January 29, 2007, - 3:28 pm
I’ll Be Amazed by These “Incredible” Events When . . .
By Debbie Schlussel
. . . They Happen in Arab Muslim Countries. The whole world is gushing about a couple of things that aren’t so amazing when you consider their contexts:
* Saudi Princess Lolwah Al-Faisal told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that if given the chance to change something in her country,
First thing, I’d let women drive.
Big deal. When she says that in public on Saudi soil to Saudi King Abdullah instead of to a group of rich, non-Muslim, liberal elitists, then I’ll be encouraged. When she denounces the Palestinian terrorism that she and her family are funding, then I’ll be impressed. When she calls for Jewish women AND Jewish men to be allowed drive–and even live–in Saudi Arabia, then I’ll be surprised. Until then, this is nothing–barely the “rare” and “direct challenge” the media is claiming.
* Israel has its first Muslim cabinet minister, Raleb Majadele.
Another no big deal. Israeli Muslims/Arabs have voted from the beginning and, despite what the Mainstream Media reports, are a part of every day life in Israel–as star athletes, professionals, business owners, etc. Muslims and Arabs now occupy ten percent of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. Several of those MKs (Members of Knesset) have called on homicide bombers to continue to attacking Jews in Israel. But they are still Members of Knesset, and no-one’s called for their removal.
A big deal will be the day when Jews can be citizens, vote, own weapons, and even exist out in the open in any Arabian Gulf state, like, say, Saudi Arabia, or Kuwait. You’ll never see Jewish members of their phony Parliaments (there was a Jewish member of the Moroccan Parliament). You won’t see Jewish ministers in the Kuwaiti fake cabinet.
These countries won’t even let Jews in, and certainly not those with an Israeli passport. The few Arab Muslim countries that still have a scant few Jews left which they didn’t already kick out are millionth-class citizens, treated worse than insects. And try being a Palestinian in any of those countries. They’re treated pretty badly by their Arab Muslim brethren abroad, and treated better in Israel than in any country outside the Western world.
That Israel made Majadele a minister in the Israeli cabinet is not news. The day when someone named Shlomo or Shaul or Yitzchak becomes a minister of the Qatari or UAE governments, then we can be impressed. And, even then, it probably won’t be exciting because the Jew will probably be someone like the Holocaust denying Neturei Karta rabbis who kissed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Until these things happen, I’m not in the least amazed by these non-events. And I doubt anything will happen to change that condition ever.
Tags: Abdullah, ado, Arabian Gulf, cabinet minister, Davos, Debbie Schlussel, Israel, Israel's Parliament, Israeli Cabinet, King, Knesset, Kuwait, Lolwah Al-Faisal, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Minister, Moroccan Parliament, Princess, Raleb Majadele, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, UAE, World Economic Forum
I still can’t quite decide why Westerners hold Muslims to lower standards. My guess is that it’s one of the following:
1. Some sort of benevolent racism – the type where you accept their barbarism, so any small step in the right direction is met with approval. Kind of like how you praise a kid when he ties his shoes or figures out how to dress himself.
2. Fear of being killed for saying, “What’s wrong with you? The rest of the world doesn’t have a problem with not abusing its women and minorities on a societal scale.”
3. Fear of being branded insensitive for saying, “What’s wrong with you? The rest of the world doesn’t have a problem with not abusing its women and minorities on a societal scale.”
Or probably some combination of the three.
Dan on January 29, 2007 at 7:46 pm