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Mon, 20 Mar 2006

Mere Wafa Sultan
Som omtalt i går, er en syrisk født psykiater bosat i USA sprunget ud som unuanceret islamkritiker, som gør selv vore hjemlige hadprædikanter Ole Hyltoft og Lars Hedegaard til skamme. Will hos KabobFest er ikke imponeret:

Dr. Sultan claimed that "Knowledge" saved her from "backward thinking. Somebody has to help free the Muslim people from these wrong beliefs." She said they live in the "Middle Ages," while she lives in suburban Los Angeles.

What got Jewish groups so excited was her praise of "the Jews," an oddly anti-Semitic generalization. Even critics of Israel, such as me, do not speak of "the Jews" as a homogeneous bloc.
She said,
The Jews have come from the tragedy and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror; with their work, not with their crying and yelling... We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people.
We have seen people who call themselves Jews destroy Palestine (because of the Holocaust). Israel did not destroy the Church of Nativity, but its soldiers shot the hell out of it -- and Israel, according to Palestinian Christian groups such as SABEEL, decimated the Palestinian Christian population and is choking off Bethlehem, Christ's birthplace. What is Dr. Sultan smoking?

She concluded, "Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them."

Does she even read the freaking news?

Iraq and Afghanistan? How many people did the United States kill? Was that civilized?! Should the Muslims be like the United States and Israel -- build massive, modern armies and pre-emptively attack any country they suspect is considering attacking them?

The American Jewish Congress, quick to find any Arab that will dance to its tune, invited her to speak in May at a conference in Israel. Her, Israel-can-do-no-wrong makes her popular with the many supporters of Israel who share that shallow and ignorant view. "We have been discussing with her the importance of her message and trying to devise the right venue for her to address Jewish leaders," said Neil B. Goldstein, executive director of the organization. Her Al-Jazeera interview was promoted by the pro-Israel organization started by ex-Israeli intelligence personnel, Memri.

If Dr. Sultan has good intentions -- if she wants to see change -- she is going about this the wrong way. She sees problems with Muslim societies, we all do (for example, the boneheads sending her death threats undermine Islam). But, she cannot ignore the socio-political reality of our world. She cannot neglect the decades of western-meddling, neo-colonialism, oil-sucking, and Israel's land grab and apartheid. To ignore these and treat the Arab/Muslim world as if it exists in some vacuum, makes her sound like someone who has no clue. No thinking Muslim will listen to her.
Den ægyptiske blogger Big Pharao, der absolut ikke kan beskyldes for at sympatisere med islamisk fundamentalisme, er heller ikke videre begejstret - hans indlæg hedder endda why I am not excited about Wafa Sultan:
I admit that what Wafa Sultan said on the program was unusual given the fact that she was being interviewed on Al Jazeera, a propaganda channel with an Islamist twist. However, I am not so excited about Sultan and I believe she and others who share her line of thought are very counterproductive to our region.

I believe the Sultan vs the Al Azhar professor debate was an attempt by Al Jazeera to discredit anyone who thinks differently about Islam. By putting these 2 together, Al Jazeera was forcing its viewers to choose between Sultan and the professor. 99.9999% of viewers had no option but to side with their fellow Muslim the professor.

We don't need former Muslims, we don't need atheists, we don't need lesbians, what we need are reform minded Muslim thinkers. Only these people have the necessary legitimacy to pull us from the dark abyss we're in now.
Wafa Sultan er næppe en særligt hverken dybtgående eller seriøs islamkritiker - men, som omtalt i går: Hun har utvivlsomt en "niche" på den islamkritiske vestlige højrefløj, hun kan udfylde - hvilket alt andet lige vil give fast arbejde og en ganske sikker indtægtskilde. #