Why does everyone hate the Jews?

 

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Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi may have shown his true colors. In several incriminating videos which have gone viral Morsi’s apparently anti-Semitic slurs have come to light. In one, a television interview from three years ago, he calls Zionists “these bloodsuckers who attack the Palestinians, these warmongers, the descendants of apes and pigs.” In the same year, at a rally in the Nile Delta denouncing the Israeli blockade of Gaza, he declares: “We must never forget, brothers, to nurse our children and our grandchildren on hatred for them: for Zionists, for Jews.” He’s not yet finished inciting hatred. Egyptian children, he said, “must feed on hatred; hatred must continue. The hatred must go on for God and as a form of worshiping him.” Lest we dismiss these blasts from the past as mere youthful indiscretions, just three months ago, a pious Morsi, worshipping at a Mosque, can be seen mouthing the word “Amen” as the preacher urges Allah to “destroy the Jews and their supporters.”

Muslims for peace

Hedieh Mirahmadi

Last week I wrote about the most persecuted religion in the world — Christianity. So dire is the persecution of Christians, Christianity is in danger of disappearing from its homeland. Christianity is most in peril, I noted, in Muslim-majority countries where either by official policy or official laxity, Christians are discriminated against, persecuted, tortured, threatened and even killed (Christians are not alone in this; atheists, Jews, Baha’is, and Muslims judged heretical are likewise persecuted.) Since this impending threat to Christianity has been largely ignored in the West I called upon the Western media to report on these atrocities and so prod Western governments to act in support of the universal human right to the free expression of religious belief. Finally, I said it was not my place to speak for Muslims but that Muslim leaders needed to make a compelling case that Islam is not inherently intolerant.

The most persecuted religion in the world

Over the past year, I have written of the intolerance that Christians have shown to Muslims in the U.S. From Missouri to Murphreesboro, Christians have demonstrated both a lack of charity and a denial of the right to religious liberty by setting fire to old mosques and opposing new ones. But Christians in the U.S. are rank amateurs compared to the Muslim persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

Advice to the Sphinx: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Sheikh Murgan Salem al-Gohary recently called for the destruction of the Sphinx and Giza Pyramids in Egypt. In a television interview, he said, “Muslims are charged with applying the teachings of Islam, including the elimination of idols, as we did in Afghanistan when we destroyed the Buddha statues.”

How seriously should the Sphinx take the sheik?

“God ordered Prophet Mohammed to destroy idols,” he continued. “When I was with the Taliban we destroyed the statue of Buddha, something the government failed to do.”

My advice to the Sphinx: be afraid, be very afraid.

Advice to the Sphinx: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

Sheikh Murgan Salem al-Gohary recently called for the destruction of the Sphinx and Giza Pyramids in Egypt. In a television interview, he said, “Muslims are charged with applying the teachings of Islam, including the elimination of idols, as we did in Afghanistan when we destroyed the Buddha statues.”

How seriously should the Sphinx take the sheik?

“God ordered Prophet Mohammed to destroy idols,” he continued. “When I was with the Taliban we destroyed the statue of Buddha, something the government failed to do.”

My advice to the Sphinx: be afraid, be very afraid.

What I don’t like about them Muslims

Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian-American columnist and criminal mastermind, was arrested this week for vandalizing a legally protected poster in the Times Square subway station. The poster declared: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” The ads were paid for by Pamela Geller’s American Freedom Defense Initiative. While the Metropolitan Transportation Authority attempted to block the adverts, good sense prevailed in federal court. Fox News, sadly, lacked the courage to display the entire poster in its coverage of the posters.

God and Jerusalem

The late addition of “God” and “Jerusalem” to the Democratic platform was an embarrassment to democracy. It was an embarrassment first because those who voted against it were clearly in the majority. But it was foremost an embarrassment because of its cynical calculation that kowtowing to God and Jerusalem is an effective campaign strategy.

In a recent blog, I argued that religion is, very often, political and that it should not be, but often is, ignored and marginalized by Western, liberal, secular media and politicians. Religion is as politically salient as economics and morality. At about the same time, distinguished social scientist Scott Atran had the prescience to publish an article with a similar thesis and some similar points in Foreign Policy. Atran writes:

The Most Important Political Issue of Our Day

In the lull between political exaggerations, I mean conventions, it’s worth pausing to ponder the most important political issue of the day. I don’t mean whether or not Romney is likeable or Obama sneaks a smoke every now and then; and I don’t mean how fast Paul Ryan ran the marathon or Joe Biden’s latest gaffe. And I don’t mean whether or not we can cut taxes and decrease the deficit or whether or not Obamacare will cover everyoneand decrease health care costs. I don’t mean any of that partisan but semi-important stuff. That stuff pales in comparison to the most important political issue of our day — peace in Palestine.

Religion as Politics

In 2011, I attended Shimon Peres’s Presidential Conference, “Facing Tomorrow,” in Israel. Headliners included Tony Blair, Benjamin Netanyahu, Natan Sharansky, Sarah Silverman, and Shakira. Blair and Netanyahu were predictably fiery and challenging — Netanyahu almost had me believing. Silverman, note to future organizers, was surprisingly unfunny and uninteresting. Shakira was equally surprisingly articulate and passionate about the need to educate poor children; she also gracefully resisted her interviewer’s awkward insistence to shake her hips.

Aurora to Islam

Consider the tragedy in Aurora. James Holmes, as far as we know, acted alone and of his own accord. He was not instructed to kill by a higher power or by a religious leader. He seems to have been acting out a scene in a Batman movie with himself playing the Joker. We will likely never know the reason why, armed to the teeth, he opened fire in a theatre and killed a dozen innocent people and wounded 58 more. Besides, what reason could he give that would make us stop and say, “Oh, so that’s why he killed twelve innocent people. Now I get it.”