Comments on: Dumb and dumber…

By: johnny benson

johnny benson — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:03:26 +0000

diana,,,your points are well taken…not to mentiom jonas salks polio vac….and the many other medical,social,and cultural contributions to the world by jews over the ages,,,,it really was the western countrys who were at the front of anti-semitisim, spain..portugal..germany..england..france..poland,,russia..et-al…its only recently ,that the muslim countrys have joined in,this abitition of human kind….while not perfect,,,the muslims let the jews live in a sort of second class, but reasonably safe condotion…..one thing for certain…lalia has been very fair and not in the least critical of the jewish people….and deserves credit of the highest order

By: Laila El-Haddad

Laila El-Haddad — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 03:46:46 +0000

“Political problems with Israel are one thing; unreasoning hate of a people is something else.” Absolutely right. Which is why I refrain from doing so, and encourage others, including my children, to do the same. I am critiquing Israeli policies here.

By: diana

diana — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 20:07:37 +0000

Egyptian journalist Sharif ‘Abd Al-Ghani’s recent article in a Qatari paper is cause for celebration. Al-Ghani attacks Muslim preachers for their hateful language toward Jews. How, he asks, can preachers lead hateful discussion of Jews, yet venerate Moses?
Why does our sheikh – and we behind him – shower all these curses on the Jews, but then add the expression ‘peace be upon him’ when speaking of their prophet Moussa [Moses]? Are the Jews not people of the Book and among those whom the Koran orders us to treat kindly so long as they do not fight us? And how could Allah have created them so impure and damned if they are the disciples of a prophet?
He also points out that many inventors and scientists who have changed the world with their work were Jewish. Muslims have benefited from these scientific and medical advancements, he argues, yet Jews are attacked with violent rhetoric in mosques across the world.
The absurd thing is that after cursing the Jews, the preacher never forgets to urge the attendees to donate [money in order to establish] a dialysis unit in the village… which will treat thousands of patients… But it doesn’t occur to him, or to any of the attendees who say amen after the curses and curse the Jews themselves – many of whom suffer kidney failure – that the man who invented the treatment for this condition is the Jewish doctor and scientist Willem Klofkim [sic, apparently Kolff]!
O you, those who curse and besmirch the Jews, do you not know that the ‘impure and damned’ Jew Baruch Blumberg discovered the viral liver disease Hepatitis [B] and the treatment for it – a disease that afflicts 12% of Egyptians?
It’s always worth pointing out advancements in religious tolerance, especially of Muslims toward Jews in the Middle East. Via Meadia hopes that Al-Ghani’s common sense, intellectual honesty and tolerance prove contagious.
It seems to be a general law of modern life that those who hate and fear Jews are condemned to backwardness and irrelevance: not, as anti-Semitic loons pathetically imagine, because Jewish cabals manipulate capitalism to frustrate their enemies, but because without intellectual clarity and a sincerely tolerant worldview, it is very difficult to prosper in a world like ours.
In Libya, unfortunately, Al-Ghani’s message hasn’t been received. According to Hadeel Al-Shalchi (@hadeelalsh), on hearing news that a Libyan of Jewish origin was trying to rebuild a synagogue, a mob of ignorant haters assembled outside the hotel in which he is staying, baying for blood in the traditionally chilling and evil (but also pathetic and contemptible) way that they have.
When I think of the potential of the Arab Spring, it is to courageous voices like Sharif ‘Abd Al-Ghani and Hadeel Al-Shalchi. Political problems with Israel are one thing; unreasoning hate of a people is something else.

By: Patrick O. Strickland

Patrick O. Strickland — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:03:56 +0000

Hello,

I very much enjoyed this post. Obama, much like Clinton, has turned out to be a president who gives speeches (withholding the UN speech) to progressives, but delivers results to vile, reactionary forces.

I am an American graduate student and I was traveling in the South Hebron Hills of the WB on the day of the UN speeches. Listening to his speech that night, I couldn’t help but think: Okay, so effectively President Obama, apparently more conservative than the Bushes et al., is okay with the status quo, is okay with the things I saw a few hours before, which were shocking.

I perused your blog and enjoyed what I saw. You have a thoughtful opinion and a clear voice. I will link it from my website.

Thanks.

Like you said, not a single word about the occupation. Netanyahu’s slobbering drivel of a speech was a tirade against “Islamist terrorism,” but again, not even the mere acknowledgment of settlers (let alone settler violence).