Arab Propaganda in the United States

By William B. Saphire

Transcribed from the clipping

Arab propaganda bureaus, sponsored by the new Arab League, will soon be set up in London and Washington. Over $1,000,000 has been allocated for their work. Expert Arab propagandists are arriving in this country.

But already, Arab propaganda agencies, vigorously disclaiming any connection with foreign organizations, are operating in the United States, in a determined drive to capture American public opinion and refute Zionist claims to Palestine. This article is an attempt to analyze the ramifications of Arab propaganda.

Where formerly Arab propaganda activities in this country were limited and sporadic, within the past twelve months, well coordinated “Arab-American” organizations, apparently well financed, have sprung up with branches in the major cities.

They circulate carefully chosen anti-Zionist articles, letters, statements, etc., by prominent American, British and Arab “experts,” authors, educators and statesmen. They furnish lecturers to all parts of the United States, on any Middle East topic from archaeology to oil-politics.

They direct their propaganda to a well-educated Christian-American audience, whom they believe most influential. INSTITUTE OF ARAB-AMERICAN AFFAIRS. The newest and largest Arab organization distributing this propaganda in the United States, is the Institute of Arab-American Affairs, Inc., with headquarters in New York City.

Founded in November, 1944, it already boasts branches in Washington, D. C., Boston, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco and Los Angeles. A sister organization for “Canadian Arab Friendship” operates in Montreal.

The Institute for Arab-American Affairs describes itself as “purely educational ... to encourage friendship and promote understanding between the United States and Arab speaking countries.” It is open to non-Arabs as well as Arabs. It strongly emphasizes that it is American with no foreign connections.

The institute, insist its executives, concentrates on no single question, but on everything, cultural, economic and political, of interest to “Arab-Americans.”

Context added by this archive

Twenty-six years on, and the category has grown an infrastructure. What is being described is a lecture bureau: Arab-Americans in seven cities circulating articles and sending speakers to talk about any Middle East topic from archaeology to oil-politics.

The organization’s own account of itself — purely educational, open to non-Arabs, American with no foreign connections — is quoted in full, inside quotation marks, which is how a newspaper prints a claim it does not accept.

Cite this item

"Arab Propaganda in the United States," The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, 6 July 1945. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1945-015. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1945-015

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