Lying Is Cultural Trait Of Arabs, Says Barak

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 5-23-2002 | Brian Whitaker

[blam]

Lying is cultural trait of Arabs, says Barak

Brian Whitaker in Jerusalem
Thursday May 23, 2002
The Guardian

Palestinians have no compunction about telling lies and see truth as irrelevant, the former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak has claimed in an interview. "They are products of a culture in which to tell a lie... creates no dissonance," Mr Barak says. "They don't suffer from the problem of telling lies that exists in Judaeo-Christian culture."

"Truth is seen as an irrelevant category," he says."There is only that which serves your purpose and that which doesn't. They see themselves as emissaries of a national movement for whom everything is permissible. There is no such thing as 'the truth'."

Interviewed by the Jewish historian Benny Morris for an article in the latest issue of the New York Review of Books, Mr Barak not only relates his comments about lying to Yasser Arafat in particular, but to Arab society in general.

He says: "The deputy director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation once told me that there are societies in which lie detectors don't work, societies in which lies do not create cognitive dissonance [on which the tests are based]."

As an example of Mr Arafat's alleged mendacity, Mr Barak cites an incident in October 2000, shortly after the start of the intifada. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders, together with Madeleine Albright, the US secretary of state at the time, were meeting in Paris to discuss a ceasefire.

Mr Arafat had agreed to call a number of his police commanders to implement a truce.

Mr Barak recalls protesting: "'But these are not the people organising the violence. If you are serious, then call Marwan Bargouti and Hussein al-Sheikh [two West Bank Fatah leaders].'

"Arafat looked at me, with an expression of blank innocence, as if I had mentioned the names of two polar bears, and said, 'Who? Who?'

"So I repeated the names, this time with a pronounced, clear Arabic inflection... and Arafat again said, 'Who? Who?'

"At this, some of his aides couldn't stop themselves and burst out laughing. And Arafat, forced to drop the pretence, agreed to call them later."

[swarthyguy]

"Truth is seen as an irrelevant category," he says."There is only that which serves your purpose and that which doesn't.

Bears repeating over and over again.

[keithtoo]

Arabs do lie A LOT! And right out in the open, where they have to know they will get caught. Its really embarassing to watch.

Is there no prohibition in Islam against lying? Probably doesn't matter if you lie to an infidel.

[Pistias]

If I recall, there's an Arabic word that expresses the concept, but I don't remember it (fayyiq?)--not that Arabic culture condones lying (in fact, it deplores it); but lying to infidel is an acceptable breach of the duty to keep faith...sort of like lying to an axe murderer about where his intended victim went.

[hinckley buzzard]

Newsflash. Glad he came out and said it on the record. Remiscent of the BillyBoy, for that matter...Bill Clinton--our first Arab President!

[agrace]

You're absolutely correct, Pistias, it's an Islamic doctrine/practice called taqiyya. Do a google search, choco taco.

[CanadianFella]

I seem to like ex-PM Barak a lot more than the PM Barak I remember.

[AmericaUnited]

Racist my stinking foot! He is dead on the money. I've known many people who have lived over in the Middle East in Egypt, Saidi Arabia, etc., and they all confirm this.

[goldstategop]

It took Ehud "Slobodan" Barak two years to discover the truth that Yasser Arafat is a natural born liar? Gee what planet was he living on when he was Prime Minister? How can you even reach agreements with people whose word you cannot trust them to keep? The fairy tale of Oslo exposed. And I don't exactly think Barak's fellow Labor Party leaders have heard this disclosure.

[Ciexyz]

"The Peace of Saladin" refers to the peace brokered by the Arab leader Saladin with the Crusaders. "Peace" to the Christians meant a cessation of hostilities, "peace" to an Arab meant a break before killing would begin again. It bought the Arabs time, and then they slaughtered and enslaved the Christians. Some people never learn from history.

[dighton]

He says: "The deputy director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation once told me that there are societies in which lie detectors don't work, societies in which lies do not create cognitive dissonance [on which the tests are based]."

Not only societies, but individuals -- psychopaths (for example, Clinton), and their hired guns (for example, Carville). Ex-PM Barak may recognize those names.

[L`enn]

Actually it fits the entire set of cultures in South Asia and the Middle East. Try doing business with the bastards.

[isthisnickcool]

Pretty common knowledge. "They" don't consider it lying. The goal is to get what they want and whatever it takes is OK. Especially if they are dealing with an infidel.

My uncle was all over the middle east in the 60's. I remember when I was a kid he said that the Arabs were "all crazy, all liars and all queers." And that someday "we would regret doing business with them". He also talked about how they had to pray 5 times a day, could only wipe their a$$es a certain way, etc.

Lying is part of Islam.

[Kermit]

"that your own ethnic group deems as negative."

I guess you don't see lying as being negative, eh?

[timestax]

bttt

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

"Truth is seen as an irrelevant category," he says."There is only that which serves your purpose and that which doesn't. They see themselves as emissaries of a national movement for whom everything is permissible. There is no such thing as 'the truth'."

Sounds like those congenital liars, Hildebeast and Slick.

[Ronin]

Negotiating with an Arab is like trying to nail cigarette smoke to the wall.

Not only do they lie about things they have said in previous meetings, just for fun, they lie about things they just said. And then lie about their previous lies.

I would rather chew a jumbo roll of aluminum foil then try and negotiate anything with an Arab.

[Pistias]

Lying isn't necessarily bad any more than telling the truth is--it depends on the circumstances. The classic example: your buddy loans you his shotgun. A week later he comes back drunk to the gills telling you his wife just divorced him, she's getting everything--house, business, savings, kids, all of it. Do you give him the gun back, or tell him you lost it?

[Pistias]

Whoops, forgot a sentence: comes back drunk to the gills demanding his shotgun back, loaded like he gave it to you.