In Wake of Bin Laden Death
N.Y. Synagogue Bomb Plot Reveals
Anti Semitism Rooted in Mid East
by Dan Ehrlich


Palestinian Issue Masks Intolerance
America’s Muslims can thank Allah that New York cops caught two would-be homegrown Arab terrorists before they could carry out their well developed plan to bomb local synagogues. Such a deadly attack after the euphoria of Osama Bin Laden’s demise may have caused all hell to break loose here.

The men planned to disguise themselves as Jewish worshipers in order to bomb synagogues filled with Jews. Ahmed Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh, both Arab Americans, are also accused of buying guns and grenades from an undercover police officer who learned about the plot and gained their trust.

These arrests come against a background of a recent congressional hearing on homegrown Muslim extremism, massive upheavals in the Middle East and threats against America by Al Qaeda for killing its venerable leader.

Yet, the two young Americans, one an Algerian and the other a Moroccan. have no ties to Al Qaeda, claiming they were acting on behalf of the Palestinians. However, their true nature was revealed during conversations where they expressed hatred for Jews.

Recent opinion polls throughout the Arab world revealed  hatred for Israel and America  to be widespread, even though people such as the Libyan rebels are seeking money from the Obama Administration.

Should the President bankroll the rebels without question or should he play hardball and attach strings such as no money unless they recognize Israel? They, of course, will bring up the Palestinian question which has become the standard way of avoiding the entire issue.

The fact is neither the Libyans, the Algerians, the Moroccans or any other Arab nation, with the possible exception of Egypt, gives a damn about the Palestinians. They are mere pawns in their war of attrition with Israel.

When Arabs in Egypt, Syria or even in the USA protest about the treatment of Palestinians, a group of their kindred spirits for which they have done little in more than 60 years, what they really are pissed-off about is Israel’s continued existence and prosperity.

 What much of the world coveniently overlooks is the fact there weren't any Palestinian refugees before 1948. They were created by failed Arab wars of destrcution against Israel.

People such as the two suspects in this case exhibit common racist and anti Semitic attitudes that have plagued minority groups for thousands of years…attempting to mask their racism with a just cause.

The Jewish experience in the Arab world before and after the resurrection of Israel has one similarity with the Black experience in America before and after the Civil War.

As slaves African Americans were treated as valued property, not equal to White people, but generally not persecuted either, as long as they obeyed orders.

As free people, after the Civil War, Blacks endured more than 100 years of often violent  racist persecution and sentiment. The feeling among some White Southerners was one of ingratitude and disloyalty on the part of the freed slaves… they wanted freedom  and would in essence turn on their slave masters.

For hundreds of years large and small Jewish communities existed in the Arab world…from Morocco to Iraq. And compared to the Jews of Europe, they lived peacefully, not enduring Christian based anti Semitism. Although not slaves, in line with Islamic dogma, they weren’t considered equal to Muslims, either.

This all changed when Israel became a reality. In a short time all that good will was gone and the Jews of the Arab world were made persona non-grate and had to flee angry mobs bent of vengeance for Arab defeats by Israel.

The feeling was similar to that of the White Southerners, how could the Jews be so ungrateful to their Muslim betters? But, worse, how could they be victorious over the divine forces of Islam?

The reality that Israel, a non Muslim, non Arabic nation, still exists and in a position of power, now exhibited by its frequent reaction to Palestinian provocation, drives guys such as the two now under arrest, nuts. The idea of two sides to a story doesn’t exist in a mindset that only recognizes the Islamic side.

They’re spurred on to make a horrific statement in blood, which seems the normal Arab way in the only major faith that has a sword as a key part of its symbolism.

But, to be accurate, the ongoing hatred towards Jews in the Middle East was largely brewed and stirred by the various dictators in the region. Israel served nicely as an all-purpose scapegoat for the shortcomings of Arab governments.

However, since the Arab-Israeli Conflict morphed into the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, the world has been fed the idea that a solution to this problem is a key overall Middle East tranquility. This has always been more of wish than a real possibility among people schooled in religious hatred.

Yet now this hatred, rooted in religion and tribalism, has a momentum of its own that goes beyond a solution to the Palestinian problem and will more than likely breed more homegrown would-be terrorists bent on killing Americans whether Jews or not. The reality is the creation of a Palestinian state will have little effect on the hatred of Israel in the new Arab world being formed. http://www.hard-truths.blogspot.com/