The comments made last week by Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's Prime Minister, had striking resemblance to those made in Nuremberg during the '30s. He told leaders of the Muslim world that "Jews rules the world by proxy," and that the Muslim world, more than a billion strong, must not be defeated by "a few million Jews." Mohamad continued with his hate-filled rhetoric, claiming that Jews get others to fight and die for them. In fact, he attributed the bulk of global revolutionary thought to the Jews, stating, "They survived 2,000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by thinking. They invented and successfully promoted Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so they may enjoy equal rights with others. With these, they have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power. We cannot fight them through brawn alone. We must use our brains also."
Mohamad has finally crossed the Rubicon. Without world condemnation, other anti-Semitic leaders will emerge. Mohamad, in effect, has called for a holy war against the Jews. Even more frightening was the universal support of Muslim leaders who openly lauded the Prime Minister's comments. Even the leaders of the most moderate Islamic states supported this invitation for hatred. Hamid Karzai, leader of the war torn and fragile post-Taliban Afghanistan, overtly agreed with Mohamad's statements. Considering the current situation in Afghanistan, I would think Karzai should be more concerned about the well-being of his people and less about the vile diatribes of Mohamad. The European Union's response was typically muted. Only America, England and Australia strongly denounced these vicious comments.
I wonder why the government of Malaysia, an Asian nation thousands of miles away from Israel, in addition to many other Muslim states far from the daily conflict in Israel, targets Jews with hate. Some scholars link these bitter sentiments to the fraternal feelings Muslims have towards the suffering of their Palestinian brothers. Although this seems plausible, their action or rather inaction reveals a different tale. There has yet to be a Muslim country since Israel's inception in 1948 to welcome Palestinian refugees. To this day, thousands of Palestinians remain in deplorable refugee camps while their Muslim neighbors do nothing to ameliorate their conditions. Nor have I heard of any money sent to the Palestinians who suffer daily, save for those participating in suicide bombings or terrorist activities (Saddam was delighted to write checks for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, hence linking him directly to terrorism). Syria, though quite unwilling to provide refuge for Palestinian families, continues to provide safe haven for terrorists. If these governments truly cared for their Muslim compatriots, the Palestinians, we'd see action on their part. Clearly, this alleged fraternal link is not the root of such caustic sentiment towards Israel.
A more plausible reason is due to an internal, not external stimulus. Throughout the 20th century, as former colonies claimed independence, these newly formed countries had to balance their traditional societal values with that of Western modernization. Some countries, like Korea, have successfully mixed the two seemingly opposite modus operandi of society. Distressingly, many Muslim countries have failed to juggle traditional values with modernization as America and the West plough into the future. Meanwhile, their Muslim counterparts are left in the dust, wondering where they deviated from the path of 20th century development.
Dartmouth recently welcomed Dr. Tariq Ramadan, a highly acclaimed professor at the Universities of Fribourg and Geneva, who spoke about these same issues. Ramadan is the authors of many books and was recently named one of Time's 100 most important spiritual innovators for the 21st century. His ideas, however, seem to be far from innovative. He quickly chalked up Muslim anti-Western sentiment and terrorism to brash American foreign and economic policy.
According to Ramadan, it is American arrogance that has lead to our crumbling relations with the Muslim world community. Although there is some truth to these statements, he fails to tie in the frustrating feeling of stagnation of Muslim society. Also, he skimmed over the pandemic anti-Israeli sentiment, which is in my opinion a factor also intimately linked to anti-American sentiment. Since 1967, America has always strongly supported the democratic and liberal state of Israel. This is due to political and military interests in the region, but also because we share similar values on several strata. To many Muslims under regimes like Mohamad's, the most visible sign of Israeli-American cooperation is economic prosperity -- the direct result of freedom and ingenuity. As Israel replants trees and beautifies her deserts, these dictatorial regimes grow green with envy. Inevitably, this jealousy turns into hatred.
However, much of this far-reaching hatred towards Jews and Israel is due to America's power in the region and the world. Although Benjamin Netanyahu states, "Many terrorists hate Israel because of the West, not hate the West because of Israel," I feel that this enmity has emerged concurrently. History clearly proves that the Jews are the first to be blamed. It boils down to the fact that the Muslim states' disdain toward America and Israel is due to their own societies' inability to compete on an international stage while maintaining traditional Islamic culture.
America needs to continue its war on terror while putting great resources into the reconstruction of Iraq. Let Iraq be the shining example of a Muslim country that has successfully reconciled Islam and modernization. With our common values under attack, America must stick close to its ally Israel.
