Hateful dictators are the culprits of uprisings in the Middle East

Richard Cohen recently wrote a very insightful piece in the Los Angeles Timeseditorial section regarding anti-Semitism in the Arab world and why it hasn’t gone anywhere. In fact, based on Cohen’s analysis it has gotten even bigger, hindering the peace process and complicating political issues and overshadowing recent events in the Middle East.

Take, for instance, the recent Egyptian revolution, much of which culminated in Tahrir Square, a major public meeting place located in downtown Cairo. During the revolution, Cohen notes, almost 1 million Egyptians listened to a speech by Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a man whose “anti-Semitic credentials are unimpeachable.”

Al-Qaradawi has claimed that Allah actually sent Hitler to punish the Jews for “their corruption.” According to Wikipedia, 40 million people worldwide watch Al-Qaradawi’s Al-Jazeera television show “ash-Shariah wal-Hayat,” or “Sharia And Life.” This is not OK.

People are definitely creatures of habit, that much is a given. The conflicts in the Middle East have been going on for so long that it’s almost impossible at this point to trace the roots of the problem, but how much longer is it going to go on? If the world doesn’t end in 2012, it seems likely that the hatred coming out of that region will continue on forever, with new leaders and figureheads continuing to stoke the flames of hatred.

Every country in this troubled region has blood on its hands, including Israel. But the fact that a man like Al-Qaradawi has so many followers and supporters is not helping the situation. In fact, it is the support of anti-Semites like Al-Qaradawi and his ilk that is the true hinderer to the peace process. World War II and the Holocaust would not have happened without Hitler, and without people like Al-Qaradawi and his contemporaries, perhaps some work can get done and public opinion can be swayed ever so slightly.

Al-Qaradawi is not the only problem. Leaders such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, Muammar Muhammed Al-Gaddafi of Libya and their Islamic theologian contemporaries like Ibrahim Mahdi and Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais are also to blame in the escalation of anti-Semitism in the Arab world.

One of the main problems is that there aren’t enough outcries within the Arab world against people like the aforementioned figures. And judging by the fact that Al-Qaradawi has 40 million viewers worldwide, an outcry against him and those like him isn’t likely to start soon.

According to Cohen, now is the time for the creation of some sort of Palestinian state, which he believes will “take some air out of this particular balloon and, possibly, improve Israel’s deteriorating moral standing in Europe and elsewhere.”

This sounds like a good plan to me, and I am pretty pessimistic when it comes to this situation. It is my true belief that this situation will never be resolved fully, and that peace in the region is impossible, but I would love to be proved wrong.

Scholars and other intellectuals have suggested that the resurgence of anti-Semitism brought forth by people like Al-Qaradawi during the Egyptian revolution is a passing phase and remnant that will fade away eventually but if history has taught us anything, it is that anti-Semitism does not fade away easily, if at all.

These problems have been going on for centuries and they will continue to flourish as long as there is support for people who make it their job to preach hate.

Gerry Wachovsky is a graduate student and columnist for the Daily 49er.