Profs Blame Pro-Israel Bias for Stereotyping Muslims

Pro-Israel-media-biasArabs and Muslims have an image problem in media and entertainment as a result of a pro-Israel political agenda. So claimed Edmund Ghareeb and Jack Shaheen, professors at American and New York Universities, respectively, on June 11, 2014, before an audience of forty middle-aged individuals at Washington, D.C. Jerusalem Fund think tank.

Ghareeb and Shaheen’s presentation, “Portraying Arabs: 30 Years Later,” commemorated their respective 1984 publications, Split Vision: The Portrayal of Arabs in the American Media and The TV Arab.  Drawing upon personal experiences, Ghareeb decried a “lack of balance” in Middle East news coverage in Israel’s favor, although groups such as CAMERA and Honest Reporting routinely demonstrate the reverse. According to Ghareeb, this allegedly biased media stereotyping “dehumanizes a people” and “allows for the use of force” against Arabs.

As evidence for this dubious claim, Ghareeb relied upon equally dubious sources such as Senator William Fulbright, who announced on television in 1973 that “Israel controls the United States Senate” and later became a registered lobbyist for Saudi Arabia.  Ghareeb also praised the reporting of  Peter Jennings as an isolated example of balanced Middle East coverage and labeled Orientalism author Edward Said an “important figure” for writing, Covering Islam:  How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World.  He then cited Muhammad Hassanein Heikal, longtime editor of Egypt’s semiofficial Al Ahram newspaper and government minister under Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser, two individuals who inspired little confidence.

Shaheen began his presentation by recounting how, in 1974, his children told him about “bad Arabs on television,” prompting him to study Arabs and Muslims in popular entertainment.  For his interest in this subject, Shaheen claimed he was “tagged the Arab professor” and had his research dismissed as “not academic; it’s propaganda.” A Rockford Files producer, meanwhile, allegedly rejected his interview request with the statement, “I hate Arabs.”

Hollywood prejudice has now “spread its wings” from Arab Muslims to Muslims in general. Shaheen claimed, noting in a subsequent article on the event that “Islamophobia [has] joined Arabophobia.”  He objected to headlines involving “Islamist extremists” in stories where Islam is not a factor, although he neglected to provide any examples. He did concede that, when pertinent, religion “should be part of the story.”

Shaheen alleged that “people who have a political agenda” play a significant role in creating such stereotypes, while entertainment involving an “Israeli connection” is “pervasive.” Eight seasons of the television crime show NCIS, he noted, featured American intelligence cooperation with an Israeli Mossad agent, not with a Palestinian or Yemeni agent. Yet despite CIA cooperation with Palestinian and Yemeni agents, American ties with Israel are clearly much stronger and mention of them in a TV show involving spies simply reflects reality. Vaguely referenced “friends of Israel” in the media are “much more influential, powerful,” than their opponents, Ghareeb added conspiratorially.

After the event, this reporter asked whether there was an analogy with consistently negative portrayals of Germans, given their authoritarian and aggressive past.  Shaheen called this a “totally different issue.”  He then reiterated his 2002 Nightline comments that Americans “were at war with a country” in the World Wars and not with Islam’s supposedly “lunatic fringe, al-Qaeda.”  Yet decades-long conflict with various Islamic terrorist organizations and dictatorial regimes is hardly a “fringe” phenomenon.

Undeniably, Hollywood’s dream factory and the media can stand more realism, but Shaheen and Ghareeb’s often cartoonish views condemning a supposed pro-Israel political agenda offer little benefit.   Substantial evidence of anti-Israel media bias, however, does exist, and despite Ghareeb and Shaheen’s dubious sources and wishful thinking, art does, in fact, imitate life when it depicts violence among Arabs and other Muslims. Ignoring these facts in deference to the professors’ fantasies would be the real fiction.

Andrew E. Harrod is a freelance researcher and writer who holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a JD from George Washington University Law School. He is a fellow with the Lawfare Project; follow him on twitter at @AEHarrod. He wrote this essay for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.

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  • Hard Little Machine

    Oh I’m sorry I thought he meant reality not fiction.

  • Metatrona

    If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, & acts like a duck…it’s a duck. If it looks like a savage terrorist, walks like a savage terrorist, & acts like a savage terrorist…it’s a Muslim.

  • DumpThaBums

    Muslims deserve the disdain they have received. The terror, rape, pillage, slavery, torture and other atrocities seen daily in ALL Muslim countries and non-Muslim countries where they have migrated have resulted in the people from civilized nations feeling the urge to puke when the word “Muslim” or “Islam” is mentioned. “Islamaphobia” has become a legitimate and reasonable fear, the equivalent to being cautious or afraid of spiders, snakes, typhoid, syphilis, aids and other abominations. The best solution for civilized people is to separate from Muslims. Why? Aren’t some Muslims said to be “peaceful?” The answer is that the so-called “peaceful” Muslims are ignorant of the basic teachings of the Koran and Sunnah (ahadith & Sira) of Islam. And, the more they learn about the totalitarian political brutality taught in the Quran and ahadith, the more violent they become. But, violence is not the only reason to be cautious, nervous and wary of non-violent Muslims. Islamic ideology does not allow them to every become loyal and patriotic to any nation but Islam, so their every thought and action is to subvert the social cultures and laws of the free nations in which they have been allowed to reside. Free people have a RIGHT to be despise the presence of domestic enemies who would overthrow their government, and who have a demonstrated ongoing terror campaign against all of humanity. It is becoming more obvious to the average citizen within the free world that the only way to preserve domestic tranquility, avoid future bloodshed by Muslims as their numbers increase when they start causing trouble (as they always do) is that ALL Muslims should be rounded up and DEPORTED. Islamaphobia is the legitimate fear of those who are no longer asleep, and who recognize the presence of danger. The so-called “peaceful” Muslims are “snakes-in-the-egg,” ready to hatch out and start biting, injecting the poison of the false prophet into every man, woman and child.

  • Pocho Basura

    ………..yep religion of peace, that’s why they wear masks

    • abbushuki

      But you got to give it to them… They sure know how to do mass executions, unlike in the U.S. where they play with injections that take 2 hours. They can do 50 executions in 30 seconds. Not only that, all they have to do afterwards is plow some dirt over the bodies. On the other hand they sometimes rather enjoy beheading them and then sticking the heads on top of fence posts as decor. Makes them feel good and only costs a handful or two of bullets..

      • Pocho Basura

        …..as for executions I’v seen ‘death row’ USA take 15 years, but a Veterinarian can put a loved pet down peacefully in a matter of minutes, go figger

    • surj

      Pocho Basua . Please here is a complete video of that slaughter ,Graphic
      http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=44e_1655216

  • Hank Rearden

    Islam cannot stand reality. So also with the professors. As to Hollywood being pro-Israel? If only.

    • 1Indioviejo1

      Spielberg directed Munich as a paean to coexistence. He almost gave the PLO terrorist a sympathetic cause! What a waste of talente and misplaced righteousness.

  • http://Dimseatshyte.com/perverts Unc Remus

    Oh Boo Hoo…Murderous Inbred Subhumans getting a bad rap for their actions is soooooo unjust…Islam is a Plague and should be treated like the virulent disease it is…

  • ALHL

    Why are most professors dumber than a box of rocks?

  • bigdaddy

    Professors need to check on the past history of Islam, going back hundreds of
    years. Islam is the greatest killing machine in the history of mankind, bar none, and we are fighting Islam today. Though the numbers are not clear, possibly exceeding 250 million dead. Possibly one-third to one-half or more of those killed by war or slavery in history can be traced to Islam.

    Start with India, probably the bloodiest story in history. Estimates place the
    number of dead at 80 million Indians. The Indian population decreased by
    80 million between 1000 (Conquest of Afghanistan) and 1525 (end of Delhi
    Sultanate)

    Looks like these Professors have a little homework to do before trying to defend
    these Muslim killers….

    • IslamDownpressesHumanity

      I wonder if they even teach the truth about the mass genocide of Hindus (and Buddhists and Sikhs) to the school children of India?

  • erp617

    Dare I call this Kafkaesque? These people are far past delusional. The producer of the Rockford Files said he hates Arabs. So what? That’s his business. Maybe he hates them because they mutilate their daughters some as young as five and have many other customs that make them very unappealing.

  • 1PierreMontagne1

    Why don’t Ghareeb and Shaheen’s just some right out and say it?

    The arab people are frustrated. Ghareeb and Shaheen’s assertions are more aligned with a complaint of feeling thwarted in honoring the Korans edicts to driving Jews to extinction starting with Israel.

    • gnubi

      Sometimes you should just take a people at their word and stop pretending they don’t really believe what they say. The idea of extinguishing the Jews (and Christians in time) has never been repudiated by the Islamist extremists. The Jews have a right to exist and therefore a right to defend themselves. They’ve been remarkably more patient than Americans would ever be were we placed in a similar situation.

  • Gee

    Of course the millions of terrorist attacks by Arabs would never have anything to do with the reason Americans don’t like you. Nor does the Muslims that proclaim how much they hate Americans and Jews would never influence them.

    Muslim hatred is merely being returned

  • corday_d_armont

    Any informed and sane non Muslim must automatically be islamophobic.
    (Fearful of Islam”)
    It would be foolish or crazy not to be.

    • gnubi

      Though not all snakes are poisonous, humans instinctively avoid all snakes. It is a very beneficial survival mechanism.

  • DumpThaBums

    Abbushuki,
    I would respectively submit that there are no so-called “good Muslims.” You might ask why I would say that, since we all know Muslims who are not currently chopping off heads. However, the so-called “peaceful” Muslims are ignorant of the basic teachings of
    the Koran and Sunnah (ahadith & Sira) of Islam. And, the more they
    learn about the totalitarian political brutality taught (in fact commanded) in the Quran and
    ahadith, the more violent they become. But, violence is not the only
    reason to be cautious, nervous and wary of non-violent Muslims. Islamic
    ideology does not allow them to ever become loyal and patriotic to any
    nation but Islam, so their every thought and action is to subvert the
    social cultures and laws of the free nations in which they have been
    allowed to reside. Eventually, with the violent leaders who are teaching the true Quran and Hadith of Islam, they have historically, and continue to do the things they have always done in the conquest and slaughter of over 270 million human beings during their 1,400 year history. Have you not been paying attention to what they are doing in Europe, the Mideast, Indonesia, Africa and every other place where they get a foothold? Please don’t ever call Muslims “peaceful.” It is more than inaccurate. It defies the obvious.

    • gnubi

      If memory serves, a poll of Muslims in England revealed that more than 60% of them were supportive of violent Jihadis. That to me, is sufficient reason to halt immigration from the Arab countries and begin deporting convicted activists and sympathizers. It’s an existential matter for all of the european countries, really.

      • DumpThaBums

        Yes. Separation is also a lot more humane than waiting for the inevitable violence that will occur when a divorce would solve the problem.

  • Billygoatpuke

    I knew there had to be a video involved!

  • lillapoyka

    How about blaming REALITY on Islamophobia

  • Brad_Brzezinski

    In 1974 Yassir Arafat spoke at the UN wearing a military uniform with a holster on his hip. He had wanted his pistol to be in the holster but UN security forbade that.

    The Fatah and Hezbollah flags both feature military firearms. The Hamas flag has Al Aqsa and crossed swords for Jihad. The message in all of these examples suggests pride in being violent.

    But how dare Hollywood…………

    Enough hypocrisy. (Speaking of which, apart from one Jerusalem Imam, has anyone heard any complaints about Hamas firing rockets at Jerusalem risking destroying their holy site there?)

    • IslamDownpressesHumanity

      Good point, it just illustrates how holey their 3rd, or 2nd, holeiest site really is.

  • mathewsjw

    insane Muslims. the Tyrant Show has not yet exposed Muslims 4 FGM, slavery, exploding vests, Burkina/Hijab

  • Klawnet

    I was 10 in 1974, and I already knew the Arabs were bad actors purely from the six days war, and the Olympics in Munich. If Shaheen was not aware at that point, he’s an idiot.

    • gnubi

      RFK was assassinated by a Palestinian in 1968. That was the wake-up call for me.

    • IslamDownpressesHumanity

      Did Spielberg’s Munich movie sugarcoat the role islam played in the slaughter of the Israeli athletes? When I saw the movie, I can’t remember any mention of the terrorists being muslimes at any point in the movie. I don’t think the Red Brigade (or whatever the Communist, German terrorist organization was called) was involved in the Munich terrorist attack against Israeli athletes were they?

  • VladamirUntruksur

    Gosh, could it be the mutilation of women? The marrying of 9 year olds? How about stonings and beheadings? Any of that ring a bell?

  • dgala

    It’s funny how LWL seem to always jump on the “you’re stereotyping” band wagon. There’s that old saying “actions speak louder than words.” In the case of radical ishlam, they use both pretty darn good. Before jumping on the S-T wagon, trying watching or reading the news (& I recommend various sources), the try reading a koran & hadith. Pretty blunt there what they want to do to us infidels & Jews.

  • 1Indioviejo1

    The Muslim image suffers from Mohammed (The Worst of all men). Any normal human being who is a Muslim is, by his own admission, a supporter of rape, genocide, pedophilia, slave trafficking, assassinations, beheadings, and an infidel hater. Jihad is a command given by Mohammed and written in the Koran, to “Believers, fight against the infidels The Qur’an: (8:12): “…cast terror in their hearts and strike upon their necks.”[176] The phrase that they have been “commanded to terrorize the disbelievers” has been cited in motivation of Jihadi terror. How do they expect to change the Koran in order to clean up their image? These losers know they are spreading lies by playing the victim card.

  • http://whenfallsthecoliseum.com/author/kwatson/ megapotamus

    Juanita Bartlett hates Arabs? I’m sure she has her reasons.

  • marcia

    I AM SICK of these so called Prof. who INFILTRATE MY SCHOOLS AND TEACH MY KIDS THIS CRAP..GO PEDDLE YOUE GARBAGE IN A COUNTRY THAT TEACHES IT…IRAN!