Protests Lodged Against Anti-semitic Literature in the Arab World

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has lodged protests both in the U.S. and abroad against the recent reemergence and proliferation of anti-Semitic literature in the Arab world.

Rabbi Marvin Hier and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the Center’s dean and associate dean, respectively, met Vice President George Bush Tuesday to document this trend for Bush upon his return from the Middle East.

Hier said they showed Bush a particularly disturbing publication by the Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas, “The Matzah of Zion, ” a revival of the traditional anti-Semitic blood libel. The cover of Tlas’s book depicts two Jewish caricatures with large noses and beards, and one of them holding a Knife cutting off the head of a non-Jew into a bowl.

Hier said Bush called the book “outrageous and repugnant” and after examining the cover, hurled the book across the room.

The Wiesenthal Center discovered “The Matzah of Zion” about seven weeks ago and translated it into English. They sent a copy of the book and English excerpts to Secretary of Stat George Shultz and also delivered a copy to Bush at the meeting.

Shultz, in a letter, told Hier he would forward the book to the U.S. Consulate in Damascus with instructions to investigate this trend.

SHATTERS THE SYRIAN FACADE

Hier said the book shatters the Syrian facade of an official policy of anti-Zionism rather than anti-Semitism. Hier noted that Tlas is in the mainstream, not the fringe of the Syrian political hierarchy. “Mustafa Tlas is the second or third most important person in Syria,” Hier said. “He is at the pinnacle of power and has a regular dialogue with Western officials,” he said.

Tlas is self-proclaimed poet who has published 34 books to date. To become Syrian Minister of Defense, Tlas reportedly bested Syrian President Assad’s brother Rifat for the key political position.

Tlas, in remarks published Wednesday, said U.S. officials have become hostage to Israel and force remains the only Arab option to resolve the Middle East conflict.

Tlas also said Syria rejected Bush’s request to visit Syria to discuss issues of terrorism on his recent trip to the Middle East. Syria replied that it had nothing to do with terrorism and thus nothing to talk about with Bush on this topic.

The Wiesenthal Center also sent a letter of protest to the President of France’s Sorbonne University calling on the prestigious institution to bar an upcoming doctoral thesis by Tlas. The French press reported that Tlas’s thesis is an analysis of Soviet strategy, but this has not been confirmed. The Center urged the Sorbonne not to give legitimacy to Tlas in light of his “intellectual dishonesty” as evidenced in “The Matzah of Zion.”

Sorbonne President Jacques Soppelsa responded to the Center’s letter saying a doctorate would be granted or denied solely on the basis of the scientific merits of the thesis in question.