Antisemitic Fatah op-ed: Shakespeare`s Shylock was an accurate description of the Jews
Antisemitic Fatah op-ed:
Shakespeare's Shylock was an accurate description of the Jews
"Shakespeare correctly described the deceitful, greedy,
trickster, extortionist, and lowly character of the Jews
in the story The Merchant of Venice"
By Nan Jacques Zilberdik
The author of an op-ed published on the website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission in Lebanon recently stated that Shakespeare was accurate in his antisemitic description of the Jews as seen in his character Shylock from the play The Merchant of Venice:"While Britain's colonialist history is full of people like [former British Foreign Secretary Arthur] Balfour, [Baron] Rothschild, [former British Prime Minister] Tony Blair, and [British Prime Minister] Theresa May, the greatest playwright William Shakespeare correctly described the deceitful, greedy, trickster, extortionist, and lowly character of the Jews in the story The Merchant of Venice in the 16th century."
[Falestinona, website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission
in Lebanon, Jan. 31, 2018]
In the play, the Jewish character Shylock is a sly moneylender who demands that a debtor repay him with a pound of flesh, before later being defeated and forced to convert to Christianity.
This is not the first time Palestinians have expressed antisemitic views by comparing Shakespeare's fictitious Jewish character Shylock with actual Jews and others.A columnist in the official PA daily described Israeli PM Netanyahu as a "modern Shylock," and a journalist on official PA TV stated that "Israel is a state that seizes opportunities in the style of Shylock."
Recently, US President Trump was criticized in an op-ed in the official PA daily for his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and accused of choosing "the model of Shylock - the American Shylock, in the style of the Jewish Shylock." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 23, 2017]
A Jordanian academic once explained on PA TV that it was the Jews' behavior and love of money that led to Shakespeare's character Shylock:
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Jordanian academic Muhammad Dohal:
"The Jews are hated in every society in which they have lived, because of their behavior relating to their great love of money.
Their behavior led to [Shakespeare's] famous story, the story of Shylock about money lending, which clings to the Jews. This is how they harmed the societies that embraced them."
The following is a longer excerpt of the antisemitic op-ed published by Fatah:
Op-ed by Mahmoud Al-Assadi
Headline: "100 years since the Balfour Promise and its consequences 1917 - 2017"
"Today, 100 years after the ominous Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration), stands British Prime Minister Theresa May, who bears the name of 'Mother Theresa' - but how great is the difference between the two. While Mother Theresa was a saint and an ascetic woman who sacrificed her life to help the poor and oppressed, do justice with them, and give them civil rights such as justice and equality, present British Prime Minister Theresa May is a hostile and sinful woman, who brags shamelessly about how she and her conservative government are proud and take glory in the fact that the government of Britain approved the Balfour Declaration in 1917. She deepened her insolence further when she stated: 'We must celebrate this day instead of apologizing to the Palestinians for the expropriation of their lands, the leveling of their fields, and the desecration of their holy sites' (sic., PMW could find no record of such a statement by British PM Theresa May).
...
While Britain's colonialist history is full of people like [former British Foreign Secretary Arthur] Balfour, [Baron] Rothschild, [former British Prime Minister] Tony Blair, and Theresa May, the greatest playwright William Shakespeare correctly described the deceitful, greedy, trickster, extortionist, and lowly character of the Jews in the story The Merchant of Venice in the 16th century."
[Falestinona, website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission
in Lebanon, Jan. 31, 2018]
The Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917 was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Baron Rothschild stating that "His Majesty's government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." In 1922, the League of Nations adopted this and made the British Mandate "responsible for putting into effect the declaration," which led to the UN vote in 1947 and the establishment of the State of Israel.Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, British Prime Minister Theresa May said before the British House of Commons on Oct. 25, 2017: "We are proud of the role that we played in the creation of the State of Israel, and we will certainly mark the centenary with pride."