The other day my son remarked that TV reports of Syrian protests showed protesters shouting “Alawi Jews.”
As you may know, the Assad family which has ruled Syria since 1971 belongs to a small minority Islamic sect, the Alawis (or ‘Alawites’). About 75% of Syrians are Sunni Muslims, and many do not even consider the Alawis true Muslims. Bashar al Assad, like his father Hafez, has always tried to keep on the good side of the Muslim world by supporting the most radical Islamist elements (who were crushed brutally, of course, when they tried to get power in Syria). Nobody actually thinks the Assads are Jewish.
In Libya, opponents of Muammar Gadafi could credibly claim that their enemy is a homicidal maniac. You’d think that would be a good enough reason to depose him. But they have a better argument: they are claiming that he is actually a Jew.
When an American woman journalist was brutally beaten and raped in Cairo’s Tahrir square, it was reported that her attackers shouted “Jew!” The crowd had no reason to think that she was Jewish (she wasn’t, as if it matters). Other foreign journalists were also accused of being Jews.
Poster of Hosni Mubarak with star of David held by Tahrir Square demonstrator (courtesy European Jewish Press)
Cairo demonstrators were reported as shouting “leave, leave, ya Mubarak. Tel Aviv is waiting for you,” and “leave, leave, you American and Israeli traitor.” Clearly Mubarak is neither Jewish, Israeli or American.
In Pakistan,
In October 2009, Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha, an Urdu-language monthly magazine which is part of the Haftroza Al-Qalam group of publications belonging to the militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad, alleged in a lengthy article that the international polio eradication campaign was a “dangerous Jewish conspiracy.” The article, “Polio: Disease or Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy,” read in part:
“The Jews, who dream of ruling the world, have invented different types of vaccines, drugs, and injections in an organized way to weaken Muslims in their beliefs on spiritual, practical, and moral levels, and make their bodies contaminated…” — MEMRI
Reverses suffered by the Pakistani cricket team have also been blamed on Jewish plots.
In Indonesia,
A book bomb was found Thursday at the house of musician and producer Ahmad Dhani in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta. The book titled Yahudi Militan (Militant Jew) was sent to Dhani’s residence Tuesday but was only opened on Thursday. Dhani, like Patriotic Party chairman Yapto Soerjosomarno who received a book bomb on Tuesday, is believed to have Jewish ancestry…
University of Indonesia intelligence expert Andi Wijayanto said the targets of the bomb attacks were carefully chosen by the terrorists. “All of the books were about the enemies of Islam. So it is likely that the senders thought these four men personified the enemies of Islam,†he said.
Ulil, the recipient of the first bomb, is the founder of the Islam Liberal Network (JIL), which has been accused of receiving funding from Jewish organizations and the US government. Gories, who received the second bomb, formerly headed the National Police’s Detachment 88 counterterrorist unit, which has also been accused of being funded by Jews and the US.
Andi said this speculation could be true. “We can connect the dots and see the connection. These men could easily represent enemies of Islam, in this case, Jews,†he said. — Jakarta Post
I could go on… and on and on. Jew hatred in the Muslim world is out of control. And it is not especially related to the condition of the Palestinian Arabs, although atrocity stories about them are often used to stir up hatred among Muslims in other places.
During the 2008-9 war in Gaza, Aljazeera broadcast continuous footage showing horribly wounded and dead Arabs. Some of it was from previous Arab-Israeli wars and some was Paliwood fakerey, but the effect was to create an enormous amount of hatred against Israel and Jews.
But one cannot make the Palestinian connection with Pakistani cricketeers, popular Indonesian singers and Muammar Gadafi.
There are 1.4 billion Muslims in the world and perhaps 13 million Jews. They outnumber us by more than 100 to 1. Why are they so insecure?
Technorati Tags: Islam, antisemitism
Muslim anti-Semitism is an interesting pathology. Interesting when you consider no Jews live in most of the Muslim World.
The need for a bogeyman seems to be a universal one but only with Muslims is all their own evil, backwardness and lack of progress to establish free, humane and developed societies blamed on the Jews.
This despite the fact that Jews couldn’t stop Muslim countries from doing what they want and this obsession with the Jews is all the more remarkable when they outnumbered by Muslims 100-1.
Yes, one has to ask why the Jews make them feel so insecure even though there are no Jews in most Muslim lands today.
A true answer to your question would take I suspect volumes. But there are obvious basic reasons for the hated. The former dhimmi people humiliated the great Islamic world – conqueror in a succession of wars. The abominable Jews took land which Islam has long considered its own. Once theirs, never anyone elses. Every Arab country and now most Islamic countries needs a scapegoat to take pressure off the corrupt ruling regime. The Jews are the universal answer, the object of total demonization. There are of course many other reasons, many again relating to the whole subject of ‘pride’ and ‘humiliation’. There are also the matter of individual Jews being prominent in so many areas of world- culture while individual Muslims have small or no place. One more point. They are insecure because their culture and religion puts the focus on elements which are out of keeping with modern ‘thought’ and development. I do not know the way out of it. I would however wish that the government and people of Israel would be on the one hand absolute firm and unwavering in regard to security matters, but also show consideration of the ‘other’ in all kinds of ways we do not especially do now. Respect and consideration should be shown to the ‘other’ wherever possible in the hope of one day getting to the situation where they will see us differently. It would be after all better for us and for them if we could, and I know this sounds Utopian, live in mutual respect with each other.