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Washington – It is incomprehensible and shameful that the United States and the European Union have allowed the Algerian government to continue its anti-Semitic rants against Morocco and Israel to go unchecked for so long.
The Algerian press has repeatedly used derogatory terms to portray Jews and Moroccans in newspapers and telecasts. In summary, the Algerian military tells the world that Israelis and Moroccans are responsible for every perceived problem and blames Algeria’s ills on a Moroccan-Israeli conspiracy.
The official Algerian press has accused the “all-powerful Jewish cabal” and the Moroccan lobbies of publishing an International Monetary Front report critical of the Algerian economy and a United Nations resolution reprimanding the Algerian diplomacy for the Western Sahara conflict. The Algerian military went as far as to accuse Morocco of fixing a drawing in the African World Cup play-offs that came out unfavorable to the Algerian team.
Despite several fake stories in which Algeria accused Morocco and Israel of conspiring against its interests, the world community has remained indifferent to Algiers’s dangerous racist behaviors.
The failure to denounce Algeria’s hatred and intolerance will further the spread of anti-Semitism in North Africa and the Middle East. The Algerian military indoctrination of its domestic public threatens religious tolerance and peace and harmony. It is time for world powers to send a clear message to General Chengriha, Algeria’s de-facto leader, that he will face the consequences of his actions when he promotes anti-Jewish and Anti-Morocco hate.
Although Algeria has a long history of using anti-Jewish slogans as propaganda tools to promote nationalism, the current regime’s campaigns have reached unparalleled levels of paranoia. Their last openly anti-Semitic exercise is to blame Israelis and Moroccans for the poor performance of the Algerian national football team during the Africa Cup of Nations.
The official Algerian news agency, APS, released an article in Arabic accusing Morocco and Israel of using hypnosis to weaken Algerian soccer players leading to their defeat against Equatorial Guinea during this year’s African Cup.
While it is hard to believe that any respectable government would publish such an absurd story, what the Algerian media have broadcasted in the past is even more pathetic and far more dangerous.
The APS has published countless outlandish Jewish conspiracies and mindboggling anti-Moroccan articles, including stories accusing Israel and Morocco of trashing Algerian soccer fields, inflating grocery prices, and provoking food shortages. Although these statements are ridiculous and bizarre, their anti-Semitic nature makes them serious and abhorrent.
Algeria went so far as to accuse Morocco and Israel of lighting forest fires that killed dozens of civilians in the Kabyle region. Furthermore, Algeria’s national television, ENTV, broadcasted a staged news video showing Algerian police arresting alleged Mossad and Moroccan perpetrators. They turned out to be DRS (Algerian intelligence) agents posing as terrorists.
In the face of this shameless anti-Semitism, Morocco and Israel expected a worldwide condemnation of the Algerian government. But these calls appear to have fallen upon deaf ears. When it comes to Algeria’s anti-Semitism, the United States and Europe look the other way.
The APS is the spokesman for the Algerian government, and its articles are the official positions of the Algerian presidency. Thus, the failure of the U.S. State Department and the UN Human Rights Commission to take a firm and unequivocal stand against Algeria’s anti-Semitism is inexplicable.
The Algerian president constantly accuses the Kingdom and Israel of conspiring against his nation without proof. And even though some of his stories are laughable and imaginary, ignoring them gives the impression that the Europeans and Americans tolerate such blatant anti-Semitism.
Several videos circulating on YouTube prove that the average Algerian believes these fictional tales. A host of private television channels financed by the Algerian army feeds the accusations of conspiracy that the APS has been selling to Algerian and Arab viewers.
France and Spain, the two prominent Western supporters of the military regime in Algiers, have long remained silent about their ally’s anti-Semitism for fear of losing economic and political leverage in North Africa.
Since no European nation is speaking out against the Algerian media’s bigoted campaigns against Israelis and Moroccans, it is now up to the United States government to bring attention to the danger of such alarming trends. In fact, after the Iranian media, the APS website has become a leader in anti-Semitic literature.
It is time for the U.S. to condemn and reprimand the Algerian leaders for their constant drumbeat of antisemitic speech. The world must stop the APS campaigns before it becomes a benchmark for other governments and institutions to promote anti-Semitism.
