ABSTRACT
Soviet propaganda has always conceived of the Middle East conflict not in terms of a separate local conflict but rather as a component part of a worldwide struggle between differing systems of life, or between "forces of reaction" and "forces of progress". A word of caution and apology: the themes of Soviet operational propaganda connected with the Middle East conflict are numerous and often interchangeable. The campaign against Zionism is the major theme of Soviet propaganda in relation to the Middle East conflict. While this campaign started almost immediately after the establishment of the State of Israel, for years it lacked the ideological formulation, anti-Jewish zeal and paranoic connotations which were acquired after 1970. "Israeli cruelty" is a relatively new theme of Soviet propaganda. Racial self-segregation, racial purity and racial exclusiveness are the three principal tenets of the reactionary Zionist ideology subscribed to by the Israeli ruling element.
