I can say, with no false modesty, that the middle finger of my right hand has entered history. How? Here's how: I stood at the General Assembly of the United Nations and turned my back to Mahmoud Abbas as he was delivering an address on behalf of Palestine; I lifted my right palm and closed it, while extending my middle finger toward three or four neo-Nazi Jews of New York, who were shouting, from the guests' seats, at the Palestinian president. As soon as I left the hall, I received a text message from a colleague in London. He asked if I was the one who had "flipped the bird" in the General Assembly hall. I quickly asked him where he saw the finger, and answered that my photo had been distributed by international news agencies. I asked him to save one of the photos for me. Using the middle finger as an insulting gesture is well-known in the east and the west, although there are slight differences in how this action is actually performed. I used the western version, so that the fascist thieves of Israel and their neo-Nazi supporters would understand what I meant. In the UN, I am a member of two Arab delegations, although I usually choose to sit with the Lebanese delegation, in order to torture myself. Alphabetic order is like a dictatorship; every year, and this year as well, I find the Israeli delegation directly in front of me. The ex-bouncer Avigdor Lieberman, who became Israel's foreign minister (which does not differ much from being a bouncer, since it is based on being a bully), withdrew from the session when Abbas began speaking, and took his filthiness with him. I looked at the Israelis in front of me and was thinking about how to slap them on their necks, lightly, which is akin to the insulting gesture of the middle finger. It is a matter of expressing one's opinion, and in the west this right is sacred. I do not wish death on anyone, and have never been a fighter. I refuse to descend to the level of people who kill women and children. I was looking at the representatives of Israel and did not wish more than a slap on the back of the head for any of them. Of course, another way to comment, or express a better opinion, would be to see a Muntaser Zaidi-like tossing of a shoe in the face of Lieberman, or Benjamin Netanyahu – however, I am not as brave as Zaidi, and my shoes are expensive. When Abbas left the hall to stand in a corridor in the back, and shake the hands of members of delegations who decided to congratulate him on his speech, it was very crowded. The security people took the Palestinian president into an interior room, for his protection; they locked arms with each other to keep the supporters away from Abbas. It was the most crowded scene I have witnessed in 30 years of attending General Assembly sessions – it was more like screaming and shouting, to be precise. Finally, Abbas was led to a side hall, and the security men stood at the door, to prevent anyone other than ministers and ambassadors to enter. I sat next to Drs. Nabil Shaath, Hanan Ashrawi and Ahmad Tibi (a member of the Knesset), while on the other side was Abbas, along with the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who were engaged in a long discussion of the strategy to see Palestine become a full member of the United Nations. When it comes to politics, good news from our region is rare. However, some of the best news involves the Turkish-Arab alliance, which has been shaken up by the impact of Arab rage, especially in Syria, and brought back to its correct path, after Erdogan visited Egypt, which resulted in joint plans and agreements. Abbas left the UN building surrounded by a security cordon, to protect him from being waylaid by supporters of Palestine. I returned to outside the General Assembly hall, waiting for Netanyahu to finish his speech. However, my entrance into the hall, when I was surprised to find people applauding Netanyahu, coincided with his digression into the modern lie about some prophets of Israel in our countries. As I wrote yesterday, those who were applauding were Israelis. Today, I can add that "the prophets of Israel" is a lie, since they were never once on our land. Their history is a collection of legends from the Torah, and any university student today will hear that there has never been any archaeological evidence that supports this view. This is what I heard at Georgetown University. The war criminal Netanyahu left the hall and did not stand in the corridor to shake the hands of well-wishers. There were not very many of them. He walked toward the escalator to depart, and gathering around him were Israeli and American Likudniks, many of whom were wearing yalmukehs, while the others were, like me, following the scene out of professional interest. I found myself close to Netanyahu and Lieberman. I silently recited calming verses from the Quran, trying to hold my breath. I then brushed some imaginary dust from my clothes and exited, holding up my hand, middle finger extended – this is my professional opinion about Israel and its supporters. khazen@alhayat.com
