“Assassins… Damn Israel… We don’t want Jews here…”
Not only is such behavior reprehensible, but it is counterproductive and a major obstacle to any advancement of the Palestinian cause. In fact, it brings the struggle down to the level of the Israelis who destroyed at least 24 mosques in their most recent war on Gaza.
The incident in Caracas has been presented as a direct result of the recent diplomatic spats between Venezuela and the state of Israel. That very well may be the case, but it does not necessarily mean the perpetrators were politically motivated. Their actions were a manifestation of anti-Jewish sentiments (what most people inaccurately refer to as anti-Semitism). When the basis for such hateful prejudice is fueled by a reasonable apprehension of Zionism, there is another problem that needs to be addressed.
Discriminating against Jews for what they believe in is wrong, and it is no different than discriminating against Muslims for their beliefs. Associating all Jews with the state of Israel is like equating Islam to the Wahabi dictators in Saudi Arabia, the mullahs of Iran, or groups like Al Qaeda who use religion to mask the evil of their wicked acts. The fringe elements on both sides are enemies of peace – case in point, the ‘religious’ settlers who do all in their power to ensure Palestinians remain disenfranchised.
The synagogue in Caracas was affiliated with the state of Israel, but that does not justify attacking it. Doing so accomplishes nothing for the Palestinian cause; it only lends undue credence to crazed settlers in the West Bank who insist the Arab-Israeli conflict is a religious struggle. As violent Islamists are radicalized when attacked, so too are fanatic Jews. The criminals who saw fit to vandalize a Zionist synagogue have only inspired hundreds of young Jews to make aliyah where they’ll be fed a load of crap to accept the realities on the ground, most of which they won’t even see.
While I have ample contempt for the state of Israel, I got nothing but love for Jewish people – I can’t say the same for Zionists. It’s worth keeping in mind that not all Zionists are Jews, and not all Jews are Zionists. The state of Israel is keen on presenting itself as a Jewish state, but it is actually a Zionist state, one built on ethnic cleansing and mass human rights violations… and maintained through occupation. Zionism usurps religion to justify its less humane aspects, much like twisted interpretations of Islam are used to justify suicide bombings and other vile tactics.
Ultimately, the question of Palestine is not about religion – it is about basic human rights. Politically savvy individuals and organizations must be aware that targeting synagogues only reinforces the false notion that the Arab-Israeli conflict is one between Islam and Judaism. Unfortunately, defining it in such a context is beneficial to religious extremists on both sides… and they are often the ones who decide the rules of the game to the misery of everyone else.
More and more Jews are seeing the light though (even if thousands continue to flock to the Holy land every year on ‘spiritual’ journeys). Members of the younger generation are beginning to see the logic behind anti-Zionist Jewish organizations like the Neturei Karta. The state of Israel is a stain on the image of Judaism which leads to unfortunate incidents like the vandalization of the synagogue in Caracas. No wonder an increasing number of Jews are questioning the inferred association their faith has with consistent human rights violations and war crimes, but vandalizing their places of worship won’t bring any more to the side of reason.
Jewish people need to be left in peace. Ending occupation and granting Palestinians basic civil rights does not preclude that.
Related posts:
- Self-Hating Jews
- This Post Has Nothing to Do With Jews
- This Road is for Jews Only
- Jews of Conscience Strike
- The Jews of Iraq
Nice try, Kalash. Really. But to find an equivalent to the hate crimes against Jews that have been happening over the last month, you would have to list some examples of Palestinians (or other random Arabs) who have been beaten in the streets, some mosques that have been torched or otherwise desecrated in places outside of the ME, so on and so forth.
Listing some mosques that were destroyed in a war zone is pretty lame.
Posted by programmer craig | February 2, 2009, 3:02 amHere you go PC:
A Maryland church with a large number of Middle Eastern congregants is sprayed with “Israel forever – Arabs never” on January 13: Source
Posted by E. | February 2, 2009, 4:18 amA Church? How hard did you look to find that example? lol.
Show me some mosques being burned down. Anti-Christian bigotry is nothing new.
Posted by programmer craig | February 2, 2009, 5:43 amDidn’t the cops decide that that mosque that was gassed in Ohio a few months back wasn’t an example of a hate crime? It really wouldn’t surprise me if the stats on such things are seriously skewed.
Anti-semitism and racism in general have been on the rise in Europe lately, especially badly in the East and Spain but elsewhere as well and a lot of it isn’t remotely tied to Israel. I think incidents like these, documented around times of increased I-P conflict unfortunately neglects that this is a much broader, ongoing problem, one that’s continuing from before the creation of Israel and not a reaction to Israeli policy(despite some countries that like to pretend that racism ended after ww2 and germany was the only country that was racist anyways.)
Anyways I’m glad to see this post. I do have to nitpick though that I don’t get the tendency of some to hold Neturei Karta up as examples over say Jewish Voices for Peace, Independent Jewish Voices, Coalition Against House Demolitions, Hadash etc, ie groups that are active from a human rights perspective, rather than a scriptural one.
Posted by nadia | February 2, 2009, 6:02 am“Nice try, Kalash. Really.”
The post was mostly about condemning antisemitism. Just because he is Muslim and you are presumably Jewish does not mean that you two always have to be diametrically opposed. Does everything have to be a battle? breath in, breath out…. relax
Posted by Green Flash | February 2, 2009, 6:20 amThe Jews of venezuela have been harassed for several years. Jews have done well in Venezuela. They are generally upper middle or high class, highly educated and highly entrepreneurial, although they tend to abstain from politics.
Before Chavez came to power, there were 40,000 Jews in Caracas. Now there are only 20,000.
The synogogue has been vandalized in the past, but that’s not the issue. Chavez has pursued a policy of harassment of Jews in venezuela. They’ve been arbitrarily denied business licenses, permits, access to government services, police protection, etc.
It seems like once every other month the synogogue compound (which combines a synogogue, country club, community center, fitness center, nursery and some other facilities) gets raided by venezuelan SWAT teams who say they are looking for weapons. They conduct tactical assaults on the compound during day hours when little kids are in their class.
Obviously they have never found anything, but they make sure to do as much damage as possible each time. One time they had the pool drained and all the tiles broken and removed because supposedly the Jews had hidden guns there. No one was compensated for it, obviously.
There is some hope. Chavez’s popularity is plunging. Only the upper crust still supports him in the country, as well as his balaclava wearing paramilitary revolutionary thugs. With the fall in oil prices, all the promises he made to the lower classes, which were never fulfilled in the first place, are being seen for what they are – complete fiscal insanity. It seems every other week the government is scrambling to nationalize one industry after another to access the reserves of someone else’s private bank account.
First it was the food stores where now you can buy “Revolutionary Pasta” and “Revolutionary Beans”, but not much else, then oil industry, where production is falling like a rock because of mismanagement, then concrete, then steel… Another year of oil prices like this and Chavez is finished. The student opposition movement has finally linked to the catholic church, which is very strong here. Chavez keeps assassinating opposition in “accidents” using his paramilitary thugs, and threatening the universities but people know what is going on. His revolution is hitting a brick wall real fast.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 6:52 amAnonymous can you provide some sources to back yourself up?
Posted by nadia | February 2, 2009, 6:57 amokay nevermind:
Venezuela’s Jewish community numbered about 16,000 until Chavez was elected in 1998, and has since declined to around 12,000
http://www.forward.com/articles/12500/
I’d be curious to see pre98 stats on harrassment/emmigration though as well as with other countries in the region.
Posted by nadia | February 2, 2009, 7:09 amI dn’t know about the forward’s numbers. In Venezuela the 40,000 before Chavez, 20,000 today are commonly known in the community in Caracas. Many people know others who left, mostly to Israel or the USA.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 7:24 amThere are also poor Jews in Venezuela, like anywhere else, but we take care of them. All Jews in Venezuela or at least Caracas rely on a joint health care system, employment, child support.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 7:26 amThose are the numbers I found, if you can find others, please post them.
Posted by nadia | February 2, 2009, 7:41 amThis article says 30,000 60s, 70s, 20,000 in 1998 when Chavez was elected and 14,000 today. These are low numbers, maybe only for Caracas where information is good. There are many other Jews in country but many come to Caracas where there is still strong community or leave to Miami.
Here is story about some of raids of the Caracas Jewish facilities, but because no one in Venezuela writes about what is happening to Jewish community this information does not get out.
It is very important how everyone outside Venezuela is being misled. Chavez does not confiscate Jewish property like a Jewish owned mall in Caracas because he is anti-Zionist. He does it because he promised some thug this mall and then government just comes and takes it and he says I am against Zionists.
When Jewish community is raided by SWAT teams they don’t apologize for mistake, they say next time it will be your homes and your business. Anyone with business or factory is very concerned because Chavez can take whatever he wants and say it is anti-Israel action. Like I said this happened before.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 8:04 amNadia,
Generally, it’s quite hard to determine the exact size of a Jewish community, because you’d have to start making rules about who’s Jewish and who’s not (both parents Jewish only? One parent at least? One grandparent? etc.). It’s quite clear, though, that whatever its size, the Jewish community in Venezuela are being harassed. I found you a good article about the subject:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/01/will_venezuela_be_judenrein.html
And also a very nicely sourced Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Venezuela#21st_century
Programmer Craig,
Don’t be a fool. Muslims all over the US and Eruope are having very hard times. Here are two articles for you as well. It didn’t take too much searching, googling “mosque burning” is all I needed:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/13/america/NA-GEN-US-Mosque-Fire.php
http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jun/21/local/me-iebrief21
Posted by AutoFocus | February 2, 2009, 8:14 amHere is story about the Jewish owned mall confiscated by Chavez.He also explains his excellent reasons for taking mall. "The Venezuelan leader said it would be out of line with his government's socialist vision to allow the new Sambil mall to take up precious urban real estate _ and that unbridled consumerism isn't his idea of progress either. We're going to expropriate that and turn it into a hospital _ I don't know _ a school, a university…" He did not even think of legitimate reason to take mall yet! Because who cares? He will give property to his thugs and who will say anything? Yes, of course hospital, school, university. Come back in 5 years. It will be mall, but owned by a Chavista instead of Jew.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 4:15 am“A Church? How hard did you look to find that example? lol.
Show me some mosques being burned down. Anti-Christian bigotry is nothing new.”
Programmer Craig, I’m not sure how you define “Israel Forever – Arabs Never” as anti-Christian, but not anti-Arab.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 8:26 amIt’s quite clear, though, that whatever its size, the Jewish community in Venezuela are being harassed.
Yeah, regardless of the numbers, the article I posted is consistent with that claim, I am definitely not disputing that they are harrassed and that their numbers are clearly decreasing. The other anonymous just disputed the numbers, which is cool, I was just posting what I found.
I am genuinely curious how things under Chavez compare to Venezuela before his rule and the rest of South America, cause from what I understand it’s pretty bad elsewhere too.
Posted by nadia | February 2, 2009, 8:28 am…though if I was just going on the article posted about it here the example of the mall doesn't really seem to fit, I don't see any mention whatsoever of who the owners are or foreign policy.
Posted by nadia | February 2, 2009, 4:54 amVenezuela was a diamond. We were most wealthy, most Western economy on continent, skyscrapers, banks.
Bogota was the woman raped and now we switch places. Caracas is most dangerous city in the world from shooting and murder! So what Chavez do? He stop publishing crime information.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 8:56 am…
Posted by nadia | February 2, 2009, 9:41 amThe post was mostly about condemning antisemitism. Just because he is Muslim and you are presumably Jewish does not mean that you two always have to be diametrically opposed. Does everything have to be a battle? breath in, breath out…. relax
I’m not Jewish, no. I’m Christian. And I wasn’t being sarcastic when I said “Nice try, Kalash”.
As for the rest of your comment, I don’t read this blog to engage in ideological battles, I read it for entertainment value. Kalash is one of the few contributers here that I take seriously. If my offhand comments here annoy you, just ignore me. Everyone else does
Posted by programmer craig | February 2, 2009, 10:50 amProgrammer Craig, I’m not sure how you define “Israel Forever – Arabs Never” as anti-Christian, but not anti-Arab.
It’s simple, anonymous. That slogan is not a hate crime. It’s not a crime at all. It is the desecration of a church that is a hate crime.
Posted by programmer craig | February 2, 2009, 10:53 amNadia, you want him to say he is taking mall from a Jew? This is not done like this. Myabe only in Arab countries they can say that. Here even Chavez still can’t.
The mall is Sambil. It is part of a chain of Sambil. Sambil is owned by a Jewish family. Everyone knows this. The Salomon Cohen and family owns the majority stake. And it is no accident that this mall was targeted. Everyone in Venezuela knows what this means.
Trust me the mall will be built and given to Chavez supporter.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 11:16 amIn the case of the mall story expect that if you’re offering it as an example of anti-Jewish prejudice the journalist would have mentioned it, or there’s somewhere else I could have checked that fact, or there’s some proof that this wouldn’t happen to non-Jews to show that this policy discriminates unfairly against Jews, and not capitalism.
Like I said before, I don’t deny that antisemitism is a problem.
Posted by nadia | February 2, 2009, 11:42 amIf you think this was just a “hate crime” or a violent gang or whatever, you are mistaken. Nothing was stolen in the synagogue, except computers. No, not the monitors, not the keyboards, not the speakers, just the hard drives.
The grafiti is just a cover to draw media attention from what this was – a planned information collection on the Jewish community in Caracas. Those hard drives have information on thousands of people, addresses, jobs, children.
Chavez knows he has struck gold. By being anti-Israel he can rob the Venezuelan Jews of everything they have and then expel them. These are your partners in the anti-Israel struggle. Thugs.
Does anyone here read spanish?
Here is an article published in Aporrea (publication sponsored by Venezuela government) by Emilio José Silva Chapellín, professor at Venezuelan Bolivarian University.
It describes how to proceed officially with Jewish pogrom of Venezuela, using anti-Israel as cover. I am too disgusted to translate this. You can use google translate.
I am not sure what the best part is, where he acknowledge there are laws that prevent taking property from Jews, or where he outlines how to change these laws. Listen to this brilliant idea. He is talking about how to steal property from the Jews.
“In a badly formed society, not everything is fair [that Jews have property], and what is right [taking this property away] isn’t legal, a fact that is impossible to combine with a socialist society.”
Or maybe where he called Jewish schools and community centers a “state within a state”. Or where he called the media (only those that are against Chavez) part of the Zionist conspiracy who should be imprisoned. Or when he called for government to pay hackers to destroy Jewish websites.
And of course to create a conference exposing the Zionist lies about “alleged” Holocaust.
Then he really goes like madman, starts about “eurogringo” imperialism and how all countries must fight back. How they need to free terrorist “Carlos the Jackal” who is from Venezuela who is in French prison. It goes like that…
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 11:52 amPC: So if someone were to spray “Death to Jews” on a university wall that would not be a hate crime because it wasn’t on a synagogue?
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 12:28 pmAnonymous, are you not getting the whole “hate crime” concept, or are you deliberately being obtuse?
If somebody wrote “Arabs Forever – Jews Never” on a University Wall, no it would not be a hate crime.
Please don’t construct any more straw men for me to tilt at. You waste everyone’s time with that crap.
Posted by programmer craig | February 2, 2009, 12:45 pmI simply fail to see how a church with Arab congregants being desecrated with anti-Arab grafitti is “anti-Christian” and/but not anti-Arab, according to you.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 1:22 pmAs usual, moron pc comes up with his own definitions
Let’s see, up above he states:
“It’s simple, anonymous. That slogan is not a hate crime. It’s not a crime at all. It is the desecration of a church that is a hate crime.”
OK, so we’ve got that one down per pc.
Then a few comments later he states,
“If somebody wrote “Arabs Forever – Jews Never” on a University Wall, no it would not be a hate crime.”
So let’s get this straight, pc thinks the crime lays in WHERE it is done, the “—forever,—NEVER”has nothing to do with it.
DON’T THINK SO!
The FBI’s definition of hate crime: A hate crime, also known as a bias crime, is a criminal offense committed against a person, property, or society that is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity/national origin.
SEE THAT pc? A crime committed against a person, property or SOCIETY that is motivated by the offenders BIAS.
So let’s see here,—FOREVER, —NEVER isn’t bias I take it?
It does not MATTER where the crime is done pc. It is the MOTIVATION and BIAS against a person, property or SOCIETY that makes it a hate crime.
If the graffiti consisted of flowers being spray painted all over the church, that would be VANDALISM, same with a university wall.
The racially motivated BIAS of what was spray painted on this church wall is what makes it a hate crime, and the same slogan would ALSO be a hate crime on a university wall.
Posted by Robin | February 2, 2009, 2:53 pm(Sorry for posting again, but let’s make this a little SIMPLER for pc, since he has an affliction, every time the word “Arab” is written, his mind, IF he has one, seems to go to mush)
OK,scenario: you’ve got a predominantly African American church (remember, this church which was spray painted with the term, Jews forever, Arabs Never has a predominantly Arab congregation)
The church is spray painted all over with flowers. That is VANDALISM.
Next scenario, this same church is spray painted with Whites forever, Blacks Never.
THAT is a hate crime.
Next scenario: University wall, spray painter writes “Whites forever, Blacks Never”
That ALSO is a hate crime.
Posted by Robin | February 2, 2009, 3:07 pmThese are moronic standards. When there is 2000 years of discrimination against your people, including pogroms, dislocations and genocides (real genocides, not Jenin/Gaza), you can claim a minor act like graffiti is a hate crime.
When your people were enslaved for two hundred years and then faced another hundred years of discrimination, you can claim a minor act like graffiti is a hate crime.
If there is no such similar event in your history, it’s not a hate crime, it’s just crime.
The only point of labeling something “hate crime” is to raise awareness of crime targeted against a minority, because that minority has faced significant persecution in the past and a particular act of crime may be trying to ignite something more serious.
Beyond that, I don’t think we should be punishing people differently for hate crimes than for normal crimes.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 3:50 pmThats right, no one else can be victims. Not Arabs, not Hindus, nobody can be a victim other than you know who.
Claiming something isn’t a hate crime because the victim is jewish is ignorant.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 7:57 pmOr black, yes.
In America, that’s pretty much it. I realize you have a great desire to join the club that can claim victimhood.
There is no history of serious discrimination against any other group that I’m aware of… maybe native americans can get in the club.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 8:17 pmKABOBFEST 4EVER! PCRAIG NEVER!
Btw PC~I don’t HATE YOU.
Posted by PC's conscience | February 2, 2009, 8:53 pmKABOBFEST 4EVER! PCRAIG NEVER!
Btw PC~I don’t HATE YOU.
Posted by PC's conscience | February 2, 2009, 8:53 pmKABOBFEST 4EVER! PCRAIG NEVER!
Btw PC~I don’t HATE YOU.
Posted by PC's conscience | February 2, 2009, 8:53 pmKABOBFEST 4EVER! PCRAIG NEVER!
Btw PC~I don’t HATE YOU.
Posted by PC's conscience | February 2, 2009, 8:53 pmKABOBFEST 4EVER! PCRAIG NEVER!
Btw PC~I don’t HATE YOU.
Posted by PC's conscience | February 2, 2009, 8:53 pmKABOBFEST 4EVER! PCRAIG NEVER!
Btw PC~I don’t HATE YOU.
Posted by PC's conscience | February 2, 2009, 8:53 pmKABOBFEST 4EVER! PCRAIG NEVER!
Btw PC~I don’t HATE YOU.
Posted by PC's conscience | February 2, 2009, 8:53 pmKABOBFEST 4EVER! PCRAIG NEVER!
Btw PC~I don’t HATE YOU.
Posted by PC's conscience | February 2, 2009, 8:53 pmGood effort, Robin. Now, how closely did you read that definition?
The racially motivated BIAS of what was spray painted on this church wall is what makes it a hate crime, and the same slogan would ALSO be a hate crime on a university wall.
And what makes you think it is RACIALLY motivated bias, when it was a Christian Church that was desecrated?
You think “Jews never, Arabs forever”, all by itself would constitute a hate crime? On what planet? You do realize people have more offensive shit than that tattooed on their bodies, right? Are all those tattooed freaks, walking hate crimes?
While we are on the subject though, can you tell me how many of the Palestinian activists I saw chanting “Death to Jews” last month are currently in US prisons? How about the Palestinian Activists I saw physically assaulting the Jewish counter protesters? How many of them are incarcerated, right now? Any stats for that? Those are ACTUAL hate crimes, and they played out live on television.
And are you the same skank who is Sabbah’s only fan? You should be ashamed of yourself… his whole blog is a virtual hate crime. You’re the biggest bigot on the middle-eastern blogosphere… where the hell do you come off, talking about hate crimes with a little angel halo over your head?
Posted by programmer craig | February 2, 2009, 9:12 pmAnd one more thing, Robin… I bet it was some self-styled Palestinian activist JUST LIKE YOU who desecrated that Church, for the very purpose of trying to cause resentment amongst Christians against Jews. It makes absolutely no sense for Jews to desecrate a Church in the US in order to offend Arabs… there are plenty of mosques around. Do you think Sabbah would hesitate to do that? He throws propaganda videos that he knows to be fakes up on his blog just about every day.
You want to know why Palestinians will never know peace? Look in the mirror. Nobody in their right mind wants to make peace with you. You are an enemy of humanity. You talk like a person, but you act like an animal.
Posted by programmer craig | February 2, 2009, 9:18 pmLike I wrote prior, when the word “Arab” is used, pc’s brain IF he has one, which is becoming more questionable by the minute, goes to mush.
Example above, African American CHRISTIAN church, Whites forever, BLACKS never. Hate crime.
Incident:
http://www.gazette.net/stories/01282009/rocknew211605_32490.shtml
It was Jan. 13, a Tuesday evening, when parishioners at the Sts. Peter and Paul Antiochian Orthodox Church on River Road first noticed the graffiti. It was scrawled in blue spray paint on a back entryway to the church — according to officials there, a dimly lit area that would make it an easy target for vandals.
Written across the door was a Star of David and the words “Israel forever — Arabs never.”
The incident has shocked congregants at the Potomac church, which draws many parishioners who are of Middle Eastern descent. While the services are conducted in English, much of the chanting is in Greek or Arabic.
“I was stunned,” said Bethesda resident Joanne Demchok, a parishioner at the church. “Why would someone do something like that?
___________________________
Why? Because it is a HATE crime taking the form of VANDALISM, yet RACIALLY motivated, desecration to property.
____________________________
“It makes absolutely no sense for Jews to desecrate a Church in the US in order to offend Arabs… there are plenty of mosques around.”
Uh, mush mind speaks again. It said ARABS never idiot, not Muslims Never. Palestinians are BOTH Muslim and Christian, as are many Syrians, MANY Lebanese,
Poor pc, someone get him some lithium.
To anonymous, so “Arabs forever, Jews NEVER”, is that a hate crime when spray painted on a synagogue?
How about Gringos forever, Mexicans NEVER?
I really want to believe here that people who post this crap such as pc are really secret Kabobfest provocateurs, not REAL people, but alas, no one at Kabobfest would ever need to do that because we all have PROGRAMMER CRAIG, mush melon brain extroidinaire in need of a few new fuses.
Posted by Robin | February 2, 2009, 11:07 pmI’m not a big fan of the hate crime label in general. I would prefer to eliminate it, but I understand there is a difference between Islamofascist sympathizing thugs or neonazis conducting vandalism and a kid who thinks he’s making “street art”.
What I always tell fellow Jews is, this isn’t bad. Our grandparents were thrown in Gulags by the Soviets or murdered by the Nazis. Our great grandparents could live in a village for fifty years, and then one day find it burned to the ground by Kossaks, their wives raped by the Turks, their meager savings stolen at the drop of a hat. Or have their children be forcibly taken and enlisted in the Russian army where they were taught to hate Jews. Or be evicted from Poland every time the government didn’t wish to pay interest on the loans they took from Jewish bankers. Or be pogromed by Crusaders or German knights or bands of thieves, or hung by nearby villagers if there was a Christian child missing.
So really, what’s a broken window and a swastika? It’s a joke. We’ve had real persecution. These guys are amateurs. Does it feel go? No. Does it reignite thoughts of more serious problems? Of course. But we actually remember real problems.
That’s my experience. I’m sure others have their experience. The stain of slavery is difficult for blacks. I’m sure being Christian in a Muslim country is no picnic.
What persecution have Arabs ever had, besides from other Arabs? A bad harvest? A clan war where 3 people were killed over a woman? Someone used a Quran for target practice? Or maybe they flushed it down the toilet? It’s ridiculous. These are not persecutions, they’re recruiting tools for helping more people learn about and convert to Islam. The Muslim community should treat them as free publicity.
Posted by Anonymous | February 2, 2009, 11:55 pmRobin, give it up. You have absolutely ZERO credibility on any issue involving bigotry. The only people who will pay you any mind are other bigots.
Posted by programmer craig | February 3, 2009, 12:51 amHate crimes against Jews is simply wrong and immoral but for every action there is a reaction, so Jews should expect such hate crimes when Israel has just killed 3,100 people. That reminds me of teh hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims in the US right after 9/11, Arabs should expect that after knowing that 20 Saudis did what they did!
Thank God people still have brains to differentiate what is right and what is wrong.
Posted by Ali | February 3, 2009, 1:50 amIn no way is it possible to justify the desecration of religious buildings and the intimidation of groups, but the ugly truth is that this will happen again and again until worldwide Jews are able to disassociate Judaism from Israel. There are some that are trying very hard, and they deserve our full support.
Posted by Kamal | February 3, 2009, 10:05 pmDissociating Israel from Jews is like dissociating Arabic from Arabs. How do you fragment a universal truth? Why would you want to? You’re so out of your depth, placing yourself in opposition to the basic foundations on which the world exists… I don’t know why I bother.
Posted by Anonymous | February 3, 2009, 11:03 pm“”but the ugly truth is that this will happen again and again until worldwide Jews are able to disassociate Judaism from Israel.”"
This is pathetic. Judaism isn’t tied to Israel at all, except the Jews who want to be. Treating Jews like they bear some sort of ‘collective responsibility’ for what Israel does is profoundly anti-Semitic.
Posted by Joe | February 5, 2009, 12:15 pmA hate crime is against a specific group. Doesn’t matter if they’re black, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Arab Christian, Christian, Catholic, period.
Great post, Kalash.
Posted by Jillian | February 5, 2009, 6:02 pm