An article in the Saudi government daily Al-Watan, by the daily's columnist Muhammad Al-Sa'idi, claimed that the Jews deliberately promote the publication and circulation of antisemitic literature in Arab countries that describes them as secretly running the world. This, in order to convince the Arabs of their power and thereby demoralize and frighten them. When the same literature appears in the West, he added, the Jews fight it in order to maintain their positive image there and present themselves as victims. Al-Sa'idi claimed further that Israel's real foreign policy is the opposite of what its officials present: it maintains close ties with its alleged enemies, such as Iran and Qatar, while pretending to be friendly with countries that actually have no ties with it, like Saudi Arabia.
The following are excerpts from the article:
"The book Pawns in the Game, by William Guy Carr,[i] was published in Arabic in several versions, one of them titled The Jews Are Behind Every Crime... [In this book, Carr] explains that the disasters that befell Europe in the early modern era and spread to the rest of the world were all caused by the Jews, and that even developments in Western history that many people regard as positive, such as the French Revolution, were [actually bad developments] that the Jewish media beautified and misrepresented, presenting them as glowing achievements while concealing [their] sordid facts and even more sordid outcomes – and all this just in order to serve the global interests of the Jews.
"The author managed, with great intelligence and skill, to tie the Jews to all these events and present them to the reader as possessing a power so remarkable that it cannot be withstood. This caused some people to observe that the book served as excellent propaganda for global Zionism in the 1940s [sic][ii] and 1950s and they did not rule out that the author intended this, and that he was forced to carry out this task [i.e., write the book] at a time when the Jews needed the peoples and the governments, especially the Muslim ones, to fear them. Indeed, the idea put forth in the book had its effect, so that most of the scholars, intellectuals and leaders that comprise the elites in the Arab world believe that the Jews run everything in the world and that the world is a mere toy for Israel to play with...
"This notion led to a baffling [tendency to] surrender, and to a perception that the Jews' superiority and victory are assured before they have won in practice. This was the main reason for the two armistice agreements in the 1948 war, agreements without which the Zionist entity would never have been established and the Arab armies would have won the war. This perception continues to gain traction in the Arab and Muslim world, and Western books that encourage this outlook are quickly translated [into Arabic]. The Arab elites, especially the religious [elites], rapidly spread it, out of a desire to present a negative image of Zionism to the world and expose the truth regarding [the Zionists]: that they are a cruel and crafty people, ungrateful, resentful, racist and murderous.
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"This has had two consequences, one positive and one negative. The positive [result] was establishing awareness of the danger posed by the Jews and of the global conspiracy against the Arabs and Muslims. The negative [result]... is the sense of frustration that has afflicted the [Arab and Muslim] peoples, as well as many of their leaders, statesmen, writers and commentators.
"The status of the Zionist propaganda in Europe and America was the opposite of its status in the Arab and Muslim world: [the West] fought books that discussed the Jewish control of the world, as well as the authors and publishers of [these books]..."
Al-Sa'idi then proceeds to list books that were banned in the West but were freely circulated in Arab countries, such as the writings of Paul Findley (b. 1921), a former U.S. congressman from Illinois, who was known for his opposition to the U.S.'s support of Israel and his criticism of the perception of Islam in the West. A central motif in Findley's books was that Israel controls the UN; Al-Sa'idi writes that his books and others like them demoralized the Arabs in their fight against Israel. Citing another antisemitic book, he suggests that it was meant to cause the Arabs to despair of making any achievements in the UN, and adds: "The Arab countries' response to the psychological effect of this book was indeed profound. Consequently, their ability to elicit votes [in favor of their proposals] was smaller in the years after this book was published and circulated among Arab statesmen and diplomats...
"These books are obviously hostile to Zionism, and the countries in which they were written fought them. Despite this, I cannot rule out that their circulation in Arab countries pleased the Zionists, and perhaps was even planned by them on some occasions. In Europe, the Jews want to spread the message that they have been wronged and that they are weak while their enemies are strong. That is why they fight every voice, no matter how feeble, that acts to expose their shame, and that is why they have criminalized antisemitism so that anyone who says a bad word about the Jews, even while presenting geographic and historical evidence [for his claims], is punished for it, as has been the fate of dozens of writers and journalists...
"The Arabs' hatred for the Jews, which formed over the years and not without reason – [for] its causes constantly renew themselves – has likewise been exploited by the Zionists to advance their political plans, and they have composed books and essays and [delivered] speeches and lectures to convince the world that they are victims of injustice and are terribly threatened by the Arabs around them. They made serious efforts to pressure Arab governments to change their discourse on Jews and their relations with them. Sadly, this Zionist effort was not met with a counter[-campaign] on the part of the Arab media and diplomacy, although we have vast amounts of material on the aggressive [character] of the Zionist school curricula, especially in the religious schools..."
"The Jews exploit the [Arab] hatred for them in order to help their allies [in the Arab and Muslim world] and hurt their opponents. One practical expression of this is that Muslim countries that [actually] have good, and even strategic, relations with the Zionist entity serve as a media and political tool for Tel Aviv, which presents them as enemies in order to increase [these countries'] popularity with the [Arab] nations. For example, we see the [Zionists' hostile] statements and actions against Iran, even though successive governments of [Iran's] ayatollah [regime] have had strong relations with Tel Aviv since the establishment of [this regime]... Further evidence is over $300 million of Iranian money deposited in banks of the Zionist entity... We also hear the Zionists take a strident and dramatic tone against Turkey, despite the diplomatic and trade relations that exist between Ankara and Tel Aviv... and the same goes for Qatar... Conversely, the Zionist media and politicians speak softly to countries that make sure to maintain no relations with them, such as Saudi Arabia and Sudan, or countries whose relations with them are marked by much disagreement, such as Egypt. This is intended to undermine the [other Arab] nations' faith in these countries.
"The conclusion is that there is need to increase the masses' awareness regarding the Zionist propaganda, for the Zionists' precise manipulation of mass psychology may be causing us to realize some of their desires and goals without even being aware of it."
