The Middle East--A Place of Hypocrisy

The Middle East is a confusing place for most Americans due to the fact that freedom of religion is so fundamental in this country.  We would never think of establishing a "national religion."  If an attempt was made to do that, there would be immediate protests in the street.  We are so used to practicing our religion and whatever our neighbor worships does not bother us as long as he does not try to convert us to his way of thinking. It is live and let live. 

The vast majority of inhabitants in the Middle East are Muslim and whether you believe that they want Islam to be the religion of the world or not, those attitudes even if expressed by a tiny percentage of believers translates to millions.  Tie that fact with  human nature, not to "rock the boat", it is no wonder that many people are concerned with the radicals.

Radicals will always be a problem in any group of people. They are the true believers and they are very dogmatic about their beliefs to which you better not disagree.  It does not matter the subject matter, there always will be those who go over the top.

The problem that America is going to have and that Europe does have now, is the benefit of doubt that we give other religions. In France, Muslims close entire streets when it comes to prayer. The country allows this because "it is a fundamental part of their religion."  Until recently, women in some communities wore full burqas which covered the woman's entire body  even shielded her eyes from view. This has now been stopped by legislative action which ironically is one of the first to stop a religious practice. 

Another issue is the "honor killing" of women who have violated a rule of Islam. The male members of the family are honor bound to kill the woman for her violation.  There have been a couple of those in the United States. One was a doctor who killed his two teenage daughters for becoming "too Western."  He was convicted and the religious excuse did not work. 

Whether it is honor killing or giving in to those who practice Islam, we must not.  If the mosques are breeding grounds for jihadists, they must be stopped.  We must not allow this activity no more than we would allow a numbers racket being run out of a Catholic church or a ponzi scam out of a synagogue. It will not be easy and those of us who believe this way will be targeted as xenophobes, but so what, someone has to speak out and it may as well be me.  How about you?  Are you with me?

It will be a tragedy if the freedom of religion is used against us and I am going to do my best to stop it. I do not want America to look like France, Germany or Holland.

The attached article is about the hypocrisy in the Middle East, with Delta Airlines and with the Artist Formerly Known as Prince. It is a great article and well worth the time to read.

Here it is:

Hypocrisy on Parade

Abraham Cooper and Dr. Harold Brackman - Huffington Post, June 29th, 2011

In an interview in London, The Artist Formerly Known as Prince has eased human rights concerns about religious authoritarianism in the Middle East by explaining: “It's fun being in Islamic countries, to know there's only one religion. There's order. You wear a burqa. There's no choice. People are happy with that.”



Less clear is whether Prince also approves of the Kingdom's systematic discrimination against Christians and Jews, treated either as second-class aliens with no right to worship or banned from stepping foot on Saudi soil altogether.



Now, Delta Airlines has added Saudi Arabian Airlines to its SkyTeam Alliance of corporate partners. By extension, this puts Delta Airlines in a position to facilitate the Saudi ban on Jews, holders of Israeli passports and anyone who even has an Israeli stamp indicating a visit to Israel.



Delta, of course, denies all discrimination while kowtowing to discriminatory Saudi regulations. No one forced Delta to choose such an international partner with a track record of religious apartheid. But Delta's spokesmen are right about one thing: Ultimate responsibility lies with governments, not companies. Our government's response? In a break with the past, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has condemned the Saudi refusal to issue driver's licenses to women, but in keeping with previous U.S. policy has apparently been silent over the Kingdom's embedded rules of religious apartheid.



It's this context of Saudi apartheid that renders so blatant the hypocrisy and double standards of so many of the world's gatekeepers of civil society. NGOs have zero tolerance regarding Israel naval blockade against Gaza arms smuggling. The Second International “Gaza Freedom” Flotilla, including the American ship, “The Audacity of Hope,” is enroute to Gaza. Their goal: breaking Israel's sea blockade of Hamastan, thus depriving Israel of the right of every U.N. member state to defend itself against threats to its sovereignty and survival. In the case of Gaza, the Jewish state is confronted with the growing threat posed by a Hamas government determined to re-arming with new Iranian missiles and enhancing their capacity to wreak mass destruction on the Jewish state.



Hamas-run farm where Jewish settlements once stood is producing enough fruit that Israeli imports are tapering off,” The Times reported.



So it seems the only place where the Arab Spring appears to have produced better economic times is precisely the place where Israel is accused of brutally stifling it.



Now Turkey, the prime mover behind the first Gaza Flotilla manned by “peace crusaders” armed with pick axes and knives, has backed off from participation in the brazen Flotilla II, given Ankara's angst over the bloody Syrian regime's behavior around Turkey's borders. Turkey's leader is incensed that Bashir Assad's desperate attempts to suppress Syrian dissenters have caused a specter of Syrian refugees suddenly pouring over the border seeking Ankara's protection.



But nothing — not improved conditions in Gaza; not Assad's thuggery and murder of its own citizens; not the duplicity of Iranian Revolutionary Guards supplied by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to abet Assad's butchery — is enough to change fundamentally the master narrative embedded among so many elite among human rights NGOs, media and church “activists.” Israel can do no right and its enemies, who are also the enemies of human rights, can do no wrong.



As a result, it's a safe bet that the 50+ international media outlets embedded in the Gaza II Flotilla will most benefit not the Palestinians but two tyrants: Gaddafi and Assad. They'll be able to breathe a temporary sigh of relief. With any luck, the “Audacity of Hope' will yield enough dramatic footage and sound bytes to knock the tyrants of the Arab Spring off the top of the news on Al Jazeera for a couple of days.