Arab World’s Practice of Censorship Harmful (Rep. Gary Ackerman)

One thing almost all Arab governments do well, the one area where incompetence and failure are apparently unacceptable, is in the field of censorship. Stifling public debate, suppressing political discussion, imposing limits on thought and expression, these are tasks for which most Arab governments appear well-suited, and in some cases, even world-class.

There is also in the Arab world, an ugly adjunct to censorship and restrictions on free expression: the special space left open for anti-Semitism, for Holocaust denial and for incitement to violence. Not only is space left open, but in some cases, these loopholes in censorship for hate are exploited by government proxies, or even, the Arab governments themselves. And in these cases, American interests are effected, and I would argue, badly harmed.