Wrong direction

Submitted by Doug Greener (Israel), May 25, 2010 at 04:23

Sorry, but calling Ali Mazrui a "rank antisemite" is definitely not the way to go. I remember the man fondly from my days in African Studies (which shows how long he has been around!). He wasn't an antisemite then and, from the quotes you give, he isn't now. He seems to be fascinated by the Jews and their accomplishments, but so are a lot of non-Jews. I don't disagree with any of his quotes, except about the Arabs being "less race-conscious and ethnic-conscious than Jews are." Arabs are very race-conscious. Perhaps no other society is prouder of its "whiteness" than Arab society, celebrated in prose and poetry for generations. (On the othe hand, most Moslems around the world are non-white.) But as Ali Mazrui himself admits, he knows very little about Arab and Jewish history.

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