It is a mistake to dehumanize one’s enemy, not only because it is intellectually dishonest, but also because it is self defeating. When an enemy is reduced to a simple dehumanized caricature, the ability to predict their actions becomes lost, as does any chance for reconciliation, compromise or at the very least, coexistence. This even goes for organizations that deliberately target civilians, such as Hamas, which is labeled as "terrorist" by the US, Australia, Canada and others. It may surprise you to hear this, but they are not all bad. For example, Hamas brings a refreshing alternative to the rampant corruption that typified Fatah, for years the self-described “sole legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people". Fatah was so thoroughly corrupt that their leader Yasser Arafat is thought to have squirreled away as much as $1.2 billion from much needed social and public work programs. His lieutenants were no better. Their corruption directly led to Fatah's demise on the Gaza strip, and might yet be their undoing on the West Bank. Hamas on the other hand has gained popular support though trustworthy leadership and a devotion to much needed social services. They pride themselves on their strict intolerance of corruption. Anyone who paints them as all bad does not really understand the whole picture. The Hamas charter may call for the abolition of democracy and civil rights and the utter destruction of Israel, and they may target Israeli teenagers at discotheques with suicide bombers, but they are good to their mothers. Talk about cognitive dissonance!

The same goes for Lebanon's Hezbollah. Next April 10th, Rice University will host Professor Lara Deeb of the University of Southern California for the last of its series: "The Arab World: History, Politics and Culture”. Professor Deeb will talk about “Understanding Hezbollah”. She will talk in more depth about the subjects I just raised. She will discuss "the social and cultural institutions and networks associated with the party and with its constituents in the southern suburbs of Beirut and the party's appeal for many of Lebanon's Shi'i Muslims.", as described on Rice's web site. I encourage everyone to go hear Dr. Deeb speak at Rice on April 10 at 6:30 PM. I also encourage everyone to listen with an open mind, since much of what she will be saying is based on field research and is undoubtedly true.

But if you go, and I hope you do, it is important to be aware of the things you will not hear at that lecture, so that you can raise these points at the Q&A. You will not hear that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused Hezbollah of committing war crimes against Israeli citizens, or how they have used human shields in Lebanon. You will not hear anything about the widely read book by Amal Saad-Ghorayeb of the Lebanese American University, a female Shiite Professor who has written extensively on Hezbollah and sees them as intensely anti-Semitic. Saad-Ghorayeb documents how Hezbollah sees their struggle not so much as being one against Israelis, but more importantly against the Jews "as a continuation of Mohammed's conflict of the Jews of his day". She cites abundant evidence for her assertions, including the chants at many Hezbollah rallies:"Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the army of Mohammad will return". No fan of Israel, Saad-Ghorayeb nevertheless has the intellectual honesty to say that “…Zionism merely brought Hizbullah’s latent anti-Judaism, which is rooted in a vehemently anti-Judaic Islamic tradition, to the fore”.

But I don’t think intellectual honesty is what the Rice Lecture series has ever been about. It is about advocacy. Its string of speakers has represented one side of a Manichean world view, and its moderator Ussama Makdisi will set this tone next Thursday as he always does. When Lara Deeb speaks, you will not hear any balance. You will not hear about the infamous 1997 quote by Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah: "if we searched the entire world for a more cowardly, lowly, weak and frail individual in his spirit, mind, ideology and religion, we will never find anyone like the Jew - and I am not saying the Israeli". You will not hear the many documented quotes wherein Hezbollah officials say over and over again that the Holocaust never occurred and was a Jewish conspiracy. You will not hear Nasrallah's quote in 2002 that "if they (Jews) all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.” You will not hear his support for suicide bombing in Israel in 2002, when he said that: "in occupied Palestine, there is no difference between a soldier and a civilian, for they are all invaders, occupiers and usurpers of the land.”

Instead you will hear how Hezbollah reacted in a purely defensive manner to Israeli aggression in Lebanon, and how their actions justify the continued existence of an armed Hezbollah. Now everyone, both Israel and Hezbollah, has the right to defend themselves on their own territory. So when you hear that, be flexible and understand that in war things are not all black and white. But while you attempt that balance, also remember the thousands of Iranian offensive missiles that Hezbollah now points at Israeli population centers – remember because Lara Deeb will not talk about that. Neither will you hear a review of the life and deeds of recently assassinated Hezbollah master terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, on whose hands stick the blood of 85 Argentinean Jews and Christians, many Lebanese Christians, sleeping American servicemen in Saudi Arabia, hundreds of Marines and French Paras in Lebanon, and many Israeli citizens.

It is a mistake to dehumanize the enemy, so let’s not be guilty of what the others do to us. But when a chronicler of an enemy focuses with tunnel vision on only the human side of actions, we owe it to ourselves and others to force intelligent people to use their intelligence. Go. Ask questions.

 

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