A Zionist Attack in Cairo?

A few days ago, a bomb exploded in the tourist-popular area of Hussein Square, Cairo, Egypt. The bomb killed a French teenager tourist, age 17, wounding 20 others. The reports vary about the numbers killed and wounded. Some say four killed and 18 wounded. The attack was reminiscent of a similar one in Cairo in 2005. The Egyptian authorities have arrested many suspects for questioning but the matter remains unsolved. The suspects detained were all Arabs and Egyptians.

An article on Aljazeera.net, the Arabic version, provoked many comments. All condemned this terrorist attack, using the usual rhetoric of the Arabic language, pleading to find the criminals and punish them. But here’s the curious thing: some seem to blame Israel for this killing. Their reasoning is that it is in Israel’s interest to have this bomb go off, creating panic, especially during these weeks of Cairo-sponsored talks to lengthen the cease-fire between Hamas and Israel after the Gaza operation. The Arab mentality when it comes to Israel, generally, is that the Jewish country wants to divide to conquer. Others blamed the Egyptian Authorities for their corruptness and the Islamist radicals for their brutality and inhumanity.

A commentator, called “fares misser tany” (I don’t know what that means) criticized the websites that shows these guys how to create bombs. She/he urged everyone to begin a campaign against these websites. The last few words were, and I translate here, “these destructive Zionist websites.” I’m sorry, what? Zionist? What? I don’t get the link. Most of the time, you can’t trace the creators of these websites anyway.

Another commentator wrote this:

“هل من المصادفه ان يكون ما جرى يخدم اسرائيل سبق و القت بقنبله على مفاوضات التهدئه ماذا تريد اسرائيل؟؟؟؟؟؟؟”

Translation: “Is it a coincidence that what happened serves Israel, bombing the peace talks? What does Israel want?????”

Israel may have an interest in this. I recall the Israeli Consul General in New York, Asaf Shariv, saying that having Ahmedinejad in Iran is the best PR for Israel. I suspect turmoil in Egypt at this point could buy the country some time, delaying the much-unwanted peace talks with a group that is on the terrorists list. But whoever knows a little bit more about Egypt would know about the radical Islamists groups that gained power decades ago, from the days of Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Free Officers movement in 1952. If anything, the Muslim Botherhood make a powerful organization in Egypt that has been linked to many of the Jihadis in Afghanistan, and who, to some extent, have received much funding from Saudis. They have always been suppressed by the Egyptian government and military, most of the time to the extremes of torture and genocide. They, too, have an interest in causing turmoil and weakening the government during these times.

The issue is very complicated. Jumping to blame Israel or even the Muslim Brotherhood is too risky and ridiculous at this point. We’ll have to wait for better information. This mentality of putting Israel at the forefront of our problems is ludicrous, however. We have many bad people in our own societies and among our own people too. Don’t jump the gun just yet.

Here’s a BBC video on the aftermath of the incident…

Palestine in Take Back NYU

“Take Back NYU” has gained much publicity lately. It is an organized student movement that took over the New York University Kimmel Center for student activities, on Wednesday night, February 18^th. About 60-70 students (the numbers vary) walked to the cafeteria on the third floor of the building and barricaded the place. They remained there over the next couple of days, producing a list of demands, many of which are reasonable. It wasn’t a hostage situation. The rebels happily saw protests held outside in support of the cause. There were many rumors, broadcast reporters and various reactions on and off campus. It ended when the university administration ordered security officers to break in and get everyone outside. Thirteen students are now suspended awaiting judicial hearings at the university.

Their main demands relate to New York University’s financial transparency, its attitude toward student workers, disclosure of endowments and strategies… etc. However, it also included the demand to provide annual scholarships to 13 Palestinian students, with full coverage of housing, food and travel expenses. Another demand was to donate excess supplies and materials for the rebuilding of the University of Gaza.

It is admirable that these students, oceans and continents apart from the conflict, could include such a demand. I’ve always thought that those who are most involved in updates of the conflict belong to one of the two main sides. These two demands, however, were seen as somewhat absurd, along with another demand to ban Coca-Cola due to the company’s connections with warlords in the Republic of Columbia. If anything, these demands seem disconnected. Some people may even call them radical. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is put, yet again, on the front page, attached to rebellious activities, not so completely peaceful, not to mention totally successful.

I wondered how the students came to the number 13, and why they have chosen Gaza specifically. There are many people around the world who suffer like the Gazans, if not more, say the Darfurians, the Burmese and even the Kosovians. The theme of this demand, instead, should have been to help disadvantaged youth around the world, in places of war and destruction in general.

Movements like these need leverage; numbers, numbers, numbers. The students have made their opinions public, and that deserves applaud. It hasn’t been effective, however… so far.

A Shoe at Israeli Ambassador in Sweden

On Wednesday, February 4, 2009, the Israeli Ambassador in Sweden, Benny Dagan, received an unpleasant welcome at Stockholm University. He was giving a lecture about the Israeli elections and later moved to talk and defend Israel’s latest military operation in Gaza. Two protestors, a man of 35 years and a woman of 25, threw a shoe and a notebook at the diplomat. They yelled, “Murderers!” and “Intifada!” Later, they were both arrested by the police and received charges for assault and public disturbance. A student who attended the lecture caught this shaky video on his cell phone camera…

 

The two protestors got their point across: an extreme disapproval, if not disgust, of what the IDF has done in the Gaza strip. I wonder, however, about this action’s effectiveness, aside from the publicity. The Swedish have shown much support to the Palestinian cause, from boycotting Israeli products to protesting against the partnership between their company Veolia and Israel in building a tramline two years ago in Palestinian-populated East Jerusalem.

A shoe, notebook, or whatever it is, thrown at a diplomat does not shed good light on the cause, however. It portrays a level of violence and disrespect that undermines it and all those people who support it. Pro-Palestine supporters, then, get called barbaric, violent and even insolent. They become the bad guys in the eyes of others. Is that the image aimed for here?

There are other means to fight, protest and express disapproval. Propelling objects in the air could work momentarily, get a first page space in newspapers, but it’s not effective in the long-run.

 

An Orthodox Reading of a Torah Passage

In a small hall on the second floor of The Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life at New York University, a casual lecture was held by Rabbi Hayyim Angel, the rabbi for Congregation Shearith Israel in Manhattan, New York. The talk was about certain passages in the Torah pertaining to biblical wars. Rabbi Angel wanted to challenge the student audience about the meaning and reasoning behind these texts. This is an especially important topic in today’s Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The first passage introduced was from Devarim (or Deuteronomy), the fifth of the five books of the Torah, commanding the annihilation of the Canaanite tribes and their likes when the Jews came to the holy land. It is a loaded passage. It lays out the code of conduct in wars with the enemies. To towns and nations in general, you first offer peace, if they don’t surrender to your monotheistic ethics; you fight them and kill all their men. You can take their women, children and livestock for your benefits. With the Canaanites and the specified others, you will kill everyone so they don’t lead you astray from the rule of God. Here is the text in full:

Devarim 20:10-18

“When you approach a town to attack it, you shall offer it terms of peace. If it responds peaceably and lets you in, all the people present there shall serve you at forced labor. If it does not surrender to you, but would join battle with you, you shall lay siege to it; and when the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword. You may, however, take as your booty the women, the children, the livestock, and everything in the town –all its spoils –and enjoy the use of the spoil of your enemy, which the LORD your God gives you.

    Thus you shall deal with all towns that lie very far from you, towns that do not belong to nations hereabout. In the towns of the latter peoples, however, which the LORD you God is giving you as a heritage, you shall not let a soul remain alive. No, you must proscribe them –the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites –as the LORD your God has commanded you, lest they lead you into doing all the abhorrent things that they have done for their gods and you stand guilty before the LORD your God.”

 

A Jewish student, wearing a black kippah, asked the Rabbi if this command is applicable to Jews today. His concern was in the ethical problem with this text, wiping out an entire people, with no exception to children, women and elderly, and no religious tolerance. The Rabbi responded that it isn’t applicable, seeing that there are no Canaanites today, and expressing his own discomfort with the text from a human perspective. (He later introduced another text from Devarim 7:1-5 and 2:24-30 that challenge this first text)

In the Quran, there are certain verses that imply or indicate an action similar to this, such as the enslavement of the fallen enemy’s women (Jariya is the Arabic term for a slave woman) and the issuance of tax obligations to non-Muslims (also known as Jizya in Arabic) indicating much intolerance. From my learning, those who do not accept the rule of Islam will be fought until defeated. One of the ideas of the Islamic Jihad is particularly based on that; defeat those who will lead you astray.

I have had many arguments with a Muslim friend about this topic, the wisdom, or lack-of, in these verses. Interpretations vary, of course. There are texts in the Torah and the Quran that contradict each other. But the similarity across the three main religions when it comes to war and survival remains strong. These laws, if you call them so, provoke ethical and moral questions that we should be asking.

Although the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has more than just a religious aspect to it today (e.g. political, economical and plain old human arrogance), its religious portion remains significant. If we are to build the future of tomorrow, this issue must always be on our minds.

The Lebanon Project

I want to dedicate a blog post to an admirable venture initiated by a few New York University students that pertains to the topic of this blog, in recognition of this venture’s importance.

The Lebanon Project is a venture that took 10 NYU students to Palestinian refugee camps in southern Lebanon in January 2008, a little over a year ago. It is the brainchild of a recent NYU-graduate called Josh Martin. I first heard of this project a month after the students returned to New York City. My friend, Frank Fredericks, was a participant.

I had been working on a profile about Fredericks and his work at that time (which will also receive another post – look for “World Faith”). Josh, a Middle-Eastern Economic and Political Development major, was generous enough to answer a few of my questions about the project over email.

He had first thought of the project when he volunteered to rebuild Israeli homes that were damaged by Hezbollah rocket fire during the Lebanon War of 2006. He wondered about the damage that had been done to the other side of the borders, particularly to the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. With another friend, Alex Karasavva, he began an effort that he hoped would parallel the one he’d seen in Israel. With a crew of 9 other students, The Lebanon Project gathered a total of $12,000 over the course of four months, from individual donations, institutional grants and grassroots fundraising. There were many sponsors and organization support.

In the Beqa’a Valley, the students visited refugee schools, mingled with Palestinian children, planted trees and painted wall murals. The group itself was diverse, with Christians, Jews and Muslims on the team. Their week-long initiative was featured in the Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar.

Frank Fredericks wrote about his experience in this trip in a blog. Check it out: Frank’s Lebanon Project Experience.

 

Is It Courageous to Refuse?

This came out on YouTube during the recent Operation Cast Lead, led by the Israeli Defense Force on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It is a video of a demonstration, in Tel Aviv, titled “The Courage to Refuse,” following news that the IDF might be calling army reservists back to the service to help out in the military operation. A bunch of Israelis protested against going back to the service and against the war in general.

 

 

 

It might be absurd at first to see this. After all, it is your duty as a citizen to defend your country. Many commentators on YouTube said the same thing.

The more I replayed this video, however, the more I began to admire these Israelis, many of which are young. As a “refusenik” mentions, there are consequences to this action: court martial and possible jail time, not to mention societal pressure and accusations of un-patriotism. Yet, they willingly take on this risk. They act on what they believe is right and wrong.

It is courageous to refuse war, wherever it may be. It is courageous to refuse killing, bombing, any human suffering. Sometimes, it takes more guts to refuse than to conform and join. I searched on YouTube and from my notes during Operation Cast Lead for a protest by Muslims against the killing of Israeli civilians. I searched for a protest against Hamas. I found none. Living in an Arab and Muslim country for most of my life, I don’t find that surprising. I know that my Muslim fellows will immediately object to this statement, saying that the civilian killing committed by Hamas doesn’t compare at all to that done by the IDF, and that is true. The facts support this claim and the brutality of the recent military operation is evident for those who want to see it.

A civilian dead is a civilian dead anywhere, nevertheless. If anything, no-one other than victims of killing can understand the pain and suffering of losing someone dear. There should be an opposition to any war; any bomb unleashed by the IDF and any rocket fired by Hamas. All those who kill civilians must be held accountable, no exceptions. That is courageous.  

 

Note: The phrase “Courage to Refuse” first appeared in Israeli society in 2002, with the “Combatant’s Letter” that was signed by 50 reserve soldiers, refusing to serve beyond the 1967 borders following their duty in Gaza. There are 628 signatures today. You can check this out on the website

http://www.seruv.org.il/English/default.asp

 

Israeli Consul General at New York University

On Monday February 9, 2009, the Israeli Consul General in New York, Asaf Shariv, paid a visit to New York University, in an event organized by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) of NYU.  There had been a big fuss about the outcome of the Israeli elections this year, with close competition between Kadima, led by Tzipi Livni, and the Likud, led by Benjamin Netanyahu. Shariv had come to give his opinion.

 

The majority of the 40-some audience at the King Juan Carlos Center was young, between 18 and 30 years old. After half an hour to 45 minutes, the floor was opened for questions from the audience. A young female NYU student, and a member of the AJC, stood up to ask the Consul General about what she sees as indifferent Israeli youth towards politics in Israel, especially compared to the recent mobilization of many young Americans for the latest Presidential Elections.

 

I found this question particularly surprising. My perception has always been that Israelis are very much involved in politics. During Operation Cast Lead, the recent military action led by the Israeli Defense Force on Hamas in the Gaza strip, I read many comments on Israeli newspapers online posted by Israelis and Jews. Even on the English version of Al Jazeera website, many of the readers’ comments came from Israelis and Jews, all around the world, admirably voicing their opinions and views. There is no doubt in my mind that the majority of these commentators are young. On the website YouTube, videos of demonstrations in Israel for and against the war on Gaza showed large numbers of youth who were not the least bit indifferent. Among my Israeli acquaintances and friends, politics has always been a topic of conversation.  

 

The Consul General’s response was, “We don’t have a Barack Obama.” His more important point, however, was that some people are fed up with politics in general. Many young people in Israel, he said, are more concerned about selling their internet start-up companies than politics. The bottom line was, people are moving on.

 

An Israeli friend once told me that Tel Aviv is sometimes referred to as “the bubble,” with people tanning on its sandy beaches as the Lebanon War was in mid-heat in 2006. Hamas and Hezbollah rockets rarely have the parabola or the speed to reach many parts of Israel. I thought about this as I heard this lady’s question. I suppose people can get detached in some parts of the country. “Out of sight, out of mind.”

 

I wondered if this could be the case for some Palestinian youth. My gut feeling tells me it’s not, but that is another topic of discussion.