Washington — Efforts to bring together Jewish and Muslim communities hit another snag when an imam at a major Muslim conference gave an incendiary speech in which he said Jews were to blame for the Holocaust.
The speech came during the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America, which was attended by rabbis who have been trying to build closer relations between Muslims and Jews.
At one of the conference’s 70 sessions, Warith Deen Umar, a New York imam, spoke critically of Jews, saying that the Holocaust happened to the Jews “because they were serially disobedient to Allah.” He also said that a small handful of Jews around President Obama “control the world.” ISNA immediately condemned the tenor of the comments. This was enough for some of the Jewish figures in attendance, but not enough for the Jewish terrorism hunter who brought the comments to light.
The divide comes in the context of a broader debate in the Jewish community about how far to go in dialogue with Islamic groups. One strong view has been presented by Steve Emerson, head of the Investigative Project on Terrorism and a skeptic when it comes to close ties between Jewish groups and the major American Muslim organizations.
Emerson has argued that ISNA and other Muslim groups are not as moderate as Jewish groups would like to believe. It was Emerson’s project that released a record and transcript of Umar’s comments, and he immediately rejected ISNA’s apology.
“I think they have fooled the Jewish groups,” Emerson told the Forward. “They haven’t changed.”
But Rabbi Marc Schneier, president and founder of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and a keynote speaker at the ISNA convention, said that Islamic groups are too often condemned based on extreme outliers.
“When you have 99.999% of the people saying good things and one person saying other things, you shouldn’t magnify the words of that one person,” Schneier said. “It is time for the Emersons of the world to understand that the process has begun and that while there may be bumps on the road, the process has begun.”
Emerson shot back that “Rabbi Schneier is involved in legitimization of extreme Islamist groups for years. He wouldn’t tell a good group from a bad one, even if he got hit on his head by jihad.”
ISNA, the largest representative Muslim body in the United States, has been engaged in an active dialogue with the Union for Reform Judaism for the past two years. Leaders of both groups spoke at gatherings of their counterparts, and their joint project, Children of Abraham, formulated a guidebook on interfaith relations.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs adopted in March a resolution endorsing dialogue with the Muslim community, and Schneier has been active in twining mosques and synagogues to encourage dialogue.
ISNA’s national convention, which took place in Washington on the July 4th weekend and drew several thousand participants, featured a senior White House official for the first time. Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s senior adviser on public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, praised ISNA for its interfaith outreach.
Umar’s speech came during a session that was named after a new book he is touting, titled “Jews for Salaam: The Straight Path to Global Peace.” Umar, the former head of the New York State prison chaplain program, is no stranger to controversy. In 2003, The Wall Street Journal published a lengthy report about how Umar spread extremism within the prison system. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Umar referred to the terrorists as martyrs. He also published a book titled “Judaiology” that spoke about the “inordinacy of Jewish power” and stated that Jews “play mind games” to deceive the non-Jews.
In his July speech, Umar took issue with the fact that Obama’s first choices for White House positions were Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod. Both men are Jewish, though Umar wrongly described them as Israeli. “Why do this small number of people have control of the world?” he asked.
He then moved to speak of the Holocaust, providing his own explanation for its cause: “These people were punished. They were punished for a reason, because they were serially disobedient to Allah.”
ISNA leaders were quick to issue a statement condemning his language and stressing that it does not reflect the group’s opinion of other religions.
“We would like to set the record straight and state our complete rejection of all prejudicial views and bigoted stances toward the Jewish community and any other community of faith,” ISNA’s president, Ingrid Mattson, said in a statement.
Louay Safi, executive director of the group’s Leadership Development Center, told the Forward that Umar was scheduled to speak about peace and to demonstrate how Muslim and Jewish communities can live in peace. Safi said that Umar, like other speakers, was vetted based on his proposed topic, not his past.
“We were very surprised when we heard about it,” Safi said, adding that the group will now look for ways to make sure that such mistakes do not occur in the future.
Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com
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I'm with Emerson on this one. Schneier is a fool, a "useful idiot" if you will. Where exactly are those "99.999%" of people saying good things? Folks like Schneier (or Yoffie) search out imams who will say a few nice things to their face, and they're shocked, shocked! when their true sentiments come out.
ISNA is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, and was named an unindicted coconspirator in the recent Holy Land Foundation terror funding trial. They will not condemn by name groups like Hamas and Hizbullah and, pushed on the issue, they'll admit they look forward to sharia coming to America.
"The speech came during the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America, which was attended by rabbis who have been trying to build closer relations between Muslims and Jews."
Some Rabbis never learn.
They don't want to believe that some people really, really hate Jews. They think that it's all "Right wing Jewish propaganda"
We have our own racist wackos, like "rabbi" Avichai Rontzki, or "rabbi" Mordechai Eliyahu, who call for the extermination of Moslems.
We survived for 2000 years by reaching out to non-Jews. Marc Schneier is doing the right thing.
"We have our own racist wackos, like "rabbi" Avichai Rontzki, or "rabbi" Mordechai Eliyahu, who call for the extermination of Moslems"
Yeah, but you wouldn't (a) have people like that active in the Jewish equivalent of ISNA or any mainstream Jewish communal organisation or (b) send them along to interfaith groups.
ISNA is very closely tied to Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood, and was I believe an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas funding case.
So, this is the equivalent of some interfaith group partnering with a Kahane-ist outfit, and then being surprised when its speakers turn out to been vicious racists.
"We have our own racist wackos, like "rabbi" Avichai Rontzki, or "rabbi" Mordechai Eliyahu, who call for the extermination of Moslems"
Yeah, but you wouldn't (a) have people like that active in the Jewish equivalent of ISNA or any mainstream Jewish communal organisation or (b) send them along to interfaith groups.
ISNA is very closely tied to Hamas/Muslim Brotherhood, and was I believe an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas funding case.
So, this is the equivalent of some interfaith group partnering with a Kahane-ist outfit, and then being surprised when its speakers turn out to been vicious racists.
"Yeah, but you wouldn't (a) have people like that active in the Jewish equivalent of ISNA or any mainstream Jewish communal organisation or (b) send them along to interfaith groups."
We appointed one of them Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs.
I didn't, and neither did any organisation I'm a member of.
In any case, I doubt he gets invited to speak at interfaith dialogue groups.
And - an utter tosser though he is - his failings are related to his party's demands for loyalty to the state, not to supernatural justifications for racism.
WD Umar's quote isn't all that far out of line, and I'd like to see the paragraph the quote came from. Muslims, and I thought Christians, believe that God's covenant with the children of Israel was broken, and God punishes them for rejecting Islam or Christianity. If the imam is saying God let the holocaust happen because they didn't accept the religion, that's not a new claim and most Christians wouldn't see it as that offensive.
Quit dumping on ISNA, they're a truly moderate organization. Go to their convention and see for yourself, they really work hard to keep out extremism.
Good news, ISNA has condemned the remark: http://www.isna.net/articles/News/ISNA-Rejects-All-Expressions-of-Racism-and-Bigotry.aspx
Here are some of Umar's quotes, especially for those such as Sulayman who say he "isn't all that far out of line." Judge for yourself:
*
"So we [Muslims] don't like Jews. In America we [Muslims] don't like Jews. Like in many places, we [Muslims] don't like Jews." "the first man that Obama picked when we were so happy that he was the president, he picked an Israeli – Rahm Emanual, his number one man. His number two man – [David] Axelrod, another Israeli person. Why do this small number of people have control of the world?" *
"You have to know in America, this is a so-called Christian-Judeo [country, or] sometimes they call it Judeo-Christian … you have to understand the psychology that's being used even for that terminology. How could such a small group of people[i.e., the Jews,] be over a larger group of people?"
I see - only chareidi Rabbis can blame Jewish sins for causing the Holocaust.
To even attempt to compare Christians to muslims is laughable because we do not follow the same God, they are the exact polar oposite of each other. To say the ISNA is moderate is to believe that Hitler really didn't want to hurt the Jews. To the jewicidals to beleive these muslims is folly and wishful thinking, but go ahead and prove Darwin right. As for me, I will stand by the Jews who stand to be slaughtered, AGAIN!
It is odd that Norman is unable to distinguish between U.S. Jewish communal groups and the Israeli government.
How can the Jews and Christians not understand Muslims after all that 1400 years of the existence of Islam? Is beyond me. I am not a Muslims but I do read quran . From Muslims Quram Sura 5:51" Believers , take neither Jews nor Christians for your friends and protectors. They are friends and protectors of one another.Whoever of you seeks their friendship and supports them shall become one of their number. Allah does not guide the wrongdoers" So here you have in a nut shell.Quran is full of hatred towards Jews and Christians,and all non believers. No way Muslims are ever going to build bridges between Islam and any other religions on this planed. Don't delude yourselves that Islam/Muslims are moderate. They are not and will never be. see www.thereligionofpeace.com www.danielpipes.org
The path ahead of us is not simple. We are in a state of war with the vast majority of Arab countries, with Islamic believers throughout the world supporting them. We are talking about tens of millions of enemies who are ready to It is easy to be enticed by the false prophets who promise peace. go to war against us at any moment, and hundreds of millions more who voice support for it.
In such a situation, it is easy to be enticed by the false prophets who promise peace. However, one who examines the circumstances with open eyes will understand that withdrawal and compromise will not bring an end to the Arabs' war against us; on the contrary, it will only increase it. In order to understand this, the source of our enemy's motivation must be understood.
It is no coincidence that the Arabs have succeeded in imposing the Islamic religion on many nations, to the point where presently there are approximately 1,400,000,000 people who are believers. The genetic code of Islam is directed towards a steadfast war to impose the religion of Mohammad on the entire world by means of the sword. And to achieve this goal, everything is legitimate. If they need to lie, they will lie. If they need to kill, they will kill - hundreds of thousands or even millions. It was not the enchanting beauty of the Islamic religion which drew so many nations to accept it upon themselves, but rather the clear threat of death.
All nations reached their achievements through wars and victories; however, in Islam, unlike other cultures, the principle of compromise is unacceptable, especially a compromise over land. Therefore, even when the Muslims lack the power to defeat their enemy, they are not willing to accept compromise. If they make a cease-fire (tahadeya in Arabic), in the view of Islam, it is only a recess which must be utilized to prepare for the continuation of the war. If possible, in the meantime, they will weaken their opponent with terrorist attacks and ransacking. If not, at the very least they will attempt to anesthetize him with lies, until they are able to attack once again and defeat him.
This fundamental principle causes the Muslims never to lay down their sword; to always be ready for the continuation of the war. This is how the Muslims succeeded to impose their religion on many nations, who in turn, according to this code, continued to conquer additional territory.
According to the Muslim way of thinking, the world is divided into two areas: Dar al-Islam is the area already conquered by Islam. Dar al-Harb is the area of war, which the Arabs are commanded to conquer until it is turned into Muslim territory. After a certain territory has been conquered by Islam, it is declared as holy Muslim territory, which is forbidden to be relinquished under any circumstances.
Even if this territory is conquered by another nation for hundreds of years, according to Muslim law it is still considered holy land which must be returned to Muslim control. Accordingly, Muslims execute terrorist attacks in Spain and large parts of India, because the Islam which conquered them in the past, demands them in return now. And if unable to conquer them, Muslims will at least carry out terrorist attacks, so that normal life cannot be conducted there until they are returned to Islamic rule.
The State of Israel constitutes a double problem from their perspective, for it was established on territory that was conquered by Islam since its foundation (except for a period of approximately 100 years when it was ruled by the Dar al-Harb is the area of war, which the Arabs are commanded to conquer. Crusaders); and not only this, but the land of Israel is located in the heart of Muslim territory. Therefore, as far as they are concerned, this is the first place they must conquer - either by sword or by guile.
Some Muslims are more religious, others less; however, the central foundation which strives to conquer and rule remains alive to a great extent amongst all of them.
The present debate between the moderates and the extremists is over the question of whether it is necessary to implement agreements with the State of Israel in order to cause its collapse, or to crush it through extended guerilla warfare. Concerning the goal itself - the dismantling of the State of Israel and the conquering of the entire Land of Israel - none of them concede.
well actually, it is a tenet of our faith that when bad things happen to us, they ARE the result of divine judgement. Someone who says otherwise of course never glanced over the liturgy on Rosh Hashana and YomKippur. Now, it doesn't mean that if we were to engage in idol worship by following the Nazarenes or Mohammedans, that our fate would be better. It would be infinitely worse, because then, we would disappear as Jews. And at the moment, we are still there, despite the persecution starting with Nimrod 3900 years ago, then continued by Egyptians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Christians, Muslims and Nazis. So no small achievement.
Still, why the persecutions? Well, if we go back to the Torah, the fact that we were persecuted in Egypt, didn't preclude us getting the promised land and building the Mikdash. But yes, there is a discussion whether the souls of the babies that perished in Egypt were souls of people who sinned, but died before the Mabul.
A lot of dati leumi rabbis would say that the persecutions during the Holocaust were due to the lack of enthusiasm in rebuilding the land, based on the opinion of R Issachar Teichtal (Em Habanim Smecha), z''l.
In my opinion, the fact that we have avoided rebuilding the 2nd Mikdash for 42 years and the easiness with which current goverment discusses settlement freeze seriously damages our position in the eyes of HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
“These people were punished. They were punished for a reason, because they were serially disobedient to Allah.”
Doesn't his logic lead to the conclusion that the condition of African-Ameicans in the US is similarly due to serial disobedience to Allah?
I'm all for debate - especially with people with whom I disagree. But conjecture and hatred portrayed as fact gives me a headache. Life's too short for headaches.
Andrew S San Francisco, CA
Muslims are only playing the waiting game in USA, that is once their numbers swell and they out number the indigenous population then they will flux their muscles, like they have done in lot many other countries.Thailand, Burma, India, Malaysia,Philippines to name the few have all Muslims problems, now even China.Do you know once Iran(Persia)had Zoroastrians And Baha'i populations,Afghanistan had Buddhist and Hindu population!! To day there are no Buddhists or Hindus in Afghanistan. Islam is a Cult and not religion as Muslims have us believe. Muslims can't coexist with any religion.Sura 9:111" Allah has purchased form the faithful their live and worldly goods and has promised them Paradise, they will fight for the cause of Allah ,they will Kill and be Killed." Islam doesn't mean peace as Muslims have us believe.
The only "mistake" W.D. Unmar made was to speak the inconvenient truth. He was simply saying aloud what all believing Muslims (including the organizers from ISNA, an organization linked to terrorist groups at the Holy Land Foundation trial) believe. In fact, we should be grateful to him for revealing the "conference" to be the sham it was. To those rabbis -- shameless self-promoters -- who, as usual, disgrace other Jews by their groveling and contemptible, pathetic desire to be loved by those that wish to annihilate us -- I suggest you read the Koran, the Hadith, and any of the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence, all of which are filled with the most vile and extreme Jew-hatred. Or spare yourselves the trouble and read the two splendid source books by Dr. Andrew Bostom on the place of Jews and Judaism in Muslim religion and theology. Rabbi Schneier, in particular, is an odious publicity-hound and ignoramous who would do anything to ingratiate himself with our enemies. He's a convenient idiot who is all the more of a problem because he fancies himself as some sort of intergroup hero and intellectual. His term "outlier" is simply risible. It would be nice if Jews like this would just shut up and stop making us look ridiculous in the eyes of the world.
Well said and explained, Phil ! You have stated the heart of the matter in your final paragraph. Mr. Emerson has called it right.
When the PA today says that "Peace is not the goal; Palestine is the goal", believe that they MEAN what they say. And to the Rabbonim like Schneir, who may have studied the lessons of Jewish history but clearly have failed to absorb them, I say to you, " If you and your family want to commit Jewicide, that's your business - but as for me and my family, include us out." I don't need to found a Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (sounds warm and fuzzy, doesn't it) to understand the meaning of what is happening in all those bastions of Arab democracy, tolerance and enlightenment around the world (doesn't it just want to make you want to visit Mecca or Madinah? - sorry, no infidels allowed- try Jerusalem instead, in the Jewish madinah).
Woe unto the generation that embraces such Rabbone-heads as their spiritual guides.
When will the worlds, freedom loving people understand, that radical Islam, has one goal, the destruction of Western Civilization.
Islam, as a religion, teaches HATE not Faith. What civilized nation would brain wash its young, to become suicide bombers? Tellin its young, as a suicide bomber, you"ll go straight to heaven and be met by Alah and 72 virgins. Radical Islam is a hate organization, not a religion.
The key to the survival of Humanity, is MUTUAL RESPECT, GUIDED BY THE GOLDEN RULE!!!!!!
Those who spread hate, are the doormen for evil. Don't bite the bait that leads to hate!!!!!! WWW.jackadler.com
Do those who dialogue with Jewish leaders accept the idea of a Jewish state in the Middle East? Do they speak openly of peace between the Islamic world and the Jewish world, including the state of Israel? Do they openly value respecting the freedom and independent existence of other religions and peoples? If the answer to these questions is 'yes' then cooperative dialogue would seem possible. But if it is 'no' then what can the dialogue possibly be about?
Well, Sulayman, the point is when you're talking about the Holocaust, it doesn't matter whether what's said would be acceptable to Christians; what matters is whether it's offensive to the victims of the Holocaust and the groups that were victimized. It's akin to a racist making an offensive statement about blacks and then saying that the statement wouldn't offend whites. It doesn't wash.
As the son of Holocaust survivors, I can tell you the "imam's" statement is a HIGHLY offensive.
"If the imam is saying God let the holocaust happen because they didn't accept the religion, that's not a new claim and most Christians wouldn't see it as that offensive."
Bullshit, Sulayman!
The Catholic Church has repudiated such nonsense and did most mainstream Protestant groups.
Go peddle your anti-Jewish hatred to a Muslim website.
A conference of this kind is an act of delusion for one party (the Muslims) and one of self-delusion for the other (the reform "Rabbis"): The Muslims want to convince the public that they are safe, and the "Rabbis" want to fell good about themselves.
Anybody who knows even the most basic things about Islam knows that its ego thrives on Jewish self-hatred and lack of religious observance; the legitimacy of Islam as a religion, in its own eyes, is based on the lack of adherence by Jews to the will of G-d, which allows it to claim that it is the new "Chosen People" (sound familiar?).
For this reason, Reform Jewish leaders are the perfect boost for the Muslim ego for the above reason, and one could imagine that their expected spineless, relativist, ultra-PC discourse would be the ultimate seal of approval to this logic.
Oh yeah, may the Mashiah come soon and save us from ourselves.
Is everyone forgetting the Jews legitimate claim to the Holy Land.Archeological evidence that cannot be disputed puts the Jews in the Holy Land long before Islam appeared in the 600 A.D. era.The arabs have no legitimate claim to the land of Israel.In the late 1960's Yasser Arafat referred to Jordan as the Palestinian homeland.This statement is actually on film.Millions of square miles filled with the so called "brothers"of the Palestinians and yet none of them are willing to make a place for their Palestinian brothers because the land issue is the perfect pretext for the Arabs to continue attacking Israel.Jerusalem was in the Holy Land long before the Muslims ever found their way there.Before the Jewish state was brought back into existance in 1948 the so called Palestinians had no desire for Jerusalem as their capital.They lived there yet there was no fervor for the Holy Land as there is today.So why the fetish for such a small strip of land?When all around them there is land aplenty which their own brothers will not give them.Also,the term Palestine was a term coined by the Romans when they held sway over the Middle East.Yet ironically, here we have a radical group(Palestinians)referring to themselves by a western moniker.If they want to be accurate they should call themselves Caananites as that portion of land that is today called Israel was in ancient times called Canaan.No true Jew could ever try to "understand" people who want them eradicated.What's the point of trying to be friends with people who want you dead.Incidently,to those who say that Islam and Judaism have the same God,you are delusional.The God of the muslims was created using the moon god Sin,and that was the local tribal deity that Mohammad chose to represent his newly created religion,hence the symbol of Islam is a half moon and solitary star.Dialogue with fanatics will only help them to gain the psychological advantage over Jews who feel the hate so strongly that aquiesence is their only option.The only solution to this dilemma is to make it clear to the Palestinians that if they are willing to live in peace with the Jews they are welcome.But to give them a state from which they could build a military stronghold to use against the Jews would be a national suicide.Those Jews who want peace at any price will in the end be slaves to a powerful master embodied in nascent fear and delusional one sided relationships in which no compromise is ever enough.
The French have long known about duplicitous people - that's why they coined the term: " Honi soit qui mal y pense."
Arab Muslims in particular maintain a visceral hatred of Jews based on Koranic and Hadithian texts. It is pointless for radical rabbis like Schneier to dismiss such hatred as coming from fringe Arab Muslims. In fact, it comes from mainstream Arab Muslims.
In my country - Canada - the hate-filled words of that imam would be the subject of a human rights commission idictment for violating the Canadian criminal code provisions against hate speech. The USA is far behind the ball on this matter compared to Canada.
I would hope the rabbi's congregants and supporters would sit him down and straighten him out.
We're all forgetting that ISNA did in fact condemn the imam's comments. It was clearly a mistake to call the imam at all but what else do you want ISNA to do now? I am sure this imam will never be called back again to speak at any convention. There are extremists in every religion. Wackos are not only found in the Islamic religion. Rabbi Meir Kahane was one and you'll find plenty of wackos that are Christian, Hindu etc. I am so disgusted to see such hateful and ignorant messages. The only way to solve the problems between 2 faiths is to do just what ISNA and Rabbi Schneier are doing - interfaith dialogue. And we don't need members of other religions adding flame to the fire as a certain reader is clearly trying to do.
Well Farah who are we going to believe ? you ? or our lying eyes? Your so-called faith is obamanation to mankind and humanity in general. Everywhere islam goes, nothing but trouble follows, and has since mohamad crawled out of the desert to slaughter, murder and rape his way across the Saudi peninsula. Nice try at tayquia but we in the west ain't buying what your selling.
Actually Mohammed was an innovator of sort : He was laughed at and ridiculed, because he couldn't teach humanity anything new. So he decided to turn against humanity. He made it his UPS (Unique Point of Sale): Islam is not about curbing the dark side of man, but encouraging it. Whoever doubts it, must be killed. Very efficient self evolving system. An elegant system. Any programmer could be proud of it. In a rational world, it would be hacked though, e.g. defeated intellectually and militarily. But in the PC (politically correct) world, hacking is verboten.
And if you equal the PC (personal computer) world with the real PC (politically correct) world, I come to an eerie conclusion: Our rich, peaceful western societies are so deluded, they can't distiguish a real mortal enemy from a virtual one.
The hard truth is: Jews won't even exist in a hundred years if they don't manage to create good relations with Islam and end this conflict in a peaceful way. As some of you already pointed out, extremist muslims are crazy and want to conquer the entire western world including Israel. And there is 1.5 Billion of them and increasing! Iran has even managed to get support from Russia and China in progressing with his nuclear program, as you know. Someone has to tell these crazies that we are not their enemies.
I have found an interesting interview by FrontPage magazine from 2008 about Steve Schippert discussing the so-called "China-Russia-Iran Axis" which I recommend reading: http://www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=29604
This is a serious issue to this date which shouldn't be underestimated. Even in case of a war, America, Israel and Europe would still face a powerful enemy. It is not only in the interest of the Jews, but in the interest of all of us western people to create good relations with Islam.
I know some of you may view this as a bad idea, especially when reading articles like that above, but seriously, do you have a better idea? What should we do? Start a nuclear war with Iran, Russia and China? This is suicide!
Fools come in all flavors and sizes - even Jewish fools.
Until the non-muslim understands takkiya, they will understand nothing. Islam, is willing to wage war (in its many forms)and wait a 100 years for results. In case anyone is doing the math, they're about 45 years into its current process. Look around you, see the Saudi funded high school in Mclean Virginia, keep looking..the imams that fed prisoners nothing but Wahabbism for breakfast lunch and dinner in every major prison for the past 30 years..look again, what do you see or more importantly, look at what you no longer see ... WTC and every building surrounding it and certainly what we not only do not see, but we do not hear. We do not hear critical apologies from the source nor will we, it is not the intention to apologize for Islam, only to offer a half-a##ed apology for the speaker.
I think people should consider what is happening in the world and view it from the perspective of Muslims. They are not all fanatics and killers. They have families, jobs and lives and want a good education and a comfortable home, just like everyone else. I mean, some of the comments above make it sound like you believe them to be another species... or aliens from out of space! Ridiculous. If 1.4 Billion people truly felt those feelings and suspicions you attribute to them, the world would be in turmoil.
Consider, those who come from the poorest of places, or spend time there and see the injustices of the poor (which exist even in America today) are usually the ones who start the attacks. This is not uncommon, people impoverished attack when they feel the world is against them/they are disadvantaged, jealousy followed by hostility are natural human responses. This facet of human nature is one repeated throughout history. Look at Apartheid in Africa. Compare to the situation of some Muslim states in the world, and their lack of progress since the golden age of Islam (which if you do your homework, was a shining example in human history in which Muslims ruled peacefully alongside Jews and Christians, and knowledge and progress flourished - the origins of the very renaissance Europe prides itself). Is the source of hatred really intrinsic in the religion or is it a convenient excuse for people justifying their own emotional responses to their circumstances. Or others taking advantage of those less educated, to further their own interests.
In regard to those who leave the west to become suicide bombers... one should consider why someone would leave their comfortable lives to kill others...hmmm what would drive a man to kill another? could it be anger? Frustration? Constantly being met with suspicion regardless of his character, intentions or beliefs... being backed into a corner by his neighbors calling him a terrorist? Is the solution really to take the side of pointing the finger and calling someone a fanatic through and through? How is that going to make the 'moderate' Muslims feel? - that they will never be allowed to just live normally without suspicion... what option are they given but to become against those who subject them to such treatment?
Norman, you are so out of line.
We survived for 2000 years by reaching out to non-Jews? More accurate to say we survived for 2000 years despite non-Jews, and by avoiding them as much as possible.
The Israeli Foreign Minister is on the same level as this wacko Jew-hating imam?
Are you one of these American Jews who has no ties with anything Israeli, and who relies on CNN and J-Street for his smug criticism?
Why don't you come here for a few weeks and get a real view of the situation. I don't care for Liberman personally, but he got the votes, and frankly I agree with his platform.
As Obama has so eloquently demonstrated, any putz can get elected, and Liberman won enough votes to be part of the coalition.
If misguided people like you continue to encourage America's misquided pressure on Israel, it will end up driving Israelis even further to the right. No one likes to be patronized. Not Jews, not Arabs, not Americans.
"Where exactly are those "99.999%" of people saying good things?" (Raymond in DC)
Excellent point Raymond! It will be wonderful when a number of high level Islamic theologians, at least here in North America will begin to say some positive things about Israel. For instance, Israel leads the world in planting trees and in turning the deserts green which could turn out to be perhaps the most effective response to climate change. Desalinating ocean water and pumping it into the deserts as Israel has done on a massive scale combats climate change by creating a significant carbon sink, facilitates the production of food at a time when one billion people worldwide suffer malnutrition plus every cubic meter of H2O added to the water table of any desert area will NOT be on top of Florida or Holland!
A biologist also put forward that the world's deserts pump out the majority of the heat going into the atmosphere. Turning deserts green will significantly reduce this effect!
Way to go Israel for possibly showing us the most effective solution to climate change!
Will those of you who believe Islam is inherently evil please explain how my Jewish ancestors were able to live in Muslim Turkey for 400 in peace, while the "Christians" in Russia and Poland were repeatedly brutalizing and murdering Jews.
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I posted a factual non hateful on topic post and was removed
So many Jew-haters read the Forward. Its not a surprise, because the "Jewish" Forward is a far-left extremist anti-Israel "progressive" propagandist, which is in league with J Street, and seeks to undermine American Jews' support for Israel.
Oh, and the muslim extremist group, ISNA, cynically issued a "Non-apology Apology": http://www.investigativeproject.org/1090/isnas-non-apology-apology
Info on Islam? http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
Islam collaborated with Nazi Germany. Hitler admired the Grand Mufti Al-Husseini and vice versa.
Read article...
From Al Husseini to Hitler :Radical Islam and the Nazi connection http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/2543
It's obvious that radical Islam and radical Christians (Nazis) secretly support each other. Both have a common enemy: Jews.
Shalomo ben Sabbatai
This may help with answering your question. It's not exactly how one would describe living freely. The quality of life was tempered by the whim and winds of whoever was in 'charge'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Turkey
Because Wikipedia is such a reliable source of history... really.
Wikipedia may or may not be a perfect source, but certainly a step up from your post which cites no sources.The 'shining example' you refer to was less shining for Christians and Jews who were taxed for not being muslim. "In regard to those who leave the west to become suicide bombers... one should consider why someone would leave their comfortable lives to kill others...hmmm what would drive a man to kill another? could it be anger? Frustration?" Are you actually suggesting the anger and frustration is best resolved with violence? Are you condoning violent Jihad? REALLY! Get a grip on reality.
Personally, Emerson's about as much an expert on Islam as David Duke is on race. He accused muslims of various acts were it turned out they were innocent and refused to admit that he fucked up. Also, during the middle ages, Jews were treated like Crap by Christians, and muslims ALSO HAD TO PAY THEIR OWN TAXES. being a dhimmi wasn't good by today's standards but compared to the past (especially christian europe,) it was pretty damn progressive. Is it just me, or is everyone here an apologist for steve emerson?
Islam collaborated with Hitler? Islam is not a monolithic block. There are many interpretations and beliefs. There were muslims who saved jews belive it or not, and all the mufti did was supply an SS death squad and advocate hitler. he didn't really do much. Therefore, you are fill of shit, because not every muslim supported hitler