DATE: Friday, June 20, 1997                 TAG: 9706190008

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Opinion 

SOURCE: BY AL-HAJJ BILAL AMMAR JIHAD 

                                            LENGTH:   74 lines

AMERICAN MEDIA SHOULD STOP BASHING MUSLIMS WITH TERRORIST STEREOTYPES

Journalists can and frequently do cross the line between ``analytical reporting'' and propaganda. When such propaganda targets a particular group of people, it becomes a hate crime perpetrated under the guise of ``freedom of the press.'' For example, pre-Nazi Germany's ``free press'' tolerated and encouraged Josef Goebbels' promulgation of lurid and disgusting anti-Jewish stereotypes. Today, a sadder - and hopefully wiser - German republic views hate-mongering via ``the fourth estate'' with a more jaundiced eye.

A similar trend is fashionable among American journalists with respect to Muslims. Before the smoke had cleared from the devastated Murrah Federal Building, every major organ of the U.S. press and mass media and a host of government and nongovernment ``experts'' had formed a ``holy chorus'' accusing Muslims of that horrible atrocity. As a direct result, 216 anti-Muslim hate crimes were documented the week following the bombing, ranging from telephone threats and vandalism to assaults, drive-by shootings and arson.

The death toll from the Oklahoma City bombing was not, as most have reported, 168 - it was 169. Shortly after the bombing, an angry mob attacked a young Muslim woman, causing her to miscarry her near-term baby. Unlike the other victims, Oklahoma City's tiniest casualty wasn't counted or commemorated by America's press and media, perhaps because they're partly responsible for his death.

The most recent example of media Muslim-bashing was an Associated Press article appearing in the May 25 Virginian-Pilot under the title, ``The Enemy Within: Terrorists setting up in the U.S.'' The piece was authored by Richard Cole and came complete with a frightening photo of a masked Arab (the quintessential ``terrorist'').

Like most journalists whose object is to indoctrinate rather than inform, Cole overuses the term ``terrorist,'' applying it indiscriminately to nearly every Islamic group involved in armed struggle (and to many which aren't). The exception is, of course, those groups ``officially sanctioned'' by western governments and which are most deserving of the designation ``terrorist.'' For example, Cole is careful to differentiate between ``terror attacks'' by Algerian ``militants'' and ``military responses'' in that country's civil war. He fails to mention the former represents Algeria's elected government whereas the latter were installed by a French-sponsored military coup.

Terrorism is properly defined as acts of war deliberately targeting noncombatants in order to demoralize an enemy. Such acts are indeed barbaric and reprehensible. Unfortunately, most nations have engaged in terrorism - Hiroshima and Nagasaki were deliberately chosen civilian targets.

Nonetheless, warfare against noncombatants is absolutely forbidden in Islam, and those who engage in it have transgressed the limits set by Almighty God. While recognizing the necessity of war in defense of Al-Islam and Muslims, the Blessed Qur-an repeatedly enjoins forbearance and restraint.

The same can't be said for our Zionist adversaries. European Jewry's occupation of Palestine has consisted of 50 years of such actions perpetrated against Muslims. When they fight back, they're called ``terrorists.''

Cole and his ilk seldom report such realities, because to do so is contrary to U.S. government and media policy of deifying the terrorist state of ``Israel'' while fomenting hysteria against Islam. Perhaps the most ludicrous aspect of Cole's propaganda is that he offers as an example of ``terrorist activity'' an extremely fictitious ``scenario'' and blames it on Hezbollah! To wrongly accuse Muslims of an actual crime, as was the case in Oklahoma City, is unjust and irresponsible. To accuse us of imaginary crimes is just plain ridiculous.

Considering the miserable conditions endured by most Muslims throughout the world, it's hardly surprising American Muslims - both immigrant and native-born - feel grief and sympathy for their brethren abroad and wish to help in any way they can. However, this doesn't make us terrorists.

Richard Cole's brand of journalism apparently consists of casting Muslims as ``villains'' in his fantasies and peddling it as ``news.'' I suggest to him that even a cursory glance at American history shows that terrorists aren't just ``setting up shop'' in this country: They've owned and operated it for years. They just don't happen to be Muslims. MEMO: Al-Hajj Bilal Ammar Jihad, a Muslim who lives in Elizabeth City,

N.C., is a marine biologist.

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