The two terms of “Anti-Semitism” and “Fundamentalism” may not carry opposite meaning to each other in the linguistic sense, but their usage indicates that they are in opposite motion. The latter is constantly being used to malign one community (Muslim) whilst the former is used to protect (Jewish) another community from any criticism. Why is it that the West feels at liberty to routinely label the most passive Muslim for merely adhering to the personal rituals of his/her faith as a “Militant” or as a “Fundamentalist”? Such terms are clearly used with scorn and vilification. These terms are selectively applied to sustain the ongoing intellectual terrorism along with the real physical terror that is being dispensed by their efficient and lethal war machines against the defenceless Islamic world. In sharp contrast the West has difficulty even uttering the word “Jews” in public in fear of the stick of Anti-Semitism, let alone voice any form of criticism. Even the casual mentioning of the word has almost become a taboo. The swift condemnation of Dr Mahathir Mohammed’s recent comment about the Jews having disproportionate power with respect to their numbers is an example of this phenomenon. As expected, the Western Intelligentsia became hysterical with accusations of “anti-Semitism”, whilst remaining oblivious to Israel as it conducted its raid in Gaza, killing many innocent civilians. It is strange how words can move nations into action but yet they remain oblivious to the shedding of blood.
The Malaysian Premier’s statement was nothing more then an observation of the reality, at worst one can say his interpretation of the reality was inaccurate but certainly there were no deliberate scorning of the Jewish people. If anything, the comments should have been taken as a form of compliment. Since the statement acknowledges the achievement of the Jews in gaining power and influence in society despite their persecution in recent history and their relatively small numbers. Similar frenzied responses emanated when the British MP Tam Dalyell, made remarks, which indicated a “Jewish Cabal”, was having undue influence upon Tony Blair’s regime. The very same argument(s) can also be attributed to the US regime. Where the role of the shady Neo-Cons along with organisation such as; – Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) who wield enormous amounts of power and influence that have even rattled the ordinary conservative Christian population of the US! Many of them view, that the US military forces are being used as a vehicle to promote the interests of Israel and the large corporate firms like Halliburton and Bechtel. They chose to remain silent out of the fear of being branded and scorned as anti-Semitic and unpatriotic.
The usage of the term “anti-Semitism” is also perplexing at times, for example, many of the Arabs are more Semitic in race then many of the Jews of Eastern Europe. Yet they are often categorized as “anti-Semitic” for expressing their anger about Israel’s continuous Judaisation of the remainder of Palestine. Similarly, it is equally perplexing to see the Europe’s desire to extinguish the guilt that it has accumulated due to centuries of anti-Jewish pogroms in European cities, which culminated with the Nazi Holocaust (Shoah) have sought to remove the burden of their (European) crime by handing over land belonging to another people to the Jews. On the contrary, history has proven the hospitality and the magnanimity of the Muslim and Arab people towards minorities including the Jews. Instead of pogroms, ethnic cleansing and holocausts, the Jews experienced the golden age in Andalusia (Spain) under Muslim rule, an era unparalleled in their 5000+ years of history. Even the noted Orientalist scholar Bernard Lewis who’s writings are not known to be complimentary towards both Muslims and Islam has noted in many of his books and articles that Jews prospered and were safe in Muslim lands, at a time when “Jew-Baiting” was Christian-Europe’s favourite past time! When the unparalleled, genocidal Catholic-Spanish Inquisition took place, Jews found sanctuary in the Islamic cities of Istanbul and Fez. So, for how long must the Palestinians pay for the Jewish Holocaust, which was a Christian-European crime? For how long will the stick of anti-Semitism be used to silence any criticism of Israel’s daily violation of human rights? For how long will the media remain complicit in shielding the Zionist-Imperialist fascist apartheid state known as “Israel” by the selective usage of terminologies, “reporting” and “commentaries”?
Consider the swift response in defence of the Jewish community in sharp contrast to the recent comments made by an obscure US General based in the Pentagon, who was clearly maligning Islam and the Muslims. He is another example of an increasing number of fanatical Christians that are encompassing the US administration. By referring to Muslims as idol worshipers. What an irony! Since not a Mosque in the world has neither statue nor icon in contrast to Churches. It is also amusing to note that he claimed that George Bush was appointed by God, but the world knows Mr. Bush won the election fraudulently — or was that also part of the divine scheme of God? The daily maligning of the Muslims using terminologies like “fundameentalism”, “extremism”, “militant” etc have become the norm. A small example may help to demonstrate this point. An article was recently written in a paper that is considered to be a quality national newspaper in the UK, The Daily Telegraph (20th October, Tim Walker) about the expected protests in response to George Bush’s visit to the UK. The protestors were described as Anti-War activists, which included “Militant” Muslims! Having personally attended most of the previous anti-war demonstrations there were Muslims and non-Muslims of all different persuasions. However according to the article all the Muslims who are likely to participate in the demonstrations are all Militants, what ever that definition may be. Secondly, does the writer hypocritically not undermine the much lectured principals of “freedom of speech” by maligning the Muslims as militants for expressing their opinion, rather then acknowledging them as law abiding citizen exercising their legitimate right to protest? It would not be unreasonable to expect such an author to “promote” those Muslims who do attend the protest from Militant to “terrorist”? This is from a quality newspaper; hence one can let the reader’s imagination dwell on the abuse emanating from the filthy tabloids.
Now consider this, if a Christian were to raise their voice against the maligning of Jesus by some of the secular fanatics, would they be labelled swiftly as Militant Christians? When the Jews raise their voice in defence of Israel do they get promptly branded Militant Jews? Even their usage of their lethal military equipment upon civilians or the cold blooded massacre by the likes of Baruch Goldstein or the massacres of Sabra-Shatila, Qana and Jenin etc. did not qualify them to be labelled as militants. Therefore, who would ever take exception from their verbal utterance, no matter how offensive it maybe. Take Daniel Pipes for example, a Jew who is known to be a strong sympathiser of Israel, he has been uttering insults that would be deemed by most people as the language of the racist white supremacists. He has been elevated recently by George Bush, which reflects the current mindset and the actions of the US government. Hence, unless an extreme situation arises these terminologies are applied only selectively and exclusively towards a certain community with a clear underlying political agenda. Whilst any criticism of Israel is deemed to be anti-Semitic then it logically follows de-facto that Israel has Carte blanche to do what ever it pleases. Even to the detriment of others, as is the case.
