Posted on 07/12/2005 12:28:26 PM PDT by ToveL
I print below an email message I have received from a Muslim. I do so because I believe this writer to be expressing views shared by many, if not most, mainstream Muslims in Britain, the kind who would be utterly horrified by terrorism and are therefore considered to be ‘moderate’.
'I am a Muslim and a regular reader of the Daily Mail. I much enjoy reading your columns. Today, on the 10th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Serbia, I ponder to think what on Earth lead to such hatred against a minority group. What twisted mind could have incited it?'Then I read your article ('No Surrender', Daily Mail, July 12, p 12) and found my answer. My theory is that a continual drip, drip of anti-Islamic propaganda fed to the Serbian population - much the same that I read in your article today - lead to the vicious pogroms against our community and the disaster that befell the Muslims of Srebrenica. This is the same propaganda which says that Islam is a violent religion, that Muslims are not integrated, that they condone violence and that they do not denounce it and take action and so on. The integration argument was employed particularly against the Jews of Poland who comprised nearly a third of all Poles and who were virtually wiped out overnight during the second World War.
'I find your stance on integration and denunciations particularly intriguing coming from someone who cannot make up her mind whether she is British or Israeli. After all, you spectacularly failed to answer a question on BBC TV, coming from a fellow Jew, as to who you would support if there was a conflict between Britain and Israel. You demand that British Muslims account for actions taken in the name of Islam. You should look nearer home. Israel was created (from stolen Arab land) in the name of all the Jews in the world. It is written into Israel's constitution. You should know. Every single atrocity carried out by the Jewish state against her Muslim neighbours since - the continual land theft, the massacres in refugee camps like Sabra and Shatila, the denial that Palestinians even exist - has, is and will be carried out in the name of Judaism and all the Jews in the world. Yet I have not heard any denunciations coming from yourself nor I have heard you call for British Jews to denounce these things.
'I do not think that British Jews, many of whom carry Israeli passports, should have to account for Israel any more than British Muslims have to account for Al-Qaeda. I do not think that Judaism is an inherently violent religion despite every evil committed in it's name by Israel. I do not think that Jews are any different to others even if the only Jewish state in the world is a military monster, a pariah which is becoming increasingly unpopular. I just find it ironic that you of all people demand that British Muslims - who have just a British passport and are truly British - apologise for being the victims of bombings in our own cities as a result of policies in Iraq which we stood against. People are rightly angry at what has happened in the city that I love and in which I live. But I wonder what they would think if London - like Baghdad - was bombed by a coalition which left over 100,000 people dead, or if Londoners were forced to live in refugee camps because some Jews proclaimed London as their holy land and that henceforth, no non-Jew would be allowed to live there. Is it inconceivable that people would be angry? Is it outrageous to think that some people would be driven by revenge to take action? Londoners are not stupid. If were indeed attacked by Al-Qaeda then we know exactly why it happened.
'When the IRA bombed London, there was no commentary about Christianity being a religion of the sword. We sat down with the IRA and we reached an agreement. If we sat down with Al-Qaeda I have no doubt that we would find that they too have similar concerns to the IRA. I think they would tell us that if We stopped meddling with their countries then they would stop meddling in ours (or rather, my country since I do not know your allegiance). I think however, that the main reason why you would be very uncomfortable with a dialogue with Al-Qaeda is because the British people would find out that - to adapt a phrase coined by Bill Clinton - it's Palestine, stupid. Iraq will eventually become a non-issue and we are now hearing leaked plans for a withdrawal of British troops, but the Palestine issue has been a festering sore ever since western powers gave that country away to create a Jewish state in 1948. Israel has created instability not only in the Middle East, but has managed to drag the rest of the world into the conflict. It called for war in Iraq and is now calling for action against Syria and Iran. It is a liability. This realisation by the British people is what you really fear.
'Furthermore, the excuse that young Muslims are somehow inflamed by radical preachers is a convenient excuse used by many to detract from the real causes of discontent. Would-be Al-Qaeda operatives are just as likely to regularly attend mosques as zionists are likely to regularly attend synagogues. Everyone knows that our mosques are finding it difficult to retain youngsters. Like many other religious establishments, our mosques are mainly staffed with conservative establishment figures who have little clue about contemporary culture. Instead, you will find young Muslims in our universities, hospitals, schools, civil service and every other place where Muslims have been a part of Britain for some time now. They don't need radical preachers to inflame them, as the policies of Bush and Blair are doing a nice enough job thank you very much. Commentary of the sort they read in the Daily Mail written by you today will already add to their grievances and sense of injustice. In this, you and Al-Qaeda share one aim, as the aim of Al-Qaeda is also to cause resentment against the Muslim community and divide them from other communities. It is fortunate therefore, that people will not fall for this trick and despite the best efforts of Al-Qaeda and yours truly, will remain united in the face of terror.’
To this reader, and to other Muslims reading this website who may think something similar or worse, I would just say this. It would be futile to try here to correct the distortions and inappropriate comparisons contained in these remarks, which I’m sure were written in the very sincere belief that they are all true and entirely valid. To try to do so would be to pit oneself against a whole culture which misrepresents both the past and the present and insists that falsehood is truth.
While mainstream Muslims persist in subscribing to such a morally warped victim culture constructed on untruth, error, denial of responsibility and, in particular, gross ignorance and prejudice on the subject of Israel and the Jews, they will alas continue to provide, however inadvertently and however much they may deny this in genuine horror, the sea in which terror swims. It cannot be stressed too much that the hatred that fuels Islamic terrorism does not derive solely from religious texts but is incited and inflamed by lies and distortions about the history and present actions of the west and above all about the Jews and about Israel — a world-view based on a wholesale denial and inversion of the truth which has poisoned the minds of millions.
Truth and lies are at the very heart of this terrible problem facing us all. The sense of grievance and injustice to which this reader refers is indeed very real. But it is the grievance of a people who turn their own misdeeds into their own victimology, thus making rational discourse all but impossible. The tragedy is that this reader and I undoubtedly have much in common — but what divides us is unbridgeable, unless the Muslim community starts to unpick the truth from the lies they have been told for so long.
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Its both interesting and increasing frightening how indistinguishable they have become.
IMHO the flying pig would be a potent weapon in the WOT.
Of course, it would not be PC to use the aerial porker cause its use could be considered as profiling as it is ROP specific.
Only if one wishes to ignore the fact that he was actively funding and facilitating terrorists. And you won't find anyone stupid enough to buy into that around here, unless they're just some DUmmie disruptor, that is.
Destro has been banned or suspended.
Gives speaking out of both sides of the mouth a whole new dimension, doesnt it?
Our MSM...and their imams.
The e-mail is a veritable monument to misinformation.
Hmmmm?? That's what I thought too - when I read that statement.
When you sleep with the vipers and do not expect to get bit you are one stupid piece of humanity and totally dangerous to the entire world! aka London
Even the ones who claim to be moderates, like the one that sent this e-mail, are a plague in the midst of modern humans. Like the Church of Latter Day Saints, the Muslims have to make the adjustments to round the corner and become part of the real world. Until they do, the conflicts will be permanent, and more deadly for them than for the rest of us.
Congressman Billybob
Again?! Bummer.
I wish we could get along a bit better on the Balkans threads.
There.
That's much better.
Didn't mean to imply they aren't, or that I wouldn't happily join you, were I over there. Just noting that those in charge are very selective about who is causing a "disturbance", or how.
Like the farmer who was 'detained' overnight so he couldn't 'cause a civil breach' by his unwanted presence on his own property, when ravers ran trucks over his gate & cut the locks on his barn a few years ago.
SW
They are also notorious for believing anything that suits their purpose.
Of course you are correct, I got a bit carried away there.
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