Ouze Merham

Ouze Merham is a fictitious character, made out to be a general in the Israeli Defense Forces, who allegedly interviewed Ariel Sharon in 1956. The interview, first appeared on Muslim websites in mid-2001 during the al-Aqsa Intifada, turned out to have been a hoax. Sharon, who was Prime Minister of Israel when the interview appeared in public, never made such an interview and the Israeli army has no record of a general by the name Ouze Merham.

The hoax quotation is frequently used as anti-Israel propaganda. It was a winner of the 'Annual Islamophobia Awards' held by Islamic Human Rights Commission on May 31, 2003.

The alleged quote

In the quote, Sharon allegedly said:

"I don’t know something called International Principles. I vow that I’ll burn every Palestinian child (that) will be born in this area. The Palestinian women and child is more dangerous than the man, because the Palestinian child’s existence infers that generations will go on, but the man causes limited danger. I vow that if I was just an Israeli civilian and I met a Palestinian I would burn him and I would make him suffer before killing him. With one hit I've killed 750 Palestinians (in Rafah in 1956). I wanted to encourage my soldiers by raping Arabic girls as the Palestinian woman is a slave for Jews, and we do whatever we want to her and nobody tells us what we shall do but we tell others what they shall do."

A hoax
Some evidence of the quote's falsehood:
* There is no record of any Israeli general named "Ouze Merham" existing, nor any record of Sharon giving such an interview in 1956. It is also unclear why an Israeli general would interview Sharon (who, at the time, was only a major), and then publish the interview.

Islamic Human Rights Commission award
The Islamic Human Rights Commission announced Sharon as the "winner" of the "Most Islamophobic International Politician of the Year’," during its "Annual Islamophobia Awards" ceremony, for the "Ouze Merham" interview. The host told the "Palestinian freedom fighter" who accepted the award on Sharon's behalf to "give this to Sharon personally".

Other Media Usage
Student columnist Mariam Sobh used the quote in her December 11, 2003 Daily Illini column, but later apologized.

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