This is how my first week on the job ended:
I was heading out the door when I was handed three paragraphs that would be inserted into the profile on Sami Al-Arian, the University of South Florida professor who was fired because he allegedly became a security risk after going on national television and speaking his truth on the Palestinian Israeli conflict.
The story would now feature two quotes from assassinated Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi, to show how insane the rhetoric gets when talking about the Palestinian/Israeli issue.
One quote read, "We should get rid of the ones who are not Israeli citizens the same way you get rid of lice. We have to stop this cancer from spreading within us."
The other quote: "One Jewish life was worth a thousand Arabs."
My boss wanted my opinion. The reporter wanted to know too.
I'm new in this world of alternative journalism, which actually encourages reporters to practice "opinionated fairness," so I raised questions about the story.
Now, this wasn't about reporting. I stood there, feeling like I had just been punched. Staring at those asinine quotes from that one extremist who was condemned and shunned by virtually everyone in Israel bothered me as a Jew. Those inflammatory words would reflect on the rest of us, yet I don't know another American Jew or Israeli who would say or think anything so revolting. I could hear the reaction:
See! See how THEY act! See what THEY say!
I wanted readers to see how far out that guy was, and I left work wondering why it hurt so bad. Why did I think that it would reflect on me?
These days, there's not much talk about resolution anymore, whether the debate rages at USF or on the streets of Jerusalem. All we hear is noise about blame and payback. That's wrong, and we shouldn't make it worse.
As I write this, I check the news for the latest. A 70-year-old Israeli man was beaten, lynched and shot numerous times in a soccer field controlled by the PLO. PLO police just stood by and watched.
See! See! See what THEY did!
A week before that, Israeli tanks and bulldozers razed 56 Palestinian homes south of the Gaza strip, without warning. They came back the next night and fired tank shells into residential areas, damaging more than 200 other homes. This, from my people, who were driven out of their own homes in the Holocaust.
See! See! See what THEY did!
Jews! Muslims! Infidels! Arabs!
See! See! They're wrong! They're wrong! Look!
Hysteria.
Kill the hysteria, then people like Sami Al-Arian don't become martyrs. Kill the hysteria, then someone like University of South Florida President Judy Genshaft might do her damn job instead of kissing up to politicians and fat cat donors and selling out the integrity of our university. Kill the hysteria and reporters looking at the unpopular side of such an emotional issue won't be ripped apart for trying to get us to think. Kill the hysteria.
We watch, emotional and resolute, from the corner of the ring, while the players are killing each other in the middle. We will never kill the hysteria until we can leave our corners and listen to what the other side has to say.
Decide for yourself what is really going on.
I'm still not sure about Al-Arian. My gut tells me we are being fed a line.
He and others are invoking this sacred right to academic freedom in Tampa, but that right was quickly sold out in California when a professor said some things that offended Muslim students.
The professor was a white, born-again Christian. Four Muslim students claimed he'd blamed them for piloting planes into the World Trade Center. He denied it, saying he'd questioned why Muslim nations hadn't united with one voice against Osama bin Laden, questioned why some Muslim leaders deny the Holocaust happened and asked why some Muslims proclaim that Hitler should have killed more Jews.
The outcry was fierce and divisive — just like it is here. The college president yanked him from his classroom and put him on leave. The faculty sided with the professor — who had offended students in the past — citing academic freedom.
The Muslims insisted he be fired or — get this — prosecuted for what he'd said.
But, that situation was much easier to resolve.
Three students had recorded the class. None of the alleged remarks was on the tapes.
See! See! See what THEY did! THEY say they want academic freedom, but only when it's convenient to THEM!
My reaction to that situation shows I need to leave my corner too.
We're so polarized that each side has built an irrefutable case against the other and won't give up on any point. Us, they, you, them. And, it's hard to let go of who we are.
One side blames the other, yet both sides have plenty for which to be ashamed. That's why Al-Arian's problem exists. When you lock yourself into one particular side, emotion turns into resolve. At some point, you can't even see when you are in the wrong. If we can't even listen to people from another side and process what they say, how are we ever going to understand, much less end the conflict?
We should listen to him. He should listen to us. And, do it. Listen. Don't form your opinion out of a knee-jerk assumption.
We all need to leave our corners. Leave yours.
Several years ago, I sat in on an editorial board meeting with anti-abortion and abortion rights activists who'd been invited to talk about political strategies and public opinion. No matter what we asked, the answers quickly slid into rehearsed rhetoric about when life begins, whether or not abortion is killing and who, if anyone, has the right to choose.
"Why can't people discuss this?" I finally asked.
They all sighed out loud, and for a brief moment, the tension left the room.
"How can you achieve common ground when you have these opinions and they are like this?" asked the woman from the Archdiocese, as she pointed in opposite directions.
The only common ground they had was the fact that they had no common ground. This was the first and only time I'd ever seen those bitter foes interact with one another and agree on anything.
In private, some of those women acknowledged that, deep down, they have some ambivalence. It's hard for abortion-rights activists to defend voluntary late-term abortions. It's hard for anti-abortion leaders to insist that a 12-year-old girl should be forced to carry to term a baby conceived when her father raped her.
But, one advocate said, "If you open up and admit that discomfort, the other side would use that to tear you apart. And they would never admit their own discomfort."
And that's what has been going on with the Palestinian-Israeli issue.
Right now, people are reacting, not listening. What is this issue really about? And, are the people who are chiming academic freedom really being honest?
Sami Al-Arian needs to tell his story. I want to know who he is and what led him to this moment. I want to know if he knows something that I don't know, that I need to know, that will help me understand all of that madness in the Middle East.
I just read that Arab terrorists shot and killed an Israeli motorist. They thought he was a Jew, assuming as much because of the Israeli license plates on his rental car. They didn't know he was an Arab with Israeli citizenship.
This is never going to stop unless we move out of our corners and stop making assumptions. Leave your corner.
What do you think? Senior Editor Fawn Germer would like to hear from you and, perhaps include your response in an upcoming issue. Contact her at fawn.germer@weeklyplanet.com or 813-248-8888 ext. 134.
This article appears in Jan 24-30, 2002.
