by David Meir-Levi
The freedom-loving humanitarians who profess to defend the egalitarian values that are the cornerstone of civil society in the West are usually strong proponents of the rights enshrined in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including:
Equality of persons, without distinction of race, color, sex, language, religion, political opinion, national origin, sexual preference.
The right to life, liberty, and security of person.
Freedom from slavery.
Freedom from torture and from cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.
Equality before the law and equal protection of the law.
The right to enter into marriage as free and consenting adults.
Freedom of thought, conscience, opinion and religion.
Freedom to manifest one’s religion.
Freedom to change one’s religion.
Islamic terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, el-Qaeda, Hizb ut-Tahrir and many others promote a social order which is an anathema to the liberal values of the West. These characteristics include:
Eternal Jihad: the commitment to unending violence to make Islam the sole or dominant religion in the world. Jihad is central to the prosecution of a perpetual war against all non-Muslims.
Imperialism: the jihadist goal of world conquest and the imposition of Islam on all humanity is religiously motivated imperialism on steroids. The Muslim terrorist leaders of Hizb ut-Tahrir held a conference in Boston in 2009 announcing their plan to replace Western governments with Shari’a law…. “Islam uber Alles.”
Supremacism: Arabs are the “best of people” (Qur’an, Surah 3:110) and Islam is the only true religion.
Triumphalism: an end-of-days scenario in which Islam ultimately triumphs over all mankind, displaces or subordinates all other religions, annihilates all Jews, and globally imposes Muslim rule.
Totalitarianism: Islam is, by its own definition, a totalitarian religion, obligating its adherents to complete submission to Shari’a.
Theocracy: The core of Islamic political history is the supremacy of Shari’a over any other form of government. Islam demands that political rule be in the hands of the religious leaders to whom any secular leader must be subordinated.
Gender Apartheid/Misogyny: The deeply misogynistic repression of women is an irrefutable part of Muslim social history, a tragic and gut-wrenchingly brutal assault on women. The indignity and inconvenience of the hijab and burqa, the restricted opportunities for education, and restrictions of a woman’s right to chose her mate are dwarfed by the savagery of honor killings, female genital mutilation, forced child (and even infant) marriages, stoning or vivisepulture as punishment for even the suspicion of adultery, and acid disfigurement or violent beatings for even the accidental appearance of a woman’s ankle in public.
Religious Apartheid: The Muslim doctrine of “dhimma” is the institutionalization of legislated religious apartheid. All non-Muslims living under Muslim sovereignty are subject to oppressive, discriminatory laws. These non-Muslims, legislated into a legal status of inferiority, are known as “dhimmi” (people of the contract or “protected people”). Whatever limited rights dhimmi might enjoy were determined by the local Muslim religious leaders, in exchange for jizya (a poll tax), in accordance with the limitations delineated in the eighth century Pact of Omar. Most Muslim countries in modern times have tended to be lax in the enforcement of dhimma, but it was officially reinstated in Iran after the Islamic revolution in 1979. Pakistan re-instituted dhimma officially in 1956.
Genocide: Leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah have been unabashedly clear that their ultimate goal is the annihilation of world Jewry. Hamas and Fatah officials have repeatedly declared that their objective is the obliteration of Israel. Hassan Nasrallah stated openly: “If (the Jews) all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.” In their own words they declare their commitment to the genocide of all Jews worldwide.
Other characteristics of Shari’a law in stark violation of human rights include the legalization of slavery; the implementation of cruel and unusual punishments such as amputation, beheading, and crucifixion; death sentences for homosexuals; denial of freedom to convert out of Islam; denial of freedom to manifest a non-Muslim religion in public; and denial to dhimmi and women equality before the law. Typical of some Arab regimes and terrorist groups are the use of torture, arbitrary arrest, restrictions on freedom of expression, limited or non-existent freedom of the press and other media, total disregard for the Fourth Geneva Convention and humanitarian treatment of prisoners; and the ability to issue unadjudicated death sentences against civilians who are perceived to be enemies of the religion. Perhaps most horrific of all is their use of their own civilians as human shields and their recruitment, training and deployment of homicide bombers, including children.
One might conclude that any defender of human rights would find such a society to be utterly odious, an anathema — but some do not.
The “Stop the War” coalition in London proudly hoisted banners during their street demonstrations in 2006 proclaiming “we are all Hezbollah now.” The UK Guardian deemed these demonstrators to be “…either of profound ignorance or a depraved indifference to human life…” and displaying a “moral idiocy.”Dr. Norman Finkelstein televised his solidarity with Hezbollah in 2007 by echoing the “Stop the War” coalition’s pronouncement with even greater moral idiocy. Clearly not ignorant, is Finkelstein possessed of a depraved indifference to human life? He is not the only academic displaying moral idiocy or depraved indifference.
In the Arab-Israel conflict we see an oxymoronic alignment of supposedly principled, educated defenders of human rights with the most egregious violators of democratic principles and human rights.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is possessed of all of the deplorable characteristics listed above, and demonstrates as well a long track record of extreme kleptocracy, corruption, unconstrained education of children into hatred and “martyrdom,” relentless anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hate speech and hate preach, lethal internecine rivalries, lionization of homicide bombers and mass murderers, extreme and sometimes lethal homophobia, and an unconstrained hatred of Israel and America.
The so-called “Freedom Flotillas,” organized by the “Free Gaza Movement” and the “Free Palestine Movement,” seem to have attracted a whole gaggle of putative defenders of human rights who instead defend the right of Hamas to display all the odious characteristics described above. Greta Berlin, one of the first flotilla’s participants, is an energetic, vocal supporter of Hamas. Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro, long-time pro-Palestinian activists who support Arab terrorism against Israel, were also among the organizers of the flotillas, along with Kit Kittredge, Medea Benjamin and Hedy Epstein, all well known anti-Israel activists. So their participation is no surprise.
But what about Pulitzer Prize winner and human rights advocate Alice Walker? She went because she sees “children, all children, as humanity’s most precious resource.” Does she not know that Hamas rockets have targeted school busses and classrooms? She claims to care for “all children” — does she really mean “all except Israeli children?”
One might argue that some participants, like Walker, are sincere defenders of human rights who seek only to assist the impoverished civilians of the Gaza Strip; and they have been duped by Hamas. But how could they not know that from the very onset the flotillas’ declared mission of humanitarian aid was transparently false because there is no humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip?
Moreover, established and efficient mechanisms exist for the transfer of humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip. Cargo could be off-loaded at the Egyptian port of el-Arish. Assistance could also be delivered at the Israeli port of Ashdod, cargo off-loaded and inspected, and then delivered to Gaza.
As the terrorist nature of the 2nd flotilla emerged, and it became known that the key organizer of flotilla 2, Mohammed Sawalha, had ties with Hamas, and two other members of the flotilla’s “peace activists,” Amin Abu Rashad and Mohammad Hannoun, were Hamas members, the IHH, itself a Muslim terrorist organization and the primary organizers of the flotilla, disassociated from the endeavor; and many participants left the group before the boats set sail.
But what about those who remained? Why do people who represent themselves as non-violent defenders of human rights cast their lot with organizations that flagrantly deny human rights and unabashedly trumpet their intentions to perpetrate acts of terror, war and ultimately genocide? Why do they pledge their allegiance to terrorist institutions that represent the very epitome of all that they say they oppose?
Even if there were some doubt as to the motives and goals of the flotillas and their organizers, Adam Shapiro, a spokesperson for “Free Gaza” and a well-known anti-Israel activist, announced publicly the real purpose of the flotillas:
“Free Gaza is but one tactic of a larger strategy, to transform this conflict from one between Israel and the Palestinians, or Israel and the Arab world…to one between the rest of the world and Israel…”
By setting sail with those who support mass murder and engage in genocidal war, these so-called non-violent defenders of human rights display their obscene hypocrisy. These supposedly noble supporters of western values have chosen to join the ranks of the 21st century’s version of Hitler’s little helpers.
Source: http://frontpagemag.com/2011/12/08/the-conundrum-of-the-pro-hamas-peaceniks/
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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