Ayoon Wa Azan (Brevity is the soul of wit)

In Lebanon, and in other Arab countries in one form or another, we have a saying that is best rendered in English, as brevity is the soul of wit. Today, I will try to be brief, and present the reader the most benefit with the least possible amount of commentary. In the morning, I switched the TV on only to find out that 12 people had been killed in a naval yard in the U.S. capital Washington D.C. I started praying that the perpetrator is not an Arab, having remembered Nidal Malik Hasan who killed his colleagues at Fort Hood in Texas. Minutes later, the killer was named as Aaron Alexis and I felt relieved. The name Aaron is Jewish, and I told myself that if the killer was indeed Jewish, then he must be mentally ill, and no Jewish organization would be linked to the incident. Then some time later, the image of the killer was shown on TV. He turned out to be an African American, and I felt once again anxious fearing that he could be a convert to Islam and wanted to carry out a suicide attack. But in the end, Aaron Alexis was revealed to be mentally ill with psychological issues, and we were exonerated. - I read in the Financial Times, which is usually reliable, that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE are producing record quantities of oil to meet demand in global markets. But I say to these countries: produce what your peoples need, not what the United States or Europe might need. - The New York Times, which is neither friendly to the regime nor the opposition in Syria, said that the UN report “points” to Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons in Ghouta. On the same day, Al-Hayat ran a story titled “Washington and London: Inspectors’ report proves the Assad regime was responsible.” A day later, Russia said that the UN report was “one sided,” insisting that the armed opposition in Syria had used the chemical weapons. Each one of these countries is stating what they want to be real, and not what is indeed real. Meanwhile, the only thing that is certain is that the Syrian people are the victims. - The English football team Tottenham Hotspur is based in North London, home to many British Jews. When the fans chanted the word ‘Yid,’ a term that refers to Jews, the Football Association declared that this could be a racist slur punishable by law. Prime Minister David Cameron responded by saying that the fans were referring to themselves, and not trying to insult anyone. Tottenham came under anti-Semitic attacks in Rome and Lyon, and I don’t know how the current controversy will end. But I know that Israel, with its fascist practices and apartheid policy, is the biggest cause for resurgent anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere. - On the other side of the Atlantic, the campaign of Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli came under accusations of anti-Semitism, after one of his aides told a joke where the head of the Jewish faith presents the new pope with a ceremonial piece of paper that dates back hundreds of years. The pope asks the Jewish leader about the ornate piece of paper and is told it is “the bill for the Last Supper.” I believe that international reaction to every incident of anti-Semitism encourages its spread, and that it is best to ignore some of these incidents. - Iran announced it would send a cat into space, as part of its alleged space program. There were many negative reactions to the Iranian move, but I did not read among them why Iran would be sending a cat to space. Most likely, it had eaten the Supreme Leader’s dinner. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arab Today.