NYP: IRAQ'S DEMOCRATIC DIVISIONS, by Amir Yaheri

The next vote in Iraq is the Oct. 15 referendum on the nation's constitution, but the political elite is already turning its attention to the general elections scheduled for December.

Most Iraqi politicians now expect the constitution to be approved; fears have faded that Sunni Arabs might manage to vote it down. The optimism rises from several developments.

First, as more and more Sunni Arabs read the proposed text, now widely distributed, they realize it is not as bad as some of their self-styled leaders claimed. The latest suicide-killer attacks have also come as a wake-up call to Sunnis not to let terrorists provoke a sectarian war.

A passionate plea for national unity came Sept. 16 from Sheik Mahmoud al-Sumaidaei, the spiritual leader of Sunni Arabs. Speaking at the Um al-Qura Mosque in Baghdad, al-Sumaidaei called for a national conference to find a common strategy against terror. "We don't need others to come across the border and kill us in the name of defending us," he said, a reference to Arab terrorists who have joined the insurgency under the banner of al Qaeda. "We reject the killing of any Iraqi."

Almost at the same time, a suicide-bomber, who turned out to be a Saudi, killed 12 worshippers at a mosque in Tuz Khormato, north of Baghdad. All those killed were Turcomans, proving al-Sumdaidaei's contention that the terrorists had embarked on a campaign of indiscriminate massacre.

The parading of captured Arab terrorists on TV has brought home another truth: The "insurgency" is mainly a foreign invasion by forces that wish to impose on Iraq a Taliban-style government. "The insurgency has nothing to do with Iraqis"....

Prospects for the constitution's passage have also improved as a result of a decision by the maverick cleric... Sadr not to call for a "no" vote....

Arab Slanders Israel at U.N. Debate on So, Africa’s Apartheid Policy

November 7, 1961

[http://pdfs.jta.org/1961/1961-11-07_210.pdf]

... The fight started after Mr. Pachachi, condemning South Africa’s Apartheid policy, declared “Zionism also advocated race superiority” and accused Israel of “persecuting” its Arabs. Mr. Eshel told the committee that “Zionism is the national independence movement of the Jewish people,” and said he wished the Arabs in other countries had as many democratic rights as those accorded by Israel to Arabs living in Israel.

Mr. Pachachi repeated his allegations with greater violence, and Mr. Eshel rose again to reply. Accusing the Iraqi of “slander” once more, Ambassador Eshel reminded the delegates that many UN representatives have visited Israel and are aware of Mr. Pachachi’s “falsehoods.”
https://www.jta.org/archive/arab-slanders-israel-at-u-n-debate-on-so-africas-apartheid-policy

B'nai B'rith Messenger⁩⁩, 17 November 1961

Behind The Scenes - At the United Nation

By DAVID HOROWITZ

Arab's Latest Weapon : The Big Lie

UNITED NATIONS (WUP) — The long-expected storm blowing from the Arab political desert has begun to break over the heads of the Israeli delegates in almost every one of the seven Assembly cornmittee as well as in the Plenary session.

It is unfortunate that the Arabian campaign has assumed the aspect of the shop-worn but stiH occasional successful technique of the Big Lie.

The Big Lie—as it appears under the microscope of propaganda analysts—can be identified through three major identification marks.

First, it is fantastic—so sensationally-fantastic — that, at the very least, it arouses some attention.

Second, it carries with it a small percentage of plausibility—small enough eventually to be scotched, but dangerous enough to be potent, if it is not scotched.

Third, it is promoted by a sustained campaign of tireless repetition.

The Big Lie currently being conducted against Israel in the General Assembly is a double-decker lie, namely, that Israel is the illegitimate child of colonial classic connivance, in general , and of the colonialist technique of partition, in particular; that Israel is now a tool of colonialism, a tool of the cold war, a henchman of the Western Powers.

In conjunction with this charge, Zionism is branded as the doctrinal expression of colonialism in the Middle Bast, and the claims of Israel to statehood are derided as a form of apartheid.

THE LATTER accusation was given expression by Iraq's intelligent and able Dr . Pachachi who stated: Zionism is another expression of apartheid, that is , the claim of superiority through seperateneas as it exists in the Union of South Africa.

In reply, Israel's delegate Arieh Eshel — who is Michael Comay's first deputy—retorted with the claim that Israels historic repugnance for race discrimination is well-known. The Jewish people, he emphasized, have been the main victims of discrimination through the ages.

Following several verbal duels, the Chairman of the Committee expressed doubt as to the usefulness of this dialogue.

The Chairman's dismissal of the debate as being spurious received another expression from the delegate of the African state of Niger who off-handedly dismissed the controversy with the expression of hope that Israel and the Arabs can patch of their differences.

The idea that this was a patch-up job between two parties rather than a death-duel of epic proportions, as the Arabs try to make it, must have oome as a cold douche to the Arab leaders.

SIMILAR ANTI-ISRAEL attacks have been made in almost every committee at one time or another since the Assembly opened on Sept. 19.

These attacks have fsgured in discussions involving almost every debate included in the 92 items of the Assembly's farflung agenda.

One of the most vicious attacks came from the bitter Ahmad Shuwairy of Saudi Arabia—a former Palestinian who has made Israel his grand passion. In a fiery anticolonial attack—which contained some worth-while barbs at some worth-while causes — Shukairy could not resist the temptation of branding Israel a colony —the product of that terrible imperialist Dr . Theodor Hertzl!

AMBASSADOR Michael Cotnay, ever-alert against any anti-Israel onslaughts on the vast UN front, exercised his right of reply and told the 103 delegations assembled in plenary sermon:

"Since the representative of Saudi Arabia is quite capable of making an anti-Israel speech on any one of the 92 items on the Assembly's agenda, my delegation would have to take up far too much of the Assembly s valuable time if we had to expose every false statement and every fabricated quotation that the Assembly has to hear from him. I shall therefore merely say that the alleged history ot Zionism we have heard from him today is a lot of wild nonsense. Zionism was the national liberation movement of the Jewish people. It led to our regaining our independence in our ancient homeland after the struggle against Great Britain and against the Arab armies that invaded our country nnd tried unsuccessfully to wipe out our State. . . ."

THE ARABS' exploitation of the Big Lie technique has come up a against one snag . The Big Lie, as the past has shown, succeeds in the UN only when the world press takers it up— and even then it is often eventually exposed.

We see no sign that the world press is taking up the latest Arab smear.

Most newsmen covering the UN have become well familiar with Shukairy's tactics and those of his colleagues.

They have learned by now to appraise and judge between the dispassionate personality of a Michael Comay and that of an Arab Shukairy. It is Jacob and Esau all over again.
https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/bbh/1961/11/17/01/article/139

Tekoah Tells Thant That Situation of Jews in Iraq Worsens, Asks International Action

June 26, 1968

[http://pdfs.jta.org/1968/1968-06-26_122.pdf]

Ambassador Yosef Tekoah of Israel described the situation of Jews in Iraq as grave and declared today that their condition can no longer be left “without international action.” His warning was contained in a letter to United Nations Secretary-General U Thant and he asked that the message be circulated as a Security Council and General Assembly document.

Mr. Tekoah drew attention to what he said was “fanatical incitement against the Jewish community that is being conducted in the Iraqi Government press, radio and television.” He asserted that many Jews that were detained after the Arab-Israel war last June are still under arrest. Others, he said, have been deprived of their livelihood. “Their only salvation would be to leave Iraq, but the Government has forbidden them to depart the country,” he said.

Citing his own letter of May 31 to Mr. Thant in which Mr. Tekoah said there was a “serious aggravation” of the situation of Jews in Iraq, the Israeli Ambassador said today that Iraq’s reply on June 3 did not refute the charges. In Iraq’s reply, its UN envoy Adnan Pachachi said that Iraqi Jews “enjoy complete equality with other citizens.” Mr. Tekoah had assailed recent Iraqi legislation as discriminatory and Mr. Pachachi replied that the laws were designed “to protect the interests of loyal Jewish citizens of Iraq,” describing them as “minor legislative measures.” In his letter yesterday, Mr. Tekoah declared that “it is a cynical and callous mockery of human rights to describe Hitlerite legislation” as “minor.” The laws involved, Mr. Tekoah said in his May 31 message, denied Jews civil liberties, freedom of movement and the possibility of employment.
https://www.jta.org/archive/tekoah-tells-thant-that-situation-of-jews-in-iraq-worsens-asks-international-action

Leaders For Liberated Iraq

Bremer unveils new Iraqi transitional authority this weekend.

By Joel Mowbray

July 11, 2003

... Bremer included on the list several names with which State officials are sure to be pleased, such as Adnan Pachachi, the octogenarian former foreign minister who is backed by the House of Saud.

According to several people who have seen the list, Pachachi is one of a number of people with uncomfortably tight ties to terrorism. When he was the foreign minister of Iraq in the 1960s, Pachachi was very close to the first generation of Palestinian terrorists. And after the Baath party had come to power, Pachachi refused to condemn the hanging of Jews in Baghdad in 1969.
http://web.archive.org/web/20140117134537/http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/207475/leaders-liberated-iraq/joel-mowbray

Exile and Inspiration

Editorial of The New York Sun | April 10, 2003

It's worth noting, too, that those at the CIA and the State Department and in the press who are most ardently pushing the "exile" complaint against Mr. Chalabi have their own candidate for the job of Iraqi leader — another exile named Adnan Pachachi. "The State Department is as fond of exiles as is the Pentagon. They just have a different set of exiles," said the American Enterprise Institute's Reuel Marc Gerecht, who calls Mr. Pachachi "a surreal specimen of sclerotic Pan-Arabism from 30 years ago."
https://www.nysun.com/editorials/exile-and-inspiration/77994/

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.