Raqib, I have a few questions.

Submitted by Moshe (Israel), Dec 26, 2006 at 17:10

Raqib, you appear to be pretty knowledgeable about quite a few things about the Jewish People and their history. That's very nice and commendable. I can see that you are well aware of the terrible hardships and inhuman atrocities the Jewish People had to endure during their prolonged exile among the nations, and in particular in Christian Europe. But you seem to forget (or perhaps not to be aware of) that in Islamic countries the Jews were not quite "at home" either.

And with the emergence of the Zionist movement, the life of Jews in the Islamic countries became simply impossible. Can you tell me how many Jews are living today in Muslim countries? As far as I know there are only a few "exemplars" left here and there. After all the pogroms and massacres, culminating with the European Holocaust, there are still more Jews left in Continental Europe, where the Holocaust took place, than in the whole Muslim World combined. Can you explain that?

And I would like you to explain me also how did you decide that I "hate Arab from the bottom of my heart"? Just because I believe that I am also entitled to the right to live freely and securely in the only land God gave my people, in spite of the fact that I am "only a Jew"? For your information, here in Israel we have a sizable Arab minority (about 20%) most of whom are decent and respectable people. They serve in the army (IDF), study in Israeli schools and universities, are voting and also elected, and one of them was my Professor of Chemistry at the Tel Aviv University, and whom I deeply respect and sympathize. If I hate something, it is the Islamist murderous violence and domineeringness.

You claim that "State of Israel was created by aggression, not by the People who believes in Judaism but by the people who beleives in Zionism".

Well, again just for your information, no state on our earth was created more peacefully than the Jewish State. It was created in the framework of UN resolution #181 on a part of the ancient homeland of the Jewish People, the Land of Israel, on lands lawfully purchased by Jewish settlers from local Arab landlords. At that time there were no dislocated Arab refugees, and no "occupied territories". Aggression started when on the day the establishment of the State of Israel was declared, all the surrounding Arab states jointly attacked the newly born Jewish state with the declared objective to wipe it out and push "the Jewish invaders" into the sea. They called upon the Arabs living in Jewish populated regions to temporarily leave their homes, to make it more convenient for their armies to "take care" of the Jews without "unnecessary Arab casualties". Unfortunately for them, the Arabs lost that war, and also all the subsequent wars started by them hoping to destroy Israel. And thus the Arab refugee problem was created.

You say "Arab Jews are the descendents of Prophet Abraham and the people of Prophet Moses and Solomon. We are shocked when we see the descendants of Abraham dances on the finger tip of European Jews like Theodor Herzl, David Ben-Gurion and many more." Can you explain what are you trying to tell us here? To me it sounds rather racist. Am I wrong?

And please tell me what makes you think that Zionism is contradicting Judaism? Just for your information, Zionism started when Jews realized that they have no future among the nations unless they reestablished their nationhood in their ancestral homeland, The Land of Israel; the land given to the Jewish People by divine decree as attested by the Holy Bible. As you are no doubt aware of, this happened about two thousand years before Mohammad invented Islam. And Judaism, besides all its contributions to the mankind in spreading the Word of our One and Universal God, and spreading humanity, social justice, and ethics, is all about aspiration to getting back to our ancestral homeland. Thus, as you can see, there is no contradiction between Judaism and Zionism but rather Judaism is Zionism. But more than that, the exclusive right of the Jewish People to the Land of Israel is explicitly acknowledged even in your Koran. The relevant verses are from Sura 5, verses 20 and 21:

"Remember when Moses said to his people: O my people, remember the favors that God bestowed on you when he appointed apostles from among you, and made you kings and gave you what had never been given to any one in the world. Enter then, my people, the Holy Land that God has ordained for you."

And finally, why do you think that Israel is not entitled to defend its citizens from murderous terrorist attacks when they originate from "Palestinian territories", or in your words: "However you are forgetting how Israeli tanks, aircraft, gunship entered Gaza and Ramallah when Gaza and Ramallah legally belongs to Palestinians under UN sanctions" ?

I would appreciate to have your reasoned answers.

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".