The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) sent a letter to The Nation, criticising an ad it published in its January 2006 issue, entitled "Arabian Fables (I)," after it received complaints regarding the extremely troubling contents of the ad, placed in the magazine by the Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME), which denies the existence of the Palestinian people, their expulsion by the Israelis, the fact of continuing Israeli occupation and the oppression the Palestinians are experiencing at the hands of the Israeli occupiers.
The ad, which claims, "The concept of Palestinians is [a] fundamental myth," is among many other false and demeaning statements, such as "Palestinian Arabs were in Berlin hatching plans with Adolph Hitler for world conquest and how to kill all the Jews".
It’s a well known fact that the majority of the Nation's readers are Jews, and thus editors working in this magazine's are well aware what it would be its end if they had a similar ad denying the Holocaust, which would tarnish the emotions of the vast majority of the magazine’s readers. There would be a boycott.
Other ads, not less derogatory, include: There is no such thing as a "Palestinian people."- The so-called Palestinians are the same Arabs living in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon; they never had a homeland, and never asked for one.
The ad presents a racist and bigoted approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, describing the Palestinians as intent to "get as much land as possible carved out of Israel by 'peaceful and diplomatic means,' so as to make Israel indefensible and softened up for the final assault."
ADC slammed the magazine for publishing the ad, which symbolizes a false and radical perspective of Palestinians and reinforces the widespread misconception of the Arabs as habituated to violence. It said that publishing such ad constitutes hate speech.
In a response to a complaint, The Nation wrote:
"I was forwarded your letter regarding the FLAME ad and want you to know that the 1/23/06 issue contains this note from our editors:
The inside back cover ad by an anti-Palestinian group called Flame, which appeared in our January 9/16 issue, sparked a flurry of "How could you! " (or worse) e-mails from our intelligent readers. The ad, which purports to expose propaganda myths circulated by the Palestinians (the most blatant of which, according to the ad, is that these non-existent Palestinians have a legitimate claim to the land that eternally belongs to Israel), is of course historically inaccurate, mendacious and racist. It purveys one of the most destructive myths of Israel’s right wing, namely that the Palestinians have no legitimate national rights., and they should be ignored rather than negotiated with. This myth has long been a drag on efforts for a peaceful solution. So how, you might ask, can we run such an ad? We run it because The Nation’s policy on advertising acceptability starts with the presumption that "we will accept advertising even if the views expressed are repugnant to those of the editors." (And let’s be clear: the editors find the views of Flame quite repugnant.) We do impose limits on commercial advertisements, barring, for example, those that are false, lurid or patently fraudulent, illegal or libelous. However, ads that present a political point of view are considered to fall under our editorial commitment to freedom of speech and, perforce, granted the same latitude we claim for our own views. But we do reserve the right to denounce the content of such ads, just as our editorials denounce ideas we abhor. And that is what we do here. Please do not judge our magazine too harshly as the advertising policy is a very "liberal" one and we re-visit it often to make certain that it is still in keeping with our values as an independent opinion journal.”
Sincerely,
Ellen Bollinger Vice President Advertising
The Nation
ADC calls on people to contact The Nation and demand that it doesn’t run similar ads in the future, either by FLAME, or any other such extreme groups.
ADC’s original action alert could be found here:
http://capwiz.com/adc/issues/alert/?...371286&type=CU
You may contact Katrina vanden Heuvel, the Editor and Publisher of the magazine, directly at:
33 Irving Place, 8th Floor
New York, NY 10003
Tel: 212-209-5400
Fax: 212-982-9000
E-mail: letters@thenation.com