Summary
Former British High Commissioner in Palestine during the Second World War who, in Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, appears in 1956 as a manager of the British-controlled Near East Broadcasting Station in Cyprus (Mahattat al-Sharq al-Adna), which incited Arabs against Israel to distract attention from the Suez crisis — his descent in rank “symbolizes the path taken by British imperialism in the region” (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.235-236).
Details
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Nahum Goldmann accused the Cyprus station in New York on 4/10/56 (UP) of inciting the Arabs day and night against their real enemy Israel to distract from Suez, and named MacMichael as one of its managers (PDF p.235).
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The station was formally “private” so it could not be linked to Britain; the Arab News Agency and “Arab World News Office” were likewise camouflaged British institutions run by colonial functionaries (PDF p.236).
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The station played up the September-October 1956 Israeli raids on Jordan that Egyptian radio downplayed, broadcasting on 26/10/56 — five days after Jordan’s elections, three days before Operation Sinai — in defence of the Anglo-Jordanian treaty (PDF p.234).
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Chapter 7 returns to the station — named there the “Middle East Broadcast Station” (mahattat al-sharq al-awsat) operating in Cyprus “under the management of the infamous Sir Harold MacMichael – formerly His Majesty’s High Commissioner in Palestine”, its incitement campaign orchestrated by “this modern Pontius Pilate who went out of retirement” — and quotes the UP report of 4 October 1956 again in the form: Goldmann alleged the British-controlled station “is inciting the Arabs day and night” against “their real enemy – Israel”, in an effort to distract their attention from the Suez crisis, and “mentioned that Sir H. MacMichael is in charge of the station”; the Egyptian Al-Gumhuriya of 2 October 1956 wrote in the same spirit that “Britain is bribing and inciting Arab politicians for war against Israel” (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.360-361). The book adds that incitement against Israel served pro-Western Arab politicians for precisely the same reason it was necessary for MacMichael’s station: to divert their peoples’ attention from the struggle against colonialism (Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, PDF p.366).
Related pages
Peace, Peace, When There Is No Peace, Britain, Nahum Goldmann, Operation Sinai