Following are excerpts from an April 25, 2012 interview with Palestinian-American lawyer Lamis Deek, which aired on Egyptian ON TV, a station launched in 2009 by Coptic communications tycoon Naguib Sawiris. In the interview, Deek, who according to her website is a board member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), claimed that the world media and press, and even cartoons such as Bugs Bunny, were perpetuating racist anti-Islamic notions. She also accused the U.S. Department of Defense of financing anti-Islamic propaganda films.
Lamis Deek: "People interested in attacking the Arab and Muslim communities, and the people who sympathize with the Arabs... I am not talking only about the U.S., but elsewhere as well. They got an opportunity for coordination. I'm talking about the corporations involved in national security and wars, along with Zionist and Israeli institutions, and people who generally believe... I'm talking about Zionist Christians, who believe in the annihilation and demonization of the Muslims. I also mean the racists in general, who are still afraid of what happened in 9/11.
"So all these things - the industry, along with the Zionists and your run-of-the-mill racists who don't know any better, and who get their information only from the media and the press... I'm not talking only about the news, but also about the cartoons on which we were raised, even before 9/11.
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"In Bugs Bunny, which we used to watch, they would sometimes bring a character pretending to be an Arab Muslim Sultan. He has a potbelly, and he spends most of his time sitting around and eating, indulging in women day and night, and killing people.
"This is the general notion, but the use they make of it has become more targeted. The film we just watched... The Department of Defense finances such films in order to increase suspicion towards our community in America and abroad."
Interviewer: "The Department of Defense?!"
Lamis Deek: "Yes, it has happened. The DoD has financed films, showing soldiers in Afghanistan killing some Muslims, and the spectators give them a standing ovation. This happens all the time. This is the goal of the film..."
