The enemy within
Reader comment on item: Conservative pundit argues for 'victory' over Palestinians

Submitted by Peter (European Union), Nov 10, 2007 at 11:43

Although Israel has many fronts to defend their nation I feel that more attention should be given to the war that is being fought within the borders of Israel i.e. "the anti-Zionist population within Israel –– including Muslims and anti-Zionist Jews". This war should not and must not be underestimated, as the same type of war I feel has been lost within Glasgow, Scotland. Glasgow and Scotland for that matter is primarily a Christian country but looking beyond this general Christian title we have both Protestants and Roman Catholics living in so called harmony within our great nation.

I urge you all to have a look at the current historic and political statistics that make up my nation and you will see that up until 50 years ago we were a Protestant country. This has now changed dramatically and although Protestants are still the majority we are actually being politically driven by the minority Roman Catholic Christians. Glasgow City Council who is the largest local authority in Glasgow is by default a sectarian establishment. The majority of the employees and the majority of the political leaders are all Roman Catholic and to give you a small example there has not been a Protestant Lord Provost for over fourteen years.

This also has a knock on effect on the media outlets who are also politically driven by the local government and when you try to "protest" and as ironic as that may seem you are targeted as a bigot (similar to Mr Pipes being labelled a racist within the campuses). This has been the case for many years and to strengthen the Roman Catholic political powers and voters we now have a large in flux of Eastern Europeans who are of course Roman Catholic. Within Glasgow and Scotland we are a religiously diverse group and tolerant of all faiths and none but when we open up our arms in acceptance we never expected to be taken over and then treated like a minority religion within our own Protestant country.

Looking deeper at the sectarian divide there are two main soccer teams within Glasgow and Scotland. Glasgow Rangers who are primarily Protestant and Glasgow Celtic who are primarily Catholic. Rangers are strong supporters of the Union of Britain whereby Celtic are anti-British and actually play a foreign national anthem over their speaker/sound systems during match days.

Ranger's supporters also look to Israel as close allies, which cannot be said for Celtic who until recently had flown PIRA and PLO flags at their matches and shortly after 9/11 their fans were disgustingly caught on TV making aeroplane body movements with their arms during a Rangers/Celtic match. In a more recent event during a Rangers versus Maccabi Haifa soccer match (where the Rangers fans were actually flying Israel flags), a Celtic fan that had disguised himself as a Rangers fan ran onto the pitch with a PLO flag and tried to chain it to the goal posts. This Celtic fan also had worn a shirt with a picture of the pope to emphasise his political status. This is just a small example of life in Glasgow that of course, it has a lot to do with apathy amongst the indigenous people. All I can say is that the same situation cannot be allowed to grow and foster within Israel. I urge you all to keep your nation strong and to look at both external and internal factors that will be crucial to your nation's survival.

On a final note, I offer to Mr Pipes to come over to Scotland and to please visit our campuses as I feel your writings and thoughts need more outlets especially within Scotland.

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Daniel Pipes replies:

Thank you for the invitation.