By  Mowahid Hussain Shah

August 22 , 2014

Manipulating Language

Non-legal cultures are often not sufficiently sensitive to how language terminology can be manipulated to reframe debate and mislead discussion. Terming the lop-sided Gaza carnage as war implies a parity of power between Israelis and Palestinians, which does not exist, or a moral equivalence, which is an illusion. So what is unbearable and unconscionable becomes palatable and acceptable. It controls the context. And it is meant to block giving a human face to human suffering.

Re-naming and labeling is a clever propaganda tool to camouflage mendacity. Predictably, then, when Gaza children were being terrorized and killed, the Prime Ministers of Australia, Canada, and the UK dutifully lined up to declare that “Israel has the right to defend itself.” Sophistry can hide a fatal blind spot. It is not war; it is murder.

So what is the scorecard? In Europe, there has been an upsurge of anti-Semitism, the ferocity of which has jolted pro-Israeli circles, vide the Wall Street Journal of August 6. And, in the Middle East, it is creating a new generation of revenge-driven youth. To paraphrase Mandela’s favorite poem, Invictus, the Palestinians have been bloodied but remain unbowed.

The front-page story in The New York Times of August 6, 2014 states: “Israel has not succeeded in destroying Hamas, which was said to be a goal of the campaign, nor in dislodging it from control over Gaza. … Hamas has been hurt, but it has survived and has earned respect among many Palestinians and other Arabs.”

Former US President Carter has now called for the recognition of Hamas. And the influential Presbyterian Church (USA) has published a 72-page study guide called “Zionism Unsettled”, which is a blistering critique of Israeli policies in the Occupied Territories. In its wake, the Church has unsettled the pro-Israeli camp, which is accustomed to having a free ride.

Shamefully, however, the head of the OIC, during his visit to Pakistan, openly admitted the helplessness of Arab states to stop the Gaza onslaught. It puts into question the very efficacy of the 57-member state body. One can imagine King Faisal – the architect of the OIC – rolling in his grave. The Wall Street Journal of August 7 reported on its front page that Israel and Egypt acted in concert.

What Gaza has done is to debunk the depicting of the Palestinian plight as “one of the issues.” Once again, it conclusively reconfirms that Palestine is the core issue. Ironically, it is Israel that has helped to propel that anew in the firmament of world imagination and opinion. The Palestinian people can neither be wished away nor killed away. The Palestinian issue remains at the global center stage. And the Middle East – despite juvenile attempts of Hillary and the White House to ‘pivot’ from it – stays as the pivotal battleground of our time.

2014 marks the centenary of the 1914 start of World War I.

In 1914, the shots fired in the Bosnian Muslim city of Sarajevo reverberated around the world. A series of missteps and miscalculations pushed the world over the brink. In 2014, what occurred in Gaza may not stay in Gaza.

 

 

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PREVIOUSLY


Election 2004: Decisive but Divisive

Muslim Youth & Kashmir in America

The Big Picture: Wealth without Vision

Oxygen to Global Unrest

Punishing the Punctual

Change without Change

Don’t Be Weak

Passionate Attachment

The Confidence of Youth

The Other Side of Democracy

Campaign of Defamation

Pakistani Women & the Legal Profession

A Pakistani Journey

Farewell to Fazal

Mukhtaran and Beyond

Revamping the OIC

7/7 & After

Nuclear Double-Standard

Return to Racism

Hollywood – The Unofficial Media

The Sole Superpower

The UN at 60

A Slow Motion World War?

Elite vs. Street

Iqbal Today

Macedonia to Multan

Defending our Own

2006 & Maulana Zafar Ali Khan

Error against Terror

The Limits of Power

Cultural Weaknesses

Aggressive at Home, Submissive Abroad

Global Storm

The Farce of Free Expression

The Changing Mood

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Looking inward

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Flashpoint Kashmir

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Confronting Adversity

The Illusion of International Law

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The Educated Ignorant

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Will & Skill

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Quest for Integrity

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Might Does Not Make Right

Kursi First

Vision & Will

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Assassination Alley

Extremism and Change

Rosy Expectations

Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain

Not Winning

Beyond Baghdad: Five Years after

The Hijab of Democracy

Hate, Fear & Hope

Weapon of Words

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Yanking in the UN

Obama’s Breakthrough

Let Lahore Be Lahore

National Mood & Sports

Flirting with Fire

Trips Abroad

Georgia on the Mind

Duel for the White House

Zia to Zardari

Palestine: Avoiding the Unavoidable 

Not Working 

In the Ring 

Obama’s America

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Crime and Indifference

Journey of Understanding

VIP-hunting

Terror via Counter-Terrorism

Umpires or Vampires?

The Long Road

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Appeasement and the Real Threat

Israel’s Washington Agenda

New Challenges

Cairo and Beyond

Re-fighting Old Battles

America ’s Super Villains

Activism in America

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Overcoming Barriers

Ashes to Afghanistan

The Looming Change

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Putting Iraq in America

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Looking Beyond

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Sudan : Perils of Provincialism

Old Fears, New Target

Europe ’s Stain

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9 Years after 9/11

License to Steal

US Muslims at the Crossroads

Tumor of Terror

An Arab Voice

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Sticky Wiki

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Pharaohs & Pirates

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Forty Years after 1971

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Seize the Day

The Arab Awakening

Ben Bella

At University of Gujrat

Good People Behaving Badly

Playing Over-Smart

Do Less

Resisting the Resistible

Performance, Not PR

Home-grown Havoc

Salutation to the 65 th Year

Plague of Provincialism

USA Elections 2012

Rage

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Obama II

Me and We

Small Role or Small Actors?

On Losing

Who Will Guard the Guards?

Loyal to Their Loot

Prevail or Fail

Perceptions and Reality

Toll of Occupation

Re-think, Re-examine, and Self-correct 

The Washington Tribe

Voice and Vision

Moral Slump

Wall of Illusion

Under One Banner

Bitter Harvest

Gallows and the Throne

Scent of Power

At a Standstill

Leaders and Leadership

The Deadline

Fighting Darkness

Distant Connections

Governance: The Long View

Discussion in DC

Darkness in the Mind

Killing Kennedy and Liaquat Ali

Yahya Khan Speaks on 1971

Quaid & Xmas in Washington

150 Years of FC College

Tyranny of Money

50 Years of Ali

A Dose of Truth

Little Guy, Big Impact

A Reassessment in Washington

Crimea & Kashmir

Democracy or Oligarchy?

Afghan Elites: Blaming Pakistan

Pitfalls of Intervention

Arabs in America

Never Give up

German Journey

Tyranny of Today


2001

 

Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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