Support for democracy in Arab states essential: Henderson

By Allon Lee, The Australian Jewish News, 27 September 2002

Support for democratic reform in Arab countries is essential if the threat of Islamism is to be dealt with, Dr Gerard Henderson says.

"The US is most popular in countries whose governments hate it, such as Iraq and Iran, whilst the US is most reviled where it supports unpopular regimes like Egypt and Saudi Arabia."

The executive director of the Sydney Institute was participating in a seminar on 'One year on' at the B'nai B'rith Centre, held to mark the anniversary of the September 11 attack on the United States.

Describing terrorism as a 20th century phenomenon that will continue into the 21st, Dr Henderson said the West must share a portion of the blame for attacks. "It would be understandable if the terrorists had managed to hijack one plane in one city, but to hijack four planes in the space of an hour is an appalling indictment of US security," he said.

Defining the enemy as "Islamism" and not Islam, he said if Islam were the adversary, Australia would be at war with Indonesia — the largest Muslim nation in the world.

Former race discrimination commissioner Zita Antonios presented a personal view from the perspective of a Lebanese Christian woman living in Australia.

Describing her Lebanese persona as Zahir, which means 'bright light' in Arabic, she said she felt unequivocally Australian.

"Most of the time, my ethnicity is irrelevant." But when it became apparent that Arabs and Muslims had committed the September 11 atrocity, her reaction was "God help us".

One of the legacies of September 11 had been the perpetuation among Arabs of negative stereotypes that are associated with people from the Middle East, Ms Antonios said.

Having to board an aircraft on September 12, 2001, she felt the same apprehension that fellow passengers did —with the added layer of guilt born of having the same skin colour as the terrorists. "I felt guilty that I should be looking for a Middle Eastern [person]. I was sucked right into the trap."

Condoning the rise in racism that also saw Jews and synagogues targeted in the wake of the attacks, Ms Antonios called on people to take heed of the United Nations Charter preamble, which affirms human rights and justice for all.

Describing the attack as an affront to the UN ideals ofpeace, dignity and freedom, US Australian director Dr Juan Carlos Brandt pointed out that more than 90 nations lost a citizen on September 11 "for no other reason that they had come towork in the United States".

The UN had shown that it was up to the challenge of global terrorism by voting "to take action against states that aid terror, involving economic and criminal measures to stop the terror", he said.

The UN had shown that it was up to the challenge of global terrorism by voting "to take action against states that aid terror, involving economic and criminal measures to stop the terror," he said

"For the first time, the UN is truly being used as an instrument for which it was founded, "Dr Brandt said.

Fredrick Töben comments

Dr Henderson's 'The Sydney Institute' is a blatant pro-Zionist outfit, and our 'Adelaide Institute's' origin stems partially from its existence: A voice was needed to balance the propaganda emanating from Henderson's falsely labelled 'right-wing' think-tank.

 Although not present at that meeting, I'm certain that Henderson did not mention the physical/historical fact that Israel was born out of terrorism — it is a terrorist state.

Henderson's dialectic trick in labelling the 11 September 2001 tragedy as a result of  "Islamism', serves only to obfuscate the situation, namely that to that date most governments of the middle eastern nations were in the financial claws of the US-global system, much to the regret of the Arabic-speaking peoples that spread from Morocco to Iraq.

Henderson fails to address the deeper issues that are propelling the Middle East violence — the existence of the apartheid Zionist-racist state of Israel.

Zita Antonios' presence at this gathering does not surprise; she is a vivacious lady with perhaps more instinct for personal social and financial survival than for a love of truth and justice. She was the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission's (HREOC) commissioner who decided to send the Jeremy Jones complaint against  Adelaide Institute immediately to a formal hearing. I had requested a conciliation meeting because I wished to hear what Jones was complaining about. It was brushed aside by Antonios because, as one of her assistants said to me on the phone: "This is an international political thing."

Her response to the 11 September tragedy is pathetic. Why should she feel guilty? Perhaps she knows that she has not been honest about many of the things that she dealt with while HREOC commissioner. Or is this part of her 'Christian' tradition — to feel guilty about matters 'Holocaust'?

My personal view about the 11 September tragedy is that because Israel's name had been solidly discredited at the August-September 2001 Durban UN Race conference that ended on 7 September. Israel had been branded an apartheid, Zionist and racist state. Four days later the tragedy occurred — and successfully deflected the attack on Israel. It became a part of the US-coalition to fight 'terrorism'.  For the Palestinians this was a terrible set-back.

As in all human endeavour, there is always a contingency plan, or even plans that come into effect as needed. I see the 11 September tragedy as one such plan enacted to restore the pre-Durban conference status of Israel.

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