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A technique of propaganda called "Turnspeak"

The Arab League makes use of a cognitive technique of propaganda called "turnspeak", where you attack someone and then turn it around 180 degrees and claim they attacked you. Because the truth is the exact opposite of the information being disseminated it is psychologically difficult to counter and leads to confusion.

Turnspeak leads to psychological confusion and a feeling of being "burned-out" or "overwhelmed" with too much information, effectively creating a blanket of "white noise" which makes clarity difficult to achieve.

Joan Peters, former White House consultant on the Middle East writes:

The term was first used by journalists to describe German propaganda after it invaded Czechoslovakia in March of 1939.  To win sympathy for their invasion, the Germans practiced what has  become known as "turnspeak". They turned the blame back on the Czechs for trying to precipitate an all-out war in the region. In other words, the Czechs in their attempt to hang onto their land were ready to plunge all of Europe into war.

How did the rest of Europe respond to this lie? They believed it. World leaders decided that something had to be done to preserve peace at any cost.

Author William Shirer, who was a reporter in Europe at the time,  distilled the truth simply when he wrote, "Thus the plight of the German  minority in Czechoslovakia was merely a pretext...for cooking up a stew in a land he [Hitler] coveted, undermining it, confusing and misleading its friends and concealing his real purpose...to destroy the Czechoslovak state and grab its territories..." 1

The Arab claim that Jews are "Nazis" is not without motive.  They are trying to obscure their own close connection with the Nazis.  During World War II leading Muslims including Haj Amin al-Husseini worked for the Nazis in Germany and called for a intifada against Britain. Haji Amin al-Husseini was the grand mufti of Jerusalem, as well as Yasser Arafat's close relative and mentor

The Arabs, especially Iraq, sided with Germany during W.W.II. In May 1941, Haj Amin al-Husseini issued a fatwa - "summons to a holy war against Britain". The Mufti's widely heralded proclamation against Britain was declared in Iraq,  and was instrumental in his 1941 pro-Nazi intifada in Iraqi. The Mufti also requested Arab-Americans not to support FDR

Yasser Arafat's actual name is Abd al-Rahman abd al-Rauf Arafat al-Qud al-Husseini. He shortened it to obscure his kinship with the notorious Nazi and Mufti of Jerusalem.2

Saddam Hussein was raised in the house of his uncle Khayrallah Tulfah, who was a leader in the Mufti's pro-Nazi coup in Iraq in May 1941. Both Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein were greatly influenced by the Mufti during their time in Cairo during the 1950s.

See also History of Fedayeen, PLO, Fatah, PFLP, PFLP-GC, DFLP, etc Militant Palestinian Groups and  Yasser Arafat worthy successor to Haj Muhammad Amin al Husseini

Side-by-side comparison of "turnspeak"

Many examples of "turnspeak" abound in today's news media.  For example a article in a leading Western news service reported "The settlers are a roaming the west bank with guns and randomly shooting at Palestinian civilians... making Palestinians prisoners in their own villages", or another article that said "They [the settlers] are hunters... They go into jail through one door and out the other."  An even more obvious example is Arafat's claims that Israel is stopping the peace process.
 
What "turnspeak" says:
(from Arab and Western media)
  • Israel is aggressive, expansionist
  • On the day that Israel declared their statehood -- May 14, 1948 -- it was invaded by an alliance of Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria. Their motivation was the already clearly stated intent of Israel to disregard international treaties
  • Israeli violations of human rights are the worst in the world
  • The Israelis are barbaric in their occupation of the territories
  • The Israeli methods are worse than the Nazis
  • Israelis are Nazis
  • Palestinian holocaust
  • The Israeli government is a gang of thieves
  • Israel is poisoning the Palestinian water supply.
  • Israel is a terrorist state
  • Israel doesn't want peace
  • Israel rejects all overtones of peace by Arab countries.
  • PM Sharon is a war criminal.
  • The nobel peace price should be revoked from Shimon Peres
  • Israel routinely sanctions war crimes.
  • Israel is terrorizing Palestinian cities.
  • Israel shoots randomly at Palestinians
  • Israeli killing and organized Israeli terror
  • Israel has annihilated Palestinian villages for decades
  • Israeli media is inciting religious hatred towards Moslems.
  • Moslem holy places are in danger by Israel.
  • Mosques and Churches are being made into Synagogues
  • The Jews want to destroy Al Aksa Mosque (and Dome of the Rock)
  • Arabs have no legal rights in Israel. Christians have no legal rights in  Israel.
  • The settlers are roaming the west bank with guns and randomly shooting at Palestinian civilians.
  • The settlers are making Palestinians prisoners in their own villages
  • Arab villages are surrounded by barbed wire fences (barbed wire concentration camps)
  • They [the settlers] are hunters... They go into jail through one door and out the other
  • Palestinians have been living in Palestine for thousands of years.
  • Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews and [the land of] Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history...
  • Palestinians outside Israel have an even higher standard of living than Israelis
  • Arabs who live in Israel live in the same third world conditions that exist in  most Arab countries
  • Iraq, Egypt, Syria and (now) Iran have purer democracies than even the United States
  • Israeli press is government run.
  • The Jews are preventing the Arab countries from having democracies.
  • Palestinian Terrorists are martyrs.
Yet the counterpart is probably closer to the truth:
  • [Militant] Islam is aggressive, expansionist.
  • On the day that Israel declared their statehood -- May 14, 1948 -- it was invaded by an alliance of Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria. Their motivation was the already clearly stated intent of the Arabs States to disregard U.N. declarations.
  • Arab States violations of human rights are [some of] the worst in the world
  • [Some] Islamic States have been barbaric in their treatment of minorities (Kurds, Armenians, etc.), women's rights (honor killings) and criminals (cutting off hands, body parts, beheading...)
  • Many Arab leaders were Nazi sympathizers, see above.
  • Jewish holocaust
  • The Palestinian Authority is a gang of thieves.
  • Palestinians have on occasion poisoned the Israeli water supply [or poisoned Israeli produce].
  • The Palestinian Authority is a terrorist entity
  • Arafat doesn't want peace
  • The Arab States reject all overtones of peace by Israel.
  • Arafat is a war criminal.
  • The nobel peace price should be revoked from Arafat.
  • Arafat (and the Arab States) routinely sanction war crimes.
  • The military wing of the PA is terrorizing Israeli cities.
  • Palestinian Terrorists shoots randomly at Israelis
  • Terrorists killing and organized Palestinian Authority terror
  • Arab States have annihilated Jewish villages (in Arab States) for hundreds of years
  • Arabic media is inciting religious hatred towards Jews.
  • Jewish holy places are in danger by Islam.
  • Synagogues and Churches are being made into Mosques.
  • The Wakf is actually destroying the Temple Mount artifacts
  • Jews have no [reduced] legal rights in the [some] Islamic States
  • The Palestinian Terrorists are roaming the west bank with guns and randomly shooting at Israeli civilians.
  • The Palestinian Terrorists are making settlers prisoners in their own villages.
  • Jewish Settlements are surrounded by wire fences.
  • They [the Palestinian Terrorists] are hunters... They go into jail through one door and out the other
  • Jews have been living in Palestine for thousands of years.
  • Claims of historical or religious ties of "Palestinians" and [the land of] Israel are incompatible with the facts of history...
  • Arabs who live in Israel have an even higher standard of living than Arabs outside Israel
  • United States and Israel have  democracies, Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Iran are not.
  • Most Arab press are government controlled
  • The Arab Leaders are preventing the Arab countries from having democracies
  • Victims of Palestinian Terrorists are martyrs.

1."From Time Immemorial" by Joan Peters, 1984
2.The Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini was later the notorious Nazi who mixed Nazi propaganda and Islam.  He was wanted for war crimes in Bosnia by Yugoslavia.  His mix of militant propagandizing Islam was an inspiration for both Yasser Arafat and Saddam Husein: He was also a close relative of Yasser Arafat and grandfather of the current Temple Mount Mufti. "Arafat's actual name was Abd al-Rahman abd al-Bauf Arafat al-Qud al-Husseini. He shortened it to obscure his kinship with the notorious Nazi and ex-Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Muhammed Amin al-Husseini." Howard M. Sachar, A HISTORY OF ISRAEL (New York: Knopf, 1976).  The Bet Agron International Center in Jerusalem interviewed Arafat's brother and sister, who described the Mufti as a cousin (family member) with tremendous influence on young Yassir after the Mufti returned from Berlin to Cairo. Yasser Arafat himself keeps his exact lineage and birthplace secret.  Saddam Hussein was raised in the house of his uncle Khayrallah Tulfah, who was a leader in the Mufti's pro-Nazi coup in Iraq in May 1941.

This page was produced by Joseph E. Katz
Middle Eastern Political and Religious History Analyst 
Brooklyn, New York 
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Source: "From Time Immemorial" by Joan Peters, 1984
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Portions Copyright © 1984 Joan Peters, Portions Copyright © 2001 Joseph Katz
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