Thursday, April 7, 2011

Islamophobia: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? I Am!

In a prior blog entry (http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2011/04/roger-cohens-religion-does-its-worst.html), I related to Roger Cohen's New York Times op-ed, "Religion Does Its Worst" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/05/opinion/05iht-edcohen05.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss), in which he derided Islamophobia. As I observed in my earlier blog entry:

"To burn the Koran is stupid and obscene, but to deny the existence, prevalence and violence of radical Islam is to bury your head in the sand.

I am still waiting for Roger Cohen or one of his op-ed page colleagues (Tom Friedman? Nicholas Kristof?) to devote a column to the horrifying practice of honor killings directed against women throughout much of the Muslim Middle East. Were Cohen to write such a column, would he still dare to travel freely in Arab countries? Might he face Daniel Pearl's fate or that of Theo van Gogh?"

This blog entry now needs to be updated.

A Hebrew University poll has reported that one-third of Palestinians supported the brutal murder of two parents and three of their children, aged 11 years, three years, and three months, in the West Bank settlement of Itamar. All of the family members were stabbed to death in their sleep. As reported by The Jerusalem Post (http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=215385):

"One-third of Palestinians support the attack in Itamar in March, in which an Israeli family of five was murdered while 63 percent opposed it, according to a Hebrew University poll released on Wednesday.

The survey was conducted by Prof. Yaacov Shamir of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace and the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University, and Prof. Khalil Shikaki, Director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR)."

You can oppose the settlements, but for one-third of Palestinians to approve this monstrous act is difficult to stomach. Again, as I stated in my earlier blog entry, to deny the existence, prevalence and violence of radical Islam is to bury your head in the sand.

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