Responding to an Israel-hater
A Soldier’s Mother responds to a hateful comment on her blog that asks, “How does it feel to live in a country [Israel] hated by millions of people all over the world … because of your country´s hatred, racism, war crimes and evil acts.”:
So how does it feel to accept who you are, where you live, and what your country must do to survive? How does it feel to finally be in control of your own destiny, to be free in your own land? To raise your children in the place where they belong? How does it feel to have sons and daughters who are proud of their country and choose to defend it…and more, have the option to choose life – for the first time in 2,000 years, and the power to make that option reality? Pretty darn good. Thanks for asking.
The entire response is worth your time. Read it all.
Comments (15) »Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 10:02 AM | Stand for Israel
The P.A. turns 47
Last week the Palestinian Authority (P.A.) celebrated 47 years since its inception. During the event, which was broadcast on official P.A. TV, principal Palestinian Authority religious leader, the Mufti Muhammad Hussein, addressed the audience by citing a popular Islamic Hadith (Islamic saying attributed to the Muslim prophet Mohammad) which calls on Muslims to kill all Jews:
“The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: ‘Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’”
The Mufti’s quoting of this passage might sound shocking, yet this very statement was broadcast regularly on P.A. TV during the Palestinian Uprising from 2000-2006.
This statement isn’t what troubles Israelis so much – living in the Middle East you grow accustomed to such public displays of Islamic anti-Semitism – but rather, it’s the utter silence of the U.N., E.U., and U.S. when such statements are made on a public and official stage.
Comments (5) »Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at 11:33 AM | Amichai Farkas
Wanted: A real human rights conference
We’ve talked in the past about the tragic joke that is Durban, the United Nations World Conferences Against Racism. Given that the three Durban conferences held over the past ten years have been marked by rampant anti-Semitism, it might seem strange that CAMERA’s Dexter Van Zile is calling for another Durban conference.
But what he wants, he writes, is “a human rights conference worthy of the name.” Here are a few of the issues he’d like to see addressed:
We need a conference where Iraqi Christians, who numbered 1.5 million in 2003 and now number less than 500,000, can explain why they are leaving the country of their birth. They need a chance to make their case for an autonomous province in Iraq where religious and ethnic minorities can gather together against Islamists intent on making them disappear.
We need a conference where Coptic Christians can describe the church bombings, the abductions, the rapes and forced conversions they endure at the hands of Islamist in Egypt.
We need a conference where Christians, whose churches have been destroyed in Nigeria and Ethiopia, can describe the attacks they’ve endured at the hands of Islamists.
We need a conference where women who have endured beatings at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan can tell their story.
We need a conference where women who have been set on fire or have been splashed with acid by their relatives can tell their story.
If Dexter ever gets his wish, sign us up.
Comments (20) »Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 at 12:40 PM | Stand for Israel
New Jersey synagogues firebombed
An investigator stands on a lift near markers on the roof of Congregation Beth El, showing fire damage (photo: AP)
Several Molotov cocktails were thrown at a northern New Jersey synagogue early Wednesday morning, setting fire to the second floor of the building which houses the rabbi’s family. The rabbi suffered mild burns while putting out the fire, which caught onto his bed-sheets after one of the firebombs crashed through his bedroom window. Fortunately, no one else was physically injured in the incident.
This was the fourth Jewish institution that has been targeted over the last month in northern New Jersey. On January 3, a synagogue in Paramus was deliberately set on fire, while synagogues in Hackensack and Maywood, New Jersey, were spray-pained with graffiti bearing anti-Semitic slurs.
When I think about my childhood in New York, I can certainly recall some incidences where I was targeted by neighborhood bullies for being Jewish – but that was it. I do not have any memory of synagogues being spray-painted, fire-bombed, or being set on fire. On the other hand, many friends of mine here in Israel who grew up in London, New Zealand, France, Spain, and elsewhere have many unpleasant memories of anti-Semitism.
I recall being shocked when my good friend who migrated to Israel from New Zealand told me that every synagogue in New Zealand has a security team to protect the congregants. I always said, “Things are different in the U.S.” But then I think of the recent attacks in New Jersey, and I remind myself that similar attacks have occurred elsewhere, such as the attacks against synagogues in the Chicago area that occurred during the 2009 Gaza war — and I begin to wonder if my statement still holds true.
Ironically, here in Israel the synagogue is about the only public place where you won’t find a security guard at the entrance. Bus and train stations, shopping malls, movie theatres, as well as restaurants in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem all have guards at the door who check to…
Read More » Comments (7) »Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 12:43 PM | Amichai Farkas
Traditional vs. Muslim anti-Semitism?
U.S. ambassador to Belgium and long-time Obama aid Howard Gutman addressed the Jewish Conference on Anti-Semitism in Europe last Wednesday. In his speech, the ambassador made a distinction between “traditional” anti-Semitism – a baseless racial hatred of Jewish people – and Muslim anti-Semitism, which he described as a mere outgrowth of the “ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.” According to Gutman’s logic, Muslim hatred of Jews is merely a reaction to Israeli aggression towards Arabs.
The ambassador’s claim is historically false. There is a longstanding tradition of intolerance and Jew-hatred in Islamic countries. Jews in the Middle East, along with Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities, have suffered greatly in Muslim-majority countries since the emergence of Islam.
In fact, Omar, the successor of Mohammed, the founder of Islam, sanctioned the persecution of dhimmis, or non-Muslims, in his Charter of Omar, which defined the laws that governed the lives of dhimmis living in Muslim lands. Among the many restrictions of the Charter: Jews were forced to wear a yellow badge (blue for Christians), non-Muslims were not allowed to practice their religion publicly, and were not allowed to own horses since horses were deemed noble.
Non-Muslims were also required to pay special taxes which served as a reminder of their inferiority, as the Koran states (9:29) “Fight against those who believe not in Allah…until they pay the tribute regularly with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.” The implementation of these policies was carried out with varying degrees of cruelty and inflexibility depending on the ruler at the time.
The effect of this persecution is illustrated in the history of Yemen. The Yemenite Jewish community was once a respected part of Yemenite society. But successive Muslim leaders treated Yemen’s Jews with cruelty. At times synagogues were burned to the ground and Jews were forced to convert. At the turn of the 20th century a law was enforced in which fatherless Jewish children under thirteen were torn away from their mothers to be raised in Muslim homes. This law, according to historian S.D. Goitein, “more than…
Read More » Comments (1) »Monday, December 5th, 2011 at 5:14 PM | Amichai Farkas
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