What's Holding the Arab World Back? | 5 Minute Video

What's holding the Arab world back? Why, by nearly every measure, are Muslim nations so far behind the West economically, culturally and scientifically? Bret Stephens, Global View columnist for the Wall Street Journal, explains.

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Script:

In the judo competition of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, an Israeli heavyweight judo fighter named Or Sasson defeated his Egyptian opponent, Islam El Shehaby, in a first-round match. The Egyptian then refused to shake the Israeli's extended hand, earning boos from the crowd.

If you want the short answer for why the Arab world is sliding into the abyss, look no further than this little incident. It illustrates how hatred of Israel and Jews corrupts every element of Arab society.

You won't find this explanation for the Arab world's decline among journalists and academics. They reflexively blame the usual suspects: the legacy of colonialism, unemployed youth, the Sunni-Shia sectarian divide, and every other politically correct excuse they can think of. For them, hatred of Israel is treated like sand in Arabia -- just part of the landscape.

Yet the fact remains that over the past 70 years the Arab world expelled virtually all of its Jews, some 900,000 people, while holding on to its hatred of them. Over time the result proved fatal: a combination of lost human capital, expensive wars against Israel, and an intellectual life perverted by conspiracy theories and a perpetual search for scapegoats. The Arab world's problems are a problem of the Arab mindset, and the name of that problem is anti-Semitism.

As a historical phenomenon, this is not unique. Historian Paul Johnson has noted that wherever anti-Semitism took hold, social and political decline almost inevitably followed. Just a few examples:

Spain expelled its Jews in 1492. The effect, Johnson noted, “was to deprive Spain (and its colonies) of a class already notable for the astute handling of finance.”

In czarist Russia, the adoption of numerous anti-Semitic laws ultimately weakened and corrupted the entire Russian government. These laws also led to mass Jewish emigration, resulting in a breathtaking loss of intellectual and human capital.

Germany might well have won the race for an atomic bomb if Hitler hadn't sent Jewish scientists like Albert Einstein and Edward Teller into exile in the U.S.

These patterns were replicated in the Arab world. Contrary to myth, the cause was not the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. There were bloody anti-Jewish pogroms in Palestine in 1929, Iraq in 1941, and Libya in 1945.

Nor is it accurate to blame Israel for fueling anti-Semitism by refusing to trade land for peace. Among Egyptians, hatred of Israel barely abated after Prime Minister Menachem Begin returned the entire Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. And among Palestinians, anti-Semitism became markedly worse during the years of the Oslo peace process.

[emanuelosuna]

>"what's holding the Arab world back?"
>thumbnail has a picture of Iran

[justvibin]

I grew up in an Arab country, there are many of us who want to see change and modernize our countries but so many of us are this stubborn and think Islam solves all problems, despite the problem being our own government and politics.

[phyllisbarr]

they are their own oppressors, unfortunately this applies not only to them but others who blame everyone else for their problems

[thecasualcitizen]

What is holding back the Arab world? ISLAM!

[AB-jcgd]

it is not only antisemitism it is a general loss of freedom ... the fredom to think, research, critizize, laugh, choose, etc. brain is like a muscle it shrinks if not used...

[SamKomnene]

"What's holding back the arab world?"

Showing Iran in thumbnail

**JEOGRAFI**

[sandipadhikari]

Not only in Arab World, this kind of anti sematism is also found in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan

[a_ChildOfChrist]

The Arab world and the Persian world are held back because of superstitions and religious fanatics.

[britisheastindiacompany]

Jews are tough people. Although I'm not a Jew, but I was a Muslim a few years ago. I left Islam and converted to Christianity. And I'm quite happy with my decision.
Jews are awesome people. And I'm proud that I have a lot of Jewish friends.

[papastalin]

If you hate others
Then you are gonna end up hurting yourself in the end

[shwipwhipa]

whats holding the arab world back
answer: arabs

[CIMAmotor]

The only country these days that has seemed to 'learn from its neighbours' is Poland. Poland has seen the discord that immigration has wrought in its neighbours and refuses to toe the EU line. Good for Polska.

[hamzagallo]

The title shows three cars described as ‘Arab’. One of the flags is an Iranian one. Before you can identify what is holding back the Arab world, you should be able to identify what countries are Arab...

[YemenIsraellover]

I am an Arab man and I love Israel. But I cant voice my opinion publically. You dont know the backlash if we did so. We are too much but we cant do anything.

[travisreed]

"I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you."

[Samuelricchio]

Islam is holding them back, not anti-semitic views..

[delnavaznirvana]

PragerU: Shows Iran in the thumbnail.
People who know Iran isn't an Arabic country: Yo did they go to school?

[Horkslair]

What's Holding the Arab World Back?
I-S-L-A-M
This video should have been 5 seconds long.

[attackduck]

Even in someones personal life, hating another person takes so much energy and time that sometimes it can hurt YOU in the process.

[amk]

I am a Muslim Arab and a fan of PragerU. Nonetheless, this video didn’t meet my expectations. The problem of the Arab world and more widely the Islamic world which hold it from reaching advancements in science, technology, economics, industry, politics, military prowess etc is not the conflict with the Zionist movement which started after the First World War. Rather these problems have been present for centuries and have led to the Arab and Islamic world’s civilizational decline and for them to be eclipsed by western civilization and powers. They can be summarized by:

1. Abandoning rationalism in favor of adopting an ultra conservative and simplistic understanding of religion and life in which it was encouraged among the masses to not delve into freethinking as this might leave them to astray from God’s way and subject themselves to his wrath. Instead they should let their religious leaders think for them.

2. Tyrannical Rulers who supported the religious leaders mentioned above in order to strengthen their hold on power and hence the religious and political elite entered into a reciprocal beneficiary relationship.

3. Reading and seeking knowledge in any other secular field that was not approved by the religious establishment was discouraged and frowned upon.

4. Horrendous and terrifying punishments for anyone who dared to defy the Politico religious order.

5. Sponsorship of religious orders that spread superstitions about certain mystics and their supposed ‘miracles’ to distort the minds of people of thinking and seeking more useful matters.

All of the above over centuries caused civilizational decay and made the Arab/Islamic world prey and an easy target for external invaders and that certainly made matters worse although they weren’t the primary cause per se. Therefore when this video tries to correlate the sad civilizational failure of the Arab world to solely the Arab Israeli conflict is like someone who is trying to deal with a very complex subject in a very simplistic and superficial manner. Basically it is like someone who treats the symptoms of a disease and neglecting its cause.