By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews
Judea Pearl is a man bent on revenge. Two years ago, his son, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was murdered by al Qaida operatives in Pakistan who recorded Pearl’s last moments on video. The world took notice.
Since 2002, the elder Pearl has made it his mission to get back at his son’s murderers, not by killing them, but by trying to stop the flow of blood.
“If we find the killers of Daniel and we kill them, that won’t stop the other killing. It’s ineffective. I’m an engineer, so I have to be effective,” he continued. “The way to do it is to advocate.”
Pearl, who came to Seattle as a guest of the American Jewish Committee, did just that. He spoke to a group of AJCommittee supporters at its annual Max H. Block Awards banquet on May 19. The Block Awards honor high school seniors that have helped to promote intergroup relations and try to promote understanding across racial, ethnic and social divides.
Pearl also spoke to JTNews the day after the event about how he is furthering his son’s mission to bridge the divides between the Arab world and the Western world. He has done this in several ways: the first, with the founding of the Daniel Pearl Foundation. The foundation has a three-part mission, which it fulfills through music, education and dialogue.
The education program brings journalists from Arab countries to the United States to learn Western-style reporting, in the hope “that they carry with them back to their countries our notion of honest reporting,” Pearl said.
The musical mission of the foundation has brought together big-name musicians such as Elton John, Yo Yo Ma, Barbra Streisand, and many others to perform concerts in Daniel’s name. Last year’s event, held on Oct. 10 — Daniel’s birthday — was 220 concerts around the world, including five in Muslim countries and three in Karachi, Pakistan alone.
The benefit of using music to promote intercultural dialogue comes from the influence of the performers. Popular Iranian musician Reza Shajarian has done wonders for Pearl’s cause. Very few of that country’s citizens could post pictures of Daniel —a Jew — at their concerts without experiencing serious repercussions.
“He can afford to be anti-regime without them touching him,” said Pearl.
The last part of the foundation’s mission is fulfilled by Pearl himself with Prof. Ahmed Akbar of the American University in Washington, D.C. The two travel to various venues to discuss the similarities between American and Arab culture. Though not claiming to represent the views of anyone but themselves, their talks are dedicated to “finding commonalities and airing differences,” Pearl said. “He is pushing to the former, and I am pushing to the latter.”
The purpose of these talks is to go beyond the simple fingerpointing and to stop Jewish Americans from hiding behind their fears.
“It is my intent to tell Jews not to humiliate Muslims by refraining from asking them the hard questions,” Pearl said. “[Muslims] would appreciate it because it is a sign of respect and equality.”
In addition to the foundation, Pearl has also written a book, I am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl, named for his son’s last words, and which reflects on Daniel’s life and work.
To Pearl, what struck him as the most cruel irony of Daniel’s death was that he was attempting to help Americans understand the complexities of that part of the world.
There is one man to whom Daniel gave a voice — and hugged on Arabic television — that Judea Pearl would like to return a favor: Sheikh Yusef Karadan.
When Pearl wrote an op-ed piece in last week’s Wall Street Journal, he asked “imams and mullahs who have been voicing concern over the hijacking of Islam by a minority of anti-Islamic extremists” to end the killing of innocent people like Daniel, as well as Nick Berg, who was killed in Iraq in April. Though not mentioning him specifically in the article, Pearl said the piece was meant for Karadan.
Pearl said he would like for Karadan to appear on television and tell his fellow Muslims that “Allah will punish you with the fire of hell” if they commit the acts that were committed against his son.
He singled out Karadan because he is highly respected as one of the world’s foremost authorities on fatwa, legal statements issued by a Muslim religious figure. Though Pearl doubts that Karadan would listen to him, he would listen to Western mullahs and imams, who Pearl said should tell him, “‘you’ve got to do it for us, we’re losing our credibility.’”
Though he is giving his foundation “240 percent of my time,” Pearl said that by carrying on the work of his son, he can help to bring stabilization to a region caught between the past and the present. He believes that Daniel as much in death as he did in life.
“He’s a role model, and not a martyr. He was a reminder of who we are and what we stand for,” Pearl said. “He is the West’s best ambassador of good will and peaceful intention.”