Proof of unjust treatment is not enough
Reader comment on item: A French lesson for Tom Harkin

Submitted by A French Lesson for Tom Harkin (Canada), Jan 5, 2004 at 14:44

Your remarks to the American Jewish Congress in Oct 2001 and 2002 were deceptively general for the relatively uninformed reader like myself. Your statements made no reference to the fact that most high profile, 'mainstream' muslim groups are in no way middle of the road, regular american immigrants.

I know, from reading your articles this last year, that there are an infinite number of hard facts supporting the notion that almost all high profile muslim groups in the US and Western Europe right now are to some degree subversive and increasingly radical.

You should never make remarks such as those made to the AJC without at least some simultaneous reference to these facts about generalized muslim radicalism. There are too many that want to villify and discredit you. At the moment you are almost a solo voice in Washington....

I am not jewish. I am tired of hearing older jews complain about how bad their relatives, not they, had it 60 years ago. But what is happening to Jews today, in my opinion, is far worse than Himmler's twisted tango of 60 years ago. Then, the world ignored or was little moved by the horror Germany inflicted on Jews. That was only a lack of courage and decency.

Today the West is no less cowardly or lacking in decency when dealing with Jewish issues. But now, when faced with certain, urgent Jewish international issues, the West publically accepts the absurd and irrational as normal. It is one thing to pretend to believe a lie. It is quite another, and destructive beyond measure, to pretend to believe that what is absurd and irrational is also reasonable and worthwhile.

The best example I can think of is as follows:

With its Western subsized media and schools promoting the hatred and murder of Israelis on a daily basis, and child suicide broadly accepted as a valid form of political expression, the US and most EU countries still insist on treating West Bank and Gaza Muslims as a ‘people' ready for independence, capable of democracy, and deserving of the concern, if not the respect, of the civilized world.

Such a view is the logical equvalent of saying black is white, wet is dry and hot is cold. Sustaining such an absurd and irrational view of West Bank and Gaza muslims has been enormously costly for the world in lives and dollars over the last 60 years. Such colossal burdens are not borne naturally such as when one faces up to the misfortune brought by hurricanes and floods. The need to bear such a burden, borne on such a wide scale by so many nations, can only be explained in terms of a deference to a higher power or concern.

Classic western anti-semitism, as ugly as it is, does not meet this standard. The world as it is would never accept such colossal costs and trouble, such as those incurred in the Middle East, just to be shitty and uncaring to a few millions sons of Abraham.
Pleasing those who control, or who are allowed to control, something of such profound importance as the world price of oil does meet this standard. The Saudis alone have the power to demand such deference, as well they have over the last 60 years.

We cannot continue much longer to treat as a reasonable and humane nation the Saudis and the murderous policies and institutions their billions support on a world wide scale. If we were to treat the Saudis as we have treated Iraq and Afghanistan it is entirely possible that Arab Muslims in general and West Bank Arabs in particular, thus deprived of their fabulous but very conditional Saudi grants, gifts, loans, salaries, endowments, investments and subsidies, would become responsible world citizens much faster then we now think. Perhaps within a decade.

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.