Showing posts with label Ghulam Muhammed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ghulam Muhammed. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Letter to the Editor: Mushrooming of Muslim outfits - By Ghulam Muhammed

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Letter to the Editor

Mushrooming of Muslim outfits

In the backdrop of withdrawal of support to Congress coalition government in Andhra Pradesh by MIM (Majlise Ittehadul Muslameen), that threatened the state government which has come into minority, the use of the new term for Muslim assertion: Mushrooming of Muslim outfits, by Congress General Secretary, Digvijay Singh, points to a new phase in Muslim politics in India. Not confined to Andhra Pradesh, the movement to float new Muslim led political parties all over the country in different states, poses a grave threat to Congress as a ‘national’ party that could rule in the centre, with support from its own tally of Members of Parliament and from coalition partners, as all such Muslim political parties – derogatorily and contemptuously branded by Digvijay Singh as ‘OUTFITS’, are directly eroding the Congress Muslim vote bank, that had assured Congress continuous supremacy in the pecking order of political parties. Though the trend is still in its infancy, the results, say in Uttar Pradesh, where Muslim parties, had registered an impressive showing, as the formula of inclusiveness, now borrowed by these new comers from Congress itself,  is giving the Muslim outfit across the board support from all communities. These political parties, are fully aware of the power of mixed constituencies, and are ready to offer tickets to other community members, who represent majority vote bank in their local constituencies. Since it is only the beginning, all such Muslim political parties have more flexibility than the two Brahminical bigwigs, who are reluctant to share power with others. Muslim political parties have no such hang-ups. They know the limits of their voting power, and now concentrating on wheeling and dealing first to destruct the vote banks of other parties, and later build up their own distinct identities. Congress and BJP, the two Brahminical outfits that proudly present themselves as natural party of governance to rule India, are now finding a new entrant with some past reference to rule and govern India and that too in a more celebratory secular ethos than that practiced by the both the Brahminical exclusivist outfits.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai




Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Iran-Israel war in Delhi – India in a fix By Ajith Vijay Kumar - ZEE NEWS

http://zeenews.india.com/news/exclusive/iran-israel-war-in-delhi-india-in-a-fix_758411.html

Zee Exclusive

Iran-Israel war in Delhi – India in a fix

 Last Updated: Tuesday, February 14, 2012,

Ajith Vijay Kumar

The attack on an Israeli Embassy car in Delhi has sent India’s security agencies in a tizzy and the least of their worries appears to be the realisation that a terror attack can be successfully attempted in the high-security zone near to Prime Minister’s residence.

But what undoubtedly is the biggest cause of alarm is Israel’s claim that the daring attack was carried out by arch-enemies Iran and its ‘proxy’ Hezbollah - a Shia Muslim militant group and political party based in Lebanon which came into prominence after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Inspired by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini, Hezbollah leaders have called for the destruction of Israel, which they refer to as the ‘Zionist entity’.

Tel Aviv appears to have based its assessment about perpetrators of Delhi attack on the fact that simultaneous attack was also mounted on its Embassy in Georgia and because it had come a day after the fourth anniversary of the killing of Hezbollah’s deputy leader Imad Mughniyeh. Hezbollah had vowed to avenge Mughnieyeh’s assassination in a car-bombing in Damascus.

Moreover, Israel is also locked in a wider covert war with Iran over the latter’s nuclear program. There have been apparent attempts to sabotage Tehran’s nuclear ambition, including the unclaimed killings of several Iranian nuclear scientists – all blamed on Israel by Iran.

Iran has denied involvement in yesterday’s attacks and accused Israel of carrying out the attacks itself. Hezbollah made no comment.

For India, yesterday’s event brought forth the very real possibility of being big pulled into a conflict that is not of its own making.

New Delhi is surely at crossroads and risks upsetting the delicate balance it had achieved in its Middle-East policy. On one hand is its ever-growing strategic and defence relationship with Israel and on the other is the critical economic equation with Iran.

All along, India has been able to strike a middle path between the two, but after yesterday’s attack it is close to being forced to take sides – something it has avoided all along, but now may find it difficult to go further with.

So what’s at stake?


India-Iran
: India’s relationship with Iran has been a long standing one. The civilisation bonds between the two nations run deep. In recent history, the ties improved after the Cold War freeze when both countries worked together in Afghanistan, in early 1990s, to provide support to the Northern Alliance in its fight against the Taliban.

But the fulcrum around which Indo-Iranian ties revolve today is trade. Iran is India’s second biggest source of crude oil and thus plays a critical role in keeping its growth engine on track.

India can’t easily let go off Iranian crude at a time when China and Russia are aggressively making their presence felt in the region.

Pressure from the West had forced India to vote against Iran over its nuclear program at the IAEA but New Delhi has always stopped short of joining the forces looking to isolate Tehran.


India's broader position on the issue is relatively straightforward. India believes that Iran has the right to pursue civilian nuclear energy but wants clarity on the way it goes about it.

Although reports have claimed that the West has promised New Delhi of ‘alternative sources of oil’ but it is certain that the promise comes with strings attached.

Moreover, India has world’s third largest Shia population and that too concentrated in politically important Uttar Pradesh, making it very difficult for the ruling class to take a belligerent stand against Iran.

India-Israel
: Traditionally India has been pro-Arab (who can forget the bear hugs between Indira Gandhi and Yasser Arafat), but that changed in 1992 when diplomatic relationship was established with Israel. Over the years Israel has emerged as one of India’s biggest strategic partners and a dependable source of high-tech weaponry.

Owing to domestic ‘concerns’, India has been vocal on the Palestine issue but that hasn’t deterred the blossoming of relationship between the two nations.

Although India has been cautious and secretive about the depth of its relationship with Tel Aviv, both nations are believed to share intelligence in view of the growing threat of terrorism in their backyards, especially after the 26/11 incident when the Mumbai Chabad House was attacked claiming lives of a Jewish Rabbi and his pregnant wife.

More importantly, India has carefully set course to be in the good books of the US – Israel’s staunchest ally – and wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side at this critical juncture in world history.

The powerful Jewish lobby in Washington is already “deeply troubled” by India's growing ties with Iran and those who know how things work on the shores of the Potomac know that their views matter.

It is clear the Israel need us, if not for anything but at least to win the battle of perceptions – at a time when there are murmurs of an impending attack on Iran by Israel - in a world that is getting increasingly polarised.

Israel’s Ambassador to India Alon Ushpiz puts it this way: “What I would like to stress is that we are both close friends. When you feel close to someone – whether a nation or a state or individuals – you care about his well-being. India is close to our hearts.”

The middle path


Although it is increasingly getting clear that the sands have shifted considerably since the last time India went to the drawing board over its ‘equidistance’ policy in the Middle East. The winds have been blowing with gusto for some time now; the Arab spring metamorphosed into an event - then defined history - but also ended up kicking a lot of dust.

India voted on the wrong side in Libya but has made amends with Syria, all in the hope that the region gets stabilised even if it meant going against its own assessment of the situation.

But the fountainhead of all that India worries about in the Middle East is the morbid fear that the bloody haze from there would travel eastwards to aggravate the situation in the Af-Pak region and eventually cross the Wagah border.

India’s hands are already full; India has too many of its own battles to fight.

What raise the level of concern even further are the reports that a local terror cell – a Lashkar-e-Toiba module as per some reports - had carried out the Delhi car bombing with active help from outside.

If that outside source turns out to be Hezbollah then it points to the forging of a working relationship between Shia groups and Sunni groups like the LeT. And no one for sure knows what its import would turn out to be, as Hezbollah, which fights Israeli armed forces - one of world’s most tech-savvy forces, certainly has evolved newer ways to neutralise the opposition. If Pak-based terror outfits were to acquire that know how, then?
First Published: Tuesday, February 14, 2012, 17:44

 

WHO BENEFITS FROM FALSE FLAG OPERATIONS IN INDIA AND GEORGIA By Niloufer Bhagwat

WHO BENEFITS FROM FALSE FLAG OPERATIONS IN INDIA AND GEORGIA
 
                                                      Niloufer Bhagwat
 
 Within a few minutes of the blast in New Delhi allegedly  on the car  of a staff member of  the Israeli embassy , it was announced that Iran and the Lebanese resistance movement  Hezbollah, were behind the attac.The incident  reveals that  American and Israeli governments among others, renowned for their false flag operations around the world on their own citizens and citizens of other countries, are from sheer exhaustion from their repetitive covert acts in so many countries, losing the touch of the ' Master's Hand' ,and every succeeding operation appears to be more and more botched , crude and a give away .A necessary  question , even as we explore the possibilities , at the very outset of  the  criminal investigation  is , who benefits? The answer in the case of the New Delhi  and  Georgia  blasts is obvious , the beneficiaries are those who have imposed sanctions on Iran as a prelude to attack .
 
Georgia is to be a part of the coalition of the willing,  for attacks on Iran and Syria after recent confabulations in Washington  . India for reasons of its own energy life line , and  not out of  any moral or legal objections ,  not  having joined in the illegal sanctions regime imposed on Iran, is sought to be  pressurized , as successive governments in India normally  bend over backwards to accommodate USA-UK-Israeli interests, ever since 'neo-liberalism' and   what is known as the 'Washington Consensus' was implemented in India . In the circumstances it  is necessary to artificially create public opinion by covert acts for propaganda, using  long time agents being  interviewed on diverse channels of  the corporate  media, or planting articles in the press , in an attempt  to influence  public opinion ,to prepare for the possibility of severing  all trade relations with Iran, though  India will lose out as much as  Iran . It cannot be ruled out that such are the pressures in the onward march to war ,with the desperation of bankers and financiers fearing an imminent collapse of the dollar and the Euro .
 
 
It is irrelevant who planted the bomb, what is material are who are the  conspirators behind the scenes .The Israeli lobby in India  is one and  the same as the lobby of the  United States of America and UK . Israel being  a creation of  Anglo-Saxon  Banking and political  interests,(  as per the communication addressed to a prominent Banker by a member of the British Cabinet when Britain planned the creation of the State of Israel )  and a military outpost of the Empire. Within Israel there is a not only apartheid practiced against Arab citizens  who are the original inhabitants , the non Ashkenazi's or Sephardic citizens of Israel from Asia and Africa , are also  lesser citizens in formulating policy . Therefore Israel's umbilical cord with NATO . It is universally known that the  financial subsidies which facilitate settlements and ongoing colonization of the region originate in Washington , with inter-connectivity between the Israeli weapons industry and major US Arms and Security Companies.
 
 It was not surprising that  the corporate and print media in India swiftly gave  reactions on TV and in the print media , of those known to be openly partisan to the cause of Israel  , without any investigation  whatsoever by any agency being completed . These propagandists echoed the  statement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who did not even have a fig leaf to cover his false propaganda  that Iran and the Hezbollah were responsible.When it is widely known in all knowledgeable circles that the Hezbollah does not operate or function beyond the borders of Lebanon  and in its vicinity,  and is primarily a resistance movement of Lebanon .The history of car bombings would reveal that from Ireland to elsewhere , including occupied countries like Iraq, countries targeted  like Libya and Syria , the killings of Chilean diplomats associated with the late  President Allende's government , among several such  incidents all over the world ,that  it is the usual suspects who plan these cowardly attacks as a part of their policy to  traumatize and terrorize the world.
 
   It is necessary to remember that car bombings have invariably been  instruments of the covert fascist extreme right wing , which is by ideology  anti-humanity , therefore the costs in terms of human lives are never calculated . The costs were not calculated in Ireland and has been the subject matter of several inquiries and investigations . We have seen the bomb blasts in occupied Iraq to kill , maim and spread fear to enable  societal control by occupation forces , deliberately   murdering  innocent citizens of all denominations to incite sectarian warfare ; the  recent murder of scientists in Iran, and the bombing of buildings with hostages inside the building by so called opposition forces in  Syria ,among other acts in several countries .We have seen bombings, killing and maiming in India , to spread an atmosphere of fear and loathing, when religious strife was attempted to be fostered in India . In every single case the question must always be ," WHO BENEFITS"?
 
   It is clear from the extension of covert acts to India and Georgia among other countries, that  the sanctions and oil embargo imposed on Iran and earlier on Libya and Iraq , had as its objectives not the economic devastation of  these countries alone,  but was  a declaration of war on the energy life line, and commercial and trade interests  of more than one country in pursuit of a currency and  financial war on Asia and other regions of the world . If this is  not understood in  all its ramifications , there is  a catastrophe ahead  not only for Asia , Africa and Latin America, but equally for the majority of  citizens of North America and Europe, bleeding through war and banking frauds.There will be no deliverance from the economic apocalypse facing North America and Europe,  unless the military machine of NATO is halted in its tracks  , as this machine has been set in motion by the bankers and fraudsters protecting themselves at the cost of the destruction of the rest of humanity ,which includes their own compatriots .
 
 The Third World War which has begun ,aims to pauperize and  bring to its knees not one country  or one region alone . This is a war on the rest of the world  by NATO on behalf of financial interests and  those financing this war and actively promoting it,  include members of the Gulf Co-operation Council .It is a sign of the times , the capitulation of practically every single organ of the United Nations , that Navi Pillay, the UN Commissioner for Human Rights has not addressed a single General Assembly on the human rights violations of countries occupied by NATO and its allies or targeted for occupation,and ignored the collective murder and destruction  perpetrated by Israel on the Palestinian people .

Friday, January 13, 2012

Congress, the B team of RSS - Ghulam Muhammed

Comments posted on TwoCirles.net article: Rushdie visit: Muslim groups warn Cong of electoral consequences

http://twocircles.net/2012jan11/rushdie_visit_muslim_groups_warn_cong_electoral_consequences.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Twocirclesnet-IndianMuslim+%28TwoCircles.net+-+Indian+Muslim+News%29



Congress, the B team of RSS


The recent upheaval against Salman Rushdie’s visit is more a clear case of Congress v/s Muslims, and less about Rushdie v/s Muslims. The anger against Congress's anti-Muslim stance, either manifested through its anti-Muslim legislative programmes, or Congress use/abuse of police and intelligence agencies to hound Muslims, or its blanket ignoring of all of Muslim demands, is boiling over, now that Congress desperately seeks Muslim votes. Congress in its heart of heart, is considered by Muslim observers as the B team of RSS, as far as Muslims are concerned. Congress tolerates Muslims only for its voting potential. Otherwise, in all its policies, Congress religiously follows the RSS line of marginalizing, demonizing, demoralizing Muslims. In 65 years the Congress's Brahminical policies have 'successfully' converted Muslims into 21st century's new untouchables. The very Muslim name creates the most outrageous reactions among Indians of all hues, thanks to the relentless communalizing policies of the so-called Indian National Congress. Just as 30 year rule of Communists in West Bengal, solidly backed by Muslims, went out with a thud, the portents are that Congress may face a country wide revolt by Muslims that will shake it to its roots. All that is needed is another Brahmin, like Mamta Banerjee to show Muslims the way to a new illusive Paradise on earth.
-----

Rushdie visit: Muslim groups warn Cong of electoral consequences

By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net,

Mumbai: With every passing day, anger against the government decision to allow controversial writer Salman Rushdie in India is mounting. After top Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband, many Muslim organizations are agitating against the decision.

Mumbai-based Raza Academy shot a letter to the UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi demanding the cancellation of visa to Salman Rushdie.
Raza Academy members on Wednesday agitated in a unique way. They were wearing the mask of Salman Rushdie and polishing the shoes of Muslims coming for namaz in Minara Mosque.



In the wake of elections in five states and of Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Mohammed Saeed Noori, General Secretary of Raza Academy warned of electoral consequences. His letter states, “You must also think about the electoral losses in coming election.”

However, answering a question if Raza Academy will oppose the Congress in the coming Municipal election in Mumbai, Saeed Noorie replied in negative. He said, “We are not making any announcement as of yet but, Muslims in general will vote against Congress for this decision.”

Raza Academy also demanded the cancellation of Visa to Tasleema Nasreen and reminded Sonia Gandhi about the infamous Satanic Verses. It said, “Salman Rushdie and Tasleema Nasreen hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims and they roam free but if Muslims agitate, they are fired at, arrested and cases are filed against them.”

It also asked the question why in the name of democracy our government allows the people like Tasleema Nasreen and Salman Rushdie who hurt the sentiments of minorities. They are danger to peace in our country.

Maulana Moinuddin Ashrafi also criticized the UPA government and said, “The government is committing a mistake. It did not care for the millions of Muslims.”

Mustaqeem Makki, editor of Huda Times said, “Government decision is not at par with its secular credentials.”

He added, “If government does not take corrective measures it will have to bear the consequences in the coming election.”
Feeling the heat of growing anger against Congress led UPA government’s inaction in Salman Rushdie case, a delegation of Muslim leaders from Congress including, Arif Nasim Khan, Minister of Minority Affairs, Maharashtra, Nizamuddin Raeen, President Minority affairs Mumbai Congress are going to meet Chief Minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chauhan on Wedensday.

Answering to the demand of Deoband, Salman Rushdie tweeted that he is not required to apply for visa since he got the card of Person of Indian Origin.

Mumbai has witneseds the killing of 9 persons when police fired at the agitators in 1989.
 

Rushdie is scheduled to visit to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival from 20th to 24th January, 2012.

Rushdie, in 1988, wrote the book “The Satanic Verses” which has blasphemous content and thus earned the wrath of Muslims world over. The Supreme leader of Iran Ayatullah Khomeini then issued a fatwa against him.


Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Mirroring the Middle East

My comments follow the article:

http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/the-new-scapegoats-of-europe/
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/not-mirroring-the-middle-east/898180/

New York Times


Latitude - Views From Around the World
January 9, 2012, 2:28 am

The New Scapegoats of Europe

By SARAH WILDMAN
 
One afternoon in November, Océane Sluijzer, a 13-year-old Belgian Jewish girl, was beaten up after soccer practice by a group of schoolmates. Her tormenters, girls of Moroccan descent, called her a “dirty Jew” and told her to “go back to her own country.”

Two weeks later, the U.S. ambassador to Belgium mentioned the beating in a speech about the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. Howard Gutman, himself a Jew, saw Océane’s plight as symptomatic of a larger problem: Jews and Muslims in Europe are caught in a proxy war that mirrors events in the Middle East, especially between Israel and the Palestinians.

“[E]very new settlement announced in Israel, every rocket shot over a border or suicide bomber on a bus, and every retaliatory military strike exacerbates the problem and provides a setback here in Europe for those fighting hatred and bigotry,” Gutman said.

He’s right: Politics in the Middle East refract into tensions between Jews and Muslims in Europe. Violence against Jews on the Continent tends to increase when violence rises between Israelis and Palestinians, for example. The National Consultative Commission on Human Rights counted 815 acts of anti-Semitic violence in France in 2009, compared with 459 the year before, and found that the uptick was a response to Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s bloody incursion into Gaza in early 2009.

But while incidents in the Middle East are relevant, the root cause of the problem between Jews and Muslims in Europe isn’t simply the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; it is primarily the failure of European states to integrate immigrants, Muslims in particular.

Governments throughout Europe have struggled for the last half-century to expand their notion of citizenship. Muslims who came from North Africa and Turkey as workers in the 1960s and early 1970s were expected to go home eventually. But they stayed and built families in Europe. Today, their children and grandchildren are still defined as second- and third-generation immigrants rather than as Belgian, French or German.

This is partly because many Europeans cannot quite imagine how Islam and a secular European identity might co-exist. It is also because the once-marginal anti-Muslim ideas of the far right have become more mainstream; Muslims have replaced Jews as the scapegoats of Europe. If Muslims in Europe so thoroughly identify with the Palestinian cause today — posters at rallies for the right to wear the hijab often call for a free Palestine — it is partly because a weak Palestine subs in for their own maligned population.

And so while Gutman’s diagnosis of the problem rings true, his fix for it is misguided. In that speech in late November, he said that the solution to tensions between Jews and Muslims in Europe “is in the hands of Israel, the Palestinians and Arab neighbors in the Middle East.”

In fact, the real answer lies much closer to home: according to a position-paper by the Brookings Institution, if Muslim communities in Europe felt less marginalization and had more economic opportunities, they would resort less to misdirected violence. Although attacks on Jews are scary and hard to explain away, there is no broad and systematic anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe, neither among Muslims nor among the rest of the population. This is not 1936.

The key to helping Belgians understand the attack on Océane is not to sit down with Benjamin Netanyahu. It is to sit down with the girls who punched her and find out how to make them feel welcome in Belgium.


Sarah Wildman writes about the intersection of culture and politics, and history and memory in Europe and the United States.

59 Comments


  1. Sarah Wildman has rather very cleverly tried to pass the buck from Israel to European countries, when the fact of strained relations between Muslims and the rest in practically each and every pluralist country of the world, has direct and instant connection between what goes on between Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East. Wildman should not ignore that in Europe, Muslims and Jews find themselves on the same side on issues like Halal/Kosher slaughter and had been jointly facing the anti-Semitic resurgence. It is the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Palestinians that is inserting altogether a different and distinct dimension to strained relations between the two 'scapegoats' of Europe and that has got everything to do with Benjamin Netanyahu. And this dimension has a global over-reach, not particularly confined to EU countries.
    • Tired of Hypocrisy
    • USA
    "...it is primarily the failure of European states to integrate immigrants, Muslims in particular."

    Are you sure you have that phrased properly? I do think it may be the failure of Muslims, in particular, to integrate within European states. A perfect example is their adherence to religious law instead of secular law.

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    1. @Design Partner - There is no hard or fast rule about who should follow whom. In USA, the migrants did impose their 'civilisation' on the indigenous population. The assimilation is a tricky process. Sometimes it is gradual and peaceful. Other times, it is a violent rout of the host population. The West has a long history of subjugating the 'hosts' all over the world, both through the force of arms as well as the superiority of their civil societal norms. In EU, Muslims at least are not bearing arms.
      • Design Partner
      • Westchester Cty., NY
      Well said. If you move to another country it must be assumed you feel it's a better place. Logic and custom dictate that you assimilate not that the country change it's laws, language and customs to accomodate the newcomer. This has been the way of all immigrations. To expect to change the host country to suit the immigrant is ludicrous and will surely lead to animosity.
    • RW
    • New York
    No, it is not 1936, but it is 2012 and there is still anti-Semitism in Israel. The fact that it is hidden behind anti-Zionism does not change that. When people start making excuses for anti-Semitism and blaming it on outside factors, it will only continue the attitude of denial that has traditionally surrounded the scourge of anti-Semitism. if you believe it's wrong, then have the courage to say so.
    • sceptique
    • Gualala, CA
    Isn't the question how willing Europeans are to accept a minority retaining its religious and cultural identity, while at the same time how willing that minority is to assimilate? Not something either side has been very successful at.
      • Nora Williams
      • London
      Do Westerners integrate and embrace the culture of their host countries in Africa, Middle East or Asia?? What should be asked for is a middle ground and true respect among people living together !!
  1. What happened in London was NOT an eruption of frustration of arabic citizens. That is completely untrue, and a racist slur. Any examination of the Law Courts records will show the majority of the offenders were British and mostly white.
  2. I recommend you look up The Stanford Prison experiment and read Prof. Philip Zimbardo's book "The Lucifer Effect" wherein you will find evidence that strongly suggests ordinary, psychologically normal and decent people are capable of being twisted into behaving in abhorrent ways if you place them into the "wrong" environment. Understanding why people behave violently is not to excuse what they did/do but it can help us remedy what caused their behaviour and - more importantly - reduce the possibility of others walking the same path as them. Slamming terrorists into jail, or even killing them, won't stop terrorism; but understanding what caused them to become terrorists may help us improve the environments so they may no longer spawn terrorism.
    • Yefim S
    • Southampton PA
    If to say England with it csocial policies is not good enough, who is?
    Another thoiught: is there anything immigrants shoud do to adapt?
    Immigrant to US

  3. Shalom Freedman said, "there is no justification whatsover for the kind of wanton hatred displayed by many of the Islamic faith against Jews."

    Very true. Nor is there any justification whatsoever for the too common wanton hatred of Jews and Christians against Muslims.

  4. I agree that the word "scary" is insufficient, and "abhorrent" is not too strong a term. Prosecution of perpetrators should go forward, but that shouldn't necessarily preclude talking to and listening to the perpetrators, their families and their communities.
      • James A
      • Newport Beach
      Can we do the same when whites act this way towards immigrants or minorities?
      • ordinary person
      • America
      We should listen to them. More importantly they should listen to us. It should be made clear to the Islamic community that anti-Semtiism and violent attacks on little girls will not be tolerated. It should be made even clearer that such attacks will be prosuted to the fullest extent of the law. Muslims seem to want it both ways. They want us to respect their laws and societies while in their communities. But they don't want to respect our laws and our societies while living in a non-Muslim country. That's unacceptable.
  5. It would appear than Muslims have not successfully assimilated into the European social order. Their young people have not made the economic advances that other immigrants have, whether this is due to lack of opportunity or active discrimination or some combination of the two cannot be denied. However, there can be no denying that some of the fault rests with the Muslim population itself. Those that resist adopting the values of their new countries be it in the treatment of women or in their refusal to conform to the social mores of the country, have contributed to the marginalization of these citizens. Nevertheless, what ever happens to Palestinians or Israelis, there is no excuse for violence against fellow citizens. The them vs. us mentality will only prolong and justify the continued marginalization of the Muslim population in Europe. If Muslims wish to succeed in their new countries they must be citizens of those countries first and Muslims second. Anything else is doomed to failure.
    • D. Eustace
    • London
    ---has there ever been a case where a Muslim person was attacked by a Jewish person?---the article is sane, sound and very welcome.
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    1. If this is a generalization that no Jewish person had attacked Muslim person, it will not hold water, when the new globalized world is the backdrop.
    • Rob S.
    • Washington, DC
    Muslims in Europe often refuse to integrate into the societies in which they live, clinging tenaciously to their religious and ethnic identities. It is at best arguable that one can be a devout Muslim and also a tolerant Western European. Muslims not being accepted is not the problem - the combination of anti-Semitism and Islamic insistence is.
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    1. European Jews should be the last people to criticize Muslims for trying to hold on their religious and ethnic identities. Sarah Wildman cannot brush aside what travails they have gone through centuries in Europe. Her focus on Muslims as intractable and uncompromising ignores what her own people have gone through in the past.
    • Liesje
    • San Anselmo
    I wonder how Ms Wildman would have justified the actions of some Dutch schoolchildren who, soon after the war's end, called me, a Holocaust survivor, a "a dirty Jew. " It sickens me that these manifestations of hatred and prejudice against an innocent child can somehow be excused as reflections of frustrations and powerlessness on the part of the perpetrators. It so reminds me of the beliefs, quite common in Calvinist Holland before the war, that asked what the Jews had done to bring the Holocaust upon themselves.
    • Rick
    • Illinois
    Having lived in Europe for eleven years, I'm also aware that many muslims don't want to be assimilated. They don't want to embrace national values. They want to enjoy the benefits of the West while maintaining their own cultural identity.
  6. Why does Sarah Wildman want to "explain away" violence against Jews? We are, after all, talking about violence against Jews in Europe, the continent in which 1/3 of the Jewish people was murdered 70 years ago by the most industrially and intellectually advanced European country. If one cause of anti-Jewish attacks in Europe stems from Muslims scapegoating Jews for their problems, another cause is certainly the centuries-old history of European anti-semitism. It is abundantly clear that in today's Europe, European left-wing intellectuals often try to "explain away" anti-Jewish violence, just as Sarah Wildman does, because they are unwilling to acknowledge that both traditional European antisemitism still exists along with anti-semitism that has been fostered among Muslim immigrants by the widespread antisemitic propaganda that is endemic in the Arab and Muslim world. Refusing to face reality and simply referring to Muslims as the new Jews is yet another way to explain away anti-Jewish violence. It is of no use to Jews still trying to live in European countries.
    • James A
    • Newport Beach
    "he said that the solution to tensions between Jews and Muslims in Europe “is in the hands of Israel, the Palestinians and Arab neighbors in the Middle East.”

    Not at all. Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, gays and women in Europe and the US are expected not to beat up Muslim children despite the widespread persecution and injustice towards all groups in the Islamic world. If we can all restrain ourselves they can too. How about this "the solution to tensions between gays and Muslims, Christians and Muslims, Jews and Muslims, atheists and Muslims, Buddhists and Muslims, Hinduism and Muslims, women and Muslims worldwide is in the hands of the Organization of Islamic Countrires (OIC). If they want an end to Islamaphibia they must stop creating the breeding ground for it. This entails treating people of all religions, cultures, and ways of life with equal regard in all respects".

    • blackmamba
    • IL
    The perpetrators of the Crusades and the Inquistion that targeted both Muslims and Jews was the Roman Catholic Church and European Christian nations and their leaders.

    And the pogroms/ghettoes were common place among the Chrisian nations from West to East for many centuries thereafter.

    While the authors of the Holocaust and it's excesses and predecessors were Nazi Germany and it's fascist allies and rampant anti-Semitism in Christian European Empires..

    From the Balfour Declaration until the creation of the Jewish state of Israel the Muslims/Arabs/Palestinians rights were ignored. And ever since the ethnic cleansing of an alleged "land without people for a people without land" has continued. And the Arabs were moved from Turkish domination to British/Italian/French imperial domination.

    Israel is a theocratic colonial apartheid state sponsor of terrorism with nuclear weapons. It is no more a democracy vis a vis Israeli Arabs than were blacks in Jim Crow America. And Palestinians in the Occupied Territories are less free than were Americans under British rule.

    And ever since Abram of Ur,Sumer claimed that his God wanted him to invade and occupy Canaan in his name his Jewish/Christian/Muslim heirs have had problems getting along with each other and even within their faiths and with those of any other faith.

    This is all about human nature and theology. Where reason natural law and logic fail. And that is the connection.

      • herje
      • ft. lauderdale
      simply put, you are wrong.
      there is no apartheid in Israel. Israel may have nuclear weapons but not only don't admit it, but don't threaten anyone with them.
      people in the west bank or "occupied territories" are free to do as they please. they run their towns and communities with zero interference from Israel. There elections, if they have them are not run by Israel, their newspapers are not run by israel, their schools are not run by Israel, their politicians are not run by Israel.
      The restrictions that exist are restrictions to travel because of their threat to use suicide and other bombers to terrorize Israel. If they would promise to not bomb then there would be no travel restrictions.
      Ironically, the opposite is true; the west bank and all other arab areas/countries are apartheid. they do not allow jews to live there freely and if they do they are second class citizens whose lives, livelihoods, and property are constantly threatened........irony and hypocrisy!

    • Z
    • Bloomington, IN
    Violence is frightening, but the logic in this piece is scary.

    The writer, for no clear reason, says muslim anti-semitism in europe is caused by lack of integration. What is the evidence?

    Will improved integration decrease muslim anti-semitism? In Egypt, muslims are 90% majority yet they attack Copts who have been part of Egyptian society since before Muhammed. I don't see how muslims can be more integrated into Egyptian society.


    In Iran, the only muslim country with an appreciable Jewish community, the Jews are under siege as are Zoroastrians. The Iranian Bahai community is enthusiastically persecuted. Again, the problem is not muslim integration.

    Perhaps the problem is that intolerance is accepted. This is sometimes fobbed off as a religious problem (and there is a real contribution, there), but it is really a political problem.

    Too many politicians and social leaders particularly in europe take cheap shots at Jews using the proxy term zionist. Any 13 year old girl can tell you there is no difference.

    Perhaps the author of this piece should do a little investigation to recognize that Europe of 2012 used to be Europe of 1936.

  7. The "key" to addressing racial and religious hate and bigotry is 1) that the governments address and deal with their immigration problems, and I don't mean by kicking immigrants out. 2) Prosecute ALL perpetrators of hate crimes.
    • Bashy Quraishy
    • Copenhagen.Denmark
    The New Scapegoats of Europe By SARAH WILDMAN touches on a very important issue, namely the way European societies have been marginalizing Muslim communities in the last few decades and how it has contributed in anti-Semitism suffered by Jewish people.
    She also claims that while incidents in the Middle East do produce incidents of violence against Jews, the root cause of the problem between Jews and Muslims in Europe is primarily the failure of European states to integrate immigrants, Muslims in particular.
    I wish to point out that:
    1. Physical violence against Jewish people comes from individuals among Muslim communities and does not come from organized groups or represent the sentiment of Muslim communities. While there have been few cases of violence against Jewish people in some EU countries, France is the only country in Europe, where such has been widespread.
    2. Then there is the case of wide spread Islamophobia in Europe, also among some Jewish individuals and especially intellectuals who constantly demonize Islam and Muslims. Bernard –Henri Lévy of France is a good example. Luckily, Jewish-Muslim communal conflict is a perception, which has been highly exaggerated by some groups of politicians and media for their own agenda.
    3.Racism, discrimination and Islamophobia have always existed in Europe as has anti-Semitism. So let us not blame the Muslims for something, which Europeans have been past masters and still are.
    Kind regards
    Bashy

  8. The majority of western Europeans are more products of the Enlightenment, with a cultural (Judeo-) Christian understanding and sympathy. Americans and Muslims keep trying to drag this to a religious conflict, when the Europeans just don't think this way anymore. They resent Muslims framing the lack of integration in medieval terms like "Christian," "Jewish" and "Islamic," when it should be about "Middle Easterners" adapting to European culture. The Enlightenment and the secularization of Europe has led to the most stable, prosperous and happy era in the history of Europe. Frankly, if you can't make secularized society work for you, go somewhere else.
      • Nora Williams
      • London
      The conflict has nothing to do with religion. If you look at all religions, they are similar in their preaching, moralising, understanding, sympathy and also violence. "The enlightened Europe" you're talking about did lead people to ugly wars, genocide and colonization ... Let's have another look at human history and try to be logical to solve the problems of the 21st century. We need the thinking of the 21th century, a connected world and very complex economic and socio-cultural relationships !!
      • Advisor
      • Bangalore
      I think you make some very astute observation. As an aside, however, it is hard to accept that Enlightenment and what followed was a panaecia for all eveil. Afterall, it was European countries that looted and plundered much of the world in the colonial era, destroying the soul of enitire continents in the process. It was in Europe during early 20th century that mechanised warfare and mechanised slaughter were employed and perfected; It's only after the devastation of 2nd WW that Europe seems to have lost its appetite for violence. The present liberal environment is a pleasant and welcome development - but it is a recent development. It can't be attributed to Enlightenment and secularisation entirely. But I do agree with your larger point - it is precious, and should not be allowed to be jeopardised by anyone, immigrant or otherwise.
  9. Not to be too picky here, but that millions of Muslims who emigrated to Europe remain unassimilated sometimes generations later is wholly the fault of the host societies? It is nowhere the responsibility of the immigrant to fit into the nation to which he moves, but rather the problem of the recipient culture to make allowances for him?

    I'm sure European nations can be more accommodating, but shouldn't Muslims moving there make an effort to fit in as well? When influential elements in the Islamic immigrant communities in France and the UK seriously demand for their members to be under the rule of Sharia, somehow I can't completely blame the English and the French for being bad hosts as it is clear those making the demands are intent on recreating their countries of origin on European soil.

    Is perhaps the reason why Muslim immigrants have not become fully integrated into European society because no demands have been made upon them to do so? When the official governmental dogma is some hazy multiculturalism which is horrified at the prospect of expecting an immigrant to become culturally a member of the receiving society, why would they assimilate? Perhaps if it was clear that anyone immigrating must assimilate, they probably would. Expectations go both ways.

      • Nora Williams
      • London
      I would say the problem is first an economic integration which didn't take place. Poverty, lack of education and lack of opportunities engendered rejection on both sides. It's a vicious circle. People couldn't be dealt with as a tissue you throw away when used....
  10. After reading the other comments, maybe I should apologize for any ignorance on my part for simply complimenting the article. I was just seeing the glass half full as opposed to glass half empty in this article.
    I know this is a complex issue and yet simple too and is accompanied by highly charged emotions that I have the utmost respect for on all sides.
    I hope we all find it in our hearts to not contribute any further to the bad karma it can generate and sustain, turning it into the monster it remains in a tortuous loop of negativity, misunderstandings and even hatred and violence.
    Had Truman only heeded George Marshall's warnings and taken a different approach that took the Palestinians into account, showing them some consideration and respect too.
    And here we are all these years later.

    • Len Charlap
    • Princeton, N.J.
    "This is partly because many Europeans cannot quite imagine how Islam and a secular European identity might co-exist."

    But the author does not even attempt to answer the question of "how Islam and a secular European identity might co-exist."

    As Bernard Lewis once wrote, "There is no place in Islam for a secular government."

    • Worn out in Amityville
    • Amityville
    The failure is not Europe failing to integrate, it is the obligation of imigrants to integrate in the culture they move to. Sadly, multi-culturalism expects the host country and it's citizens to bend.
  11. Sarah Wildman gets it partially right when she says that problems between Muslims and Jews in Europe are due to the failure of European states to integrate Muslims into European society. There no doubt that Europe has a lot to learn from America in this regard. If Muslims begin to feel more at home as equals in different European countries, extreme attitudes should ease.

    This, however, does not explain the whole story. One can't ignore the negative impact of extremist Muslim leaders, the provocative anti-Israel and anti-Jewish media messages and images coming from the Middle East, and the bias toward Israel from the left, in particular, in Europe as factors contributing to anti-Semitic attitudes and incidents among Muslims in Europe.

    Ultimately, all these factors must be addressed in order to alleviate the surge of anti-Semitism in Europe that the continent has experienced in recent years.

    Abraham H. Foxman
    National Director
    Anti-Defamation League
    New York, NY

      • DG
      • New York
      Mr. Foxman, that was pretty generous. Partially right? This article is essentially saying that the anti-semites are the victims. To many of us, that is a very disturbing trend in the media.
      • Ron Cohen
      • Waltham, MA
      Islam is in transition, from a patriarchal, authoritarian culture to a modern and, one hopes, secular society. This won't happen overnight; it will be a multi-generational process. This is not an argument against opposing anti-semitism from whatever source. It is simply to offer some context for this excruciatingly complex issue.