Reaction to Cartoons

Submitted by FERN SIDMAN (United States), Feb 7, 2006 at 01:44

Yesterday, we watched thousands of Arabs running wildy through the streets of Beirut, burning down the Danish consulate and other buildings in reaction to a political cartoon that ran in a Danish newspaper which depicted the "prophet" Muhammed in a way that the Arabs did not feel was respectful.

Today we learned that another newspaper ran a political cartoon disparginig the Holocaust. Apparently, it depicted Anne Frank in bed with Adolf Hitler. There is no question that this vulgar and tastless cartoon smacks of the most vitriolic Jew hatred that one could imagine. There is also no questiton that the world should condemn this kind of anti-semitism.

However, a line must be drawn. I cannot imagine any Jew of any stripe rampaging through the streets of any city, setting ablaze Danish consulates and embassies. I cannot see the Jewish people exacting violent retribution for this most offensive cartoon.

That indeed, is the grand difference between Arabs and Jews. That explains the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict and that explains why the Arabs can never have peace. Any people that is so bent on violence as an expression of their outrage cannot have peace.

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