[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 101 (Wednesday, June 18, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H5522-H5526]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONDEMNING RESTRICTIONS ON FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND WIDESPREAD PRESENCE 
            OF ANTI-SEMITIC MATERIAL IN ARAB MEDIA AND PRESS

  Mr. ACKERMAN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (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, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1127

       Whereas a free press and the right of free expression are 
     both fundamental, universal

[[Page H5523]]

     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 development and human freedom negatively affect 
     United States efforts to help 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 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 Holocaust denial regularly appears throughout the 
     Middle East in speeches and pronouncements by public figures, 
     in articles and columns by journalists and in the resolutions 
     of professional organizations;
       Whereas continued anti-Semitic incitement invites violent 
     action and creates an environment conducive to, and accepting 
     of, terrorism;
       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;
       Whereas numerous government-owned, government-sanctioned, 
     or government-controlled publishing houses throughout the 
     region promulgate stories of imaginary Israeli massacres, 
     Jewish blood libels, and alleged Israeli medical experiments 
     on Palestinian children, and produce Arabic translations of 
     anti-Semitic tracts such as ``The Protocols of the Elders of 
     Zion'' and ``Mein Kampf''; and
       Whereas many of the same Arab governments to which the 
     United States has turned for assistance in ending the Arab-
     Israeli conflict are themselves responsible for using their 
     government-owned, government-sanctioned, or government-
     controlled publishing houses and media to engage in anti-
     Semitic incitement to violence and Holocaust denial: 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 some Arab governments, 
     including some that are involved in multilateral efforts to 
     resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, use 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 unshakable 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;
       (5) calls on the President to--
       (A) raise the issue of the lack of media freedom in the 
     Middle East and the proliferation of anti-Semitic incitement 
     in all appropriate bilateral and multilateral fora;
       (B) take into account the compliance of governments 
     throughout the region with international norms and 
     obligations regarding media freedom and anti-Semitic 
     incitement when determining the provision of United States 
     assistance to those governments; and
       (C) utilize the existing public diplomacy apparatus, 
     professional development, and democratization programs to 
     focus on the issues of media freedom and anti-Semitic 
     incitement; and
       (6) calls on United States allies and governments 
     throughout the Middle East to publicly repudiate purveyors of 
     anti-Semitic incitement.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Ackerman) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ACKERMAN. Madam Speaker, I ask that all Members may have 5 
legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ACKERMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the 
resolution and yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, in January of this year, the Subcommittee on the 
Middle East and South Asia held a hearing entitled ``That Which Is Not 
Obligatory Is Prohibited: Censorship and Incitement in the Arab 
World.'' We received testimony from three witnesses, one each from 
Freedom House, the Committee To Protect Journalists, and the Anti-
Defamation League. What we heard was not a surprise, but was still 
shocking. As a result of that hearing, I drafted this resolution and 
would like to ask all of my colleagues to give it their utmost 
consideration.
  It is sad to note that in the 21st century, there is still not one 
Arab country that can be described as ``free'' by the metrics used by 
Freedom House, and frankly, by anyone actually familiar with the 
concept. While there are very significant differences throughout the 
region in the latitude given to public debate, political argument and 
press and media freedom, with the notable exception of Israel, not one 
Arab country can argue that its public square is truly open to all and 
that their government protects, rather than restricts, that freedom.
  The ugly and typically stupid hand of the censor is unfortunately not 
a rare sight in the Middle East. It is not only ubiquitous, it is, in 
fact, often attached to the arm of the editor, the producer, the copy-
writer, or the publisher. According to the United Nations' Arab Human 
Development reports, while Arab societies have, in general, failed to 
keep up with other developing nations, in the mechanisms of censorship 
in the Arab world, they have shown a remarkable degree of institutional 
adaptation and technological savvy. Their success in stifling debate 
and narrowing acceptable opinion is all the more remarkable given the 
frequent failures of Arab bureaucracies in meeting the basic needs of 
their people for things like education, infrastructure, economic 
opportunity and clean governance.
  Countries that can't ensure that their citizens are literate or have 
clean drinking water still find the resources necessary to operate the 
red pen of the censor, or the self-serving manipulation of the truth 
endemic to government-owned, government-controlled and government-
operated media. It would be nice if these ugly and ultimately self-
defeating practices were merely the problem of other people in faraway 
places. We could pity them, think gravely about the words of Thomas 
Jefferson, and bless the wisdom of our Founders who, in a world of 
despots and danger, saw that a free press and free speech were the 
indispensable safeguards of our Republic and our liberty.
  But we don't live in a world that gives us immunity from the troubles 
of others. Three thousand Americans paid the price for that lesson on 
September 11, 2001. If we don't visit the world's bad neighborhoods, 
they will visit us. The fact is, the world has grown smaller, and fair 
or not, the grievances between the peoples of the Middle East and their 
governments can be, and often are, attributed to the United States. We 
saw this phenomena metastasize in Iran in the late 1970s. And

[[Page H5524]]

we've heard the same complaints explicitly from al Qaeda's leaders. As 
a nation with vital national interests in that region, we have wisely 
built strong ties with the governments of almost all of the Arab 
States.
  Unfortunately, while these ties have brought greater stability to the 
region, they have also aligned us with governments that don't share our 
values when it comes to political and civil human rights. Don't think 
for a moment that the people of these countries have not noticed. The 
United States speaks constantly of freedom, but is the ally of 
authoritarians. The United States prizes and celebrates the first 
amendment to our Constitution, but is in league with nations that abuse 
and imprison journalists. The United States uses taxpayer money to 
train others in the rule of law, but also works hand in glove with 
security forces of other governments that not only sniff out and 
destroy terrorists, but often do likewise to their own civil leaders 
and political reformers.
  Like it or not, we are entangled in the conflicts between Arab 
publics and their governments. It is not our role nor our duty to 
choose the form of government for any people but ourselves.
  But that does not forbid or restrict our right, and I would say our 
obligation, to speak out for the values that we believe are universal, 
including speaking out to our friends who sometimes believe that their 
extensive cooperation entitles them not only to our understanding and 
support, but our silence. I don't agree, and I don't accept such a 
formulation. In the end, such an approach will produce neither 
stability for them nor security for ourselves.
  As a nation that has strayed badly over the past several years from 
our own ideals, we have an obligation to be humble and circumspect in 
condemning others. Much of the credibility America used to enjoy when 
speaking out on human rights has been squandered by short-sighted and 
morally debilitated agents of fear. But we are still a nation of ideas 
and a people dedicated to certain universal values, that all people are 
created equal, that the rule of law and due process are not luxuries 
but fundamental human rights, and that the freedom of speech, 
conscience, association and the press are not gifts from governments or 
rulers, but the shared inheritance of all humanity.
  Moreover, for purely selfish reasons, we have ample cause to be 
concerned. Many of the same Arab governments which we are turning to 
help stabilize the region, and in particular, to help resolve the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are the very same governments that, with 
a wink and a nod, are helping stir the pot of bitterness and discontent 
among their own citizens.
  For example, Arab governments that say small steps toward normalizing 
relations with Israel are too hard because of public opinion often use 
government-owned, government-sanctioned or government-controlled press 
and media to disseminate stories of imaginary Israeli massacres, Jewish 
blood-libels, alleged Israeli medical experiments on Palestinian 
children, and for bigots with a taste for history, cheap Arabic-
language translations of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Mein 
Kempf.
  Moreover, in many Arab countries while there is ruthless and 
effective censorship, especially concerning political expression, 
somehow publication of vicious anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and even 
incitement to violence against Jews is allowed.
  These things are bad enough, but in a place where the press is not 
free and where there are rules for what you can and cannot say, the 
fact that these forms of hatred-speech are not prohibited indicates an 
obvious and dangerous form of state endorsement. In the end, the 
outcome is a public that is not only less open to peace, but is less 
ready to engage with the modern world.
  The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been a violent one, and the news 
about it inevitably reflects that fact. Likewise, revolving the core 
issues of that conflict does not depend on a free and honest press in 
the Arab world. And no state and no government is or should be above 
correction, criticism and complaint, not the United States, not Israel, 
not anyone. And to state the blindly obvious, criticism of Israeli 
policy is not, by definition, anti-Semitic.
  But there is also no question that the cumulative weight of 
unreasoned and incendiary hatred toward Israel or the Jewish people 
which has not only been allowed but in some cases inserted into the 
press and media by Arab governments or their proxies has made the 
Middle East more violent and more dangerous.
  The resolution before us will not solve these problems. But it will 
send a message. We are not a nation capable of indifference to either 
hate or oppression. We have interests in the Middle East beyond oil, 
and expanding the scope of human freedom is one of them. We may have 
strayed from our ideals, but we are trying to come home.
  Madam Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Berman and Ranking Member 
Ros-Lehtinen for their support in bringing this resolution before the 
House, and I urge all of our Members to support the motion and the 
underlying resolution.
  I would reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of 
H. Res. 1127, and I urge my colleagues to adopt this condemnation of 
the anti-Semitism that is sadly so widespread in the Arab media and the 
press.
  As the resolution of my good friend and colleague, Mr. Ackerman, 
points out, this anti-Semitism often takes the violent forms of 
Holocaust denial and incitement to violence.
  Madam Speaker, when political leaders fail to speak out against anti-
Semitic hatred and incitement, the void is not only demoralizing to the 
victims, but silence actually enables the wrongdoing. Silence by 
political leaders, in particular, conveys official approval or at least 
acquiescence and contributes to a climate of fear and a sense of 
vulnerability.
  It is tragic that modern Arab leaders have not done a better job of 
speaking out against anti-Semitism. We here in the U.S. Congress can 
speak out today. It is very important that we do so. But our words are 
not as effective as would be the condemnations from Arab leaders. 
Members of Congress are going to have to carry, as we go forward to 
Middle Eastern countries or meet with the leaders when they come here, 
the sentiments contained in this resolution, and again, as we have in 
the past, explain to them the importance of speaking out. We cannot 
remain silent any longer.
  If this fight against anti-Semitism in the Arab world is to succeed, 
we need officials in the U.S. and Europe and again the Arab world to, 
without hesitation or delay, denounce anti-Semitic acts whenever and 
wherever they occur. There can't be any exceptions. The purveyors of 
hate never take a holiday or grow weary, nor should we. Holocaust 
remembrance and tolerance education must dramatically expand, 
especially in the Middle East where it is almost nonexistent, and must 
find a footing in the Arab world. We have to ensure that our laws and 
the laws of other countries punish those who incite violence against 
Jews. And it is not utopian to begin to encourage modern Arab 
governments to adopt such laws. It is time to push this issue harder, 
far harder than we have done so in the past.
  Madam Speaker, on June 16, 2004, the Helsinki Commission held a 
hearing, and I chaired it, one of several in a series on combating 
anti-Semitism. Our prime witness at that hearing, as he had been 
previously, was one of the greatest, finest, most effective and 
certainly the most courageous human rights leaders the world has ever 
known, Natan Sharansky.

                              {time}  1400

  As we all know, Natan Sharansky spent years in the Soviet Gulag. 
Congressman Frank Wolf and I in the 1980s actually went to Perm Camp-35 
where he had spent many of his years in solitary confinement, where he 
had been tortured, and met with many of the political prisoners who 
knew him well, and they had nothing but accolades and respect for this 
man.
  He pointed out at our hearing that, ``Thirty years ago I was a 
dissident in the former Soviet Union. The irony is that 30 years later 
I am in the same job, collecting information about anti-Semitism,'' in 
that case as a cabinet minister in the Israeli government.
  He pointed out that the new wave of anti-Semitism is characterized by 
two components. The first one is the so-

[[Page H5525]]

called new anti-Semitism, and the lines between anti-Israeli propaganda 
and anti-Semitic propaganda are blurred.
  He said the second is the classical anti-Semitism, the old, deep, 
primitive prejudice against Jews used over and over again to hurt 
individuals. He points out that this time, these images and this 
promotion of anti-Semitism is coming mainly through state-sponsored and 
state-supported media in the Middle East.
  He pointed out that if you want to be successful in this struggle, we 
have to, like any other evil, we must have moral clarity about the 
issue. It is important to define the line between legitimate criticism 
of Israel and anti-Semitism. Israel, he said, is a strong democracy and 
the only democracy in the Middle East, and it is built on criticism 
from within and from without.
  Of course, we support all forms of legitimate criticism, he went on, 
but it is very important to see the difference, draw the line between 
legitimate criticism and anti-Semitism.
  He gave us a way of discovering it, or pointing it out and exposing 
it. He called it the three D's. You know it is anti-Semitism when it is 
all about demonization, double standard and delegitimization.
  At our hearing, Madam Speaker, he brought with him a 150 page study 
entitled ``Anti-Semitism in the Contemporary Middle East.'' The study 
surveys anti-Semitic reporting, editorials and editorial caricatures in 
the government-controlled press of Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon and the 
Palestinian Authority, Syria, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. In the 
more than 100 editorial cartoons included in the report, Jews and 
Israelis are invariably represented as poisonous snakes, murderous 
Nazis and bloodthirsty crusaders. When I looked at it, I was sickened. 
It was disgusting.
  The report found that vicious anti-Semitism expressly calls for 
massive terrorism and genocide against Jews, Zionists and the State of 
Israel. He pointed out as well in the report that the overwhelming 
majority of the propaganda again was from government-controlled media 
and from supposedly respectable publishing houses closely tied to those 
regimes.
  In a brief review of the findings, classic European and anti-Semitic 
imagery is widespread in the Middle East, as is Holocaust denial and 
the identification of Israel as a Nazi state. The borders between anti-
Semitism and anti-Americanism and anti-Westernism are blurred, almost 
completely blurred, the report found. Islamic religious themes, 
quotations and sayings are being widely mobilized to demonize Jews and 
Israelis and to justify the outright annihilation of the State of 
Israel and all its Jewish and non-Jewish supporters.
  The Arab-Israeli conflict is increasingly portrayed as part of an 
internal confrontation between pan-Islamic nations and the infidels, 
Jews and Christians alike, who embody all evil. All Israelis, men and 
women and children, and Jews around the world, the report found, as 
well as their crusader allies, are held responsible for alleged crimes 
committed by the Jews.
  He also showed at that hearing a movie, part of a movie, a 15-hour 
movie, an anti-Semitic film produced in Syria. That film was all about 
blood libel. He pointed out to us that that film is not seen just in 
the Middle East, and it ran for 15 hours every night during the Ramadan 
season, it is also seen in Europe.
  We wonder why people are incited to hate Jews. We watched just a few 
minutes of it, and, again, it was despicable and made it seem as if 
blood liable was real.
  Finally, Madam Speaker, Sharansky concluded by telling us that anti-
Semitism is not only a threat to Jews. History has shown us that left 
unchecked, the forces behind anti-Semitism will imperil all the values 
and freedom that our civilization holds dear. We must not let that 
happen; to which I say again, and this resolution strongly suggests, we 
must not let that happen.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished 
gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley), a leading spokesman on human 
rights and fairness.
  Ms. BERKLEY. I thank the gentleman from New York. I know that he has 
been an outstanding voice on this issue for as many years as I can 
remember. Long before I came to Congress to serve with him, I would 
watch him on C-SPAN as he spoke about this issue, and serving with him, 
I admire him all the more.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this important resolution. 
When we talk about peace in the Middle East, we so often get caught up 
in the specific details that we rarely discuss the fundamental problems 
in that region. Unlike our country, or Israel, the only democracy in 
the Middle East, most countries in that part of the world have very 
little freedom of the press and therefore very little accountability to 
their people.
  Such restrictions on free speech serve those Middle Eastern autocrats 
very well, keeping their populations in line and focusing the anger of 
the street outside of their own borders. The populations there have 
very little choice but to believe the daily insults that many state-run 
newspapers heap on our country and on Israel. They have no other avenue 
by which to get their news. So instead of rebelling against their own 
corrupt dictators, the people of the Middle East flood their streets to 
burn American and Israeli flags, with little or no hope that they can 
change events in their own countries that are controlled by these 
dictatorial regimes.
  Mr. Speaker, such restrictions on speech not only condemn the people 
of the Middle East to intellectual poverty and ignorance, they make 
peace harder and harder to achieve. And it is not only the media, it is 
also the textbooks that need to be changed. From the Palestinian 
territories to Saudi Arabia, Middle Eastern children are taught that 
Jews are monkeys and snakes and worse, and that Israel must be 
destroyed because it has no right to exist. Such education, both in 
school and in the newspapers, and such disinformation, cannot create 
possibly a condition for peace.
  With this resolution today, we can send a clear message to the Middle 
East that we, the United States of America, stand with those who seek a 
free press, those who want to bring out the truth and let freedom ring 
throughout the Middle East.
  To quote the resolution itself, by passing this we will affirm ``the 
universal rights 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 grievances.''
  I thank the gentleman again, and I urge support for this resolution.
  Mrs. BACHMANN. Mr. Speaker, today, I was proud to support, H. Res. 
1127, a bill which condemns 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.
  The people of Israel have been victims of violence and hatred for far 
too long. Not only are these peace-loving individuals targets of rocket 
attacks and terrorist actions, they are also victims of government-
censored, hateful press. It is far too common for Arab media markets to 
condemn Israel and promote actions which foster violence and hinder the 
peace process in the region. Israeli reporters and journalists have 
been harassed and intimidated by Middle East government officials who 
have placed harsh legal restrictions on what news can and cannot be 
reported.
  I strongly believe that the universal right of all persons to 
peacefully express themselves in a nonviolent way should be upheld in 
the Middle East. It is the responsibility of the United States and the 
global community to condemn this lack of freedom and work to promote an 
environment which fosters the license of nonviolent speech and press 
and peace.
  Mr. ACKERMAN. We yield back the balance of our time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ross). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Ackerman) that the House 
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1127, as 
amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution, as amended, was agreed to.
  The title was amended so as to read:
  ``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 incitement to 
violence and Holocaust denial in the Arab media and press.''.

[[Page H5526]]

  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________