# Arabists

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Arabists," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/arabists/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The label applied inside the U.S. government to diplomats and analysts who knew Arabic and Middle Eastern history, and which John Kiriakou confirms functioned as a dismissal — the assumption being that anyone who understood the region was blindly prejudiced against Israel, or antisemitic.*

- **Applied to:** State Department and [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) officers with Arabic and regional expertise
- **Function:** A dismissal — expertise recast as bias
- **Kiriakou's verdict:** *"Absolutely true. Absolutely true."*
- **Example he gives:** Ambassador Chas Freeman, whom he served under in Saudi Arabia

**Arabist** was the term used inside the U.S. foreign-policy establishment for officials who knew Arabic and the history of the region. Put to [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) that the label worked as a dismissal — that respected State Department officers were written off as blindly prejudiced against Israel, or as antisemitic, simply for knowing the language and the history — his answer was: *"Yes. Absolutely true. Absolutely true."*[1][2]

The example he reaches for is Ambassador Chas Freeman, under whom he served in Saudi Arabia and whom he describes as *"one of the most brilliant minds I've ever encountered."*[2]

The institutional context he sets around it is that sympathy for the Palestinians was, in his experience, the ordinary view among people who worked the region: *"there was a deep admiration just among the rank and file for the Palestinian people. Not for the Israelis, but for the Palestinians"* — the same at the State Department — and that it stopped counting once a decision reached the White House.[3][4]

## See also

- [The 1991 Saudi plan for Gaza](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/chas-freeman-gaza-plan-1991)
- [The 189 undeclared officers](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-189-undeclared-officers)

## Sources

1. A former CIA mideast expert's view of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis (2021-05-21), at 23:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsse22aaf5d&t=1431s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-05-21-scheer-intelligence-a-former-cia-mideast-expert-s-view-of-the-isr/
2. A former CIA mideast expert's view of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis (2021-05-21), at 24:27. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsse22aaf5d&t=1467s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-05-21-scheer-intelligence-a-former-cia-mideast-expert-s-view-of-the-isr/
3. A former CIA mideast expert's view of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis (2021-05-21), at 20:38. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsse22aaf5d&t=1238s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-05-21-scheer-intelligence-a-former-cia-mideast-expert-s-view-of-the-isr/
4. A former CIA mideast expert's view of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis (2021-05-21), at 23:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsse22aaf5d&t=1397s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2021-05-21-scheer-intelligence-a-former-cia-mideast-expert-s-view-of-the-isr/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/arabists/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt