In Defense of Rashid Khalidi
Besides the obvious point that the Rashid Khalidi-Obama connection is a complete non-story, it also reeks of the ugliness of political desperation: hate-mongering.
Arab-bashing, to borrow liberally from the saying about anti-Semitism, is the ideology of scoundrels. How easily talking heads readily assume that professor Rashid Khalidi is an anti-Semite because he criticizes Israel. This is driven not by the “content of his character” or the substance of his critiques, but by his ethnicity. His Arabness is what enables the failure by anyone to challenge this. And an innocent and highly recognized scholar’s name is trudged through the mud.
Nothing reveals the absence of intellectual thought in this conversation than McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb’s ridiculously vacuous appearance on CNN yesterday. Frustrated interviewer Rick Sanchez exposed Goldfarb’s unadulterated bullshitting through direct questioning, but sadly, Sanchez mindlessly repeated the accusation against Khalidi several times, in effect reifying a lie.
Listen to Professor Khalidi’s two-year-old interview with KABOBfest and identify where this hatred of Jews exists.
Sober observers have properly refuted this campaign, from Ron Kampeas on the pages of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (who also retorts Martin Kramer’s distracting lunges), to Scott Horton from Harper’s.
The campaign to drag Khalidi through the mud is probably motivated by some other nefarious intents – the prevent the influence of a prominent Arab-American. This whole episode is eerily similar to the Fox News-led inquisition of Dr. Sami Al-Arian, just after he effectively helped deliver the Arab and Muslim vote for Bush in Florida.
Some may find the comparison with anti-Semitism made in the beginning of this post a stretch. But it is clear that professor Khalidi’s ethnicity is clear here. And, ironically, the charge of “anti-Semitic,” when baselessly tossed against Palestinians, has become racist code itself. People concerned about racial, ethnic or religious hatred should protest the term’s misuse.
UPDATE: Greenwald’s Salon comment is a great articulation of many of my arguments here. And he links Juan Cole’s magnificent comments.
Cole urges people to buy Khalidi’s Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood and “give it out to friends who don’t understand the situation in the Mideast.”
[tarboush tip: AAI]
Hey, I was eager to get the audio, but it looks like the link hits a 404, like the .wma isn’t up yet. I’ll be checking back!
I gotta disagree with you on this one bro… As frustrated as I am by all the anti-Arab shit going around lately, I don’t see Khalidi’s Arabness (or Palestinianess) as being the deciding factor here. Granted it makes the critiques against him more reasonable in the minds of the ignorant, but this comes down to his views on Israel. Regrettably, as you mentioned, those same knuckleheads equate criticism of Israel (or Zionism) with hatred of Jews in general.
The clip was hilarious, but the even funnier one is the follow up where Sanchez interviews some other right-wing nutbag who talks the same type of shit, especially against Wright… (I don’t know how to do all that HTML stuff, but someone should post the link). Anyways, he kills him in that interview, and the nail in the coffin is a statement from the ADL saying they do NOT believe Wright to be ‘anti-Semitic’. I doubt they would have said the same about Khalidi… so maybe what you argument holds true afterall, but only for some people (i.e. supporters of Zionism).
Obviously the use of the term ‘anti-Semitic’ is upsetting for Semites (Arabs, Ethiopians, etc). That shit needs to stop. Khalidi is the man, and he’s more of a Semite than anyone who accuses him of being anti-Semitic. Ironic indeed…
Are we surprised that the man who grabbed the mic from that cow who ‘accused’ Obama of being an Arab, then assured her that he was in fact a good family man, would use Obama’s association with a Palestinian!! to scare Jews or whomever? There is no question this is another of the same sort of racial slurs.
Uh, Will. Sorry if my last comment sounded sexual. It wasn’t.
Lol.
Safiyyah
americanmuslimgirl@gmail.com
The audio file is back up… sorry!
Karim, I think we agree that Khalidi being Arab lets people assume he’s anti-Semitic, and I am saying this is relying on a racist stereotype.
From what I can find on the bloke’s comments elsewhere I tend to agree he is anti-Iraeli/pro Palestinian rather than anti-semitic.
However, his appears to be rather an extreme anti-Israeli stance and he also seems willing to accuse those of pro-Irael/anti Palestinian persuasion of racism, so pot kettle etc.
McCain’s campaign against Khalidi is despicable but Obama’s silence in the face of Arab Bashing is no less disgusting. Why has Khalidi been silent about that and don’t you think it indicates what we’ve got in store if Obama wins? Khalidi should defend the community against that while he has a national platform. Otherwise it looks like he’s giving Obama a pass. It’s bad when McCain is an anti-Arab racist but OK when Obama does it? I don’t get it.
If Khalidi speaks at all, it only enflames the issue. The same thing with Obama. If he responds it gives this silliness more visbility and justification. I see this as a tactic for not letting issues get out of control. From a campaign perspective it makes sense. I hope it is just that, and not a sign of things to come.
Obama HAS responded, but his response has been to agree that being associated with Arabs or Khalidi is a bad thing and to minimize and deny such associations. We really ought to have tougher demands as a community. Obama obviously did not mind publicly praising Khalidi in the past, but now he publicly denies any serious association. So Obama has not been silent. He has responded by confirming and justifying the anti-Arab racism. Yes, that is a campaign tactic, but its one we should not simply accept on the usual ‘lesser of two evil’ grounds. I am not sure if it is a lesser evil when the racism is equally virulent but hidden behind a liberal facade.
Given that these particular accusations are centred around the totally baseless assertion that Khalidi was in the PLO, I think they’re totally right to dismiss it as a stupid and desperate move and move on.
On the handling of all the secret Muslim stuff, though, he really has a lot of explaining to do.
“I am not sure if it is a lesser evil when the racism is equally virulent but hidden behind a liberal facade.”
I absolutely agree. It is something that begs to be part of the discourse.
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[...] at KABOBFest, writes a defense of Rashid Khalidi and finds the McCain verging on desperation. Besides the [...]