Leading Israeli intellectuals sign petition calling for negotiations with Hamas

Submitted by Mladen Andrijasevic (Israel), Oct 12, 2007 at 03:24

George Orwell had it right. "You have to be an intellectual to believe such nonsense. No ordinary man could be such a fool. "

But the leading Israeli intellectuals are exactly such fools. They believe that Article 7 of the Hamas Charter is negotiable. Article 7, which reads "O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!" is taken from hadith Sahih Bukhari [4:52:177] and quotes the Prophet . Are Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua, David Grossman, Meir Shalev, Judith Katzir, Eli Amir, Savyon Liebrecht, Yehoshua Sobol and Dorit Rabinyan implying that Hamas is to disregard Muhammad?

We know how Hamas today interpret the Verse of the Sword "Fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem [of war]; but if they repent, and establish regular Prayers and practice regular Charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (The Koran, 9:5). Do these Israeli authors believe that Hamas is going to reinterpret this verse which abrogates 124 other verses? Do Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua or David Grossman even know what abrogation in Islam means? Are the authors suggesting Hamas adopt a more moderate, Islamic as opposed to Islamist interpretation of Verse 9:5? What is it?

On the other hand if they do not expect that Hamas will change, what is there to negotiate with Hamas and their jihadi ideology? Is it not obvious that we have no common values regarding coexistence? After all, Article 13 of the Hamas Charter states: "There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad.

It is embarrassing to see Israeli intellectuals repeat the same mistakes European ones had done with communism. For years writers like George Bernard Shaw, Graham Greene and Jean-Paul Sartre disregarded the horror stories coming from the 'workers' paradise'. The Kronstadt rebellion , the collectivization , the Ukrainian famine, the Kirov murder, the great Purge of the thirties, the Gulags, the Katyn massacre, the Doctors' Plot, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution were all swept under the rug. Stalin was responsible for the death of 20 million, Mao for 70 million. The intellectuals hardly noticed.

Why, just why are these Israeli writers lazy to open a book and read? What keeps them from educating themselves? Why do we have to listen to their analyses based on educated ignorance? Have they no intellectual curiosity to read Ibn Warraq, Bat Yeor or Ayaan Hirsi Ali? They who should be in the forefront of our spiritual strength are sapping our energies with absurd proposals.

With some enemies we can talk, with others it is impossible. It is tragic that Amos Oz or A.B. Yehoshua and others cannot tell the difference.

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