Khan, the hostility of Islam to Judaism is palpable. I try to read Arab sources online several times a week to have that perspective, and the hostility towards Jews is disturbing. Islam may be 1 billion strong, but several hundred million of those need to get in a time machine and come join the 21st century. Wherever civilians are targeted, we know there is a Muslim terrorist nearby. If Islam does not wish to be viewed as the murderer of children, it must end its support for the hatred spawned in its name. These guys are learning their insane approaches from holy men, and until Islam kills off those holy men, someone else has to. A democracy begins to crumble when its leaders think they know better than the people. The constituency makes the decisions, and the politicians follow them.
Friendly, since we can perhaps all agree that we need to support the religious moderates in all religions, is it best to delay giving back the "occupied territories " indefinitely. Doesn't this tend to make Isamists more extreme, not to mention Jews and now Tom Delay type Christians. Can we just make them more moderate by militarily invading them or hostilely occupying their territory, whether on the West Bank or Iraq till they become more moderate? Doesn't hostile occupation breed extremism? I could perhaps agree that occupation for a number of generations plus intermarriage can perhaps be a moderating influence.
I don't give Christianity or Judaism a free ride, either, and hold both partly culpable for this mess. Most of the evil in the region is based upon the three religions and zealots who claim them.
I've been harsh in my criticism of Israel, too, and Sharon in particular. He unnecessarily created conflict by disrespecting Palestinians. He's every bit as bad as Yasser Arafat. Do the methods of Israel create terrorists? I would say NO. Do the methods of Israel make for a ripe crop of recruits? I would say YES. When hostiles send men with bombs on the them to kill civilians, you have to track down their leaders and kill them. My only complaint is that Israel does not simply commit the resources to wipe out the entire leadership of Hamas, the sooner the better.
I'm sorry.. but I beg to differ.. Lets go back a little further in history. This is a list of many events against jews(not just in the middle east and not just by muslims) over time. 1430 BCE - Slavery in Egypt 356 BCE - Achashverosh, King of Persia, decrees death to all his Jewish subjects. 138 BCE - Syrian-Greek gov't outlaws the practice of Judaism in Israel. 624 CE- Mohammed watches as 600 Jews are decapitated in Mediana in one day. 640 - Jews expelled from Arabia 1096 & 1146 - 1st and 2nd crusades - Jews tortured and massacred. 1290 -1496- Over this period of time jews are expelled from England, France(twice), Hungary, Austria, Spain, Portugal. 1553 - Talmud is burned in public bonfires in Italy. 1648-1666 - Cossacks, Poles, Russians, and Swedes massacre Jews. 1744 - Jews expelled from Bohemia and Moravia 1818 - Pogroms in Yemen( peacefully in the last 1000 yrs my buttocks ) 1840 - Blood libel in Damascus 1862 - General Ulysses S. Grant expels Jews from Tennessee. ------------- 1939-45 Holocaust ------------- 1948-67 Fearing their lives; Jews flee Algeria, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Egypt. 1993 - Anti-Jewish publications sell briskly in Japan. A leading Japanese newspaper carries an ad that reveals a Jewish plot to weaken and enslave Japan.
