OVO

The Bronx and Morocco this week, and elsewhere, all over, on an ongoing basis – and why is it that fanatical Muslims so relish attacking Jews? Is it really all about Israel?

Anti-Semitism in the Islamic world has often been attributed to the baneful influence of Christianity. Many analysts assert that the Islamic designation of Jews (as well as Christians) as ‘People of the Book’ indicates a higher level of respect for them than was manifested by Christians who derided Jews as bestial ‘Christ-killers.’ Journalist Lawrence Wright writes in this vein in The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11: “Until the end of World War II [...] Jews lived safely – although submissively – under Muslim rule for 1,200 years, enjoying full religious freedom; but in the 1930s, Nazi propaganda on Arabic-language shortwave radio, coupled with slanders by Christian missionaries in the region, infected the area with this ancient Western prejudice [anti-Semitism]. After the war, Cairo became a sanctuary for Nazis, who advised the military and the government. The rise of the Islamist movement coincided with the decline of fascism, but they overlapped in Egypt, and the germ passed into a new carrier.”

This is a common view, but in reality there is a strong native strain of anti-Semitism in Islam, which is rooted in the Qur’an. The Muslim holy book contains a great deal of material that forms the foundation for a hatred of Jews that exists independently of the Christian variety. It is also, in many ways, more virulent and harder to eradicate. The Qur’an portrays the Jews as the craftiest, most persistent, and most implacable enemies of the Muslims – and there is no Muslim equivalent of the Second Vatican Council to mitigate against destructive interpretations. The Qur’anic material on the Jews remains the prism through which far too many Muslims see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – and Jews in general – to this day.

[Article continues at link. See also more about the Bronx bombing, the Morocco bombing, fascist / Muslim collaboration in WW2 [1][2][3], fascist / Muslim collaboration today, antisemitism in the Qur’an, and antisemitism in the Bible. Religion brings people together – to hate each other. – Trevor Blake]