A pig with text that reads “Good for the Jews”
Felesteen, May 6, 2009
The video titled “Swine flu or Jew flu”
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman as a pig with a swastika on his tie
Al-Quds al-Arabi, London, April 30, 2009
Al-Watan, Qatar, April 30, 2009
A cartoon from Akhbar al-Arab, published in the UAE
A pig with text that reads "Good for the Jews”
(from the website of the Muslim Brotherhood, the forerunner of Hamas)
Overview
1. It is a common theme in Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism: Jews and "world Zionism” are blamed for all the woes of our world, including wars, revolutions, murders, and plagues. Such events as the September 11 terrorist attack or the spread of AIDS are blamed on the Jews in order to fan anti-Jewish sentiments and nurture the anti-Semitic myth of the Jews being the root of all evil. Arab and Muslim media has occasionally referred to the Jews as a "black, dirty germ”, "anthrax virus”, and "AIDS-like virus”. For Hamas , Egypt ‘s Muslim Brotherhood, Iran , and Arab cartoonists the spread of swine flu and the panic it caused was an opportunity to associate the disease with Jews and the Zionist movement in order to incite hatred against the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Examples follow.
Hamas
2. On May 6, 2009, the Hamas organ Felesteen published an article titled "Allah’s war against the plunderers… swine flu”.1 "This disease,” says the article, "called swine flu, has attracted worldwide concern. Its very mention causes panic, because it has started to affect dozens of people a day, [even] in the largest country in the modern world [ US ], in nearby countries, and in its Western allies. It is described as being potentially more devastating than an atom bomb. What is striking is that Zionists began spreading the disease in [Western countries]… Those plunderers [i.e., Zionists] have declared war on Allah”.
3. The author, Ka’inat Mahmoud Adwan, a Gaza Strip resident with an M.A. in Islamic Studies, 2 while supposedly relying on the Quran goes into detail about the wars waged by the Jews against Allah: murdering prophets, collecting interest, rescinding all of Allah’s prohibitions (which include drinking wine and eating pork) as well as degrading morals. The author’s conclusion is that Islam and Islam alone is the solution to the world’s social problems.
The anti-Semitic article: "Allah’s war against the plunderers… swine flu”
(Felesteen, May 6, 2009)
The Muslim Brotherhood
4. A video sharing website of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian movement from which Hamas broke off about two decades ago, published an anti-Semitic video titled "Swine flu or Jew flu” (April 30, 2009). The video attempts to associate swine flu with the Jews, and shows Israel ‘s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman as a pig. 3
The video titled "Swine flu or Jew flu”
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman as a pig with a swastika on his tie
Arab media
5. The Arab media has featured several cartoons associating swine flu with Israel and the Jews:
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The three plagues: mad cow disease, avian flu, and swine flu. The swine flu cartoon (on the left) shows Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Al-Quds al-Arabi, London, April 30, 2009) |
Titled "Flu in Israel”, this cartoon shows a pig as part of a Star of David (Al-Watan, Qatar, April 30, 2009) |
A cartoon from Akhbar al-Arab, published in the UAE, showing a pig wearing
a Star of David and saying "No to the two-state solution” (May 1, 2009)
6. An article by Palestinian writer Sami al-Akhras, which appeared on an Arab website called "Al-Tajdid al-Arabi” (The Arab Innovation) on May 1, 2009, 4 said as follows: "We [Arabs] have no pigs among us except for the Israeli Jews… Their presence carries with it a flu which is more dangerous and powerful than the currently-spreading swine flu, and unfortunately, we have yet to find the serum which would stop the Jewish flu from spreading…”
Iran
7. Iran ‘s Fars News Agency reported on an article published on April 27 by Canadian economist Michel Chossudovsky in the San Francisco Business Times. According to the article, there was a link between the massive publicity of swine flu and commercial interests of the American drug industry. According to Chossudovsky, the media interest in the disease pushed up the value of the big drug companies traded on the stock market. The Canadian economist focused on Gilead Sciences, an American biotech company which developed Tamiflu, a medication for treating the disease. Iran ‘s Fars News Agency reported about the article on the front page, titled: "Behind the scenes of a political flu: the exorbitant profits of swine flu for [Donald] Rumsfeld and Gilead Sciences”. The news agency made sure to emphasize the "Jewish connection” behind the American company. "Gilead”, says the report, "is a Hebrew name associated with a sacred Jewish mountain in the Middle East” ( Fars , May 3).
1 http://www.felesteen.ps/file/pdf/2009/05/06/21.pdf
2 Spreading drivel by scholars holding academic degrees is a well known phenomenon, aiming to lend credibility to anti-Semitic incitement.
3 http://www.ikhwantube.org/video
4 http://www.arabrenewal.org/articles/25853/1/AaYaaeaOC-CaIaCOiN-aC-EoUIi-CaUNE/OYIE1.html
