In the hullabaloo over the cartoon pogroms, one strange angle is being overlooked. It is not just the primitive fundamentalists and Islamofascists who want to criminalize any cartoon that is disrespectful of Islam, it is also the policy of the Israeli government.
For the record, let me emphasize that I believe that civilized people should not mock the religious beliefs or sacred symbols of other people. It is simple manners and respect. Having noted this, let me also emphasize that freedom of speech must not be applied selectively to protect the vulgarity of the politically correct while persecuting others.
Allow me to remind you of the incarceration of poor Tatiana Suskin. A few years ago a young and not particularly bright immigrant to Israel from the old Soviet Empire named Tatiana Suskin made leaflets with the offensive image of Mohammed as a pig. She may have been a fanatic, a naif, and perhaps even a bit dangerous. She used poor taste and was vulgar and crude. Yet her poster of the Prophet Mohammed as a pig would be protected (if tasteless) speech in any true democracy in the world. In America it would have gotten a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
But not in Israel. In Israel, Suskin's behavior is a crime for which one does real jail time in hard-core prison, for a period of two years; more than many drug smugglers and rapists get.
The Israeli establishment argued that Suskin's actions offended Moslems.
Well, Moslem anti-Semitic speech and actions offend the Jews, or at least all Jews who are not self-hating leftists. Which is worse, a disrespectful cartoon of Mohammed - or openly endorsing terrorist atrocities, as do so many Israeli Arab politicians and Jewish academic "Post-Zionists"?
At the time of the conviction of Suskin, I ran the following spoof on
the web and in Middle East Quarterly. The most interesting part of this
story is that afterwards I got several "hurrahs" in letters from Moslem militants who thought that Salman Rushdie had really been arrested!
News Flash!!
Israeli Police Arrest Salman Rushdie
In a surprise development, it has just been learned that Israeli police, tipped off by the Mossad, have arrested controversial author Salman Rushdie. The exiled Iranian writer had been on a private visit to Israel.
Rushdie was apprehended while visiting the Middle East Studies department at the Hebrew University. He had originally been scheduled to address the literature department there, but the professors of literature all announced that they had decided to boycott Rushdie's talk, since Rushdie's writings are offensive to Moslem sensitivities and politically incorrect.
Upon commencement of his talk at the University, Israeli police suddenly broke into the lecture hall and dragged a handcuffed Rushdie away. He is being held in isolation in an unspecified Israeli prison, while his fate is being decided. Rushdie's arrest came as part of Israel's new campaign to imprison those whose expression and speech is offensive to Moslems . It will be recalled that a fanatical woman named Tatiana Suskin was recently sentenced to two years in Israeli prison for distributing posters in Hebron that showed the Prophet Mohammed as a pig. Unnamed sources have been quoted as saying that Rushdie and Suskin will be sharing the same cell.
The Knesset immediately went into emergency session to debate the Rushdie Affair. The government's recommendation is that Rushdie be handed over to Iran as a goodwill gesture. Iran has an outstanding warrant for the arrest of the author, and it is believed he would be immediately executed if extradited to Iran.
The Hadash Communist Party has initiated a Knesset resolution that would create an exemption to Israel's criminal code, which generally bans capital punishment, and would allow Rushdie to be executed within Israel itself, or at least turned over to the Palestinian Authority for execution. Kadima and Labor Party are expected to vote in favor of the Hadash proposal, while other parties are still undecided. Shimon Peres insisted that both arrests were part of the breaking out of good relations in the New Middle East.
Congratulations to Israel have been coming in from all over the world. The heads of the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress in the United States have issued statements supporting the arrest. "After all," explained ADL chief Abraham Foxman, "Rushdie's Satanic Verses is at least as objectionable as Suskin's pig poster. Israel is to be congratulated for its defense of freedom of expression."
Reactions in the Moslem world have been mixed. While congratulating Israel for the arrests of Suskin and Rushdie, the Prime Minister of Malaysia added that this still did not excuse the international Jewish conspiracy to control the world. Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, backed by singer Cat Stevens, is quoted as saying that, while both Rushdie and Suskin deserve the death penalty for offensive statements, Judaism is still a gutter religion. Jesse Jackson expressed satisfaction that Rushdie and "that Hymie-girl Suskin" got what they had coming to them for making offensive statements.
Palestinian Authority moderate leader Abu Mazen expressed satisfaction that the Oslo peace process was at last producing some progress and forward momentum.
For the record, let me emphasize that I believe that civilized people should not mock the religious beliefs or sacred symbols of other people. It is simple manners and respect. Having noted this, let me also emphasize that freedom of speech must not be applied selectively to protect the vulgarity of the politically correct while persecuting others.
Allow me to remind you of the incarceration of poor Tatiana Suskin. A few years ago a young and not particularly bright immigrant to Israel from the old Soviet Empire named Tatiana Suskin made leaflets with the offensive image of Mohammed as a pig. She may have been a fanatic, a naif, and perhaps even a bit dangerous. She used poor taste and was vulgar and crude. Yet her poster of the Prophet Mohammed as a pig would be protected (if tasteless) speech in any true democracy in the world. In America it would have gotten a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
But not in Israel. In Israel, Suskin's behavior is a crime for which one does real jail time in hard-core prison, for a period of two years; more than many drug smugglers and rapists get.
The Israeli establishment argued that Suskin's actions offended Moslems.
Well, Moslem anti-Semitic speech and actions offend the Jews, or at least all Jews who are not self-hating leftists. Which is worse, a disrespectful cartoon of Mohammed - or openly endorsing terrorist atrocities, as do so many Israeli Arab politicians and Jewish academic "Post-Zionists"?
At the time of the conviction of Suskin, I ran the following spoof on
the web and in Middle East Quarterly. The most interesting part of this
story is that afterwards I got several "hurrahs" in letters from Moslem militants who thought that Salman Rushdie had really been arrested!
News Flash!!
Israeli Police Arrest Salman Rushdie
In a surprise development, it has just been learned that Israeli police, tipped off by the Mossad, have arrested controversial author Salman Rushdie. The exiled Iranian writer had been on a private visit to Israel.
Rushdie was apprehended while visiting the Middle East Studies department at the Hebrew University. He had originally been scheduled to address the literature department there, but the professors of literature all announced that they had decided to boycott Rushdie's talk, since Rushdie's writings are offensive to Moslem sensitivities and politically incorrect.
Upon commencement of his talk at the University, Israeli police suddenly broke into the lecture hall and dragged a handcuffed Rushdie away. He is being held in isolation in an unspecified Israeli prison, while his fate is being decided. Rushdie's arrest came as part of Israel's new campaign to imprison those whose expression and speech is offensive to Moslems . It will be recalled that a fanatical woman named Tatiana Suskin was recently sentenced to two years in Israeli prison for distributing posters in Hebron that showed the Prophet Mohammed as a pig. Unnamed sources have been quoted as saying that Rushdie and Suskin will be sharing the same cell.
The Knesset immediately went into emergency session to debate the Rushdie Affair. The government's recommendation is that Rushdie be handed over to Iran as a goodwill gesture. Iran has an outstanding warrant for the arrest of the author, and it is believed he would be immediately executed if extradited to Iran.
The Hadash Communist Party has initiated a Knesset resolution that would create an exemption to Israel's criminal code, which generally bans capital punishment, and would allow Rushdie to be executed within Israel itself, or at least turned over to the Palestinian Authority for execution. Kadima and Labor Party are expected to vote in favor of the Hadash proposal, while other parties are still undecided. Shimon Peres insisted that both arrests were part of the breaking out of good relations in the New Middle East.
Congratulations to Israel have been coming in from all over the world. The heads of the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress in the United States have issued statements supporting the arrest. "After all," explained ADL chief Abraham Foxman, "Rushdie's Satanic Verses is at least as objectionable as Suskin's pig poster. Israel is to be congratulated for its defense of freedom of expression."
Reactions in the Moslem world have been mixed. While congratulating Israel for the arrests of Suskin and Rushdie, the Prime Minister of Malaysia added that this still did not excuse the international Jewish conspiracy to control the world. Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, backed by singer Cat Stevens, is quoted as saying that, while both Rushdie and Suskin deserve the death penalty for offensive statements, Judaism is still a gutter religion. Jesse Jackson expressed satisfaction that Rushdie and "that Hymie-girl Suskin" got what they had coming to them for making offensive statements.
Palestinian Authority moderate leader Abu Mazen expressed satisfaction that the Oslo peace process was at last producing some progress and forward momentum.