"The Media and a Culture of Peace"
(RB: To have been delivered by Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury to IFLAC’s writers’ symposium; Tel Aviv, Israel; December 2003]
Excellencies, distinguished delegates and guests,
My brothers and sisters:
Boker Tove
Shalom and Salam!
What a thrill it is for me be here in Israel! You know, it might be unexpected from a Bangladeshi, but I must tell you that coming here has been a lifelong dream of mine. The moment I stepped off the plane and onto Israeli soil, I realized that dream; and I cannot thank you enough for helping to make it a reality.
Thank you, too, and all the wonderful people of Israel, who have shown me nothing but kindness and hospitality since my arrival here.
Let me also express my sincerest gratitude to the Hebrew Writers Association in Israel, for inviting me to participate in this conference; to Professor Ada Aharoni, Head of the Association’s Foreign Relations Committee and President of IFLAC; and to all the members of IFLAC for graciously appointing me as its first Bangladeshi delegate. Thank you, too, to Mr. Ilan Fluss of the Foreign Ministry, without whose support and cooperation, I could not attend this conference in due time. You know, thanks to Mr. Fluss, I had only to circle the globe once to get here from Dhaka.
Today, I stand before you, the people of Bangladesh and in fact the entire Moslem world as a witness; a witness that Israelis want above all else peace and justice. And those who spread false rumors to the contrary around the world, and especially in Moslem countries, are, frankly, either deluded or dishonest.
I also stand before you perhaps as a living contradiction: a Zionist, a defender of Israel, and a devout, practicing Muslim, living in a Moslem country.
Like you—and my many pro-Israeli brothers and sisters—I believe in the justice of the Zionist dream. I also acknowledge this historical reality: that the world has endeavored to crush that dream and, yes, even to destroy the viability of the Jewish people. At the same time, I live in an environment where people believe just as passionately in an opposing view—one that sees Israel as illegitimate; and the Jewish people as evil incarnate. Witness the recent statement of outgoing Malaysian Prime Minister Mohammed that "Jews rule the world." But even more significant than his public idiocy is the fact that every one of the 57 delegates who heard those words applauded him for it. To my own chagrin, this included the Bangladeshi representative, as well. I assure you, he was not speaking for me. And these people were not merely caught up in the heat of the moment. To a man, they defended him, and even continue to do so.
Certainly, we could engage in extensive discussions about the content of those opposing views and how people like Mohamad justify their positions. At the moment, however, I am far more concerned about their practical support structures, and in particular, how the media promote either a Culture of Peace or a Culture of Death.
And as we meet here today, our world so terribly needs a Culture of Peace, doesn’t it? We’ve almost become inured to the regular onslaught of killings, such that a terrorist attack claiming "only one" victim hardly registers a blip on the international media’s radar screen. What has happened to us as a planet when we come to expect the unending news of death and destruction, of children being deliberately gunned down in their beds, and of the public adulation that the murderers receive afterwards?
But let us also be clear about something else. A true Culture of Peace is not merely the cessation of hostilities. It is far more than that and includes Justice and Tolerance for all people. A true Culture of Peace is one that allows each person to have pride in one’s own faith, while respecting the pride that courses through the veins of those who follow other paths to G-d.
Unfortunately, too often, that goal seems far out of reach. Who can fail to be moved by the news of innocents—children—being cruelly murdered while riding a bus to school; or the thought of infants being blown to bits, along with their mothers in whose arms they lay? How recently was it that entire families were wiped out by a terrorist’s bomb in Haifa? The litany could go on and on.
To make matters worse, these atrocities were carried out by those who claim—falsely, I must add; dishonestly—who claim to be acting in the name of Islam, and in the name of G-d—of G-d!
I asked who could fail to be moved. I have an answer: most of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims, that’s who; the delegates who applauded Mahathir Mohamad’s anti-Jewish rant; and too many others, that’s who. But why? Do these people have no heart, no soul? Are we Muslims incapable of feeling your pain? Of course, that is not so.
We are all—you and I included—prisoners of the world in which we live; and the Muslim world, unfortunately, still remains captive within that Culture of Death.
In Israel, you have any number of viewpoints being aired in any number of forums. You have Likud; you have Labor. You have Shas; you have Shin-nu-ee. You have Peace Now; you have the Temple Mount Faithful. You have The Jerusalem Post; you have Ha-aretz! It’s ironic. Most of the Moslem world takes that as a sign of weakness and disunity; a lack of resolve; while we know that your ability to accommodate different viewpoints is your great strength. It’s messy, to be sure. But the fact that you do not feel it necessary to control the flow of information and opinion to your people means that you respect them far more than we do ours—from whom we keep the news, and to whom we foreswear open dialogue—especially when it comes to Israel and the Jewish people.
In recent months, the Moslem press has presented slander as fact, lies as truth, hate as religion. We have told our people that myths and biases once thought a relic of bygone eras of ignorance, are not myths but reality. Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass cannot print copies of his slanderous Matzah of Zion fast enough, so convinced are we of the anti-Jewish blood libel. A recent variant that had Jews using Moslem blood to make hamantashen, was featured prominently throughout Moslem media. And I know you are all familiar with last year’s Ramadan series, Horseman without a Horse, an Egyptian resurrection of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. And very few people in the Moslem world believe that the Shoah really took place. In fact, many believe that the extent to which it did happen, it was a plot hatched between Nazis and Zionists to transfer Judaism’s center from Europe to the Middle East.
I’ve read your holy books; and no religion is as consistent in its proscription on the consumption of blood as Judaism. Yet, we Muslims believe the lie. The Shoah is the most documented atrocity of all times; yet we Muslims believe the lie. And just about any other lie that we hear again and again and again so long as it vilifies you and supports our corrupted worldview.
Please, my brothers and sisters, please do not think us all ignorant or evil. For we are not. We are, however, prisoners; prisoners of contrived ignorance and of evil by fiat; and a way out of this Culture of Death, Tikvah—hope, runs through the media.
