Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, April 23, 2007

South Koreans vs. Muslims, part 3

I wrote two postings contrasting the visceral shame and embarrassment that South Koreans experienced after the VA Tech massacre compared to the infantile abdication of responsibility that Muslims exhibited after 9/11.

A wonderful example of exactly this kind of puerile Muslim reaction can be seen in this article in the PakTribune by Ahmer Muzammil, where the author attempts to contrast US reaction to a South Korean nutcase with his fantasy of how Americans would have reacted if the shooter had been a Muslim:

Would it have changed the fact that this was a deeply disturbed not to mention chronically ill man? Would the media, neo-cons and Zionists react in the same manner? Would there be plans to attack another Muslim country even though it had nothing what so ever to do with the heinous crime? Is South Korea where CHO hailed from a clear and present danger now and hence should be the beneficiary of Daisy Cutters and other “Marvels of Science” that we have invented for the well-being of human race? If you are able to answer these questions honestly than it should become obvious, that we live in a very sad, hypocritical, prejudice and bigoted world.

In addition to the international dynamic, domestically speaking all things being as they are now, only If CHO had been Muslim, even a non practicing one at that, you can rest assure that there would have been mass arrests, migrations and intimidation of Muslims thru out the country. There would have been threatening phone calls to the masajids, our sisters who wear Hijab would have been harassed. The MSA’s(Muslim Students Association) would have received threats; Muslim women on campus would have been scared because most of them are identifiable thru their head-covering.

Strawman arguments are but one aspect of an immature person; but the fact that even after 9/11 very little of his imagined harassment happened shows how utterly deranged many Muslims are. Here we have a textbook case of showing how Muslims as a whole cannot distinguish fact from fiction.

After some irrelevant blather, he comes to a punch line:

I realize that there are militants out there that are driven by there interpretation of Islam, however my question is that is Islam the driving force behind it or is it some form of injustice somewhere that is the catalyst? For way too long we have avoided these uncomfortable questions maybe because the Zionist lobby in Washington realizes that if this conversation starts then there jig would be up.

Can one even find a better example of infantilism than this "argument"? Instead of taking responsibility for his fellow Muslims, as the South Koreans did with the shooter, he circles around to blaming the victims instead - for their perceived "injustice" that is as imaginary as his litany of how the US would expel thousands of Muslims had the shooter been Muslim.

Thanks, Mr. Muzammil, for illustrating my point about the immaturity of most Muslims so perfectly.

JIB awards are upon us

The 2007 JIB Awards are here. If you are interested in getting me to the finals in the category of Best Pro-Israel Advocacy Blog, go here and vote. If, on the other hand, you can't stand this blog, go there and vote for someone else.

Unlike other years, you can only vote once per each subcategory. So choose carefully!

Peaceful PalArab weekend

Three PalArabs were killed, including two brothers, in Gaza (Haitham and Mohammed Abu Amr and Hassan Abuscherkh, in autotransliteration.)

We've also recently seen gun attacks, drive-by shootings, accidental explosions and machine gun fire, bombings at an American university in Gaza, bomb threats, a PalArab journalist injured - the usual mayhem.

Israel is uncharacteristically aggressively attacking terrorists this weekend, with about 8 terrorists killed and 1 civilian (a sister of a wanted terrorist who stayed in the house after Israel asked everyone to leave.) So this week the PalArabs have to work hard to keep their streak going of killing each other faster than Israel is.

UPDATE: Paltoday.org (Arabic only) adds a fourth PalArab victim of PalArab violence Sunday, named Imad Abu Hussein. This brings the self-death count this year to 182.

UPDATE 2: Paltoday adds a 12-year old boy named Muhammad Al-Saadi was shot and killed Monday. 183. Ma'an adds a 5-year old girl was shot in the head by one of those "mysterious gunmen," critically injuring her.

UPDATE 3: A Hamas commander died of wounds he got two months ago in Hamas/Fatah fighting. 184.

UPDATE 4: From PCHR, another child who killed himself from finding a weapon at home:

At approximately 03:00 on Tuesday morning, 24 April 2007, medical sources at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City declared that Haitham Mohammed Bulbul, 12, from al-Sha’af neighborhood in the east of Gaza City, died from a wound he had sustained on Monday. The child was seriously wounded by a gunshot to the chest at approximately 22:00 on Monday, when he mishandled a gun at home.

185.

UPDATE 5: A woman died, and others were injured including a 70-year old man, in a clan clash in the Bureij camp in Gaza on Wednesday. 186.

Shame, responsibility and maturity

As a follow-up to my earlier posting on the differences between how South Koreans are acting to the AV Tech massacre versus Arab reaction to 9/11, there is still a nagging issue that needs to be addressed.

It has been long recognized that the West has a guilt culture and the Arab and Eastern worlds are a shame culture. He have discussed many times how Arab conceptions of "honor" (which is just a manifestation of shame) are so foreign to Western ears, and are critical in understanding the differences between us.

But here we have a stark contrast between two cultures that are both recognized as shame cultures: the Arab world and the Asian (in this case, South Korean) world. If they are nominally the same, why are their reaction so diametrically different?

I believe that the answer lies in another dimension of their respective psyches, namely, maturity. The Korean reaction to VA Tech represents a mature instantiation of a shame culture, while the Arab responses to the multitude of terror attacks is clearly immature.

I would argue that the single biggest difference between immature and mature people are their respective abilities to take responsibility.

A child will go through a number of steps instead of admitting guilt - he may lie, or try to put the blame on someone else, or claim extenuating circumstances - not only in an attempt to avoid punishment, but also often so as not to admit to himself that he is guilty.

Growth comes from learning to act responsibly and learning to take responsibility.

Compare the Arab world to Japan. Both suffered humiliating wartime losses in the 1940s. It can be argued that Japan lost much more, as it had a formidable war machine and it was not just defeated but forced to surrender unconditionally. And both of them have strong shame cultures.

Yet only decades later, with very few natural resources, Japan turned itself around into an economic and technological powerhouse that became the envy of the West. The Arab world, in contrast, had the misfortune of sitting on billions of barrels of oil.

Japan was forced to grow up in a hurry. The Arab world, with the cushion of petrodollars, had the luxury of becoming the spoiled brats of the planet, building playgrounds for the super-rich in the Gulf. Is there any real psychological difference between the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s and a boy who takes his football back when the game doesn't go the way he wants?

In short, the shame/honor dynamic may explain many of the Arab world's psychoses, but it doesn't explain them all. We need to add the dynamic of an infantile culture as well. And the VA Tech outrage shines a brilliant light on the contrast between a mature shame culture and a puerile one.

HH CXIII

The 113th edition of Haveil Havalim is out at Soccer Dad.

One of my posts made it in, always an honor since I rarely self-nominate.

Check it out!

South Korean vs. Arab reaction to terror

Many articles have been written about the Arab reactions to 9/11. Critics claim that Arabs refused to condemn the atrocity in an appropriate manner, and Arabs would point to articles and statements that did seem to condemn it.

Even so, there was still a nagging feeling in much of the West that the condemnations were not strong enough, that they weren't heartfelt, that something was missing.

In the wake of the VA Tech massacre, looking at the South Korean community's reaction, it is now clear what was missing: shame and responsibility.

For Korean Americans especially, the tragedy is hitting close to home. Though they don’t personally know Cho or his family, local Korean Americans share a cultural and ethnic background with them.

“I’m very ashamed,” admitted Buwon Brown, a community volunteer who is Korean American.

Dong Lee, an editor at the Korea Central Daily News’ office in Seattle, said the community was “very shocked, very saddened by the news.”

The state’s only Korean American legislator, Paull Shin, said he was watching the news early Tuesday morning as he was getting dressed. He “collapsed” when he heard the gunman was a fellow Korean American. “I could not face the reality. How could this have happened? I lost my control,” Shin recounted.

Later that day, the Edmonds legislator took the floor of the Senate chambers to apologize on behalf of the Korean American community. He told his fellow senators, “This (shooting) really affects me deeply. I’m sorry.” Afterwards, his colleagues came over to console him and to emphasize that the shootings were not his fault or the Korean community’s.

South Koreans expressed shock Wednesday, as new details revealed that the Virginia Tech shooter was Cho Seung-Hui, who was born -- and lived for eight years -- in Seoul.

President Roh Moo-Hyun held a special meeting with aides Wednesday to discuss the shooting and figure out further steps to ease the situation.

The president is expected to make a statement of apology at an event in Seoul Wednesday afternoon. His office has issued two statements of condolence about the mass killings.

"It's a tragic incident. But to find out that he is a Korean, I am ashamed and confused," a shipping-company employee said. "I keep asking myself what would have made him do such a thing. It's a very bad day."

A wave of shame washed over the Rev. Kun Sang Cho when he learned the Virginia Tech shooter was a native of South Korea.

He knew the murders occurred hundreds of miles away, possibly at the hands of a mentally ill young man. But what most pained Cho and many other Korean-Americans living in Colorado was that the shooter was Korean -- one of their own.

"They feel ashamed," said Cho, pastor at Asbury Korean United Methodist Church. "This is our culture. If one of my members got involved in a crime, all members feel the shame."

To honor the 32 victims of the shooting, Cho's church will host a community memorial Sunday at 4 p.m. at 7140 S. Colorado Blvd.

First-generation Koreans tend to have a cultural sense of shared responsibility, said Adrian Hong, a board member of the Mirae Foundation, a national organization of Korean-American college students. "If something good happens to one, it happens to all Koreans, and if something bad happens to one, it happens to all of them," he said.

Kyeyoung Park, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of California Los Angeles and member at the university's Center for Korean Studies, said that because Korean culture tends to be homogeneous, new immigrants rely on one another emotionally.

"In Western culture there is an emphasis on guilt; in many Eastern cultures the emphasis is on shame," she said. "I think Korean-Americans want to do something because they feel ashamed. Some of them feel truly responsible, even though it is ridiculous to think they are responsible for the action of this person."

Park said some first-generation immigrants identified with the comments of South Korean Ambassador Lee Tae-sik, who said not only do Korean-Americans feel ashamed but called for them to "repent." He suggested a 32-day fast - one day for each victim of Monday's carnage.

Now we can understand more fully what was lacking after 9/11 and countless other Arab terror attacks.

A condemnation is not a heartfelt, spontaneous reaction. It is almost always a contrived, carefully written, political reaction more for damage control than for true remorse.

Koreans don't have madrassas with daily exhortations against infidels. Koreans don't have daily or weekly terror attacks against the West. Koreans don't have countless newspapers and websites demonizing Americans.

And yet, they spontaneously show true, heartfelt shame - and a sense of shared responsibility - for the actions of a lone crazed man who happens to be one of them. While they have a fear of a backlash, their shame is not a calculated reaction designed to blunt political reprisals - it is a true reflection of what they are feeling.

This is what was missing after 9/11 - the kneejerk reaction of guilt, shame and responsibility from the Arab community. Instead we saw attempts to deny, or redirect, or contextualize the despicable acts - never to take ownership.

While the Koreans are taking responsibility for the actions of a single nutcase, the Arab Muslims spent all their time trying to abdicate their responsibility for the culture that brought about Al Qaeda.

All the condemnations in the world is not worth a single heartfelt apology. And even though it is absurd for the Korean community to apologize for something that is clearly not their fault, the fact that they are doing it shows true remorse.

The world Arab community in general, and the Muslim Arab American community in particular, never felt truly sorry for 9/11, or else they would have acted beyond the way that Koreans are acting today for an event that is miniscule in comparison.

Invoking Elder's First Rule (part 2)

Another example of how Arab accusations about Jews are merely projections of Arab crimes can be seen here:

(IsraelNN.com) Residents of the Gush Etzion hilltop community of Sde Boaz had hundreds of grape vines and scores of fruit trees uprooted and destroyed Friday. The latest vandalism, though the most costly yet, is just the latest in a string of attacks on the community’s property.

Residents of the agricultural community said that in addition to the destruction of the Cabernet Sauvignon vineyards and fruit trees Friday, expensive irrigation systems were damaged and stolen as well. The vandals used donkeys to plow under the hundreds of vines and uproot the fruit trees.

As Omedia notes, mainstream Israeli media refuses to even mention Arab destruction of Jewish agriculture, seemingly because it happens on the "wrong" side of the Green Line:

This accumulation of facts attests to a situation in which Israel is gradually conceding its sovereignty and its rule of law while abandoning Jewish agricultural property to the mercy of the Palestinians. The myth that the Palestinians are deeply attached to trees, perhaps as opposed to the Jews, plays into the hands of those who use trees for political purposes. When the trees belong to Jews, the tree is merely considered another tool in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. It is well known that the Jewish-Arab conflict in Israel is tied to the struggle over land, such as the struggle between the Jewish National Fund’s pine and cypress forests (only in recent years have they begun planting olive trees), and olive groves, typically seen as a Palestinian symbol.
All of the above information was only made public on Arutz Sheva, a radio station identified with the settlers, and never managed to reach the general public. Why was such pertinent information never published in Ha’aretz or on central news sites such as NRG? Such information is obviously newsworthy. Perhaps these media outlets consider the uprooting of Jewish trees by Palestinians too commonplace – a “dog bites man” story – or see it as a mere curiosity. Whatever the reason, tree removal by Palestinians deserves media exposure as well.

As I have shown in the past, Palestinian Arab destruction of trees and other Jewish agriculture predates 1948 and PalArabs have been found to destroy their own trees when it can make the Jews look bad. The idea that trees are somehow sacred to Palestinian Arabs is a preposterous myth, one that is all too ready to be swallowed by even more preposterous supporters.

Invoking Elder's First Rule (part 1)

My First Rule of Arab Projection states that whenever Arabs accuse Israel of doing some crime, they are doing that exact crime, usually on a far grander scale than their accusations.

This weekend gives us the opportunity to invoke this rule more than once.

The first example can be seen in an article in Ma'an:

The Al-Aqsa association for protection of Islamic endowments and holy sites revealed on Saturday that some Jewish organisations are manufacturing forgeries of documents aimed to illegally purchase Arab properties in the old city area of Jerusalem.

The forgery and deception is being conducted through registering Jerusalemite lands to the names of Arab citizens who do not originally possess any lands in Jerusalem.

Extremist Israeli groups then come to those people and submit the forged documents, showing that there are lands registered in the lands' department under their names.

They offer those people huge amounts of money in return for selling properties which they never owned, nor did they know about it.

The conspiracy was unfolded when an elderly Palestinian man from the village of Qalansawa in ‘the triangle area’ inside Israel, told the Al-Aqsa association that “a Jewish extremist group had came to his home offering a large sum of money in return for 2600 square meters in Jerusalem registered under his name.” They then showed him the ownership document.

The old man added, "I kicked them out and told them that they are plotting a trick, since I never owned the span of a hand in Jerusalem."

The director of the media department of the Islamic movement and spokesperson of Al-Aqsa association, Sheikh Khalid Muhanna, warned of the dangers of this phenomenon, which, it has been noted has been rising in frequency recently.

He accused the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem in particular, and the Israeli government in general of taking a big share with these far right-wing groups. He based his accusations on the supposition that “such groups could not wander along the length of the country carrying bags loaded with money and forged documents without assistance of formal governmental institutions and departments”.

There are certainly Zionist groups that raise large sums of money to legally purchase Arab-owned land. While it is altogether possible that a member of this organization saw a common Arab name on a legal deed and made a mistake approaching the wrong man, this accusation shows no evidence of forgeries, Israeli government conspiracy or anything else.

But it is interesting that this accusation came on Saturday, because a much stronger accusation came just last Thursday - by the PA itself: (H/T: Backspin)

Dozens of Christian families from the Bethlehem area are about to discover that their homes and lands have been "sold" to Muslims without their knowledge, Palestinian Authority security officials said Thursday.

The officials told The Jerusalem Post that members of a local Muslim gang have been arrested on suspicion of stealing land and property registration documents from the Bethlehem Magistrate's Court.

Bethlehem Governor Salah Ta'mari confirmed that an investigation was under way to determine who was behind the theft. He said most of the stolen documents belonged to families living abroad.

A Christian businessman told the Post that most of the victims were Christian families living in the US and Latin America. "They are stealing our homes almost every day," he said. "We believe the suspects have been receiving help from some Palestinian security officers here."

The scam was uncovered when court officials complained that many files relating to cases involving ownership of property had disappeared, a security official said.

Initially, police thought thieves had broken into the court and stolen the files, he added. However, further investigation revealed that the theft was an inside job. Three court employees and five land dealers were later arrested in connection with the case.

The official refused to reveal the land brokers' identities, but sources in the city said some of them were not real land dealers.

"These are people with close ties to the Palestinian security forces," the sources said. "We have written to the Palestinian Authority demanding a full inquiry. This is one of the biggest scandals in Bethlehem and many families are very worried that they may lose their property."

Apparently, the "Al-Aqsa Association" decided that now would be a good time to divert attention from the real phenomenon of Muslims stealing Christian land in Bethlehem.

Ann Arbor synagogue gets picketed every week

A Jewish pro-Palestinian-Arab organization has been picketing an Ann Arbor, MI Conservative synagogue, Beth Israel, every Shabbat for over three years.

Even though the synagogue is pro-peace, and supports a two-state solution, this is not enough for the airheads who continue their protests. They demand that the synagogue disavow all support for Israel as a Jewish state, support all PalArabs to move to wherever they want in Israel, and some other absurdities. The protest group has been deplored and condemned by the Ann Arbor City Council and most major newspapers, and an anti-protest organization that just started in March already has 260 members.

Perhaps the most innovative response comes from a group named SPURN, for "Synagogue Protest UNACCEPTABLE! Respond Now," which raises money for Magen David Adom proportional to the size of the protest every week. So far, they have raised over $84,000.

Try to imagine the headlines that would result if people protested a mosque every week, no matter how peacefully.

Paging Dr. Melfi - Terrorists suffering from depression

An article in YNet that would be considered a spoof in any other area of the world: (Hat tip: EBoZ)

Palestinian security forces have been seeking emotional counseling, following "internal infighting in Gaza". Dr. Riad al-Aqra, the director for the Gaza hospital for mental health, said that "although the occupation is a major cause for emotional depression for Gaza residents…Palestinian infighting plays a striking role in the increase of shock, tension and depression, present in previously unseen amounts."

"One member of the Hamas security force came to me suffering from high tension, which was causing physical problems. He said he felt fear from the fact that he would burn in hell forever if he fired even one bullet at someone," the doctor said.

He told of another case, in which a member of the security forces arrived with similar symptoms. "He said he couldn't fire at another Muslim, and that he felt pain and bitterness," al-Aqra said.

"These are the feelings on both sides of the infighting, and emphasize that everyone, deep inside, rejects the civil war in his soul, rejects that which is unnatural," he explained.

As opposed to killing Jews, infidels and women who speak with unsuitable men, which is the most natural feeling in the world!

But Hamas angst ran even deeper this week:

Hamas members were troubled by an additional issue this week: an altercation with the Egyptian branch of the hitherto supportive Muslim Brotherhood.

The rift occurred after a senior leader in the organization, Abd al-Munam Abu al-Fatouh, announced that the Brotherhood supports the creation of a secular Palestinian state and a bi-national presence in Palestinian, as a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Hamas members were so incensed by al-Fatouh's announcement that the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Muhammad Mahdi Akef, had to release a special statement refuting it.

Akef said, in his statement, that the Muslim Brotherhood believes that "Palestine is Islamic and therefore, holy to Muslims and, thus, belongs only to Palestinians."

"No Palestinian has the right to refute this…The Zionists have no choice but to live under the rule of a Palestinian nation in which they will be free to worship their God and enjoy full rights of citizenship," Akef added.

"If the Zionists do not agree, our Palestinian brothers will have no choice but to resist and undertake all actions that are consistent with holy principles that were given to the Palestinians and that are in accordance with their national interests," he said.

Nonetheless, a source from the Muslim Brotherhood told the London-Based a-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper that Akef's statement was made primarily to reduce tension between the two groups.

No one even mentions the horror that accompanied reports that King Abdullah of Jordan said that he favors monetary compensation to PalArab "refugees" rather than their physical moving to Palestine.

Too much news, too little time - Dhimmi Carter edition

Jimmy Carter has decided that Palestinian Arab rights are the most important issue in the coming presidential election, a litmus test that Iowa caucus voters should use when choosing a candidate. It seems that the Saudi money that pays for The Carter Center is being spent very wisely.

A Palestinian Arab whose rights Carter is so concerned about got very close to blowing up a bus in Israel two months ago, but he put the batteries for the bomb in incorrectly. He made it into Israel through parts of that apartheid fence that Jimmy wants to see destroyed. As Barak at IRIS points out, he would be a candidate for prisoner release the next time Islamic Jihad kidnaps a Jew, because he doesn't have "blood on his hands."

While Dhimmi Carter is obsessing over the Israel Lobby, Harper's Magazine is more concerned with the Saudi Lobby.

Carter's favorite moderate PalArab group, Fatah, announced that it want to kidnap more Israelis.

Birthright Israel is bringing a record 23,500 students to Israel this summer. Carter would want them to go to Gaza.

I've been skeptical about the possibility of strengthening moderate Islam. Daniel Pipes disagrees. I'm not sure what Jimmah would think.

Canadian reporter attacked over Islam article

From the Toronto Star:

Journalist Jawaad Faizi says he can still feel broken glass showering over him in his car as he fended off blows from a cricket bat in a surprise attack he blames on "religious fanatics."
A writer for the Pakistan Post, Faizi said he was beaten by three men because he mocked a Pakistani cleric in a column.
Faizi said the men smashed the windshield and driver's window of his car as he arrived at his editor's home about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday. He said he was struck by the cricket bat and was cut on his forearm.
"They were smashing and smashing, hitting and hitting," Faizi said. "I could not stop them."
Faizi said both he and his editor, Amir Arain, recently received phone calls warning them to stop writing defamatory articles about the religious group Idara Minhaj-ul-Quran and its leader, Allama Tahir-Ul-Qadri.
Faizi said he wrote a column two weeks ago mocking the cleric, who he said told a gathering in Pakistan "that he could write the name of Mohammed on the moon with his finger."
"He is always trying to fool the people," Faizi said.
The columnist said his three attackers screamed at him in Punjabi and Urdu to stop writing about Minhaj-ul-Quran.
He said they fled when he dialed 911 on his cellphone. He was treated at Mississauga's Trillium Health Centre and released the same night.
Constable Jodi Dawson said Peel Region police have assigned the case to detectives in 12 Division.
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, a Toronto-based association of more than 300 journalists, editors, publishers, producers and students, condemned the attack.

Hat tip Zionist Spy.