claims that Christian persecution is at an all time high, which he also attributes to Islam’s “war”.
Farah has blueprinted the so-called war to include the destruction of the United States, the end of the Jewish state, the elimination of Christians and Jews around the world, and in essence, global domination.
“Islamism is the No. 1 threat to Western civilization today. It is the No. 1 threat to Christians around the world. It is the No. 1 threat to Jews. It is the No. 1 threat to American Security,” wrote Farah late last year in his “Bush, Powell Wrong on Islam” column.
Farah has even classified the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a “hate group” whose mission is nothing more than changing the face and character of America.
In response to Farah’s blatant and continuous anti-Islamic verbal and written ideologies, CAIR has called for “Muslims, Arabs, as well as those with conscience inside and outside the United States to immediately embark on a media campaign against three most famous U.S. media personalities, due to their abuse of Islam in the media,” according to a CAIR statement.
The other two CAIR refers to in the statement are media announcers, Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Paul Harvey.
Keeping tabs on journalists such as Farah, and others like him, is a continuous obligation in exposing and expelling the inaccuracies of biased media.
Why? “Because,” as Joseph Farah says, “the world has a right to know.”
