Wednesday, December 14, 2005
This is a forum run by the TV station of a group that many mainline American Protestant groups believe is a worthwhile interlocutor in the Middle East. Also note that, according to MEMRI, this is taking place at 'Lebanon's only government-run university and the country's largest.'
...Hisham Sham'as: "There is no such thing as unrealistic. Just as Israel... Just like Hitler fought the Jews – We are a great Islamic nation of Jihad, and we too should fight the Jews and burn them."...
Student 2: "Avian flu hit the entire world, and they are trying to find a cure for it now. As for Israel – the only cure for it is to wipe it off the map."...
Mediator: "What's your name?"
Student 3: "Mahmoud Fakhri. I hope what I have to say is not too inciting."
Mediator: "Go ahead and incite. This is what we're looking for. We want some action."
Mahmoud Fakhri: "In all honesty, the Arab people should overturn the disappointing regimes."
Mediator: "Now you are really inciting..."
Fakhri: "In all honesty, any disappointing government that wants to normalize relations with the Zionist enemy and to sell out the Arab cause, and especially Jerusalem – the people must topple this regime and have its say."
Go ahead and incite, as long as it's hatred focused outward. These students certainly know what answers are expected of them, what's acceptable. According to the Sharansky theory, these attitudes would have a chance to change if there were an actual free exchange of ideas possible without fear of retribution. These answers, of course, provide precise insight into the attitudes of the people asking the questions and controlling the potential retribution for dissident views -- they are, with no need for hyperbole, Nazis.
Check this one on MEMRI... surreal http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP104705
Yeah, have that in the Quick Link bar. It's a crazy region. Just say anything.