The Assassination of Arab Thought – Imad Abdul Latif

On July 22, Israel bombed a journalist’s tent in the courtyard of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza and assassinated Professor Haider Masdar, a Palestinian researcher specializing in propaganda and media. The source is considered one of the most important researchers in contemporary Arab psychological warfare and propaganda studies. Over the past few years, he has developed an important approach that combines public rhetoric and media theory and applies it to the psychological warfare waged by Israel against Arabs and the world. Haider Masdar studies Israeli propaganda rhetoric, such as that of the official spokespersons of the occupation forces on social media. He has contributed to media awareness, examining the rhetoric of the occupation, criticizing them and exploring ways to deal with them at the Arab and international levels.
The assassination of sources belongs to the policy of assassinating Arab outstanding talents, which Israel has followed throughout its bloody history. Israel does not distinguish between the assassination of physicists such as the Egyptians Samira Moussa and Yahya Mashad, and the assassination of media and propaganda scientists such as Haider Masdar. Although the policy of assassinating Arab ideas reveals the criminal nature of the occupation, it confirms that the conflict with the occupation is first and foremost a conflict between ideas, knowledge, laboratories and laboratories. The assassination of sources also reveals that the humanities and social sciences are no less important than natural and pure sciences for protecting the national security of countries, safeguarding national interests, and jointly supporting the liberation and liberation of old and new colonialist forces. .
The Al-Aqsa flood witnessed the second most horrific campaign of ideological assassination in the Arab world in the 21st century, second only to the brutal campaign of the US occupation in 2003 that killed more than 5,500 Iraqi scientists. In the past ten months, Israel has killed a large number of scientists and researchers in Gaza. On May 16, the Gaza government press office released a list of more than 100 scholars assassinated by Israel in Gaza alone.
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The deliberate targeting of Palestinian and Arab thought exposes us to many challenges. I believe that it is imperative to provide protection for Arab scholars, to denounce and expose the crimes of the occupation, and to work to bring the perpetrators to justice. It is also necessary to publicize the achievements of those who have been assassinated, to complete their accomplishments, and to build a living memory that resists the attempts to forget and distort them that have been imposed on them. In this context, I suggest producing video and audio documentary programs about each scientist killed by Israel, naming graduating classes in Arab universities and classrooms after them, commemorating them, and holding seminars and conferences about them. In fact, restoring Arab memory to Western policies that pay lip service to freedom but stifle our brightest minds must become a priority for all Arab countries.
The reality of the assassination of Palestinian scholars for their Arab-Israeli ideas brings us to another reality, which is the shameful double standards of the West regarding human rights in general and scholars in particular. But before we do that, we must recognize the noble positions of students and professors who have launched a widespread protest movement around the world in recent months, and we must also recognize academic groups with noble positions on humanitarian issues, such as “Scholars for Justice.” This organization was established to put pressure on academic institutions that support the British occupation. Although these students and groups face bad pressure from the Zionist lobby that supports the occupation, they play an important role in introducing the truth about the occupation, exposing the crimes of the occupation, and supporting the rights of the Palestinian people to freedom and independence.
The double standards of some Western academic institutions on humanitarian issues are well documented. Yet, despite the presence of thousands of Western scientific associations and societies, only a few voices condemn the assassination of Palestinian scholars, the destruction of universities and institutes, and the cessation of a profession providing educational services to 2 million people due to crimes. If we compare the positions of most of these associations on the war in Ukraine and Russia and the Palestinian genocide, we can see the extent to which many research associations lack conscience, professionalism and humanity. In this article, I provide a blatant example of this shameful duality.
The International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) was founded in 1955 and its membership includes researchers in the field of comparative literary studies from all over the world. On March 4, 2022, a week after the Russo-Ukrainian war, the association issued a statement of solidarity with Ukrainian scholars and citizens, which was published on its website and circulated to the media. In this statement, ICLA defines itself as an institution dedicated to the peaceful study of many cultures, languages ​​and literatures of the world. The statement said that we are deeply saddened by the tragic war in Ukraine. The obvious destruction, loss of life and the exodus of hundreds of thousands of people across the border affect us all – most deeply Ukrainians, their immediate neighbors in Europe and Asia, and everyone in the world who lives by the ideals of freedom and peace. The statement declared in frank language that “we stand with all Ukrainian scholars and university students and all citizens and residents of Ukraine. We also stand with those who suffer from war, fear or oppression around the world. We believe in the power and authority of words, and we are committed as an institution to supporting immediate, legitimate and lasting peace. ”
These bright, noble words full of humanity, the beautiful values ​​adopted by the Association and the noble beliefs it portrays, disappear when it comes to Palestine, as if they do not exist. The Association, which claims to stand in solidarity with peoples suffering from war, fear or oppression, has not said anything about the genocide in Gaza. The Association, as an institution that supports an immediate, legal and lasting peace, has not condemned the assassination of Palestinian scholars, including the more than 40,000 Palestinians who have died in the occupation and the hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Gaza exposes a blatant double standard and thoroughly exposes the moral and professional cover of the International Comparative Literature Association and its peers around the world, which claim to be free and enlightened, while committing the most heinous crimes against humanity everywhere. Especially the assassination of the soul.

Professor of Rhetoric and Discourse Analysis