The Truth Shall Get You Fired in the USA
By Robert W. McGee
Speaking the truth about the human rights abuses taking place in Palestine can get you fired in the
United States. Three editors for The Freeman, a monthly magazine published by the Foundation for
Economic Education (FEE) in suburban New York found that out when they published two items
that infuriated American zionists.
In the November issue, Hans Hoppe, an economics professor at the University of Nevada at Las
Vegas, wrote a book review in which he merely pointed out that Hitler was relatively benign before
World War Two compared to Stalin. Stalin had killed 20 million of his own people before the
outbreak of the war, whereas Hitler didn't start killing many people until after the war started. The
statement was true, yet it infuriated some influential American zionists, who said the opinion amounted
to holocaust revisionism.
Zionist anger was compounded the following month when Robert W. McGee, president of the
Dumont Institute wrote an article about the systematic violation of Palestinian human rights by the
zionists. McGee merely pointed out that Palestinians have been having their land stolen and have
been subjected to numerous other human rights abuses since the 1940s, with the help of American
taxpayers, who regularly give the zionist government of Israel more than $5 billion of their tax dollars
each year to help support this activity.
As a result of these two articles, Israel Kirzner, a well-respected economics professor at New York
University and an orthodox Jewish rabbi, resigned from the FEE Board of Trustees. Kirzner, who
had been a member of FEE's board for about 25 years, was infuriated over the two articles.
He was especially incensed at McGee's article, which he said amounted to no more than Palestinian
propaganda. Hans Sennholz, president of FEE and a former Luftwaffe pilot for Hitler during World
War Two, felt compelled to act, partly because of his former background. So he fired Larry White,
the editor of the November issue; Robert Batemarco, the book review editor; and Robert Higgs, the
editor of the December issue.
He also stated that these three persona non grata would have no further affiliation with FEE as long
as he was president.
The multiple firings have caused somewhat of a scandal within the group of FEE supporters. Since its
founding in 1946, FEE has been a stalwart supporter of free markets, limited government and free
speech. So it became an especially newsworthy event when FEE punished three of its own (not to
mention the two authors) just because they spoke the truth about a subject that has not received
much coverage in the American press. Mr. Higgs stated that he decided to publish McGee's article
because the article said things that needed to be said, and that they were not being said by anyone
else in America.
The mentality in present-day America is such that anyone who speaks out against human rights
abuses perpetrated by Jews is immediately labeled anti-semitic. As a result, the vast majority of
people who would otherwise speak out decide to keep silent. Members of the U.S. Congress must
openly voice their support of Israel lest they face the wrath of the organized Jewish lobby, which
does not hesitate to threaten to support their opponent in the next election if they do not fall into line.
The presidential and vice-presidential candidates for the two major U.S. political parties all voiced
strong support for the zionist government of Israel during the recent election. Jack Kemp even
compared Benjamin Netanyahu to Jack Kennedy. Whenever the American press reports on events
in Israel, they take a pro-zionist position. They never fail to call it a tragedy when one or two Israeli
soldiers are killed in some terrorist attack, but when ten or twenty or more Palestinians are wounded
or killed for merely defending themselves and their land, the news item is merely reported without
comment.
The state of public opinion in the United States will not change until the American public becomes
aware of the truth of the situation in occupied Palestine. That will happen only when the Arabs who
live in the United States form a lobby that is equally vocal and effective as the zionist lobby that now
has a stranglehold over the American press and Congress.
And here is the article that caused all the ruckus....
Policy Brief
No. 4 June 27, 1996
The Dumont Institute for Public Policy Research
236 Johnson Avenue
Dumont, NJ 07628 USA
e-mail: info@dumontinst.com
[Website] dumontinst.com
This Policy Brief may be reproduced
and redistributed provided reproduction
is done in its entirety.
Arab Terrorism: Causes and Cure
Robert W. McGee, Seton Hall University
Politicians are quick to condemn Arab terrorism like the 1983 attack that killed 241 U.S. servicemen
in Beirut, Lebanon, the Oklahoma City bombing (which turned out not to be from Arab terrorists),
the World Trade Center bombing and the Saudi Arabian bombing that killed or injured hundreds of
people. The press is eager to devote substantial coverage to such events as well. But the big question
-- the one that neither politicians nor the press addresses -- is "why do some Arabs engage in such
activities?" Why are they willing to engage in suicide attacks and bombings and why do they seem to
single out the United States (as well as Israel) as the target of their attacks? What is the problem that
makes them willing to die for their cause?
Anyone who pays any attention to the news knows that the United States has been the strongest
supporter of Israel since its founding in the 1940s, and that various Arab states have, at one time or
another, been enemies of Israel. But what is less well reported by the U.S. media is the Israeli
terrorism that has been heaped upon the Arabs -- Palestinians in particular -- since the founding of
Israel.
The Palestinian "problem" stems from the fact that the state of Israel was established on Palestinian
land. During the 1948 war, the Israeli forces not only drove the Palestinians from their homes, but
also made a point of dismantling more than 400 Palestinian villages, towns and cities stone by stone,
so that the Palestinians would have nothing to return to. As a result, three million of the estimated six
million total Palestinian population are now refugees, a million of whom are forced to this day to live
in appalling conditions in refugee camps with little hope for the future.
The Palestinians' property rights -- one of the most basic of all human rights -- was systematically
disparaged. This disparagement continues to this day, as evidenced by the West Bank settlement
policies of the present Israeli government. Russian Jews and others are being given Palestinian land to
live on, and the Palestinian owners are being driven from their land without compensation. Whole
Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem have been confiscated and turned over to Jewish
"settlers" in an effort to consolidate the Jewish hold on the city, which Israel is making into the capital
of the Jewish state.
The land grab is only one of many human rights abuses that the Palestinians have had to endure.
Palestinians are subject to searches at numerous check points in their own country. Their homes can
be blown up without due process if a family member is merely accused of terrorist activity. There
have been systematic attempts to prevent Palestinians from getting an education, as evidenced by the
closing of Palestinian schools. While the official reason for the shutdowns was to close places where
Palestinians could gather and organize, Israeli government officials also closed correspondence
schools, where no gathering could take place.
Beatings, torture, imprisonment and even killings of Palestinians have become commonplace.
Palestinian farmers have systematically been deprived of water for their farms, while Israeli farmers
get what they need. Palestinian freedom of travel has been restricted or denied on numerous
occasions, making it difficult or impossible to visit family or go to work, thus causing economic
hardship. Christian and Moslem Palestinians who live in the West Bank and Gaza have been
prevented from worshipping at Jerusalem's religious sites for "security" reasons. Palestinian merchants
who sell watermelons in the local market have been beaten because they sliced open the
watermelons, thus revealing the colors of the Palestinian flag, which was forbidden at the time.
Palestinians have also been beaten for wearing shirts that are the colors of the Palestinian flag. During
the recent election, right wing Israeli party posters placed in front of polling places falsely warned
Palestinians that their health and pension benefits would be taken away if they voted, thus greatly
reducing the number of Palestinians who dared to vote. Some of those who tried to vote were beaten
by police.
One young Palestinian was beaten by about 40 Israeli police in front of James Moran, a member of
the U.S. Congress. Bystanders said this sort of thing happens all the time. Israeli rubber bullets have
caused some Palestinian youths to become brain dead. Between the start of the intifada in 1987 and
mid-1995, more than 1400 Palestinians have been killed, including 260 children. The American press
devotes little or no space to these Palestinian murders, yet never fails to cover a story involving the
death of one or two Israeli soldiers.
U.S. press coverage is biased and pro-Israeli. But that is not the reason why some Arabs want to
blow up Americans and American property. One of the main reasons these Arabs are outraged is
because the U.S. government has been the strongest supporter of Israel right from the start. Sirhan
Sirhan, the Arab who assassinated Robert Kennedy, said he did it because Senator Kennedy
approved the sale of military aircraft to Israel, which would be used to kill Palestinians. While the
holocaust was a tragedy, and while practically everyone agrees that systematic extermination of an
ethnic or religious group cannot be condoned, it does not follow that the survivors of that group have
some inherent right to found a country on someone else's land.
U.S. taxpayers have been forced to support this land grab, and the many human rights abuses that
have gone with it, since the 1940s. For the 1996 fiscal year alone, American taxpayers had to pay
more than $5.5 billion for various kinds of aid to Israel -- $1,375 for every Jewish man, woman and
child (Palestinians don't get the benefit of the aid). Yet Israel cannot be called a poor country. It has a
per capita gross domestic product approaching that of England.
The whole issue of foreign aid needs to be addressed. The U.S. constitution provides for a
government of limited powers. The government can constitutionally do only those things that are
specifically enumerated in the constitution. The constitution says nothing about foreign aid, which
makes it constitutionally suspect. Those who favor foreign aid programs might argue that giving
foreign aid is in the best interest of the United States. But even if that were sometimes the case, it
does not follow that such foreign aid programs can become constitutional just because they might be
in America's best interest. Besides, the "best interests" argument does not seem to apply to Israel, a
country that has received nearly $78 billion in foreign aid from the United States between fiscal 1948
and 1996. At least part of the military aid Israel receives is used to abuse the human rights of
Palestinians. The nonmilitary aid is used to support an economic system that is basically socialist.
How can it be in the interest of the United States to support such a regime?
American taxpayers are being abused by being forced to support Israeli terrorism and socialism. At
the very least, the foreign aid spigot should be turned off, the sooner the better. In addition, those
politicians who have the courage should speak out against the human rights abuses that have been
perpetrated against the Palestinian people.
Even if one concedes that the U.S. has some strategic interest in Israel (I do not concede this point),
it does not follow that American taxpayers should be forced to support a corrupt regime that
systematically abuses the human rights of a targeted ethnic group. Human rights are human rights, and
no government should ever condone or financially support a regime that systematically disparages
them. Once U.S. support stops, Arab terrorists (some of whom may legitimately be called freedom
fighters) will be far less likely to attack U.S. property and citizens.
Although some Arabs hate the United States because of its support of Israel, that is not the only
reason why some Arabs are angry with the U.S. Historically, various U.S. governments have had a
policy of supporting corrupt regimes. We supported the Shah of Iran. We supported a fascist South
Vietnamese dictator who was fighting a communist North Vietnamese dictator. We supported
Stalin's enslavement of millions of East Europeans. We supported Ferdinand Marcos in the
Philippines when it was fashionable to do so. During the Gulf war we came to the aid of a family of
dictators in Kuwait who were being attacked by an Iraqi dictator. American soldiers were
summoned to a Kuwaiti prince's house to reinstall the gold plumbing that had been stolen by Iraqi
soldiers, which is hardly a legitimate use of American troops. We have supported a number of
corrupt regimes in Arab countries over the years because American leaders thought it was in the best
interests of the United States to do so. Aside from the fact that it is seldom in anyone's best interests
to support corrupt regimes, it is also a morally bankrupt policy, and the Arabs recognize that fact.
A third reason why some Arabs dislike the United States, and the West in general, goes back to the
Crusades. While I was preparing this article, an Arab friend of mine pointed out that Moslems still
have not forgotten the Crusades, the aims of which were to capture holy sites and either kill or
convert Moslems. Although the United States was not to blame for the Crusades, which ended
hundreds of years before America came into existence as a political entity, Arabs are still suffering
psychologically from that experience.
While cutting off American aid to Israel and ending support for corrupt Arab regimes might stop
Arab terrorism against the United States, it will not stop violence (call it terrorism or freedom fighting)
in Israel. That violence is unlikely to stop until human rights abuses are stopped and the land that has
been taken is restored to its rightful owners. Muslims, Jews and Christians can live in peace, but only
when human rights -- which includes property rights -- are respected.
End
Note: Some of the information obtained for this Policy Brief was obtained from the April, 1996 issue
of Washington Report On Middle East Affairs. Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily
reflecting the views of The Dumont Institute or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill
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