Religion & Beliefs

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  By gljnntqz 6/21/08 at 9:18 a.m. UTC

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  By esthesia 6/20/08 at 10:33 p.m. UTC

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  By ThorsProvoni 6/20/08 at 8:40 p.m. UTC

  Exodus versus the Whitey Tape

  No Problem with Stereotyping Arabs

  by Joachim Martillo (ThorsProvoni@aol.com)

  In Lucius Battle, Robert Kaplan, Arabists I mentioned that "Barak Obama recently sought a "Zionist hekhsher" from Atlantic Monthly staff writer Jeffrey Goldberg.

  In his blog entry, Goldberg wrote:

  And, speaking in a kind of code Jews readily understand, Obama also made sure to mention that he was fond of the writer Leon Uris, the author of Exodus.

  Later in the piece Barak Obama adds:

  BO: I always joke that my intellectual formation was through Jewish scholars and writers, even though I didn't know it at the time. Whether it was theologians or Philip Roth who helped shape my sensibility, or some of the more popular writers like Leon Uris. So when I became more politically conscious, my starting point when I think about the Middle East is this enormous emotional attachment and sympathy for Israel, mindful of its history, mindful of the hardship and pain and suffering that the Jewish people have undergone, but also mindful of the incredible opportunity that is presented when people finally return to a land and are able to try to excavate their best traditions and their best selves. And obviously it's something that has great resonance with the African-American experience.

  One of the things that is frustrating about the recent conversations on Israel is the loss of what I think is the natural affinity between the African-American community and the Jewish community, one that was deeply understood by Jewish and black leaders in the early civil-rights movement but has been estranged for a whole host of reasons that you and I don't need to elaborate.

  While many American Jews opposed discrimination against African Americans on ethical grounds, the majority either held racist attitudes toward blacks or backed equal civil rights out of political or social opportunism. (See Obama and the Freedom Riders.)

  In Eastern Europe, ethnic Ashkenazim were at least as bigoted as everyone else, and the popularity among Jews of Uris' Zionist trilogy consisting of Exodus and the sequel volumes The Haj and Mitla Pass shows that Jews have no objection to racism per se because these books contain practically every Jewish Zionist negative anti-Arab and anti-Muslim stereotype as well as a lot of generically anti-Christian or specifically anti-Polish, anti-Ukrainian and anti-Russian prejudice.

  Here are just a few of the multitude of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-Muslims passages that Uris included in his texts.

  Exodus, p. 228: Without water the Arab world disintegrated into filth; unspeakable disease, illiteracy, and poverty were universal. There was little song or laughter or joy in Arab life. It was a constant struggle to survive.

  In this atmosphere cunning, treachery, murder, feuds, and jealousies became a way of life. The cruel realities that had gone into forming the Arab character puzzled others.

  Cruelty from brother to brother was common. In parts of the Arab world thousands of slaves were kept, and punishment for a thief was amputation of a hand, for a prostitute amputation of ears and nose. There was little compassion from Arab to Arab. The fellaheen lived in abysmal filth and the Bedouin whose survival was a day-to-day miracle turned to the one means of alleviating their misery. They became Moslem fanatics as elements of the Jews had become fanatics in their hour of distress.

  Exodus, p. 229: He was confounded by the fantastic reasoning that condoned every crime short of murder. He thought the position of women intolerable; they were held in absolute bondage, never seen, never heard, never consulted. Women often sought quick and vicious revenge by dagger or poison. Greed and lust, hatred and cunning, shrewdness and violence, friendliness and warmth were all part of that fantastic brew that made the Arab character such an enormous mystery to an outsider.

  Exodus, p. 253: There was another reason why he wanted to be Mufti. The Palestinian fellaheen were ninety-nine percent illiterate. The only means of mass communication was the pulpit. The tendency of the fellaheen to become hysterical at the slightest provocation might become a political weapon.

  Exodus, p. 334: Nazareth was much as Jesus must have found it in His youth.

  Ari parked in the center of town. He brushed of a group of Arab urchins, but one child persisted.

  "Guide?"

  "No."

  "Souvenirs? I got wood from the cross, cloth from the robe."

  "Get lost."

  "Dirty Pictures?"

  Ari tried to pass the boy but he clung on and grabbed Ari by the pants leg. "Maybe you like my sister? She is a virgin."

  Ari flipped the boy a coin. "Guard the car with your life."

  Nazareth stank. The streets were littered with dung and blind beggars made wretched noises and barefoot, ragged, filthy children were underfoot. Flies were everywhere. Kitty held Ari's arm tightly as they wound through the bazaar and to a place alleged to be Mary's kitchen and Joseph's carpenter shop.

  Kitty was baffled as they drove from Nazareth: it was a dreadful place.

  "At least the Arabs are friendly," Ari said. They are Christians.

  "They are Christians who need a bath."

  Exodus, p. 435: "All Druse villages are built very high places. We are small minority and need high places to defend against Moslem attacks," Mussa said; "we will be in Daliyat in few minutes."

  Kitty pulled herself together quickly as they approached the outskirts and slowed in the narrow streets.

  Daliyat el Karmil seemed to sit on the roof of the world.

  It was sparkling white and clean in comparison to the filth and decay of most Arab villages. Most of the men wore mustaches and many wore western clothing. Their headdresses were somewhat different from those of other Arabs, but the most dramatic difference was the carriage of dignity and outward pride and the look which suggested that they could be fierce fighters.

  The women were exceedingly handsome and the children were bright-eyed and sturdy. The women wore dresses in wild colors with white cloths over their heads.

  Because Uris is such a poor writer, I doubt that Obama ever read the trilogy, but if he really likes this stuff, a fondness for such racist material should be a much more critical issue than the possibility that Michelle Obama might have used the term whitey — except that the Jewish-dominated media and far too many Jewish journalists refuse to address or to criticize bigotries that characterize a large number of Jews.

   
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  By ThorsProvoni 6/18/08 at 9:54 p.m. UTC

  Zionist Film: Exodus – Terrorism is Good
  

  Exodus: Core Zionist Propaganda — America Should Get in Bed with Israel
  
  6 min 39 sec – Oct 10, 2007

  Exodus (1960, UA)[1] is practically a course in Zionist ????? or propaganda.  It
  goes through practically all the standard false claims to justify
  Zionist Ashkenazi colonization and aggression against the native
  population of Palestine. The movie leaves out the book's
  characterizations of Arabs as smelly or dirty, but it does include the de rigueur association of Nazis with the anti-Zionist resistance.  In
  point of fact Labor Zionists themselves tried very hard to work with
  Nazi Germany and did so fairly effectively until 1939 while al-Hussayni
  was fairly quickly dispatched to Bosnia, where he did not speak the
  language, when he finally tried to approach Germany for aid.

  

  
  Both the director Otto Preminger and the author Leon Uris had many
  revisionist associations. Therefore, it is not too surprising that Exodus contains a Jabotinskian or Revisionist justification of Zionist terrorism that
  in 2002 underscores the hypocrisy of the Israeli and American Ashkenazi
  reactions to legitimate terrorism against the State of Israel.  Like
  most Hollywood movies that contain the theme of nation creation, the
  movie ends with a poignant sacrifice for the sake of the nation.  Exodus is particularly creative in this regard because one of the martyrs on behalf of Zionism is a Zionist Arab.  Exodus is exceptionally explicit in sending the message that the USA should get in bed with Israel.

  [1]The following passage is excerpted from Reel Bad Arabs by Jack G. Shaheen. 

  Exodus (1960), United Artists, Otto Preminger Productions. Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint. Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo. Director: Preminger. Based on Leon Uris's novel.

  
  In the 1950s, when Americans were largely apathetic about Israel, the
  eminent public relations consultant Edward Gottlieb was called on "to
  create a more sympathetic attitude" toward the newly established state.
  And so, he sent Leon Uris to Israel to write a novel, which became the
  bestseller Exodus. Art Stevens writes, "Uris' novel solidified
  America's impressions of Israelis as heroes, of Arabs as villains; it
  did more to popularize Israel with the American public than any other
  single presentation through the media."

  
  Exodus introduced
  filmgoers to the Arab-Israel conflict, and peopled it with heroic
  Israelis and sleazy, brutal Arabs, some of whom link up with ex-Nazis.
  The movie's only "good Arab" becomes a dead Arab.

  
  Zionist organizations such as Irgun tried to end the British occupation
  of Palestine through a campaign of attacks, for example, bombing the
  King David Hotel. Under such pressure, Britain handed the problem off
  to the UN, and the UN simply handed more than half of Arab-owned
  Palestinian land for the Zionists to establish a Jewish state.
  Throughout the film, Jewish nationalists are tagged "freedom
  fighters"—though with the tables turned today, films follow the Israeli
  and US governments in denying this label to Palestinian "terrorists"
  trying similarly to end the Israeli occupation.

  
  Likewise, the film's British, unlike the real British, seem more
  concerned about Arab than Jewish violence. A British solider tells an
  Israeli youth, "Don't wander into the Arab section. Run into one of the
  [Jerusalem] Grand Mufti's gangsters [and] they'll kill you, son.
  They'll slice your throat." A British General declares, "The Arabs
  simply won't keep the peace… The Arabs are fanatic on the subject of
  Jewish immigration."

  At no time does a character reveal that Jewish troops are terrorizing
  Palestinians, forcing them from their homes. Ari's father Barak (Cobb)
  addresses Jews, saying, "[We] changed these mosquito-infested swamps
  into such [fertile] fields. On a quiet night you can hear the corn
  grow… The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem has asked you [Palestinians] to
  either annihilate the Jewish population or abandon your homes, and your
  land, and seek the weary path of exile. We [Jews] implore you, remain
  in your homes and we shall work together as equals in the state of
  Israel." Ari echoes his father's advice, telling the crowd: "Now, we'll
  be equal citizens in the free state of Israel. Why should they [the
  Palestinians] go anywhere. This is their home as well as ours. Don't
  you see, we have to prove to the world that we can get along together?"

  
  Never spoken in this movie are these words: "Palestinian," "Palestinian
  Arab," "Palestinian village," "Palestinian state." Instead, Exodus Jews,
  Arabs, and Westerners say: "Arab," "Arab village," and "independent
  Arab state." On two occasions, the phrase "Palestinian Jews" is
  mentioned.

  
  In 1937, two-plus decades prior to Exodus, the Ray Film Company's, The Holy Oath, a Yiddish language film with English subtitles advanced a similar "good" Jews and "bad" Arabs theme. Screened in New York City, The Holy Oaths objective
  was not so much to entertain audiences, rather to muster viewers'
  support for a worldwide Jewish movement to gain and rebuild Palestine.
  To engage viewers, The Holy Oath shows Arabs, not Jews, at Jerusalem's wailing wall. Throughout The Holy Oath, the
  Jewish protagonist declares that God gave this land [Palestine],
  flowing with milk and honey, to the people of Israel. To illustrate,
  footage selectively displays Bedouins roaming the sterile cities of
  Hebron and Jerusalem. Even Eleanor Roosevelt thought the Palestinians
  were all nomads, so she believed there would be no problems evicting
  Palestinians from their homes.

   
• 
  By lnncdydg 6/18/08 at 8:56 p.m. UTC

  dnmmjntp http://srefabwr.com rcowxkix nuvfljbz [URL=http://qrpqmssj.com]uwxhvcop[/URL] cpmcpokz
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  By Joey Kurtzman 12/1/06 at 2:55 a.m. UTC

  I don't own Exodus but I do have Trinity, Uris's big fat novelized history of the years leading up to Irish independence. Uris is obviously a serious Hibernophile, a disposition for which I have a great and natural sympathy, but unfortunately he also has its most undesirable side effect: a smug and uncomplicated bigotry toward Protestants.

  So basically it's like what you describe with Exodus, but with Anglicans and Presbyterians standing in for Arabs. Who needs it.

  ??? ?? ???,

  Joey
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  By FabFagFreddy 12/1/06 at 1:45 a.m. UTC

  As someone who is studying to be a Jew and have reams of books to catch up on when it comes to the cultural aspect of the (widly diverse) Jewish people, I have yet to read this book.  I can't wait!!  As far as the motherfucking book "Gone with the Wind"; I'd rather eat my left foot before I read that (racist) trash again…or the watch the movie.

  But I wouldn't burn it.  
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  By Laurel Snyder 11/30/06 at 11:49 a.m. UTC

  You got me!  I loooooove Gone With the Wind.  See, now I have to go re-read that and thinka bout this!

   And yeah, maybe book burning is evil, but I don't think I'd encourage the reading of Exodus EVER!  And I would like to see it out of print.  I really do think it's done a lot of harm. I think there are a lot of uneducated AIPAC college students throwing fits on campus and using pretty nasty language… basing their concept of "The Arab World" on Uris.  Maybe it's time for a new version of the book, an annotated Exodus. I don't know. Hmmmmm.  Do you think it does GOOD?

  I'll Netflix the movie… just in time for Chanukah, and get back to you on that.
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  By Izzy Grinspan 11/30/06 at 11:34 a.m. UTC

  Have you seen the movie? It gets around the anti-Arab problem by simply refusing to acknowledge that there was an Arab population in Israel in 1948…at all. According to the film, everyone in Israel during the independence years was either a Jewish good guy or a British bad guy. Or, at the most complex, a conflicted Jewish Brit. It's ridiculous.

  Paul Newman, however, is totally dreamy.

  Also, I'd like to let it be known that I don't advocate book burning. I don't even advocate not reading Exodus, since it's pretty fun (kind of like that other racist epic that appeals to teenage girls, Gone With the Wind.) You just have to be aware while you're reading it that its view of the world is totally problematic and flawed.

  Actually, this is a good topic for debate. Hey other commentors, would you tell your child/student/friend not to read Exodus? What about Gone With the Wind? What about watching the movies?

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