ISI LIEBLER: STOP DENYING THE FACTS ABOUT ISLAM
Candidly Speaking: Islamophobia and the Jews
“There is indeed a desperate need to encourage moderate Muslims. But appeasing
the extremists and groveling to Muslim bullies merely emboldens them. There is
not a single instance in history in which appeasing religious fanatics of any
faith has brought about progress. If we allow ourselves to be intimidated or
fail to confront Islamist jihadists, they will succeed in destroying the very
tenets of our civilization.”
By ISI LEIBLER
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=189444
27/09/2010
Jews who exaggerate the presence of the phenomenon become leading proponents of
the campaign to sanitize and understate Islamic extremism
It is surely high time for Diaspora leaders to stop living in denial and get
their act together. Instead of competing with each other in oozing political
correctness, they should display some backbone and call a spade a spade.
We are currently witnessing the greatest revival of global anti-Semitism since
the Middle Ages. This permeates all classes of society, and, ranging from
academics to illiterates and European leaders who retain office despite making
unabashed neo-Nazi remarks about Jews to mobs at anti-Israeli demonstrations
carrying placards “gas the Jews.”
It encompasses the entire political spectrum, but is spearheaded by liberals and
Muslims. Muslim radicals relate to Israel in a manner reminiscent of the
Church’s medieval attitude toward the Jews. They promote popular TV programs
depicting the blood of Muslim children being used for baking matzot, and have
revived The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a best-seller. They certainly
compare favorably with the worst Nazi Jew baiting, with imams quoting genocidal
religious texts to the faithful, inciting them to murder Jews, “the descendants
of apes and pigs.”
It is macabre to observe the alliance between liberals and jihadists who
represent the antithesis of everything the Left purports to represent. The
extremist Islamists are the most reactionary elements in the world. They reject
fundamental human rights, proscribe freedom of expression and religion, promote
the degradation of women and, to this day, implement barbaric laws including
stoning of adulterers and homosexuals and the amputation of limbs for petty
crimes. More than 50 Muslim countries deny Judaism or Christianity equal
standing with Islam.
WHAT MAKES this situation even more bizarre is that over the past months, there
has been a concerted campaign claiming that Islamophobia represents the greatest
threat to human rights in the world! In the US the controversy over the mosque
at Ground Zero, where 3,000 Americans were murdered in the name of Islam, has
been twisted into an attempt to deny Muslims equal rights as distinct from not
violating the sensitivities of the bereaved families. Not a single mainstream
conservative politician has ever denied the right of Muslims to build mosques
throughout the US.
This is taking place at a time when the Muslims have the audacity to promote
legislation at the UN and elsewhere which would make any criticism of Islam a
criminal offense. The response of the Obama administration has been to reiterate
the ludicrous mantra introduced by president George W. Bush describing Islam as
“the religion of peace” and blatantly deny the reality that present-day
terrorism is essentially a Muslim phenomenon, even though that does not mean all
Muslims are terrorists.
Taking political correctness to the ultimate extreme, US counter-terrorism
director John Brennan described jihad as “a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of
Islam intended to purify oneself or one’s community,” and urged that those
indulging in terrorist acts never be described in “religious terms” despite the
fact that all recent terrorist acts in the US were perpetrated by Muslim
extremists. Administration officials initially described perpetrators as
demented people rather than Islamic terrorists. This even applied to the Fort
Hood killer, who had been influenced by an American-born Yemeni imam and was
shrieking “Allahu akbar” while massacring unarmed American servicemen.
Alas, Jews who exaggerate the presence of Islamophobia become leading proponents
of the campaign to sanitize and understate Islamic extremism. This is especially
bizarre, given that Jews, especially in Europe, but also increasingly in the US,
are facing far greater threats of violence than Muslims. It is also synagogues,
rather than mosques, which are continuously being desecrated and vandalized, in
many cases by Islamists.
In that context, the relative tranquility which Muslims experience in Western
societies is a great tribute to tolerance – a tolerance unlikely to have been
extended to Jews in similar circumstances. Imagine the response if Israel had a
track record like some of the Arab states, or if Jews in Western countries were
blowing up their neighbors.
While genuine interfaith relations are to be commended, many Jews persist in
engaging in “dialogue” with Muslim organizations that refuse to dissociate
themselves from hard-line Islamic attitudes. Some of the leading Saudi groups
promoting international interfaith conferences are directly engaged in the
promotion of anti-Semitism, yet Jews participating in these bogus meetings
naively babble on about love and coexistence and ignore realities. By doing so,
Jews undermine the few moderate Muslims courageous enough to speak up.
All religions incorporate texts and concepts which encourage violence and
aggression, but it is the interpretation by religious leaders that determines
actual behavior. Judaism, Christianity and Buddhism today are overwhelmingly
supportive of peace, and seek coexistence while condemning extremists.
IN CONTRAST, only a few Islamic moderates have the courage to criticize
extremism within their own circles. Those brave enough to do so are
marginalized, condemned by their kinsmen, and their lives are frequently
endangered. The overwhelming majority remains silent or defends the Islamic
excesses of Islamic regimes.
On the other hand, when a lunatic American pastor threatens to burn a Koran,
President Barack Obama personally intervenes and warns of global violence and
mayhem. This the first time that an American president has called on the nation
not to “endanger our troops” in order to placate extremists threatening violence
in response to the acts of a solitary American eccentric.
Of course, burning a Koran or any religious book is a barbaric act. But in these
times anything likely to offend Muslims, including cartoons or criticism, is
condemned out of fear of violent Islamic responses. This contrasts with an
absence of Islamic respect for other religions. When some years ago, the
National Endowment for the Arts contributed an outrageously insensitive,
blasphemous image of a crucifix in urine to a New York exhibition titled “Piss
Christ,” outraged Christians did not threaten to go on killing sprees.
An example of the insane levels generated by fear of Muslim violence is
reflected in the case of Molly Norris, a Seattle weekly newspaper cartoonist who
was forced to adopt a new identity at the urging of the FBI because she had
become a prime target for assassination after having drawn a satirical cartoon
of the Muslim prophet in her local newspaper. This resulted in a fatwa being
issued against her, stating that “bombings and acts of arson were appropriate
responses to acts of blasphemy.”
Yet Obama, champion of the First Amendment for Muslims, remained silent about
Morris’s ordeal.
There is indeed a desperate need to encourage moderate Muslims. But appeasing
the extremists and groveling to Muslim bullies merely emboldens them. There is
not a single instance in history in which appeasing religious fanatics of any
faith has brought about progress. If we allow ourselves to be intimidated or
fail to confront Islamist jihadists, they will succeed in destroying the very
tenets of our civilization.
This is an area in which Jews, who have the most to lose, must surely stand up
and be counted.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=189444
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