The motivation of anti-Semitic thought relies deeply on lies, not only libels and slanders against the Jews (and others) but also obfuscations and omissions involving speakers and, plainly, invention involving familiar malignantly narcissistic self-aggrandizement. As people like to hide something or to get something — and sometimes what is to be hidden or gotten is small, but sometimes the shame or the theft is large — the related experience of fear, instilling it or suffering it, plays into the language and related behavior as well.
I’ve no need to repeat the lie that prompted the response. It was dismal, juvenile, scatological.
Hypothesis: The violence may be an offshoot of license, pandering, and provocation produced within circles of the society of the religion. Denials of culpability; preference for a loyal lie — telling or receiving — over an uncomfortable truth; and promotion of exclusivity and supremacist thought obviously reach a certain crowd and a certain kind of person within it who will then act on so many evil and false premises.
While sensitivity to anti-Semitic acts works some like litmus — if the Jews are being attacked, who is next? — the chief victims in the path of this behavior are Muslims. From Gaza to Quetta, if you look, you will see the same violence scaled up to frequent acts of intimidation, murder, and mass murder.
“My Lords, that people in the 21st Century are being murdered, terrorized, victimized, and intimidated and robbed of their liberties because of the way they worship God is a moral outrage, a political scandal, a desecration of faith itself. I believe that God Himself weeps at the evil being committed in His name. Let us urge as strongly as we can the worldwide implementation of Article 18 as one of the great challenges of our time, so that we may all exercise our fundamental right to live our faith without fear.”
Article 18
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
The content dates from Spring 2014, and some of it has been well reviewed, but I feel it still worth a listen and a look.
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A video was uploaded onto YouTube which featured a young Palestinian Christian woman describing what it was like to live under Israel military occupation. If that was all the video was about, it would have simply been added to the thousands of other YouTube videos which describe the same thing. What made Christy Anastas’ video unique was that she bravely revealed how Palestinian Christians have and are being treated by Palestinian Muslims and nationalists.
Christy Anastas: “I believe in people, not concrete.”
Posted to YouTube – 4/25/2014.
On the whereabouts of Christy Anastas —
Christy Anastas, the 24-year-old woman who has fled the West Bank (where a journalist was recently sentenced to a year in prison for mocking Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook), will present herself for inspection at a police station in England on the morning of April 29, 2014.
Why?
Because a self-styled “peace and justice” activist has called the police in England, informing the authorities that she may be a “missing person.” Consequently, Christy will present herself at a police station somewhere in England this morning to assure them that she is not being held against her will.
So, given that even Hamas never claimed that 96 percent of those killed were civilians, where did Erekat get this number? Again, we must admit that he simply made it up.
This is not exactly the first time: Erekat was one of the inventors of the “Jenin Massacre” in 2002. In fighting in the West Bank city, 52 Palestinians were killed, as were 23 Israeli soldiers. Yasser Arafat claimed at the time that the “Jenin Massacre” could only be compared to the siege of Stalingrad in World War II. Erekat himself said “the numbers of killed could reach 500 since the Israeli offensive began. Thousands of wounded. The Jenin refugee camp is no longer in existence, and now we’ve heard of executions there.”
There was considerable destruction in parts of the camp, but at no time did it cease to be in existence. He made that up. Does any of this matter? It does.
But the principal reason for the slow pace is the reluctance that is being shown by the Arab and Muslim states in the war against the Islamic State militants. The war against the radical organization is exposing the darkest sides of Middle Eastern politics. Most of the countries in the region, including those that have joined the coalition, have also been deeply involved in the creation and strengthening of the organization. And how so?
“Qatar supports Jabhat al-Nusra and Turkey supports IS!” This charged statement was put out there by the speaker of the Lebanese parliament, Nabih Berri.
The new UN envoy to Syria warned that at least 500 civilians trapped in Kobani could be massacred if the town falls.
Staffan de Mistura said in Geneva that a UN analysis showed only a small portion of Kobani remained open for people to enter or flee the town.
De Mistura said there are about 500 – 700 elderly people and other civilians still trapped in Kobani, while 10,000 – 13,000 are stuck in an area nearby, close to the Syria-Turkey border.
For the past eight years the Islamic Republic has been trying to punish a religious leader, Ayatollah Kazemani Boroujerdi, for the crime of expressing “anti-government views.” Boroujerdi is a senior member of the Shia clergy and an advocate for separation of religion and state, and in light of the publication of his new book, the authorities are reportedly working at expediting a death sentence for him. He is slated to die by hanging.
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