© St. Petersburg Times, published February 5, 2002
The distance between Tampa and Jerusalem is nearly halfway around the world.
But politics has a way of making long distances shorter and producing unexpected comparisons.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said he regretted that he hadn't had PLO leader Yasser Arafat killed.
Sharon had his shot at Arafat in 1982. Sharon was Israel's defense minister then and leading the invasion of Lebanon, meant to root out Arafat and the PLO from that country.
He told a newspaper last week that the Israeli government had decided not to kill Arafat at the time. He added, "I'm sorry that we didn't liquidate him."
This is what you call inflammatory speech.
And it led me to wonder: Why can Sharon get away with it, and others can't?
I'm referring to Sami Al-Arian, a man Sharon also wouldn't have much use for.
As I write this, Al-Arian, a USF professor, continues to twist in the wind.
The president of USF, Judy Genshaft, still hasn't decided whether to fire Al-Arian. I'm betting she will. The decision is easy and cheap, and off-campus only newspaper liberals like me are behind him. We're a small voice in the angry racket since Sept. 11, and Al-Arian is a handy scapegoat.
Too many of us need somebody to hate. Al-Arian is a Palestinian and a Muslim, and he's been accused -- without proof -- of having terrorist ties.
And three words he uttered 13 years ago hang permanently around his neck. "Death to Israel," he said in a speech. The remark sounds an awful lot like Ariel Sharon in reverse.
Nevertheless, Sharon gets away with it. Al-Arian does not.
This is not the result in the difference in their official positions.
It has to do with the popularity of their views in this country.
If Genshaft fires Al-Arian, what happens next?
If a professor is avowedly pro-choice and someone on the fringe of the pro-life movement threatens him, will the professor also lose his job?
If gay rights groups insult the moral scruples of conservative donors to the university, will they be kicked off campus?
And if a world figure like Sharon ever goes on a speaking tour of American universities, will his fiery rhetoric of last week be held against him and keep him from appearing at USF?
Don't bet on it.
As I write, Israeli troops are on the march again, moving in on Palestinian towns in retaliation for recent attacks on Israeli citizens. The story, of mutual responsibility for the endless bloodshed, is as it always is in Israel, except with this difference: Even Yasser Arafat is under siege this time. Israeli troops and tanks have his personal compound on the West Bank surrounded.
This comes as no surprise: The United States hardly criticized Sharon for what he said last week. The best an official from the State Department could do was the laughable observation that both sides should "avoid any remarks that inflame the situation."
If I were Sami Al-Arian, that statement would enrage me. It would be one more example of the lopsidedness of American policies in the Mideast that constantly fuels Muslim anger at America. This same lopsidedness plays itself out in the way Al-Arian is being treated by USF.
He appeared on network TV.
A conservative interviewer smeared him.
The university got death threats.
Calm on campus was briefly interrupted.
That's all that happened.
And the university -- like the State Department last week -- lacked the courage to respond appropriately.
-- You can reach Mary Jo Melone at mjmelone@sptimes.com or (813)-226-3402.