[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1127 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1127

 Condemning the endemic restrictions on freedom of the press and media 
    and public expression in the Middle East and the concurrent and 
  widespread presence of anti-Semitic material, Holocaust denial, and 
          incitement to violence in the Arab media and press.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 22, 2008

   Mr. Ackerman (for himself, Mr. Pence, Mr. Fortuno, Mr. Burton of 
    Indiana, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Engel, and Mr. Poe) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Condemning the endemic restrictions on freedom of the press and media 
    and public expression in the Middle East and the concurrent and 
  widespread presence of anti-Semitic material, Holocaust denial, and 
          incitement to violence in the Arab media and press.

Whereas a free press and the right of free expression are both fundamental, 
        universal human rights and are essential to making governments 
        accountable to the people from whom their powers are derived;
Whereas the nations of the Middle East, with Israel being the sole exception, 
        suffer profound deficits when compared to the global community with 
        regard to both measures of human development and measures of human 
        freedom and dignity;
Whereas the Middle East is a region of vital national security interest to the 
        United States and the twin deficits in human freedom and human 
        development negatively affect United States efforts to resolve the Arab-
        Israeli conflict and to stabilize the region for the benefit of all;
Whereas overt censorship, intimidation, harassment through the civil courts, 
        assaults by government agents on journalists and political activists, 
        arbitrary press, and emergency laws, and extra-legal restrictions on the 
        kinds of topics which may be addressed are endemic practices in the 
        Middle East, though in varying in degree and extent in the different 
        Arab countries;
Whereas many of the countries engaged most actively in efforts to stifle public 
        debate, suppress political discussion, and impose capricious limits on 
        thought and expression are among the largest recipients of United States 
        foreign assistance, potentially giving the mistaken impression that the 
        United States endorses or condones the restrictive policies of the 
        recipient countries;
Whereas the extensive restrictions on speech and expression in the Arab world 
        are uniquely counterposed by the space left open by Arab governments for 
        grotesque anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial, incitement to violence, and 
        glorification of terrorism;
Whereas the exception from censorship and restrictions on expression for certain 
        kinds of hate speech are not only exploited by government proxies, but 
        often even by Arab governments themselves, including states that 
        nominally prohibit racial, religious, or ethnic hate speech;
Whereas in the Middle East, where the press is generally not free, where there 
        are rules for what can and cannot be said, the persistent promulgation 
        of hate-speech indicates an obvious and dangerous form of state 
        endorsement; and
Whereas many of the same Arab governments to which the United States has turned 
        for assistance in ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are 
        themselves responsible for using their government-owned, government-
        sanctioned, or government-controlled publishing houses and media to 
        promulgate stories of imaginary Israeli massacres, Jewish blood-libels, 
        alleged Israeli medical experiments on Palestinian children, and to 
        produce Arabic translations of anti-Semitic tracts such as, The 
        Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) strongly condemns the endemic restrictions on freedom 
        of the press and expression in the Arab world and the 
        concurrent and widespread presence of anti-Semitic material, 
        Holocaust denial, and incitement to violence in the Arab media 
        and press;
            (2) deplores the methods and practices utilized by the 
        governments in the Middle East to exert control over the press, 
        and on public expression, including--
                    (A) overt censorship;
                    (B) intimidation and harassment of reporters, 
                editors, and publishers by government agents, and 
                through manipulation of the civil courts;
                    (C) assaults by government agents on journalists 
                and political activists;
                    (D) arbitrarily enforced press and emergency laws; 
                and
                    (E) extra-legal restrictions on the kinds of topics 
                which may be addressed either in public or in private;
            (3) expresses deep concern that many of the same Arab 
        governments to which United States has turned for assistance in 
        ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are themselves 
        responsible for using their government-owned, government-
        sanctioned, or government-controlled publishing houses and 
        media to promulgate insidious, incendiary and poisonous speech 
        regarding Israel and the Jewish people that makes United States 
        efforts to help resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict all the more 
        difficult;
            (4) affirms the unshakeable belief of the American people 
        in the universal right of all persons to freely and peaceably 
        express themselves, to publish and advocate for their 
        nonviolent beliefs, and to petition their government for 
        redress of their grievances; and
            (5) calls on the President, the Secretary of State, and all 
        United States ambassadors to Arab countries to consistently 
        protest the lack of freedom of thought and expression, and to 
        advocate for the importance of free speech and a free press as 
        essential components of development and political reform.
                                 <all>