Main Arab Arguments:
The following is a collection of Arab arguments against a Jewish State of Israel existing in the Middle East. These arguments were gleaned from debates held between Jews and Palestinians at the arabia.com chatrooms from September 2000 - February 2001. Although that series of debates is now over, arab arguments are still being added to this page. The newer additions have been gleaned from the Arab press.
Each accusation is separated by a divider. Within each divider, each accusation is also divided into 3 parts:
Part 1. - the accusation
Part2. - what the accusation is intended to achieve
Part3. - refutations to the accusation
1. Jews are descended from Khazars and are not the people of the Bible.
This accusation is intended to negate the land rights claim by Jews to Israel. If we are not the people of the Bible who lived there, then we cannot have a historical claim to the land.
Refutations -see Jews as Khazars?
2. Jews are European colonialists.
This accusation is also intended to negate the Jewish peoples land rights claim to Israel. It is an attempt to link the Jewish struggle to regain control of Israel to Imperialism. This accusation is used often by Left wing activists.
Refutations -see Continuous Jewish Presence in the "Holy Land"
Also - Jewish attempts to retake Israel
3. Jews started all the conflict and were treated well by arabs before zionism.
This accusation is intended to make the Jewish people appear to be the aggressors and the arabs to be the poor defenceless victims.
Refutations -see Religious Persecution of Jews by Arabs
Also The Treatment of Jews in Arab/Islamic Countries
4. The holocaust never happened, it is a lie created to get world sympathy in order to steal Palestine from the Arabs.
This accusation is intended to brand Jews as a "horrid people who would pull the most terrible hoax on the world in order to steal land from poor innocent Arabs." It is intended to get the rest of the world on side with those Arabs who oppose Israel.
Refutations -see Holocaust Denial and the Arab World
5. The holocaust did happen and Jews have been so affected as to be angry violent people who are taking it out on the Palestinians.
This argument is intended to show the Israel as the aggressor in all Arab/ Israeli conflicts. It is an attempt to underplay or ignore the terrorist actions of the Arabs and make the IDF and Jews appear to be mentally unstable, violent people. Palestinians also add to this by saying that the Jewish State is doing to Palestinians what Hitler did to the Jews.
Refutations -See A Palestinian Holocaust
6. The Torah as we know it has been perverted by Jews and in the true Torah, G-d does not give the Jews Palestine or make Jews the chosen people.
This accusation is used mainly by arabs to elicit sympathy from other Muslims. It is intended to show that todays Jews are not "people of the book" as stated in the Koran due to their perversion of the Torah. This allows Muslims to see Jews as "Kafir" and therefore subject them to the punishments outlined in the Koran for such heretics.
7. Jews are racist and this is proven by the Talmud
This accusation is aimed at proving Israel is a racist country and tries to link it to nazism. It is an attempt to show that not only is a Jewish state a racist concept, but the laws of a Jewish state would also be racist because Judaism is racist. Arabs use this to try to convince the world that Israel is unnacceptable as a Country in todays world
Refutations -see The Talmud parts 1 - 4
some sites for refutations to these and many more points http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Cyprus/8815/ http://www.igc.apc.org/ddickerson/protocols.html
8. There was never a Jewish Presence in Israel - And there was never a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem
This accusation is aimed at negating any Jewish historical claim to Israel.
Refutations -see The Islamic Claim to Jerusalem
also The Temple Mount Dispute Is Not Unique
9. Israel is a racist Country that practices appartheid
This accusation is aimed at attacking Israel for being a Jewish Country and having a "right of return" for all diasporah Jews.
10. The Israeli Defence Forces have used extreme force against innocent, unarmed arabs
This is an accusation to reduce world support for Israel, to turn diasporah jews against Israel, and to convince Israel to allow arabs to harrass and murder its' civilian population.
Refutations - see Israel's use of force
11. The Palestinians are the Ancient Canaanites and Philistines
This accusation is aimed at undermining the Jewish claims by awarding the Palestinians a more ancient land rights claim.
Refutations - see What is a Palestinian
Also -Are Palestinians Canaanites?
