The Israelis- and specifically the news media in Tel Aviv - objected to his inclusion in the three-member UN mission unjustifiably accusing him of being anti-Semitic for a chance remark he once made relating to Sri Lanka.

In the Arab world, the Red Cross has long been replaced by the Red Crescent. But for the last 50 years, the Israelis have failed to gain legal recognition to replace the Red Cross with a red Star of David because of strong opposition inside the ICRC which is not related to Sommaruga personally.

In a private conversation with the president of the American Red Cross in November 1999, Sommaruga fired a rhetorical question: "Would you be ready to accept the swastika as requested by Sri Lanka?".

The Sri Lankan request apparently was to replace the red cross with a red swastika.
Since a variation of the original swastika, a Buddhist symbol, was also used as a political emblem by Nazis in Hitler's Germany, it is treated as an anti-Semitic symbol by the Israelis and also by the neo-Nazis in Europe.

Sommaruga claimed that he was being dubbed anti-Semitic despite the fact that he fought for 13 years, while he was with the ICRC, to provide recognition to the Star of David.

But regrettably, he said, he did not succeed because of the opposition of some governments represented inside the ICRC. The Israelis clearly are so paranoid that anything remotely construed as being anti-Israel is denounced as anti-Semitic, although Arabs too are Semites. But the distinction is invariably lost in the bitter hatred engulfing the Middle East.

But paranoia- and the feeling of being under constant persecution- is not necessarily the exclusive preserve of the Israelis. The tragedy of the current US-led war against global terorrism is also the rising volume of hatred and the degree of paranoia sweeping across the United States.

Last week there were warnings of posssible terrorist attacks on shopping malls, reservoirs, bridges, discotheques, restaurants, and even New York city landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State building.

Suddenly, every place on the ground seems to be under a terrorist threat - and paradoxically, the only safest place was an airplane high above the skies. A news report that several "Middle Eastern-looking men" were seen taking pictures of a reservoir in neighboring Connecticut threw the whole state into a panic.

The hysteria was inflamed further by the constant media drumbeat- with radio and television reports repeating the story every half hour implicitly conveying a warning that drinking water in the state of Connecticut was in danger of being contaminated.
Not surprisingly, the scare story drove residents to rush to the nearest supermarkets to stock their fridges and basements with enough bottled water to survive a nuclear winter.
But in less than 24 hours later, the Police reported that the men were really from Bangladesh- a far cry from the Middle East-innocently trying out a new video camera taking pictures of the scenic beauty of the reservoir.

Last week the City of New York was also put on anxiety alerts with rumours of possible strikes by "Palestinian and Sri Lankan-style suicide bombers". A Washington Post article devoted several paragraphs to the infamous "suicide belt-bombers" from Sri Lanka. Could it also happen in the United States?, the Post wondered.

The headline of another Post news story best conveyed the prevailing hysteria: "Nation Left Jittery by Latest Series of Terror Warnings." The warnings came not only from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) but also from Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

FBI Director Robert Mueller III was more forthright: "There will be another terrorist attack. We will not be able to stop it. It's something we all live with." Cheney warned that there was a "real possibility" of suicide bombers carrying out attacks on US soil. Rumsfeld predicted that terrorists will "inevitably" get their hands on weapons of mass destruction, namely nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

The Bush Administration has recently been on the defensive following stories that it had sufficient advance warnings of terror attacks with airplanes- and that it may have not done enough to prevent the September 11 attacks. The administration, of course, vehemently denied the charge.

So, the spate of warnings last week may be a pre-emptive strike. And if any future attacks do take place, the White House may well say: "We told you so".
But what the American public will eventually want to know from its government is: "What really did you do after spending $36 billion of taxpayer money to fight terrorism?".

Back to Top

Back to Columns

Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Webmaster