Monday, December 24, 2007

That Good Old Double Standard again

Below is a "letter to the Editor" that I liked:

"A few weeks ago, a local Muslim leader wrote to decry a recent local talk by Brigitte Gabriel as "hate speech" ("Speaker preaches anti-Muslim hate," Nov. 17 Reader Views). It is both sad and ironic that this leader, Maher Musleh, gave a talk on Sunday night at the Global Learning Center, titled "The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict," filled with the same kinds of inaccuracies and obloquies that he censures in others.

The overview of Jewish history, to which he devoted most of his talk, was replete with errors, from the farcical (that the Talmud was written during the Babylonian Exile) to the egregious (that Muslim countries have never discriminated against Jews).

Worse, the clear aim was to demonize not just Israelis but Jews in general. For example, the story of Joshua's conquest of Canaan was presented as the invention, by Jews, of "terrorism." This is the kind of statement that he would never accept were it aimed at the Muslim community.

Musleh is involved with interfaith activities, so I had hoped that his talk would be more enlightening than partisan. I was disappointed. Musleh seems unable to recognize hate speech when he is the one delivering it.

Source