"Well, they have enough non-central leadership to all be against Israel and
the US. And to have been at war against the Israelies since Bible times..."
OK, Mike, this is a good example of the kind of "facts" that lead to fairly
easy (though erroneous) conclusions.
Let's have some history here. The "Muslims" have not been at war against the
"Israelites" since Biblical times. That is completely wrong. Hell, there
haven't been any "Israelites" for nearly two millenia.
This doesn't mean there haven't been plenty of Jewish people spread
throughout the Middle East. These Jewish people, known as "Sephardic Jews",
have lived and STILL live in places like Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Morroco, and
throughout the Middle East. These people have lived in relative harmony for
centuries (technically, according to the Koran, they are "people of the
book" and are not to be bothered). And in most of these countries (eg, Iran)
it is very hard to determine who is Jewish and who is not...the practices
and so on are very similar in swome cases to the point of being
indistinguishable in certain contexts (my recently immigrated Iranian Jewish
friend once told me that one major difference between Jews and Muslims is
that Jewish women are allowed to show their real hair until they are
married, but do not do so in Iran in obedience to Muslim law.)
What is not often appreciated here in the US is that the Ashkenazi,
European-descent Jewish folks 1) Don't look semitic 2) Come from Europe 3)
Come armed and money-ed by their friends the US, who by wild coincident need
LOTS and LOTS of oil for their giant, gas-guzzling nation of suburbs and
SUVs. The "war" between Muslims and Israel is perceived by them as a war
against western imperialism, and by (what they believe to be) "fake"
non-semitic Jews. (Let's not argue the veracity of these statements, but I
would ask that you take me word that this is a common perception among
educated people in the region, including some Jews!--read the Chomsky
quote.)
And again, let us remember that Muslims in China, or Indonesia (two of the
biggest Muslim nations) consider the question of Israel a non-question. It's
not something that really has anything to do with them.
What we are seeing, then, is not a religious "war" or issue here. It's one
of pure local politics, economics, and imperialism that our media (as well
as some Muslim extremist groups I admit) have painted as a religious one.
And why? Because our Media have allowed themselves to become merely another
propaganda arm of our government and armed forces (which are practically the
same thing in the US).
Sorry Mike, I can't help bu think you swallowed some stuff hook, line, and
sinker.
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