[Some] Muslims condemn Mumbai attacks,[ others, don't.] [Many] worry about image. [Some] details culled from AP report by the Des Moines Register.] - Mark Finkelstein
The Des Moines Register today (December 1, 2008, p. 8A) published a shortened version of the AP report below. It's worth reading what was left out of the Register's version, ostensibly for space considerations. The portions omitted by the Register are highlighted in bold.
In Sum: The missing portions include (but are not limited to) information that:
1. Hamas has declined to comment on the attacks,
2. the Saudi regime is considered, by one source, as hypocritical in its approach
to terrorisim,and that
3. another source asserts that we have yet to see a distinguished popular condemnation of terrorism in the name of Islam in the traditional Arab or Muslim communities.
Muslims condemn Mumbai attacks, worry about image
By KARIN LAUB –
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Muslims from the Middle East to Britain and Austria condemned Sunday the Mumbai shooting rampage by suspected Islamic militants as senseless terrorism, but also found themselves on the defensive once again about bloodshed linked to their religion.
Intellectuals and community leaders called for greater efforts to combat religious fanaticism.
Indian police said Sunday that the only surviving gunman told them he belongs to the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. The group is seen as a creation of Pakistani intelligence to help fight India in the disputed Kashmir region. Another group, Jaish-e-Mohammed, has also operated in Kashmir. Both are reported to be linked to al-Qaida.
Ten gunmen attacked 10 targets in the three-day assault including a Jewish community center and luxury hotels in India's commercial hub. More than 170 people were killed.
Many Muslims said they are worried such carnage is besmirching their religion.
"The occupation of the synagogue and killing people in hotels tarnishes the Muslim faith," said Kazim al-Muqdadi, a political science lecturer at Baghdad University. "Anyone who slaughters people and screams `Allahu Akbar' (God is Great) is sick and ignorant."
In Britain, home to nearly two million Muslims, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, Inayat Bunglawala, said that "a handful of terrorists like this bring the entire faith into disrepute."
A previously unknown Muslim group, Deccan Mujahideen, claimed responsibility for the attacks. The name suggests origins in India.
Pakistan has denied involvement and demanding that India provide proof. In Pakistan, Jamaat-ud Dawa, an Islamist group believed to have ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba, denounced the killing of civilians.
In Islamic extremist Web forums, some praised the Mumbai attacks, including the targeting of Jews.
A man identified as Sheik Youssef al-Ayeri said the killings are in line with Islam.
"It's all right for Muslims to set the infidels' castles on fire, drown them with water .... and take some of them as prisoners, whether young or old, women or men, because it is one of many ways to beat them," he wrote in the al-Fallujah forum.
In the Gaza Strip, the territory's Islamic militant Hamas rulers declined comment. Hamas has carried out scores of suicide attacks in Israel, killing hundreds of civilians in recent years. However, Hamas has said it does not want to get involved in conflicts elsewhere.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad referred to the attacks as terrorism, but added that the violence is rooted in "unjust policies" aimed at destabilizing the region. He did not elaborate.
India is seen by many in the Arab and Muslim world as a Western ally. For example, Israel has become an important arms supplier to India, angering Muslim Pakistan.
Saudi Arabia said in a statement carried earlier this week by the Saudi Press Agency that it "strongly condemns and denounces this criminal act." An editorial Friday in Saudi's English-language Arab News said that "no civilized person ... can be anything but revolted and sickened by the terrorist attacks in Mumbai."
However, Jonathan Fighel, an Israeli counterterrorism expert, said Saudi organizations have been funneling money to Muslim militants in Kashmir.
"This demonstrates exactly the double game and, I would say, the hypocrisy of the Saudi regime," said Fighel of the Israel-based International Institute for Counter-Terrorism.
Throughout the Muslim world, the attacks set off soul-searching.
"I think that Muslims should raise their voice against such actions. They should forge a coalition to fight such phenomena, because it harms them and damages their image," said Ali Abdel Muhsen, 22, a Muslim engineering student in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Muslims and Arabs must confront the violence "that is taking place in our name and in the name of our (Islamic) tenets," wrote Khaled al-Jenfawi, a columnist for Kuwait's Al-Seyassah daily.
"Unfortunately, we have yet to see a distinguished popular condemnation in the traditional Arab or Muslim communities that strongly rejects what is happening in the name of Islam or Arab nationalism," wrote al-Jenfawi.
Monday, December 1, 2008
OPINION DECEMBER 1, 2008 Wall Street Journal
Egypt's Jew Haters Deserve Ostracism in the West
More proof the prejudice has nothing to do with Israel.
By AMR BARGISI
Cairo, Egypt
"But we are Semites ourselves!" That is what an urbane Egyptian journalist will likely reply to the charge that the Egyptian media is rife with anti-Semitism. But there are few places where Jews are blamed for so many of the world's ills, from carcinogenic pesticides to the war in Iraq.
More distressing is that much of the pointing is being done by Egypt's self-described liberals -- the pro-democratic and anti-Islamist crowd on which the country's hopes for a more tolerant future supposedly rest.
The most recent episode began on Oct. 2, when the Anti-Defamation League issued a press release reporting "Surge in Anti-Semitic Messages on Online Finance Sites." An Egyptian journalist read about it in the Israeli daily "Maariv," and here is how the new, "liberal" Egyptian weekly Al-Youm As-Sabi headlined its report the next day: "Jews are the principal suspect in the financial crisis." The article ran alongside a photo of stock market readouts, captioned "why are cries against Jews growing louder in the U.S.?"
This was not the only instance in which Egypt's "liberal" intelligentsia found ways to blame Jews for the financial crisis. On Oct. 11, Abbas at-Tarabili, the editor in chief of the Al-Wafd daily -- the house organ of Egypt's leading "liberal" political party of the same name -- wrote a column purporting to show that Jews were merely manipulating the stock market as they had the price of gold in the late 1970s.
"The Jews played a filthy game," he wrote. "It is true that the Western countries -- the United States on top -- have a lot to lose, but all pours into the pockets of Jewish businessmen who control the stock markets of the world."
Two weeks later, Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt's largest independent newspaper and widely regarded as the country's only serious tribune for liberalism, ran a column baldly titled "The Jewish Conspiracy." The columnist, Khairi Ramadan, who also co-hosts one of the country's most successful talk shows, asked his readers not to ignore what is being said on the Internet "about a Jewish conspiracy in the end of Bush's term, in preparation for controlling the next president."
"The available information," wrote Mr. Ramadan, shows that "the Jews withdrew 400 billion dollars from Lehman Brothers a couple of weeks before it collapsed," adding that the collapse of the brokerage house was of a piece with the events of September 11, "when thousands of Jews did not go to the WTC."
These examples are especially notable because they have nothing to do with Israel or Zionism. They expose the falsehood -- popular with prominent scholars like John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, authors of last year's best-selling book "The Israel Lobby" -- that hatred of Jews is not one of the great motivating factors in the Arab world's overall objections to Israel.
But these examples also raise a serious question about what passes for liberalism in the Arab world. Why bother listening to these voices on matters of economics -- much less politics, democracy or human rights -- if they also propagate hateful conspiracy theories?
There's another question: Over the past eight years, the United States has invested huge resources in attempting to bring democracy to the Middle East. But it's not clear whether that project will succeed as long as America's natural allies in the region remain themselves so profoundly irrational and illiberal.
What can be done? Here's a modest suggestion. The Egyptian state and the country's newspapers go out of their way to make a leper of any author who expresses even remote sympathy with Israel. Perhaps Western institutions could adopt a similar practice, refusing to invite to their various functions any editors who allow their pages to become Jew-hatred platforms. The cold shoulder alone might get these lunch-eaters to change their tune.
Mr. Bargisi is a Cairo-based writer and a former Bartley Fellow at the Journal.
---
hat tip: James Eaves-Johnson
Egypt's Jew Haters Deserve Ostracism in the West
More proof the prejudice has nothing to do with Israel.
By AMR BARGISI
Cairo, Egypt
"But we are Semites ourselves!" That is what an urbane Egyptian journalist will likely reply to the charge that the Egyptian media is rife with anti-Semitism. But there are few places where Jews are blamed for so many of the world's ills, from carcinogenic pesticides to the war in Iraq.
More distressing is that much of the pointing is being done by Egypt's self-described liberals -- the pro-democratic and anti-Islamist crowd on which the country's hopes for a more tolerant future supposedly rest.
The most recent episode began on Oct. 2, when the Anti-Defamation League issued a press release reporting "Surge in Anti-Semitic Messages on Online Finance Sites." An Egyptian journalist read about it in the Israeli daily "Maariv," and here is how the new, "liberal" Egyptian weekly Al-Youm As-Sabi headlined its report the next day: "Jews are the principal suspect in the financial crisis." The article ran alongside a photo of stock market readouts, captioned "why are cries against Jews growing louder in the U.S.?"
This was not the only instance in which Egypt's "liberal" intelligentsia found ways to blame Jews for the financial crisis. On Oct. 11, Abbas at-Tarabili, the editor in chief of the Al-Wafd daily -- the house organ of Egypt's leading "liberal" political party of the same name -- wrote a column purporting to show that Jews were merely manipulating the stock market as they had the price of gold in the late 1970s.
"The Jews played a filthy game," he wrote. "It is true that the Western countries -- the United States on top -- have a lot to lose, but all pours into the pockets of Jewish businessmen who control the stock markets of the world."
Two weeks later, Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt's largest independent newspaper and widely regarded as the country's only serious tribune for liberalism, ran a column baldly titled "The Jewish Conspiracy." The columnist, Khairi Ramadan, who also co-hosts one of the country's most successful talk shows, asked his readers not to ignore what is being said on the Internet "about a Jewish conspiracy in the end of Bush's term, in preparation for controlling the next president."
"The available information," wrote Mr. Ramadan, shows that "the Jews withdrew 400 billion dollars from Lehman Brothers a couple of weeks before it collapsed," adding that the collapse of the brokerage house was of a piece with the events of September 11, "when thousands of Jews did not go to the WTC."
These examples are especially notable because they have nothing to do with Israel or Zionism. They expose the falsehood -- popular with prominent scholars like John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, authors of last year's best-selling book "The Israel Lobby" -- that hatred of Jews is not one of the great motivating factors in the Arab world's overall objections to Israel.
But these examples also raise a serious question about what passes for liberalism in the Arab world. Why bother listening to these voices on matters of economics -- much less politics, democracy or human rights -- if they also propagate hateful conspiracy theories?
There's another question: Over the past eight years, the United States has invested huge resources in attempting to bring democracy to the Middle East. But it's not clear whether that project will succeed as long as America's natural allies in the region remain themselves so profoundly irrational and illiberal.
What can be done? Here's a modest suggestion. The Egyptian state and the country's newspapers go out of their way to make a leper of any author who expresses even remote sympathy with Israel. Perhaps Western institutions could adopt a similar practice, refusing to invite to their various functions any editors who allow their pages to become Jew-hatred platforms. The cold shoulder alone might get these lunch-eaters to change their tune.
Mr. Bargisi is a Cairo-based writer and a former Bartley Fellow at the Journal.
---
hat tip: James Eaves-Johnson
Commentary on the situation in Postville.
Mitchell Levin, from Cedar Rapids, offers the following Op Ed, "Being kosher goes beyond slaughter rules," published in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
See also the JCRC/Jewish Federation's statement on Postville ( May 15, 2008) "Enforce the law humanely, Reform the system, and Ensure fair labor practices."
IMMIGRATION RAID
Being kosher goes beyond slaughter rules
By Mitchell Levin
Writing a column about Agriprocessors, the Rubashkins and/or Postville is difficult. On the one hand, Jews are cautioned against L’shon hara, “the tongue of evil,” or speaking ill of another person.
In addition to which we are all mindful of the admonition of “judge not lest you be judged.” On the other hand, we have an obligation to speak out against injustice and those who lead others astray. In the spirit of fulldisclosure,readers should understand that we are probably one of the few families in Cedar Rapids who actually buys (or used to buy) the Rubashkins’ meat, which means that I am, by turn, angry, ashamed and disgusted.
We bought it because it was kosher. What does kosher mean?
This is a difficult to answer in a brief column, so please remember you are getting the “Cliffs Notes” version.
The Hebrew word “kosher” literally means “fit,” as in fit for purposes of Jewish ritual.
The laws of Kashrut (keeping kosher) have their origins in the Bible and have been amplified and clarified by respected rabbis and scholars.
Among other things, the Bible provides lists of animals that may be eaten (kosher) and those that cannot be eaten.
(This explains why Jews eat beef but not pork). Additionally, to be kosher, these animals have to be slaughtered in a ritually proscribed manner that ensures a humane, swift death. People are allowed to eat meat, but animals are not supposed to suffer for our pleasure. This form of slaughter also ensures all of the blood will drain from the animal because Jewish dietary laws include prohibitions against consuming blood.
When a meat-processing operation like Agriprocessors is described as kosher, it means that it follows all of the Jewish dietary laws, the slaughtering is performed and overseen by the proper religious officials, many checks and balances required by Jewish law are being followed and that the whole process is certified by an appropriate Jewish organization, as well as being in compliance with the USDA.
So why are there Jews who contend that the Rubashkins’ meat is no more kosher than a Smithfield Ham? Because they believe that being kosher means more than just following the ritual rules pertaining to the slaughtering of meat. It means that the company operated in a manner that conformed to all civil laws and relevant biblical injunctions.
Based on the sages’ interpretation of Deuteronomy 23:19, “illgotten gains cannot be cleansed ... for holy ends,” which means that something done in violation of the law cannot be turned around and deemed fit for ritual use. If a company is violating the commandments concerning the proper treatment of workers, including the injunction to pay workers promptly and fairly, its product cannot be deemed ritually fit. These laws concerning the treatment of workers are so important that the prophet Malachi singles out the violators of these laws as people who will receive special punishment at the time of the Final Judgment.
I am angry when I read reports of any meatpacker breaking the law. But as a Jew, I am angry, ashamed and disgusted when a Jewish businessman cloaks his operation in Jewish ritual law and then breaks the law and that includes the laws of the Bible, which is the whole excuse for the existence of Agriprocessors in the first place. The Talmud teaches “if one is honest in his business dealings and people esteem him, it is accounted to him as though he fulfilled the whole Torah.” As Rabbi Telushkin points out, for Jews, ethics are not just for the synagogue, but for the marketplace as well.
People ask, “How could a Jew do such a thing?” Simple. Jews are human beings.
According to our tradition, people are imbued with the “inclination to do good” and “inclination to do evil.” The commandments are there to guide us to choose the former, but each of us has the free will to make that choice. In the case of Agriprocessors, it would appear that it chose to follow “the inclination to do evil” while companies like Empire and Hebrew National, whose businesses are thriving, chose to following “the inclination to do good.”
Mitchell Levin is human resources director for a company with headquarters in Cedar Rapids. He edits two blogs “This Day ... In Jewish History,” http://thisdayinjewish history.blogspot.com/ and “Downhome Davar Torah,”
Mitchell Levin, from Cedar Rapids, offers the following Op Ed, "Being kosher goes beyond slaughter rules," published in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
See also the JCRC/Jewish Federation's statement on Postville ( May 15, 2008) "Enforce the law humanely, Reform the system, and Ensure fair labor practices."
IMMIGRATION RAID
Being kosher goes beyond slaughter rules
By Mitchell Levin
Writing a column about Agriprocessors, the Rubashkins and/or Postville is difficult. On the one hand, Jews are cautioned against L’shon hara, “the tongue of evil,” or speaking ill of another person.
In addition to which we are all mindful of the admonition of “judge not lest you be judged.” On the other hand, we have an obligation to speak out against injustice and those who lead others astray. In the spirit of fulldisclosure,readers should understand that we are probably one of the few families in Cedar Rapids who actually buys (or used to buy) the Rubashkins’ meat, which means that I am, by turn, angry, ashamed and disgusted.
We bought it because it was kosher. What does kosher mean?
This is a difficult to answer in a brief column, so please remember you are getting the “Cliffs Notes” version.
The Hebrew word “kosher” literally means “fit,” as in fit for purposes of Jewish ritual.
The laws of Kashrut (keeping kosher) have their origins in the Bible and have been amplified and clarified by respected rabbis and scholars.
Among other things, the Bible provides lists of animals that may be eaten (kosher) and those that cannot be eaten.
(This explains why Jews eat beef but not pork). Additionally, to be kosher, these animals have to be slaughtered in a ritually proscribed manner that ensures a humane, swift death. People are allowed to eat meat, but animals are not supposed to suffer for our pleasure. This form of slaughter also ensures all of the blood will drain from the animal because Jewish dietary laws include prohibitions against consuming blood.
When a meat-processing operation like Agriprocessors is described as kosher, it means that it follows all of the Jewish dietary laws, the slaughtering is performed and overseen by the proper religious officials, many checks and balances required by Jewish law are being followed and that the whole process is certified by an appropriate Jewish organization, as well as being in compliance with the USDA.
So why are there Jews who contend that the Rubashkins’ meat is no more kosher than a Smithfield Ham? Because they believe that being kosher means more than just following the ritual rules pertaining to the slaughtering of meat. It means that the company operated in a manner that conformed to all civil laws and relevant biblical injunctions.
Based on the sages’ interpretation of Deuteronomy 23:19, “illgotten gains cannot be cleansed ... for holy ends,” which means that something done in violation of the law cannot be turned around and deemed fit for ritual use. If a company is violating the commandments concerning the proper treatment of workers, including the injunction to pay workers promptly and fairly, its product cannot be deemed ritually fit. These laws concerning the treatment of workers are so important that the prophet Malachi singles out the violators of these laws as people who will receive special punishment at the time of the Final Judgment.
I am angry when I read reports of any meatpacker breaking the law. But as a Jew, I am angry, ashamed and disgusted when a Jewish businessman cloaks his operation in Jewish ritual law and then breaks the law and that includes the laws of the Bible, which is the whole excuse for the existence of Agriprocessors in the first place. The Talmud teaches “if one is honest in his business dealings and people esteem him, it is accounted to him as though he fulfilled the whole Torah.” As Rabbi Telushkin points out, for Jews, ethics are not just for the synagogue, but for the marketplace as well.
People ask, “How could a Jew do such a thing?” Simple. Jews are human beings.
According to our tradition, people are imbued with the “inclination to do good” and “inclination to do evil.” The commandments are there to guide us to choose the former, but each of us has the free will to make that choice. In the case of Agriprocessors, it would appear that it chose to follow “the inclination to do evil” while companies like Empire and Hebrew National, whose businesses are thriving, chose to following “the inclination to do good.”
Mitchell Levin is human resources director for a company with headquarters in Cedar Rapids. He edits two blogs “This Day ... In Jewish History,” http://thisdayinjewish history.blogspot.com/ and “Downhome Davar Torah,”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)