A Palestinian vs. a Zionist–On an American Ballot

By Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, Ph.D.
Minaret of Freedom Institute

10/31/2001

If Taliban leader Mullah Omar has been an embarrassment to the Muslim world, Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA) has been an embarrassment to America. It was with extreme delight, therefore, that I learned from a CBS Sunday Morning report last weekend that a Palestinian-American named Maad Abu-Ghazalah is running against him on the Libertarian ticket. The great beauty of the American democracy is that you can get rid of tyrants peacefully.

Let me remind readers why Lantos is such an embarrassment to those of us who truly believe in Truth, Justice and the American Way:

Recently, Layla al-Maryati, then a member of the International Religious Freedom Commission, appeared before the Congressional committee on which Lantos sits and identified the Israeli human rights abuses against Muslim and Christian Palestinians that make American support of Israel seem hypocritical. Lantos dismissed her concerns, asserting that he was disturbed by a view that confuses “protection against terrorism” with “religious persecution.”

When the Racism Conference in Durban was held earlier this year, it was Mr. Lantos who went to represent America while America’s first black Secretary of State was told to stay at home. What perfect irony. The great general turned diplomat sat on the bench like a token member of the Bush team while Lantos, cheerleader for Israeli apartheid, made himself spokesman for the American delegation. As expected, America withdrew its mid-level delegation in protest over the refusal of the conference attendees to ignore Israeli persecution of the Palestinians.

Unsurprisingly, this friend of apartheid and apologist for Israeli terrorism, also weighed in against the American civil liberties by supporting the new counter-terrorism bill mislabeled the “Patriot Act of 2001.” The survivor of the Nazi persecution of the Jews, who makes facile distinctions between attacks on Palestinian civilians and attacks on Jewish civilians, is unconcerned with the detentions of hundreds (soon to be thousands?) of Muslims without charges on secret evidence. We are fighting terrorism, don’t you know?

So who is Maad Abu-Ghazalah? This Palestinian-American made a very positive impression on the CBS television program. He knew how to handle tough questions in the seemingly infinitesimal time allotted for sound bites. And we know he will be true to the Libertarian platform on the issues of most importance to Muslims: ending foreign aid (almost all of which goes to regimes with records of repression against the Islamic resurgence–primarily Israel, but also Egypt, Turkey and, to a miniscule degree, the Palestine Authority) and defending civil liberties at home.

I had never heard of Maad before the news story so I checked him out on the Internet. It turns out that he is the author of a dictionary (Abu-Ghazalah 2000) aimed at assisting people trying to understand the terminology at the “Zionist News Network,” as he calls CNN. A few choice examples:

Siege (n.) You are "under seige" when you blockade a civilian population and bombard them with anti-tank missiles. In order to be truly under seige, your own population must be virtually isolated from any violence and must continue to work and play as normal while the population that is beseiging you must be cut off from all phones, electricity, gas and other amenities and have their population picked off one by one by snipers (the snipers thereby being "under seige").

Reservist (n.) A person who is paid to infiltrate civilian populations and execute individuals in cold blood...as long as he is not dressed in fatigues.

Cross-fire (n.) 45 minutes worth of bullets fired by a sniper at a cowering, defenseless child.

U.S. Media (n.) [publishers of m]aterial considered too hawkish for Israeli media.

Gunman (n.) a 10 year old boy walking to school.

Settler (n.) a person who steals land, kills its occupants and burns their olive trees...all in the name of God.

Clash (v.) an encounter in which snipers shoot at children who retaliate by attacking the bullets with their bodies.

Middle East Expert (n.) Israeli who can speak English without an accent.

Israeli Right (n.) Israelis who want all Arabs to fly away.

Israeli Left (n.) Israelis who want Arabs to stay and do the dishes.

Headline (n.) Anything uttered by an Israeli official, e.g. Three Lost Israeli Reservists Lynched by Palestinian Mob

Footnote (n.) Anything stated by eyewitnesses, usually appearing in the last paragraph of a long article, e.g. "...Palestinians claim that the reservists were actually part of a death squad and claim that it would be impossible for a person to end up in the middle of Ramallah by accident since that would require crossing an Israeli checkpoint, a Palestinian checkpoint, and traversing about 20 cross streets."

Honest Broker (n.) A country that provides $4.5 billion in aid to one side, and admits to having a "special relationship" with that side.

Obviously Maad has a sense of humor, and he’s going to need it. When asked by a reporter whether it was going to be an uphill battle to run as a Libertarian against Tom Lantos, Maad replied that as a Palestinian, he’s been in an uphill battle all his life. Go get ‘im, Maad.

References

Maad Abu-Ghazalah, “Dictionary - An easy to use translator, ZNN (CNN) to Truth,” (10/22/00) http://nigelparry.com/diary/media/cnnbyword.html (accessed 10/30/01)