November 13, 1974: Yassir Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, having been invited by the United Nations to do so, addresses its General Assembly in New York.
It was the most disgusting speech that Assembly has ever heard, and the most dishonest.
He was born in Cairo, Egypt, with the name Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini, in August 1929, although the exact date is in dispute: Sources disagree as to whether it was August 4 or August 24. His family were Arabs from Jerusalem, and when Israel declared independence in 1948, he aided Arab rebels against them by smuggling weapons. He adopted the name Yassir Arafat, after Ammar ibn Yasir, an early companion of Muhammad; and Mount Arafat, near Mecca, a site associated with Muhammad.
He became a civil engineer, and aided both the Egyptian Army coup of 1952, which overthrew King Farouk and installed Gamal Abdel Nasser as dictator; and the Egyptian cause in the Suez Crisis of 1956. That year, he began wearing a solid white keffiyeh, different from the fishnet-patterned one he adopted later, which became his personal trademark.
Arafat was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on February 4, 1969. The 39-year-old Egyptian turned the third-rate advocacy group into a first-rate terrorist organization, feared all over the world. They hijacked airliners, and killed 9 Israeli athletes and 2 of their coaches at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, West Germany.
On November 13, 1974, as the closest thing the movement for a Palestinian nation had to a head of state, he addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations. He congratulated 3 new nations on their independence and their admittance to the UN: The Caribbean island nation of Grenada, the Africa nation of Guinea-Bissau, and the South Asian nation of Bangladesh. He addressed the deteriorating situations in "Indo-China" (not just Vietnam, but also Cambodia) and Cyprus. He denounced the worldwide arms race.
And he compared his cause to those of other "liberation movements":
The question of Palestine belongs in this perspective of emergence and struggle. Palestine is crucial amongst those just causes fought for unstintingly by masses laboring under imperialism and aggression. It cannot be, and is not, lost on me today, as I stand here before the General Assembly, that if I have been given the opportunity to address the General Assembly, so too must the opportunity be given to all liberation movements fighting against racism and imperialism.
In their names, in the name of every human being struggling for freedom and self-determination, I call upon the General Assembly urgently to give their just causes the same full attention the General Assembly has so rightly given to our cause.
He addressed Americans, invoking some of their national heroes:
I cannot now forgo this opportunity to appeal from this rostrum directly to the American people, asking it to give its support to our heroic and fighting people. I ask it whole-heartedly to endorse right and justice, to recall George Washington to mind, heroic Washington, whose purpose was his nation's freedom and independence; Abraham Lincoln, champion of the destitute and the wretched; and also Woodrow Wilson whose doctrine of Fourteen Points remains subscribed to and venerated by our people.
These comparisons were completely ridiculous. Neither George Washington nor Woodrow Wilson committed, nor advocated committing, acts of terrorism against their enemies. Nor did Abraham Lincoln, though his General William Tecumseh Sherman was accused of it in his "March to the Sea" across Georgia.
Arafat spread lies about Israel, and Jews in general:
Just as colonialism heedlessly used the wretched, the poor, the exploited as mere inert matter with which to build and to carry out settler colonialism, so too were destitute, oppressed European Jews employed on behalf of world imperialism and of the Zionist leaders. European Jews were transformed into the instruments of aggression. They became the elements of settler colonialism intimately allied to racial discrimination.
Zionist theology was utilized against our Palestinian people. The purpose was not only the establishment of Western-style settler colonialism, but also the severing of Jews from their various homelands, and subsequently their estrangement from their nations. Zionism is an ideology that is imperialist, colonialist, racist. It is profoundly reactionary and discriminatory. It is united with anti-Semitism in its retrograde tenets; and is, when all is said and done, another side of the same base coin.
This is complete bullshit. "Their various homelands"? The Jews have only ever had one homeland, in what became the State of Israel, and the Arabs had occupied it from AD 638 until 1948, including "the British Mandate of Palestine" that was in place from 1920 to 1948. And calling Zionism "racist" is a lie: In Israel, Arabs can vote. Here are the nations generally considered to be both ethnically Arab and democratic, as of 2022: Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, and, at least officially, Egypt. That's it.
Arafat said, "The Jewish invasion of Palestine began in 1881." That was 1,243 years after the Arab invasion of Israel. The Jews did not "invade" "Palestine." They returned to their historic homeland. He denounced the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which was the first step toward re-establishing a nation for Jews; and the 1947 offer of a partition of the Mandate, knowing it would run out on May 14, 1948, offering it as a compromise. The Jews were willing to be reasonable and accept it; the Arabs were not.
Arafat also accused Israel of being an aggressor nation: "In addition to the many instances of aggression committed by this entity against the Arab States, it has launched two large-scale wars, in 1956 and 1967, thus endangering world peace and security." It was Israel's Arab neighbors -- Egypt, Jordan and Syria -- that started the war in 1956. And in 1967, they already had troops massed on their side of Israel's border when Israel struck first, so Israel cannot be called the aggressor in that one, either.
And just the year before this speech, on October 6, 1973, on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, Egypt, Jordan and Syria invaded again. Again, Israel won, and Egypt's President Anwar Sadat and Jordan's King Hussein I both finally got the message, both beginning a peace process. Syria and the Palestinians did not, and continued to threaten Israel, including infiltrating Lebanon and attacking over its border with Israel.
Arafat continued to lie through the speech, accusing Israel of "acts of,barbarism and terrorism. And yet, the Zionist racists and colonialists have the temerity to describe the just struggle of our people as terror. Could there be a more flagrant distortion of truth than this?" Yes, this very speech was one, because of the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Olympics and other acts of terrorism by Arabs against Jews over the last few years.
He called Israel "those who usurped our land, who are committing murderous acts of terrorism against our people and are practicing racial discrimination more extensively than the racists of South Africa." And for nearly half a century, people all over the world have lapped these lies up.
He cited the PLO having "earned its legitimacy because of the sacrifice inherent in its pioneering role"; and repeatedly called the land of the State of Israel "our homeland." This was a lie. The people of the West Bank are ethnically Jordanians. Jordan didn't want them, and still doesn't. The people of the Gaza Strip are Egyptians. Egypt didn't want them, and still doesn't. Why? Because Jordan and Egypt know these people, and of what they are guilty.
He said, "I am a rebel, and freedom is my cause." This was a lie: The PLO did not believe in democracy, at least not until after their defeat in the 1987-91 Intifadeh, which ultimately led to the Oslo Accord with Israel in 1993.
He closed by saying, "Today, I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand. I repeat: Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand."
The United Nations could not stop Arafat himself from letting the olive branch fall from his hand.
*
November 13, 1974 was a Wednesday. This was also the day of the "Amityville Horror" murders, and the death under mysterious circumstances of Karen Silkwood. I have separate entries for those events.
Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 4 games in the NBA:
* The Washington Bullets beat the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, 118-81 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 98-91 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in
Detroit. Bob Lanier had 40 points and 24 rebounds.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 105-100 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix. Charlie Scott scored 41 for the Suns.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 108-103 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
There were 4 games played in the American Basketball Association:
* The New York Nets lost to the Kentucky Colonels, 132-129 in double overtime at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. Julius "Doctor J" Erving scored 44 points and grabbed 18 rebounds. But it wasn't enough, as Louie Dampier led the Colonels with 32.
* The Spirits of St. Louis beat the Memphis Sounds, 97-92 at the St. Louis Arena. Marvin "Bad News" Barnes scored 31.
* The Utah Stars beat the Indiana Pacers, 114-103 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.
* And the Denver Nuggets beat the San Diego Conquistadors, 132-108. Travis Grant scored 35 in defeat.
There were 8 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 8-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens, 8-6 at the Montreal Forum. René Robert scored 3 goals and an assist. Guy Lapointe had 3 goals and 2 assists for the Canadiens.
* The Atlanta Flames beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings, 7-4 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in
the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The Kansas City Scouts beat the team that was meant to be their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Blues, 5-3 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City. But the Scouts went just 2-8 against the Blues, failed after just 2 seasons, and the Blues' arch-rivals remained the Chicago Black Hawks. The Scouts became the Colorado Rockies in 1976, and the New Jersey Devils in 1982.
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in
Inglewood, California.
* The California Golden Seals beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-0 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
* And the Boston Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.
And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:
* The Quebec Nordiques beat the Indianapolis Racers, 10-3 at the Colisée de Québec.
* The Houston Aeros beat the Minnesota Fighting Saints, 8-5 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Winnipeg Jets, 5-3 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. This was only the 2nd game the Oilers played there, following their November 10 opener, a 4-1 win over the Cleveland Crusaders. They had played their 1st 2 seasons, and the start of this, their 3rd, at the Edmonton Gardens.
* And the Toronto Toros beat the Vancouver Blazers, 5-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
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