Journal articles on the topic 'Jews of Lebanon'

AbstractWhen the State of Greater Lebanon was established in 1920, the Jewish Community Council of Beirut was officially recognized as the central administrative body within Lebanon, and although smaller communities such as Sidon and Tripoli also had their own councils they were consequently made subject to the authority of Beirut. In this context of political overhaul, I argue that some Jewish actors made use “from below” of political opportunities provided by sectarianism “from above”—or national sectarianism—to garner control over all Jewish political structures in Lebanon. But by examining in particular activities in and around the Israelite Community Council in Sidon (al-Majlis al-Milli al-Isra'ili bi-Sayda), I show how and why these attempts to practice new forms of sectarianism were met with resistance, despite connections that tied Lebanon's Jews together administratively in one community.

This article provides an analysis of the course of Israeli-Lebanese relations and its purpose is to shed light on the contacts between the Maronites in Lebanon and the State of Israel. It argues that the primary reason for the Maronites’ willingness to cooperate with the Jews was the fear that the rising tide of Arab nationalism in Lebanon would have adverse effects on their survival as a religious minority. Moreover, it demonstrates that these contacts laid the background for cooperation between the two communities which survived the vicissitudes of the Lebanese civil wars and still plays a role in Israeli foreign policy.

This article will present an overview of the archaeological work done on medieval Lebanon from the 19th century to the present. The period under examination is the late medieval period, from the 11th to the 14th centuries, encompassing the time when the region was under the control of various Islamic dynasties and the Crusaders. The archaeology of Lebanon has been somewhat neglected over the years, despite its importance for our understanding of the region in the medieval period, mainly because of the civil war (1975-1990), which made excavations and surveys in the country impossible and led to the widespread looting of sites (Hakiman 1987; Seeden 1987; Seeden 1989; Fisk 1991; Hakiman 1991; Ward 1995; Hackmann 1998; Sader 2001. In general, see Fisk 1990). Furthermore, many collections within Lebanon itself could not be visited for the purpose of study and even collections outside Lebanon remained largely neglected. The end Of the civil war, however, marked a time of renewed interest in the country's archaeology, particularly in the city of Beirut. Also, the identification of large numbers of Christian frescoes in the region meant that churches and their paintings were studied in detail for the first time. Although much had been lost during the civil war, it was clear the archaeological heritage of Lebanon remains critical to our understanding of the archaeology of the Levant. As a crossroads for Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the late medieval period, the region that is now Lebanon was of great importance in the 1 lth to 14th centuries.

Religion … appears in all different sorts in Syria: Turks, Jews, Heretics, Schismatics, Naturalists, Idolaters; or to be more exact these are genera that have their species in great number, for in Aleppo alone we counted sixteen types of religions of which four were Turks different from each other; of Idolaters, there remains only one sort which worships the sun; of Naturalists, those who maintain the natural essence of God with some superstition concerning cows and who come from this side of the borders of Mogor; and the others without superstitions named Druze, living in Anti-Lebanon under a prince called the Emir. They pay a tribute to the Great Lord, and live in their own manner, naturally. From this one can see how necessary it is to have good missionaries, and virtuous ones, for all the scandals that go on in this Babylon, and learned men to refute so many errors. There are fourteen Sects or Nations differing from each other completely in Religion, in rite, in language, and in their manner of dressing: seven of these are Infidels, and seven Christians. The Infidels are Turks or Ottomans. Arabs, Kurds, Turcomans, Jezides, Druze and Jews. Among the Turks there are, moreover, several sects and cabals affecting Religious sentiments just as there are among the Jews.

The state of Israel has been involved in a long-standing violent conflict with its Arab neighbors, yet Jews and Arabs share a culinary passion: hummus. This humble dip of mashed chickpeas seasoned with tahini and lemon juice is ubiquitous in Middle Eastern public and private culinary spheres and is extremely popular among Arabs and Israeli Jews and, as of recently, among Western consumers lured by the health qualities of the “Mediterranean diet” and by the exotic nature of the dish itself. In 2008, hummus became the subject of a heated debate between Israel and Lebanon that revolved around cultural copyrights, culinary heritage, and economic revenues. In this article I return to the so-called Hummus Wars, a series of culinary undertakings performed in Lebanon and Israel in an attempt to claim ownership over hummus by setting a Guinness World Record for the largest hummus dish. I focus on one of these events, which attracted substantial attention in Israel and beyond: the breaking of the Guinness record at the Palestinian-Israeli village of Abu Gosh. In my analysis of this event I highlight two aspects of the “Hummus Wars” that are of specific interest to food scholars. First, I argue that food metaphors acquire a life of their own and may express unexpected meanings. Second, I point to the unexpected role of mediator undertaken by Palestinians of Israeli citizenship in this event. I suggest that a process of what I term “gastromediation” was taking place in Abu Gosh, in which the smooth oily paste was intended to serve as a material and social lubricant for the Israeli-Arab-Jewish-Palestinian conflict.

Religious beliefs are a highly debated topic in the scientific literature. Various authors have approached this issue qualitatively and quantitatively. This study examines the attitudes towards out-religious groups, considering individuals’ socioeconomic characteristics. A new approach is introduced, utilising the Fuzzy-Hybrid TOPSIS method applied to the WZB—Berlin Social Science Center database. Four items that measure the general attitude towards (a) Jews, (b) Christians, (c) Muslims, and (d) atheists, are used, and a synthetic indicator is obtained to represent the individual attitude towards religions of Torah, Koran and Bible followers. Eight countries are analysed, encompassing diverse geographical and cultural backgrounds, including Germany, Cyprus, the United States, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, Turkey, and Kenya. The results reveal that Germans are more open towards other religious and non-religious groups, while Lebanese citizens demonstrate the lowest levels. The findings show that Jews are the most tolerant towards other religious groups, whereas Muslims have the lowest attitudes level. Also, individual socioeconomic factors determine the attitudes towards other religious groups, such as age, education, income levels, and experiences of discrimination based on religion.

Abstract Joseph Besson’s 1660 account of Jesuit missions in Syria offers a rare glimpse into the region’s cultural landscape from the perspective of French Jesuits living among diverse communities of Jews, Christians (Greek-Orthodox and Catholic), and Muslims. Drawing on unpublished Jesuit relations from 1625 to 1659 and an unsigned map of Syria, this article explores Besson’s portrayal of Greater Syria, a region encompassing modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and western Jordan, within the Ottoman empire. A detailed analysis reveals that the map is likely an original Jesuit creation, highlighting how Jesuit spirituality influenced their interpretation of physical spaces. Furthermore, the study illuminates the Jesuits’ role in shaping European views of the Orient and the Holy Land, contributing to the early development of Orientalism.

This paper examines the question of the respective percentage of Arab, Jewish, and ‘other’ populations in historic Palestine and Israel using Israeli statistics as correlated to historical events. Analysis of actual percentages demonstrates that birth rates of both Arabs and Jews from 1948 in Palestine/Israel have been in decline, and that for territory in the pre-1967 area, there is no demographic ‘danger’ of Arabs – both Christian and Muslim populations – outnumbering Israelis on the basis of natural population growth. An important factor is also Jewish immigration which has been factored into the overall growth rate. The official growth rate for the Arab population has been skewed due to the 1967 influx (in which populations from the West Bank began to be counted as resident in Jerusalem) as well as the annexation of the Golan Heights and several thousand fugitives from the disbanded South Lebanon Army entering in 2000; if such aberrations are taken into account, it can be shown that the natural growth rate among the Arab population is entirely average and family size is in general decline. On the other hand, if the population of Arabs living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is added to the total, it can be seen that the ratio of Arabs to Jews in all of historic Palestine increased from 8:10 to 9:10 and can be reasonably expected to create a situation where the total number of Arabs will surpass the number of Jews in the next ten years.

Laila Parsons situates her study alongside those of the so-called new historians of the Arab– Israeli conflict who in recent years have rewritten large parts of the dominant narratives of the “traditionalist” historians. One of elements of these narratives has been the assumption that the struggle between Arabs and Jews was a starkly bipolar affair, with a relatively small number of Jews in conflict with a much larger, monolithic population of Arabs. Recent “revisionist” works, however, have shown that this interpretation is inaccurate. For example, an integral part of Zionist policy was to make contact with various Arab leaders and groups before, during, and after the emergence of the State of Israel and forge relationships that could advance the movement's geopolitical agenda. Scholars who have worked on this question include Avi Shlaim (Collusion across the Jordan: King Abdullah, the Zionist Movement, and the Partition of Palestine and The Politics of Partition: King Abdullah, the Zionists and Palestine, 1921–1951) and Kirsten Schulze (Israel's Covert Diplomacy in Lebanon). In The Druze Between Palestine and Israel, a compact and narrowly focused study based on the author's doctoral thesis, Parsons skillfully employs archival sources in Israel, as well as published accounts in English, Arabic, and Hebrew, to show how Zionist officials developed relationships with Druze leaders and representatives and how these links could benefit both sides.

The twenty-fourth annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Associationof North America (MESA) was held between November 10-13, 1990 in SanAntonio, Texas. Hosted by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies of theUniversity of Texas at Austin and supported by different academicorganizations, MESA featued a number of distinguished speakers, internationaland domestic, who spoke on a wide variety of topics.One topic was the Gulf crisis and the AmWIsraeli conflict. The plenarysession of MESA , entitled "The Current Crisis in the Gulf: Thoughts andReflections," featured three main speakers: Richard Murphy of the Councilon Foreign Relations, Rashid Khalidi of the University of Chicago, and Kennethstein of hmy University. Though this sessim did not discuss ways of solvingthe Gulf crisis, it was the general feeling of the audience that a linkage doesexist between the Gulf situation and the Arab/Israeli conflict, and that acomprehensive solution in which the U.S. should play a major part is urgentlyneeded.The Conference tackled another current complication in the Middle Eastduring its seminar entitled The Impact of the Possible Mass Immigrationof Soviet Jews to Israel d the occupied Terrieories." Walid Khalidi of HarvardUniversity expressed the feeling of perhaps millions of Palestinians whenhe said that this mass immigration of Soviet Jews is the second most dangeroussituation affecting the Palestinians after their expulsion from their land in1948. Israel has by now received 200,000 Soviet immigrants since the summerof 1990, and their number is expected to reach two million by the year 1995.Muhammad Hallaj of the Palestine Research and Educatimal Center, locatedin Fairfax, Virginia, discussed the impact of the Soviet Jews' mass immigrationon Palestinian demography and economy in the occupied territories, and showedhow Israeli politicians, especially the right-wing ones, are more agreeablethan before to transferring a large number of Palestinians to Arab countries,especially to Jordan. As is well known, since 1967 a number of influentialIsraeli politicians have called on successive Israeli governments to expelPalestinians en masse as a means of keeping the demographic balance infavor of the Jewish population. It should be noted, however, that transfer,albeit on a minor scale, has in effect taken place, especially since the startof the Palestinian intifada in December of 1987. More than 200 Palestinianleaders, many of whom belong to the Islamic movement HAMAS, have beendeported to Lebanon. This shows the resolve of the Israeli government ingetting rid of the vital elements of Palestinian society ...

Sheikh Adi Ibn Musafir, who was born 1079 in Lebanon and spent most of his life in Syria, did something no one has since attempted: He invented a new God, Whom He called Tawsi Melek, “The Angel of the Highest Order” (from the Kurdish) and a new religion to go with Him.Sheikh Adi, a Sufi, and His colleagues, a ragtag fraternity of Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Jews wrote a detailed explanation of This Angelic Being and His Pillars of Faith called the Kitab al Jilwa, “The Book We Wrote.”The people Sheikh Adi taught about Tawsi Melek, called themselves Yazidi, the descendants of Angels, or “The Defenders of the Place”. Who attacked them? Other Christians, Muslims, and Jews without restraint. Weary of war, dogma, displacement, and the shear ridiculousness of it all, Sheikh Adi led a revolution through Tawsi Melek.What did Tawsi Melek say about His religious contemporaries and reasons for their Crusades?“All the books of those who are without decency are altered by them; and they have declined from them, although they were written by their prophets and the apostles. That there are interpolations is seen in the fact that each sect endeavors to prove that the others are wrong and to destroy their books.”Sheikh Adi and the Yazidi wanted none of it. Not their company, their books, their Bloodthirsty God, their restrictive and nonsensical rituals, their appetites for war. In the Kitab al Jilwa, Tawsi Melek fosters a GDI attitude towards the incredulous and irreverent aspects of other faiths without compromising the centrality of a loving and protective deity. The idea was wildly popular. The Kitab Al Jilwa, a short text, and its counterpart, the Book of the White, were instrumental in the induction of over 20 000 000 Yazidi from India, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Eastern Europe. There are less than one million Yazidi left in the world today.Because of their clout, the Yazidi were hunted nearly to extinction by the Ottomans, other Muslims, and their numbers were culled further by the DAESH. It didn’t help that rumors confused Tawsi Melek’s identity with a fallen angel, and that Hadith states that any abandonment of orthodox Islam is punishable by death Calabrese & Sexton et. al (2008.).What is the truth of Tawsi Melek and why did His Appearance in the Spiritual Canon cause humanity to go mad? Are human beings allowed to make new gods and enter into new arrangements with the divine or not? Who is empowered by God to police these things and should their authority be recognized?What of Yazidism itself? Can humanity grow from re-exposure to the beliefs, scriptures, and Archangel contained in the Book They Wrote?

On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel. In response, the Arab states invaded Israel and launched an all-out war with the aim of forcibly nullifying the Declaration of Independence. The danger of an invasion of Israel by five Arab armies led by Egypt (alongside Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon) was already known. It was clear to Ben-Gurion and the other heads of the security apparatus of the Jewish community in Palestine/Israel that considering the Egyptian army’s air power and the fact that the Haganah had only a few light aircraft and not a single fighter plane, fighter planes had to be purchased immediately and pilots trained to fly them. The article will describe how the IDF purchased 25 Messerschmitt-Avia fighter jets and 50 Spitfires and planned to train Israel Air Force pilots to fly these aircraft.

Twenty years ago I attempted to clarify thinking about Judaism in proposing a more refined terminology which, if properly used, would eliminate the all too frequent fallacies of equivocation by which discussion is bedevilled (‘Defining Judaism:Some Ground-Clearing’, Jewish Journal of Sociology, VII, 2, 1965, pp. 153–75). It is not my purpose here simply to exhume that article: on the other hand, I do not feel that I can usefully begin again ab initio, since the situation has not been radically transformed as it had been in the thirty years preceding 1965. The two decades since and including the Six Days War have witnessed much entrenchment of position, intensification of doctrinaire assertion, and heightening of enthusiasm, but little inclination (until the Lebanon War began to stimulate it in Israel) towards questioning what have become popularly accepted axioms:and it is still the case that anyone who dares to question the assumption that Israeli national sovereignty now is, and for all time will remain, a sine qua non for the survival of Judaism will not get much of a hearing. What I intend here is to reconsider my earlier findings from the angles of belief, authority, and peoplehood, particularly since I feel that the last-mentioned had perhaps been allowed inadequate weight in my previous endeavour. I consequently repeat here, for convenience of reference, the terminological distinctions proposed in that article, together with the tentative working definition of Judaism with which it concluded. I doubt its usefulness, save from a negative standpoint, i.e. what it excludes. But if we are to consider peoplehood, we need to know who, and what, is a Jew: and the only uniquely valid definition of a Jew that satisfies me is a transmitter of Judaism. The question seems to me otherwise meaningless without some terms of reference, e.g. who is a Jew for purposes of joining synagogue X, or speaking for Anglo-Jewry or world Jewry at forum Y, or qualifying for Israeli citizenship under the law of return, etc. Here, then, is my tentative formula:

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the dynamic relationship across stock market returns in Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arabic Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Oman from June 2005 to January 2012. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a multivariate model with leptokurtic distribution which allows for both return asymmetry and fat tails. The paper also derives from the model the conditional correlation between stock markets and examines the impact of the global financial crisis of 2008 on the conditional variance and correlation. Findings – The empirical results show that the Middle East and North African (MENA) markets are interconnected by their volatilities and not by their returns. Volatility persists in each market and significant volatility spillovers from small to relatively larger markets. During the crisis, the paper finds that conditional volatilities across markets increase but then during the post-crisis period return to their pre-crisis levels. More importantly, the conditional correlation behaves differently, with a significant evidence of downwards trend in some correlations across the MENA stock markets. Research limitations/implications – One limitation of the study relates to the relatively short-sample period which drives the empirical results. Practical implications – The key results imply that there is still a possibility of benefits from portfolio diversification across specific MENA countries during periods of high volatility. Originality/value – No previous study investigates the transmission of both the first and second moments of the return series across the MENA stock markets allowing for time-varying volatility and correlation and accounts for the 2008 global financial crisis to examine whether the conditional volatilities and correlations have strengthened or weakened during the crisis and afterwards.

Purpose This paper aims to study the relationship between higher education accreditation and teaching and learning enhancements in academic institutions. Higher education institutions are now looking at satisfying the standard by standard list assigned by internationally recognized accreditation agencies. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether outside quality confirmation can truly influence the inward life of higher education institutions. Will accreditation implementation have an impact on teaching and learning enhancement and drive institution change? Design/methodology/approach This study was based on an explanatory qualitative design whereby individual faculty members who are tenured or in tenure-track positions in business schools in Lebanese universities were interviewed. The latter universities from which interviewees were questioned are either the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accredited or currently pursuing accreditation. The sample included 30 faculty members from four different higher education Lebanese institutions. Findings Following thorough review of previous literature, and building on the outcomes of the interviews conducted for the purpose of this research, the author deduced that AACSB serves as the optimal guiding mechanism that incorporates effective evaluation criteria for learning quality and universities. There also exist a lack of commonality and shared standards among accrediting agencies. The researchers also highlight the need to introduce further quantification into the accrediting measures adopted including faculty retention and student attrition rates. Research limitations/implications Ranking agencies were not considered in this study. Those can be used to assess the effectiveness of higher education institutions and will provide fair quality assurance of learning. It is encouraged to incorporate the ranking agencies variable within the scope of future studies for further analysis. Practical implications The paper includes the need to introduce further quantification into the accrediting measures adopted including faculty retention and student attrition rates. Originality/value The focus of this study will be of particular interest to Business school seeking or maintaining accreditation. It will also be of interest to the Lebanese government if they want to look at having a regional accreditation. Future research could possibly explore the need to have a regional accreditation especially with the emerging numbers of higher education institutions in Lebanon.

Dear Readers,  It gives me great pleasure to announce the ninth regular issue of 2023. I would like to thank all the authors for their sound research and our editorial board and guest reviewers for the extremely valuable reviews and suggestions for improvement. These contributions, together with the generous support of the consortium members, enable us to run our journal successfully and maintain its quality.  Still, I would like to expand our editorial board: If you are a tenured associate professor or above with a good publication record, please apply to join our editorial board. We are also interested in receiving high-quality proposals for special issues on new topics and emerging trends.  As we want to secure the financial support also for the years to come, we are looking for institutions and libraries to financially support our diamond open access journal as consortium members, who will then benefit from the research community, international visibility, and the opportunity to manage special issues and focused topics within the journal. Please think about the possibility of such financial participation by your institution, we would be very grateful for any kind of support.  In this regular issue, I am very pleased to introduce five accepted papers involving 22 authors from 10 different countries: Austria, Brazil, Estonia, France, Lebanon, Malaysia, Spain, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Vietnam.  In a collaborative research effort, Jan Bergstra from The Netherlands and John V. Tucker from the United Kingdom introduce the Naive Fracterm Calculus, which is a new perspective on elementary arithmetic and can be described as naive when compared to a variety of algebraic and logical, axiomatic formalisations of elementary arithmetic. Ricardo Caceffo, Jacques Wainer, Guilherme Gama, Islene Garcia, and Rodolfo Azevedo from Brazil conducted a study based on perceptual learning modules, more specifically a variation of perceptual learning based on multiple-choice questionnaires to be used in an introductory programming course, and report on related issues. In a collaborative research work between colleagues from Malaysia, Lebanon and France, Mohammad Kchouri, Norharyati Harum, Hussein Hazimeh, and Ali Obeid suggest a new technique to detect falls by combining Fuzzy Logic and Support Vector Machine, achieving an overall accuracy of about 99.87% in detecting the fall function. In an international research collaboration between Estonia, Austria, Spain, Luis P. Prieto, Gerti Pishtari, Yannis Dimitriadis, María Jesús Rodríguez-Triana, Tobias Ley, and Paula Odriozola-González propose and explore single-case learning analytics, which defines a process in which doctoral students, researchers, and computational elements collaborate to extract insights into a single learner’s experience and learning process. Last but not least, also in a joint research work by researchers from Vietnam and the United Kingdom, Nguyen Van Hieu, Ngo Le Huy Hien, Luu Van Huy, Nguyen Huy Tuong, and Pham Thi Kim Thoa present their approach PlantKViT for forest plants classification, which is based on a combination model of Vision Transformer and KNN and achieves a 93% accuracy.  Enjoy Reading!  Cordially,  Christian Gütl, Managing Editor  Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria

PurposeThis paper aims at shedding light on the entrepreneurs' perception towards crowdfunding as a new mean for raising capital, and their willingness to send appropriate signals to the potential fund providers/backers.Design/methodology/approachThe research strategy is based on three methodological approaches: desk research on online sources, a map of the crowdfunding phenomenon, and a quantitative approach with a survey performed between June and December 2020. The survey covers a sample of 147 Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups, in addition to semi-structured interviews with 10 entrepreneurs.FindingsThe study reveals that between losing their work and losing part of their firms' equity, entrepreneurs are keen on sending positive signals to backers. Moreover, they are willing to adopt a new way of thinking, as their primary goal is to save their firms, their jobs, and their source of income. The research highlights the concern of entrepreneurs of losing reputation, losing intellectual property, losing control, and of becoming only shareholders in their enterprises.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation in this paper is that no single study in Lebanon adequately covers the topic and thus extensive research has been carried out on crowdfunding across the world and analyzed in the Lebanese context.Practical implicationsOvercoming funding challenges can reduce brain drain, promote a culture of entrepreneurship, serve the economy, combat poverty, achieve more equitable society, increase the levels of expectations, and turn the flywheel. Moreover, the paper presents clear implications for the field of policy-making both in developing and developed countries.Originality/valueConsidering the serious financial disintermediation and liquidity shortage Lebanon faces, the findings of this study show how important changing entrepreneurial culture and behavior is, and the crucial role crowdfunding could play in providing funds for the SMEs that form 95% of the total business sector in Lebanon.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to discover the motivating factors for cryptocurrency investment during an economic crisis in the MENA region, with reference to the economic crisis of 2019–2022, in Lebanon.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used t-test, and logistic regressions on a sample of 254 Lebanese investors to differentiate between cryptocurrency investors, and non-investors. Linear regressions of a subsample of cryptocurrency investors determined the factors that explained increasing cash investment in cryptocurrencies. Data were collected from investors in Lebanon, which could limit the generalization of the research results across the MENA region.FindingsInvestors differed from non-investors in that they were male, owned investments in the stock, bond and commodity markets, had prior investment experience in cryptocurrencies, were risk-takers and had expectations of high returns. Investors increased the dollar investment in cryptocurrencies, if they were male, as they invested more funds in securities, had previously invested in cryptocurrencies and had stronger risk-taking propensity. Expectations of high returns drove investors to cryptocurrencies, but such expectations do not stimulate further cryptocurrency investment.Originality/valueThis study is an initial attempt to comprehend the reactions of investors in the MENA region to a currency crisis that triggered investment in cryptocurrencies following the collapse of fiat currencies, central bank default and restrictions on bank withdrawals.

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to document the impact of competition on managerial practices adopted by small and medium enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the data provided by the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys to test the arguments presented in this paper. The data were collected during the period between 2013 and 2014 and the sample consists of firms from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and Yemen.FindingsThe authors show that SMEs with higher exposure to competition are more likely to adopt better managerial practices than SMEs with lower exposure to competition. The authors argue that competition disciplines the managers by exposing firms to the possibility of bankruptcy and/or the loss of market share to competitors. Therefore, these firms are compelled to adopt good managerial practices to protect themselves against negative impact of competition. The results show that positive impact of competition on managerial practices is confined only to the competition that comes from foreign competitors. Local competitors or competitors from informal sector have no significant impact on the adoption of good managerial practices.Originality/valueAn important contribution of this paper is that it documents how various types of competition affect SME’s decision to adopt better managerial practices. Another important contribution is highlighting of the role played by the competition in shaping the management practices among SMEs in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. —John Milton (1608-1674) Introduction The publication of 12 cartoons depicting images of Prophet Mohammed [Peace Be Upon Him] first in Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005, and later reprinted in European media and two New Zealand newspapers, sparked protests around the Muslim world. The Australian newspapers – with the exception of The Courier-Mail, which published one cartoon – refrained from reprinting the cartoons, acknowledging that depictions of the Prophet are regarded as “blasphemous by Muslims”. How is this apparent act of restraint to be assessed? Edward Said, in his book Covering Islam has acknowledged that there have been many Muslim provocations and troubling incidents by Islamic countries such as Iran, Libya, Sudan, and others in the 1980s. However, he contends that the use of the label “Islam” by non-Muslim commentators, either to explain or indiscriminately condemn “Islam”, ends up becoming a form of attack, which in turn provokes more hostility (xv-xvi). This article examines how two Australian newspapers – The Australian and The West Australian – handled the debate on the Prophet Muhammad cartoons and considers whether in the name of “free speech” it ended in “a form of attack” on Australian Muslims. It also considers the media’s treatment of Muslim Australians’ “free speech” on previous occasions. This article is drawn from the oral testimonies of Muslims of diverse ethnic background. Since 1998, as part of PhD and post-doctoral research on Muslims in Australia, the author conducted 130 face-to-face, in-depth, taped interviews of Muslims, aged 18-90, both male and female. While speaking about their settlement experience, several interviewees made unsolicited remarks about Western/Australian media, all of them making the point that Muslims were being demonised. Australian Muslims Many of Australia’s 281,578 Muslims — 1.5 per cent of the total population (Australian Bureau of Statistics) — believe that as a result of media bias, they are vilified in society as “terrorists”, and discriminated in the workplace (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission; Dreher 13; Kabir 266-277). The ABS figures support their claim of discrimination in the workplace; in 1996 the unemployment rate for Muslim Australians was 25 per cent, compared to 9 per cent for the national total. In 2001, it was reduced to 18.5 per cent, compared to 6.8 per cent for the national total, but the ratio of underprivileged positions in the labour market remained almost three times higher than for the wider community. Instead of reflecting on Muslims’ labour market issues or highlighting the social issues confronting Muslims since 9/11, some Australian media, in the name of “free speech”, reinforce negative perceptions of Muslims through images, cartoons and headlines. In 2004, one Muslim informant offered their perceptions of Australian media: I think the Australian media are quite prejudiced, and they only do show one side of the story, which is quite pro-Bush, pro-Howard, pro-war. Probably the least prejudiced media would be ABC or SBS, but the most pro-Jewish, pro-America, would be Channel Seven, Channel Nine, Channel Ten. They only ever show things from one side of the story. This article considers the validity of the Muslim interviewee’s perception that Australian media representation is one-sided. On 26 October 2005, under the headline: “Draw a Cartoon about Mohammed and You Must Die”, The Australian warned its readers: ISLAM is no laughing matter. Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, is being protected by security guards and several cartoonists have gone into hiding after the newspaper published a series of 12 cartoons about the prophet Mohammed. According to Islam, it is blasphemous to make images of the prophet. Muslim fundamentalists have threatened to bomb the paper’s offices and kill the cartoonists (17). Militant Muslims The most provocative cartoons appearing in the Danish media are probably those showing a Muhammad-like figure wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse coming out of it, or a queue of smoking suicide bombers on a cloud with an Islamic cleric saying, “Stop stop we have run out of virgins”. Another showed a blindfolded Muslim man with two veiled Muslim women standing behind him. These messages appeared to be concerned with Islam’s repression of women (Jyllands-Posten), and possibly with the American channel CBS airing an interview in August 2001 of a Palestinian Hamas activist, Muhammad Abu Wardeh, who recruited terrorists for suicide bombings in Israel. Abu Wardeh was quoted as saying: “I described to him [the suicide bomber] how God would compensate the martyr for sacrificing his life for his land. If you become a martyr, God will give you 70 virgins, 70 wives and everlasting happiness” (The Guardian). Perhaps to serve their goals, the militants have re-interpreted the verses of the Holy Quran (Sura 44:51-54; 55:56) where it is said that Muslims who perform good deeds will be blessed by the huris or “pure being” (Ali 1290-1291; 1404). However, since 9/11, it is also clear that the Muslim militant groups such as the Al-Qaeda have become the “new enemy” of the West. They have used religion to justify the terrorist acts and suicide bombings that have impacted on Western interests in New York, Washington, Bali, Madrid amongst other places. But it should be noted that there are Muslim critics, such as Pakistani-born writer, Irshad Manji, Bangladeshi-born writer Taslima Nasreen and Somalian-born Dutch parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who have been constant critics of Muslim men’s oppression of women and have urged reformation. However, their extremist fellow believers threatened them with a death sentence for their “free speech” (Chadwick). The non-Muslim Dutch film director, Theo van Gogh, also a critic of Islam and a supporter of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, advocated a reduction in immigration into Holland, especially by Muslims. Both van Gogh and Hirsi Ali – who co-scripted and co-produced the film Submission – received death threats from Muslim extremists because the film exhibited the verses of the Quran across the chest, stomach and thighs of an almost naked girl, and featured four women in see-through robes showing their breasts, with texts from the Quran daubed on their bodies, talking about the abuse they had suffered under Islam (Anon 25). Whereas there may be some justification for the claim made in the film, that some Muslim men interpret the Quran to oppress women (Doogue and Kirkwood 220), the writing of the Quranic verses on almost-naked women is surely offensive to all Muslims because the Quran teaches Muslim women to dress modestly (Sura 24: 30-31; Ali 873). On 4 November 2004, The West Australian reported that the Dutch director Theo van Gogh was murdered by a 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan Muslim on 2 November 2004 (27). Hirsi Ali, the co-producer of the film was forced to go into hiding after van Gogh’s murder. In the face of a growing clamour from both the Dutch Muslims and the secular communities to silence her, Ayaan Hirsi Ali resigned from the Dutch Parliament in May 2006 and decided to re-settle in Washington (Jardine 2006). It should be noted that militant Muslims form a tiny but forceful minority of the 1.4 billion Muslims worldwide. The Muslim majority are moderate and peaceful (Doogue and Kirkwood 79-80). Some Muslim scholars argue that there is specific instruction in the Quran for people to apply their knowledge and arrive at whatever interpretation is of greatest benefit to the community. It may be that stricter practitioners would not agree with the moderate interpretation of the Quran and vice versa (Doogue and Kirkwood 232). Therefore, when the Western media makes a mockery of the Muslim religion or their Prophet in the name of “free speech”, or generalises all Muslims for the acts of a few through headlines or cartoons, it impacts on the Muslims residing in the West. Prophet Muhammad’s Cartoons With the above-mentioned publication of Prophet Muhammad’s cartoons in Denmark, Islamic critics charged that the cartoons were a deliberate provocation and insult to their religion, designed to incite hatred and polarise people of different faiths. In February 2006, regrettably, violent reactions took place in the Middle East, Europe and in Asia. Danish embassies were attacked and, in some instances, were set on fire. The demonstrators chanted, “With our blood and souls we defend you, O Prophet of God!”. Some replaced the Danish flag with a green one printed with the first pillar of Islam (Kalima): “There is no god but God and Mohammed is the messenger of God”. Some considered the cartoons “an unforgivable insult” that merited punishment by death (The Age). A debate on “free speech” soon emerged in newspapers throughout the world. On 7 February 2006 the editorial in The West Australian, “World Has Had Enough of Muslim Fanatics”, stated that the newspaper would not publish cartoons of Mohammad that have drawn protests from Muslims around the world. The newspaper acknowledged that depictions of the prophet are regarded as “blasphemous by Muslims” (18). However, the editorial was juxtaposed with another article “Can Liberty Survive a Clash of Cultures?”, with an image of bearded men wearing Muslim head coverings, holding Arabic placards and chanting slogans, implying the violent nature of Islam. And in the letters page of this newspaper, published on the same day, appeared the following headlines (20): Another Excuse for Muslims to Threaten Us Islam Attacked Cartoon Rage: Greatest Threat to World Peace We’re Living in Dangerous Times Why Treat Embassies with Contempt? Muslim Religion Is Not So Soft Civilised World Is Threatened The West Australian is a state-based newspaper that tends to side with the conservative Liberal party, and is designed to appeal to the “man in the street”. The West Australian did not republish the Prophet Muhammad cartoon, but for 8 days from 7 to 15 February 2006 the letters to the editor and opinion columns consistently criticised Islam and upheld “superior” Western secular values. During this period, the newspaper did publish a few letters that condemned the Danish cartoonist, including the author’s letter, which also condemned the Muslims’ attack on the embassies. But the overall message was that Western secular values were superior to Islamic values. In other words, the newspaper adopted a jingoistic posture and asserted the cultural superiority of mainstream Australians. The Danish cartoons also sparked a debate on “free speech” in Australia’s leading newspaper, The Australian, which is a national newspaper that also tends to reflect the values of the ruling national government – also the conservative Liberal party. And it followed a similar pattern of debate as The West Australian. On 14 February 2006, The Australian (13) published a reader’s criticism of The Australian for not republishing the cartoons. The author questioned whether the Muslims deserved any tolerance because their Holy Book teaches intolerance. The Koran [Quran] (22:19) says: Garments of fire have been prepared for the unbelievers. Scalding water shall be poured upon their heads, melting their skins and that which is in their bellies. Perhaps this reader did not find the three cartoons published in The Australian a few days earlier to be ‘offensive’ to the Australian Muslims. In the first, on 6 February 2006, the cartoonist Bill Leak showed that his head was chopped off by some masked people (8), implying that Muslim militants, such as the Hamas, would commit such a brutal act. The Palestinian Hamas group often appear in masks before the media. In this context, it is important to note that Israel is an ally of Australia and the United States, whereas the Hamas is Israel’s enemy whose political ideology goes against Israel’s national interest. On 25 January 2006, the Hamas won a landslide victory in the Palestine elections but Israel refused to recognise this government because Hamas has not abandoned its militant ideology (Page 13). The cartoon, therefore, probably means that the cartoonist or perhaps The Australian has taken sides on behalf of Australia’s ally Israel. In the second cartoon, on 7 February 2006, Bill Leak sketched an Arab raising his sword over a school boy who was drawing in a classroom. The caption read, “One more line and I’ll chop your hand off!” (12). And in the third, on 10 February 2006, Bill Leak sketched Mr Mohammed’s shadow holding a sword with the caption: “The unacceptable face of fanaticism”. A reporter asked: “And so, Mr Mohammed, what do you have to say about the current crisis?” to which Mr Mohammed replied, “I refuse to be drawn on the subject” (16). The cartoonist also thought that the Danish cartoons should have been republished in the Australian newspapers (Insight). Cartoons are supposed to reflect the theme of the day. Therefore, Bill Leak’s cartoons were certainly topical. But his cartoons reveal that his or The Australian’s “freedom of expression” has been one-sided, all depicting Islam as representing violence. For example, after the Bali bombing on 21 November 2002, Leak sketched two fully veiled women, one carrying explosives under her veil and asking the other, “Does my bomb look big in this”? The cartoonist’s immediate response to criticism of the cartoon in a television programme was, “inevitably, when you look at a cartoon such as that one, the first thing you’ve got to do is remember that as a daily editorial cartoonist, you’re commenting first and foremost on the events of the day. They’re very ephemeral things”. He added, “It was…drawn about three years ago after a spate of suicide bombing attacks in Israel” (Insight). Earlier events also suggested that that The Australian resolutely supports Australia’s ally, Israel. On 13-14 November 2004 Bill Leak caricatured the recently deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in The Weekend Australian (18). In the cartoon, God appeared to be displeased with him and would not allow him to enter paradise. Arafat was shown with explosives strapped to his body and threatening God by saying, “A cloud to myself or the whole place goes up….”. On the other hand, on 6 January 2006 the same cartoonist sympathetically portrayed ailing Israeli leader Ariel Sharon as a decent man wearing a black suit, with God willing to accept him (10); and the next day Sharon was portrayed as “a Man of Peace” (12). Politics and Religion Thus, the anecdotal evidence so far reveals that in the name of “freedom of expression”, or “free speech” The West Australian and The Australian newspapers have taken sides – either glorifying their “superior” Western culture or taking sides on behalf of its allies. On the other hand, these print media would not tolerate the “free speech” of a Muslim leader who spoke against their ally or another religious group. From the 1980s until recently, some print media, particularly The Australian, have been critical of the Egyptian-born Muslim spiritual leader Imam Taj el din al-Hilali for his “free speech”. In 1988 the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils bestowed the title of Mufti to Imam al- Hilali, and al-Hilali was elevated to a position of national religious leadership. Al-Hilali became a controversial figure after 1988 when he gave a speech to the Muslim students at Sydney University and accused Jews of trying to control the world through “sex, then sexual perversion, then the promotion of espionage, treason and economic hoarding” (Hewett 7). The Imam started being identified as a “Muslim chief” in the news headlines once he directly criticised American foreign policy during the 1990-91 Gulf crisis. The Imam interpreted US intervention in Kuwait as a “political dictatorship” that was exploiting the Gulf crisis because it was seen as a threat to its oil supply (Hewett 7). After the Bali bombings in 2002, the Howard government distributed information on terrorism through the “Alert and Alarmed” kit as part of its campaign of public awareness. The first casualty of the “Be alert, but not alarmed” campaign was the Imam al-Hilali. On 6 January 2003, police saw a tube of plastic protruding from a passenger door window and suspected that al-Hilali might have been carrying a gun when they pulled him over for traffic infringements. Sheikh al-Hilali was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting police (Morris 1, 4). On 8 January 2003 The Australian reminded its readers “Arrest Adds to Mufti’s Mystery” (9). The same issue of The Australian portrayed the Sheikh being stripped of his clothes by two policemen. The letter page also contained some unsympathetic opinions under the headline: “Mufti Deserved No Special Treatment” (10). In January 2004, al-Hilali was again brought under the spotlight. The Australian media alleged that al-Hilali praised the suicide bombers at a Mosque in Lebanon and said that the destruction of the World Trade Center was “God’s work against oppressors” (Guillatt 24). Without further investigation, The Australian again reported his alleged inflammatory comments. Under the headline, “Muslim Leader’s Jihad Call”, it condemned al-Hilali and accused him of strongly endorsing “terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas, during his visit to Lebanon”. Federal Labor Member of Parliament Michael Danby said, “Hilali’s presence in Australia is a mistake. He and his associates must give authorities an assurance he will not assist future homicide attacks” (Chulov 1, 5). Later investigations by Sydney’s Good Weekend Magazine and SBS Television found that al-Hilali’s speech had been mistranslated (Guillatt 24). However, the selected print media that had been very critical of the Sheikh did not highlight the mistranslation. On the other hand, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell has been critical of Islam and is also opposed to Australia’s involvement in the Iraq war in 2003, but the print media appeared to ignore his “free speech” (Dateline). In November 2004, Dr Pell said that secular liberal democracy was empty and selfish, and Islam was emerging as an alternative world view that attracted the alienated (Zwartz 3). In May 2006, Dr Pell said that he tried to reconcile claims that Islam was a faith of peace with those that suggested the Quran legitimised the killings of non-Muslims but: In my own reading of the Koran [Quran], I began to note down invocations to violence. There are so many of them, however, that I abandoned this exercise after 50 or 60 or 70 pages (Morris). Muslim leaders regarded Dr Pell’s anti-Islam statement as “inflammatory” (Morris). However, both the newspapers, The Australian and The West Australian remained uncritical of Dr Pell’s “free speech” against Islam. Conclusion Edward Said believed that media images are informed by official definitions of Islam that serve the interests of government and business. The success of the images is not in their accuracy but in the power of the people who produce them, the triumph of which is hardly challenged. “Labels have survived many experiences and have been capable of adapting to new events, information and realities” (9). In this paper the author accepts that, in the Australian context, militant Muslims are the “enemy of the West”. However, they are also the enemy of most moderate Australian Muslims. When some selected media take sides on behalf of the hegemony, or Australia’s “allies”, and offend moderate Australian Muslims, the media’s claim of “free speech” or “freedom of expression” remains highly questionable. Muslim interviewees in this study have noted a systemic bias in some Australian media, but they are not alone in detecting this bias (see the “Abu Who?” segment of Media Watch on ABC TV, 31 July 2006). To address this concern, Australian Muslim leaders need to play an active role in monitoring the media. This might take the form of a watchdog body within the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. If the media bias is found to be persistent, the AFIC might then recommend legislative intervention or application of existing anti-discrimination policies; alternatively, AFIC could seek sanctions from within the Australian journalistic community. One way or another this practice should be stopped. References Ali, Abdullah Yusuf. The Holy Quran: Text, Translation and Commentary. New Revised Ed. Maryland, USA: Amana Corporation, 1989. Anonymous. “Dutch Courage in Aftermath of Film-Maker’s Slaying.” The Weekend Australian 6-7 Nov. 2004. 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Submission. “Film Clip from Short Submission.” Submission. 11 June 2006. http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2655656?htv=12> The Age. “Embassies Torched over Cartoons.” 5 Feb. 2006. http://www.theage.com.au>. The Guardian. “Virgins? What Virgins?” 12 Jan. 2002. 4 June 2006 http://www.guardian.co.uk/>. Zwartz, Barney. “Islam Could Be New Communism, Pell Tells US Audience.” Sydney Morning Herald 12 Nov. 2004. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Kabir, Nahid. "Depiction of Muslims in Selected Australian Media: Free Speech or Taking Sides." M/C Journal 9.4 (2006). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0609/1-kabir.php>. APA Style Kabir, N. (Sep. 2006) "Depiction of Muslims in Selected Australian Media: Free Speech or Taking Sides," M/C Journal, 9(4). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0609/1-kabir.php>.