Lying is cultural trait of Arabs, says Barak

The Guardian ^ | May 23, 2002 | Brian Whitaker

[Lockbox]

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."

[Lockbox]

Every time you read an article or see someone speaking from the Middle East, remember, remember.

[Grut]

Gosh! Weren't things like this being said about German Jews seventy years ago?

[vetvetdoug]

Mr. Barak is correct. It is almost impossible for one with Judeo-Christian ethics to expect Arabs to deal with us honestly and earnestly. That is why Arabs only respect the position of strength which means diplomacy is out.

[ppaul]

Gosh! Weren't things like this being said about German Jews seventy years ago?

So?
Hitler was a liar - as are virtually all of the Arab leaders, including the mass murderer, Arafat.

[GreatOne]

What do you expect from people who practice a faith like Islam, a gutter religion based on the rantings of a David Koresh-like character? Bunch of nutjobs.

[GreatOne]

What do you expect from people who practice a faith like Islam, a gutter religion based on the rantings of a David Koresh-like character? Bunch of nutjobs.

[elbucko]

"Truth is seen as an irrelevant category,"

Truth is morally relevant to most pre-Western societies. The concept that a man's word is his honor is closer to English common law than the three main Middle Eastern religions. That's the problem, how can a trio of liars arrive at a peaceful consensus. Put another way; How many bimbo's could dance inside Bill Clinton's shorts?

[NorCoGOP]

There is only that which serves your purpose and that which doesn't

Yeah, just try to buy something at a shop in the Middle East - learned the hard way on a port visit to Karachi - haggling over pricing is a culturally accepted norm to them, but very hard for us to learn...

[ReadMyMind]

The Israelis and Arabs have been enemies for more than 50 years. To listen to what one has to say about the other is a waste of time. To believe what one has to say about the other is gullible.

[Vidalia]

Their lying is not only a cultural trait, it is a sport as well.

What else do you think these people have been doing for centuries while sitting around the campfire in the middle of nowhere with nothing else to do?

The more complicated and bombastic, the more "points" they score with each other, as in Hussein's utterly laughable "Mother of all Wars".

"Mean what you say and say what you mean" is totally foreign to these 45 year old children with AK-47s...

[Lessismore]

The concept that a man's word is his honor is closer to English common law

I thought that English common law was based on the principle that if the contesting parties each had their hired mouthpieces present the most lopsided case possible to an impartial jury (subject to a few loose rules set by the judge), that the truth would somehow come out.

In fact, doesn't the requirement that witnesses swear on a Bible to tell the truth indicate that they wouldn't feel obligated to do so otherwise?

[CdMGuy]

Sorry, but I learned many years ago when dealing with Arabs in my occupation that you cannot believe anything they tell you. Their value system is different from ours and they will not hesitate to lie. In fact, it is expected in their society, which is one of the reasons the Arab press essentially can never be believed.

As a result of my experience in my line of business, and with the increase of Arabs in the US, I come across Arabs while shopping. I may have a pleasant conversation with them, but I cannot believe anything they tell me about the product I am considering to buy or anything they tell me about themselves.

[litehaus]

And so we understand how Karzai "lets go" people we see as the enemy of all we stand for.......

[Dianna]

Well that explains it, Clinton must have been an Arab.

[widowithfoursons]

LOL!!! But I thought being in the Mideast, living there, etc. would give our diplomats an IOTA of the culture. Apparently not.

[Texas Mom]

LOL!!! But I thought being in the Mideast, living there, etc. would give our diplomats an IOTA of the culture. Apparently not.

I lived in Morocco for two years and this is not earth shattering news to me.

I have asked for years how can you degotiate with people who lie with every breath and just don't reason like we do?

[OldFriend]

The truth is completely alien to the arab culture. It would never occur to them to be honest about anything. If we've learned nothing else from the endless violence we must finally acknowledge that fact.

[john in missouri]

Um... hello? Obviously you don't know much about Arab and Muslim culture, nor have you been following the news.

If you merely did the latter, you would begin to observe that any time Palestinians accuse the Israelis of "ruthlessly massacreing hundreds of innocent Palestinian women and children with machine-guns," what it actually means is that the Israelis have used a bulldozer to knock down some houses of known terrorist murderers.

[evolved_rage]

Is it arab culture or Islam??? IMHO, Islam has few restraints, lying or killing, when dealing with non-Moslems. The Ten Commandments do not have footnotes, a sin is a sin, regardless of the victim. Not beling devout enough, in the opinion of any Moslem, puts the infidel outside of Allah's protection.

[ganesha]

If you are trying to imply that Judaism and Christianity encourage dishonesty, I don't think that will fly. I did a bible search under "truth" and came up with 224 results.Among them were:

For the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth for all generations.
Psalm 100:5

I have chosen the way of truth, thy judgements have I laid before me
Psalm 119:30

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
John 8:32

Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
John 17:17-19

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own for he is a liar, and the father of it.
And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not.
John 8:44-45