Saturday, February 10, 2007
The Muslim World is in the process of showing the killing power of conspiracy theory, paranoia and demagoguery once again. I hadn't posted about this yet, so I figured I may as well take the opportunity to get something up about it.
Here we go again. All hell is breaking loose and every Abu with an axe to grind is throwing fuel on the fire:
"There are plans to change the features of the city," Amr Moussa said in a statement distributed to the Arab representatives at an emergency League meeting in Cairo.
Moussa said, without elaborating, that the dig reflects "Israeli attempts" to tighten control over Jerusalem...
...Protests against the construction have spread, with demonstrators accusing Israel of plotting to harm Islamic shrines.
Moussa, the Arab League secretary-general, said he also sent letters to the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and UNESCO, warning of repercussions the Israeli work could have on peace in the region.
"The Israeli violations are provoking anger and condemnation in Palestine, Arab and Islamic world, which is threatening the security and stability in the region," Moussa's statement read.
Israeli authorities have promised the dig to replace a centuries-old ramp damaged in a 2004 snowstorm would not damage the compound, about 60 meters (yards) away. But as work started this week, it drew fierce protests and accusations that Israel was plotting to harm Muslim holy sites...
To help you sort this, the ramp in question is an old structure that started to collapse a couple of years ago due to snow, and earthquake and age. Part of the replacement work involves a salvage dig on the site conducted by professional archaeologists as required by Israeli law.
Rather in contrast to the destruction the Waqf (the Muslim group in charge of the Mount itself) has wrought underground.
Here are a couple of pictures I took in December showing the temporary wooden walkway, a walkway being worked on in full sight, and without any possibility of harming anything on the Mount itself (click for larger):
You can read an AP report here that talks about Palestinian Arabs tossing rocks at a bus full of Canadian tourists to see how worthless simple analysis-free reporting on situations like this can be, since they amount to he said she said with no way for the uninformed to make up their mind with information -- instead they foster a false equivalence between truth and conspiracy.
The Jerusalem Post has a good Op-Ed on this: Intimidation tactics. It starts:
These are questions that were, or should have been, asked with respect to the "cartoon riots," in which Muslims in many countries violently demonstrated against cartoons depicting Muhammad in a Danish newspaper. In the same vein, a German opera that depicted a number of religious figures was cancelled for fear that it might offend Muslim sensibilities.
Numerous smaller incidents of Western self-censorship with respect Muslim sensibilities abound, while Christian and Jewish societies continue to subject themselves and their religions to withering criticism, parody, and self-doubt.
Violence and bullying, in other words, has worked. The more violent the Muslim world becomes, the more likely the West is to see the side of the "offended" party and question its own actions.
The Muslim world's tactic of combining claims of offense, followed by intimidation through violence is not new to Israelis. We have been victims of it for years, and we are seeing it again right now...
Someday, oh someday, the West will stand up to this and speak plainly and say, 'Every time you do something like this, you hurt your own case, you damage your ability to be taken seriously...'
If you want to see the GREATEST VIDEO of a Muslim Imam going ABSOLUTELY NUTS check out this link.
http://www.glumbert.com/media/rave
I think his handlers had to hit him with a tranquilizer dart and throw him into a straitjacket.
Remember, it's pat your head and rub your tummy.