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Is Islamophobia a serious threat to world peace? Here’s one who thinks so:

A UN expert on racism on Friday branded the defamation of religions – in particular critical portrayals of Islam in the West – a threat to world peace.

“Islamophobia today is the most serious form of religious defamation,” Doudou Diene told the UN Human Rights Council, which is currently holding a three-week session in Geneva.

Diene cited a caricature of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad in a Swedish newspaper, a protest by far-right groups in Belgium Tuesday against the “Islamization of Europe,” and campaigns against the construction of mosques in Germany and Switzerland as evidence of an “ever increasing trend” toward anti-Islamic actions in Europe.

“We see the initiatives and activities of many groups and organizations which are working hard to bring about a war of civilizations,” he said, adding that right-wing groups were trying to equate Islam with violence and terrorism. — Jerusalem Post

It’s interesting that he sees Islamophobia as dangerous to world peace. All forms of religious prejudice are pernicious, of course, but they are not usually characterized as threats to world peace.

There is no doubt that the massive terrorist attacks in the West in this century — 9/11, the bombings in Madrid and London, etc. — were threats to world peace, and were indeed calculated to bring about a war of civilizations. And they were carried out in the name of Islam, no matter how marginal the conception of Islam held by the terrorists is.

And surveys have shown that in some places (e.g., the UK) the idea that terrorism in ‘defense’ of Islam is justified, while still a minority opinion, is not marginal at all — and it doesn’t take much to convince some people that Islam is under attack.

So what we have is this:

• Some Muslims have committed horrendous terrorist attacks against the West in the name of Islam.

• A significant minority of Muslims supports them.

• As a result, there has been a reaction against Islam in general (although only rarely a violent one), and the nativist right wing in Europe is taking advantage of it.

It seems strange to me that Dr. Diene sees this last as the threat to peace. It seems to me that the bombs and hijacked aircraft of the terrorists have already broken the peace. But this is the perspective of the UN.

Technorati Tags: Islamophobia, Islam, terrorism, Diene

I seem to have been wrong when I guessed that last week’s flyover of Syria was just intended to collect data about Syrian radar equipment. Apparently, something was bombed. But what? Here are a few known facts:

• Israel took a significant risk, diplomatically and militarily, to do this. So the target must have been important. And it must have been time-critical.

• Israel was entirely silent about the affair.

Ami Isseroff thinks that the Russians may have been building an antiaircraft installation to protect Mediterranean naval bases they are developing in the Syrian ports of Tartus and Latakia, or perhaps a listening post such as the one in Lebanon which guided the successful missile strike on an Israeli ship in 2006.

He speculates that if there were Russian military personnel present, that would explain Israel’s silence. And there would be little risk to November’s summit planned by the US, since the US would be happy to see the Russian installations — which threaten US forces in the region — destroyed.

If the target were simply Iranian weapons being delivered to Syria and/or Hezbollah, then one would have expected Israel to make a public fuss about it, thinks Isseroff.

He may be right that Russian personnel were present. But this doesn’t explain the urgency. Unless Israel thinks that war with Syria is imminent — which of course is another possibility — then this must have been a very, very important target.

What would count as such a target? In my opinion, only an existential threat: maybe a nuclear or other WMD installation (it’s been suggested that North Korea is selling off nuclear material).

If we are on the verge of an Israeli or US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, then whatever it was may have been intended for use in retaliation. This would explain the urgency, and the Israeli silence.

It would also explain the reluctance of the Israeli government to take action against Hamas in Gaza at this time, to focus attention on the major threat.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Syria, Russia, Iran

If you shoot literally thousands of missiles at populated areas, no matter how inaccurate they are, you are bound to hit something.

This time it was a tent at the IDF training base in Zikkim, about a mile from the border with the Gaza strip. All 69 of the injured were 18- and 19- year old draftees undergoing basic training; one had a leg amputated and another was hospitalized in critical condition with head injuries.

The Israeli government’s response, as reported in the Jerusalem Post, was simply unbelievable:

Olmert did not convene a special session of the security cabinet or any extraordinary security consultations in response to the attack…

Olmert’s position on cutting the supply of [electricity and water to Gaza] is that this would not be effective in stopping the rockets, and would bring in its wake a huge international outcry and harsh condemnations…

Government officials said a major IDF incursion into the Strip was unlikely. “By going into Gaza,” one official said, “we would be playing into their hands. That is exactly what they want. It resolves a number of issues for Hamas.”

Among those issues are uniting the Palestinians against Israel, involving Israel in a battle that would inevitably lead to “collateral damage” for which Israel would be widely condemned, and possibly scuttling fledgling Israeli-PA negotiations…

“We are in a very complicated diplomatic climate,” said one official. “If we go into Gaza in a large-scale operation, the November summit will definitely be canceled.” [my emphasis]

The damage that is done by Israel’s continued acquiescence to these murderous attacks to Israel’s deterrent power, civilian and military morale, and self-respect is incalculable. There is no doubt that Israel will at some point in the near future find itself at war with Hamas in Gaza anyway, so it’s hard for me to see why the government allows this to continue.

I have to hope that these statements are meant to mislead Hamas and friends, and that “a large-scale operation” is being prepared.

Technorati Tags: Gaza, Qassam, Zikkim, IDF, Israel

The Jewish Virtual Library is a good resource for historical information. This page describes the liberation of the Temple Mount and Western Wall in June, 1967. It contains an audio link to a live broadcast from an Israel Radio correspondent on the scene.

It also contains a transcript, in English, of some of the content of the Hebrew broadcast. In particular, there is this:

Command on the army wireless: Search the area, destroy all pockets of resistance and make sure to enter every single house, especially the holy places.

I was quite surprised to read this. “Enter every single house, especially the holy places”?

But when I listened to the actual broadcast, it was entirely different. Here is my literal translation of the same passage:

Comb the area, discover the source of the firing. Protect every building, in every way. Do not touch anything, especially in the holy places.

The fact is that — already at this point — Israeli authorities understood (maybe too well) the sensitivity of the Temple Mount.

In my opinion, the mistranslation gives entirely the wrong impression, one of a brutal IDF. The JVL is generally a pro-Israel site, so it’s hard to understand how this error occurred — and why it hasn’t been corrected, after they have been informed of it.

Here’s a link to the JVL contact page. If you understand Hebrew, listen to the broadcast — and tell JVL to fix the transcript and thank JVL for fixing the transcript!

Update [16 Sept 1544 PDT]: It’s fixed. We appreciate JVL’s concern for accuracy.

Technorati Tags: Six Days War, Jerusalem, Temple Mount, IDF