It hurts

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Feb 21, 2017 at 15:32

Dear Dr Pipes, The points made by your reader PezDispenser from Israel while quoting the pro-Palestinian American reporter who changed his views after moving to Israel are right on the dot.
Indeed, even rich educated Muslims do not have any room in the hearts for Israel. I have never met one.

The above journalist blamed his liberal American upbringing for his original views about Israel and Palestinians. That may be true but it still hurts. Logically speaking, a few million Israelites/Jews would have no desire to challenge over a billion solidly unified Muslims. It does not even make sense that Israeli people would plan a war against Muslims.

Add to that the area of Israel. As I have said many time on your forum, you can carve out a 100 Israels using the land occupied by Saudi Arabia. In my humble opinion, Muslims should be ashamed of themselves for ganging up against Israel when the balance is so deeply tilted in their favor. Even if Jews are 100% wrong, I will favor them because they are so badly outnumbered. In normal human settings, Muslims' ganging up against Jews should be called bullying (or Islamic bullying to be more precise).

And add to that the Jewish history. Our world knows enough about the Jewish history. We know that Jews were the first people who made Israel a geographic entity. Jesus was a native of that area. I --as a Hindu-- can understand the Jewish and Christian sentiments associated with the holy land. I also consider the land holy but stake no claim on it. Anyone else's claim to that region is at best 'me-too' and at worst 'greed'. I see Muslims' claim on Jerusalem an example of ultimate greed.

Add to that the Islamic history. During the entire history of Islam, democracy, respect for other religions, and freedom of thought has been a luxury which arrives for small periods here and there and than goes away. Muslims are always squabbling against religious thoughts instead of taking them as ideas for humanities spiritual growth.

But I am writing this because it hurts. It hurts because most people are so ignorant. They have never measured the map of Israel. They have never touched a history book. They have never read about the contribution to human knowledge by Jews. They cannot tell the difference between a million and a billion. They have never analyzed what Muslims are doing to each other the world over. But they just listen to the Islamic propaganda and jump to join the biggest and loudest parade.

People need to educate themselves and think. And that is why I am writing.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".