The Disturbing Familiarity of Zionist Extremism

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Zionism and Jihad

A week ago, The Nation published an editorial that briefly caused confusion for me. The piece which was about the atrocities in Gaza noted that, ‘Muslims are losing ground, homes and lives in Palestine, Iraq, Pakistan, China, Sri Lanka. An unending list.’ What struck me as strange was the inclusion of Iraq and Pakistan in this list of countries where Muslims are facing persecution as a minority. Muslims are not a minority in Iraq and Pakistan, and those countries are not suffering from attacks by non-Muslims. The more I thought about this strange list, however, I began to see that perhaps there was a deeper and more disturbing truth that The Nation had touched on, even if it was unintentionally.

According to The Nation’s editorial:

‘Israel does not want peace; it wants total control of land. And this battle for land holds religious meaning for them, and symbolic meaning for the west. It is not just about territorial power but a grand destiny.

Replace the word ‘Israel’ with Taliban. Or al Qaeda. Or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Or Lashkar-e-Taiba. Or any other jihadi militant group and the sentence holds perfectly true.

In Gaza, Muslims are being slaughtered in the service of an extremist ideology. In Iraq and Pakistan, Muslims are also being slaughtered in the service of an extremist ideology. One group justifies their killings by calling it ‘Zionism’ and the other by calling it ‘Jihad’.

The slaughter of innocents in Gaza disturbs us deeply. It should. If we look deeper, though, at what is behind the atrocities, we may see an all too familiar face looking back at us. That should disturb us also.

 

Gaza Can’t Be Saved With Religion

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Religion and War

Israel escalated it’s attack against Gaza yesterday by launching a ground invasion, adding tanks and soldiers to the already indiscriminate air strikes. Hamas has refused any offer of cease fire and warns of ‘heavy price‘ for the latest invasion. Meanwhile, the world is struggling to find a solution that will stop the unnecessary killing. Well, most of the world. In Pakistan, our leaders and supposed ‘security experts’ are trotting out well worn emotional responses without a hint of reason.

I have already discussed the insanity of PTI’s suggestion that Pakistan nuke Israel, though I did not even bother to mention then what such an irrational policy would result for Pakistan itself.

Ansar Abbasi has made a similar suggestion recently, except not just for Pakistan but for all Muslim countries to launch a joint military operation against Israel.

Maleeha Lodhi, may be more sophisticated, but she appears to have the same suggestion also, although presenting it in a more subtle, plausibly deniable way.

Maleeha Lodhi obviously doesn’t mention war by name, but since Egypt, Turkey, Qatar and Pakistan have all been working to try to negotiate an end to the violence, it is not unreasonable to assume that diplomacy is not a satisfactory means for our ex-diplomat.

Details aside, the idea is always the same – that the Ummah is under attack from Jews and all means necessary to secure the Ummah against the Jews is justified. Ironically, this is essentially the same idea that is guiding Israel’s policy of state terrorism against Gaza – a religious obligation to kill.

Gaza can’t be saved with religion. That does not mean we should not pray to Allah to intervene and stop this madness, but it means that giving the same prayers that the Israelis are giving – ‘Oh God Kill Our Enemies’ – is part of the problem not part of the solution. In the meantime, we need to start looking for solutions that do not involve religious violence. Both for Gaza, and for ourselves.

PTI’s Modest Proposal: Nuke Israel!

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AQ Khan and Imran Khan

While atrocities continue to take place in Gaza, several countries are trying to stop the killing. America offered to help broker a cease fire last week, but with its history of unquestioning support for Israel, the US is not seen as a neutral broker. Egypt has been trying to negotiate its own cease fire, but has not been able to get Hamas to agree to stop its rocket attacks. As the body count rises with no end in sight, however, PTI has a modest proposal of its own. Start a nuclear war with Israel!

Here is Senior PTI founding member and spokesman for Imran Khan:

 

Bloody good idea! And I do mean bloody. After all, Israel is only 114 km wide at its widest point. For those unfamiliar with the actual geography, it looks like this:

Israel map

So let us imagine what would happen if we followed PTI’s advice and nuked Israel. Obviously, we would kill millions of Jews including innocent women and children. This might be considered a small price to pay for stopping the killing of the Palestinians, though – never mind that killing innocents with disproportionate response is exactly what we’re protesting Israel for.

Because of the small geography and the large impact of nuclear weapons, though, we would also kill all the Palestinians, too. But we can rationalise this because they will embrace martyrdom in effort to kill all the Jews. The important thing to remember is that after our attack, Israel will no longer be able to kill innocent Palestinians! Because, of course, we will have killed them all ourselves.

Another fool proof plan courtesy PTI!

Pray for Gaza, but pray for peace

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Images of the innocent victims of Israeli attacks against Muslims in Gaza are sickening. Every day I am praying for the atrocities to end. However, I am not here to offer just another condemnation of Israeli aggression. I want to speak to my Muslim brothers and sisters about another disturbing trend that I am witnessing.

Here is a Tweet from member PTI social media team Hussnain Chaudhry:

This is just one Tweet, but it is representative of thousands that are appearing in my timeline from Pakistanis and other Muslims praising Hitler for trying to kill all Jews and praying for a ‘new Hitler’ to finish the genocide.

What is the difference between these statements and the statements of Zionists who support genocide of Muslims? Killing innocents is killing innocent and both are wrong. More to the point, you can not claim moral high ground against genocide if you are also supporting genocide.

Such statements also ignore an important similarity between many Jews and Muslims that should not be ignored. When Islamic militants carry out terrorist attacks, we are all quick to remind that terrorists are a small minority who do not represent all Muslims. Actually, even in Israel there are Jews who are protesting against the aggression against innocent Muslims in Gaza.

Pray for Gaza, yes. But pray for Israel, too. Pray for all humanity. Pray for peace.

Children of War: Facing the Truth of 1971

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Children of War

“Forgiving is not forgetting; its actually remembering–remembering and not using your right to hit back. Its a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you don’t want to repeat what happened.”

–Desmond Tutu

It has been over three decades since the tragedy of 1971. Enough time for those involved to look back and consider with the benefit of hindsight, what went wrong. In a new article in Foreign Affairs, Harold H. Saunders a senior member of the US National Security Staff during the time, looks back on the events that led up to the 1971 war and asks whether mistakes made by the US added to the tragic events that followed.

The events of that war are also the subject of two recent films, and the treatment of each should be taken into consideration. First is the movie Gunday, which is an Indian attempt to white wash the entire affair and presents Bangladeshis speaking Hindi, declaring themselves as Indian, and in one infamous scene rejecting the Independence of Pakistan in 1948. What was supposed to be an action-packed blockbuster ended up as a massive failure because no one was interested in seeing such a distorted version of history.

Another new movie has received a much different reaction. ‘Children of War’ is another Indian-made film, but this time the history was not manipulated or distorted. Actually, it was told in all gory details, even those that many Bangladeshi would hope to never see.

Despite the grim portrayal of atrocities, Children of War film was not greeted with anger, but premiered in Bangladesh to an esteemed audience that included Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor and a number of other lawmakers and political personalities.

Interestingly, the film does not attempt to make the Indians or any other group as heroes either. In fact it is reported that in some cinemas, anti-American slogans were raised against its willingness to stand with Gen Ayub. Rather it is a painful reminder of the horrors of the 1971 war.

The film has been praised by Member of European Parliament Ryszard Czarnecki who ‘strongly recommended to the European Parliament and other European institutions – committed to the principles of secularism, democracy and tolerance – to promote this movie in order to witness the realist depiction of events of the 1971 genocide in Bangladesh’. 

Sadly, the film has been banned where it is most needed.  Central Board of Film Censors in Islamabad termed the film as ‘one-sided’. But what excuse can be given to justify such atrocities? The real danger, though, is that without facing the brutal truth and remembering what happened, we may doom ourselves to repeat it.