So this guy--and I have never heard of him--
responds to me under the headline "Lies of the Angry Arab." Fortunately for me, he is not only ignorant of the Middle East but he also mistakes his sophomoric low-level sarcasm for wit: and the results are funny--not in his favor for sure. But my favorite part is this: my main contention yesterday was that this ignorant guy is commenting on an Arabic newspaper while he knows no Arabic whatsoever. So what does he say in response? He says that I am lying and then adds: "It’s that last point which has triggered my decision to respond. Abu Khalil is right. I don’t read Arabic." The chutzpah of such admission is just beyond belief. So he is admitting that he is offering commentary on a newspaper which publishes in a language that he does not read or understand. He then goes on to tell the story of Iraqi Jews--as if the story explains why he 1) does not know Arabic; 2) why he comments on an Arabic newspaper when he admits that he can't read or understand Arabic. As if he could not study Arabic here in the US. B.S. Cohen is so clueless that he does not know that Arabic is offered in classes throughout the US. B.S. Cohen is yet another name to be added to a long list of Zionist hoodlums (and I borrow that expression not from the Soviet Union but from Vanessa Redgrave's famous speech) who think that their rabid Zionist fanaticism is the only qualification needed to comment and analyze on the Middle East. He then tries to be funny by linking the name of my blog to Iraqi Arabs who he blames for the Farhoud, as if I am responsible for the deeds of every Arab: past, present, and future. But B.S. Cohen's racism is too clear here: he merely mimics the racism of classic anti-Semites who always peddled the notion that all Jews know one another and that they all are part of one conspiracy. So for B.S., one Arab (me) is responsible for the acts of every Arab--very much in the tradition of Goebbels' anti-Semitic trash journalism. He is so ignorant that in the same article in which he admits his ignorance of Arabic he states categorically that Al-Akhbar is "viciously antisemitic" when in reality Al-Akhbar is the only Arabic newspaper to ever publish articles (by me and others) condemning Arabic anti-Semitism. His baseless accusation is as ludicrous as somebody calling the New York Times "fiercely pro-Palestinian." Oh, and B.S. Cohen thinks he is an intellectual because 1) he has heard of Karl Marx; 2) he uses the word "oeuvre". Wow. If that is not a sign and proof an intellectual what is? I think that B.S. Cohen may even be able to say "merci." How sophisticated. Lastly, do you notice that Zionist hoodlums all sound alike? (thanks Yaman)