While wars are being waged around the world and rumours of more wars are being propagated, the Middle East is a volatile region and remains unique. So what makes the Middle East so unique and interesting?
There are more foreign journalists in Israel alone than in any other country in the Middle East. One of the reasons for this is that Arab states do not allow such freedom of speech and reporting as Israel does, but I believe there is a reason why Middle Eastern reporting remains the top priority of many news agencies.
While Marxist militants in Colombia are continuing to abduct Westerners for ransom and other reasons, the news does not always capture the attention of the average Westerner. The uniqueness of Middle Eastern reporting lies in the fact that something new is always happening in the volatile region. A reporter in the Middle East can never be idle, as there is always something to report on; typical examples include:
1. A homicide bomber kills Israelis, Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq or Westerners in the Wahhabi-controlled Saudi Arabia;
2. Inter-Arab rivalries resulting in covert wars (something not always reported by media outlets);
3. Islamic terrorism and its suppression by Arab dictators.
Although the average Westerner may be startled by events in the Middle East and how turbulent the region is, this is not a new phenomenon. The methods of inflicting violence may have evolved; the hatred still remains in its purest form. This is precisely what drives suicide jihadists to take the life of as many infidels along with his/her own (suicide cultists also come in the form of women too, after Arab theologians have declared that it is admissible or even righteous for women to be involved in jihad).
How is this hatred being propagated? We in the West are not always kept informed on how hatred is being circulated in the Near East. Of course, anyone who is involved in propagating hatred in any form in the West will be quickly bundled into the back of a police van and swiftly sentenced in a criminal court, or, that is how that person ought to be dealt with. However, what is classified as a crime (inciting religious hatred) in the West can be categorised as a religious duty in the Near East.
While typical examples of sermons in the West usually contain: "Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount" or "Keeping the Torah", sermons in certain mosques contain a very different, radical message with wild conspiracy theories. In the Near East, the congregation are constantly "informed" that the West is trying to "destroy" their religion and that the Jews are "spreading evil". The message continues: America and her allies are trying to "control" their resources, for the Zionists and the infidel "imperialists" are soon to control the whole Middle East. Further conspiracy theories are shared and are "supplemented" by videos depicting an IDF soldier in confrontation with stone-throwing Arabs in Jenin. The conclusion is that the Crusaders and the Zionists have reached an alliance to control the Arabs for mutual benefit.
Not only are infidels denounced, but also the Arab world?s own corrupt leaders, who are supposed to have had Zionist "blood" in them and are "part of" world Jewry, trying to deceive the Arab masses into signing peace treaties with Israel.
The Arab theologians of Islamic holy law, in their conclusion, demand total submission of the congregation to their religion, ulamas, imams, etc, in a jihad against the Crusader-Zionist alliance. The only way to counter the "plot" to enslave the Arab masses to the infidels is to join the mujahadeen warriors. Hardly a week passes without the same rhetoric being preached in mosques across the Arab world. The male congregation are encouraged to die as martyrs and are promised with 72 (or around that figure) virgins in heaven. Due to the lack of education and other factors, many individuals show their faith in the promise of virgins by strapping themselves with explosives and detonating them in the midst of crowded public places, including mosques. Many corpses of suicide bombers are found with layers of underwear, which show their literal thinking of meeting dark-eyed houris in heaven.
The reader may wonder, so what if corrupt Arab religious leaders are preaching hatred thousands of miles away from the West? They have no real power, and are just echoing empty rhetoric. Surely, this has very little, or indeed, anything to do with the conflict Israelis have with the Palestinians. If only the Israelis give the Palestinians the right to self-determination, this conflict will end, we are told in the West by the BBC, CNN and company.
But the hatred has everything to do with the conflicts in the Middle East, including inter-Arab and inter-Muslim wars, which have had a much higher death toll and collateral damage than the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is the hatred being preached that has inspired a generation of terrorists in the Middle East to murder Jews, and even their fellow Arabs or Muslims who do not agree with their interpretation of reality or Islamic scripture. This was indicated when members of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt declared that they had killed "Pharaoh", when they assassinated Anwar Sadat after he signed a peace treaty with Israel.
As Arab nationalism has failed to bring honour and pride to the Arab street, after the string of defeats against Israel, many in the Middle East are now turning to their clergy (the ulemas and other religious figures) to bring back the pride and glory the Arabs had in the seventh and eighth centuries. It is the scourge of Islamic terrorism that the West is facing, and not Arab nationalism. The West is certainly not the only victim of Islamic terrorism; victims range from Americans to Indonesians, Australians to Norwegians and, of course, Jews and Arabs. The first and foremost victims of Islamic terrorism have been Arabs, although not very apparent from news reports.
It is time for the West to take a moral stance and demand that reforms take place in the Middle East. This should be the first priority of the West. Just as the church and state have been separated through the reformation in Europe, and many Christians paid with their lives, a similar movement has to take place in the Arab world. Firm demands should be made through the United Nations; countries that refuse to hold free elections - free in the sense that it should be free from violence and intimidation - should be boycotted. Once sweeping reformations have taken place, various Koranic scriptures need to be re-interpreted in light of the modern world, particularly the verses on jihad (that such verses are no longer applicable). Many peace-loving Muslims, particularly the Sufis, have already achieved this.
Who is to gain from reforming the Arab world? Marxist propagandists will say that the West is trying to control Arab oil through demands of reformation, completely ignoring the suffering of Arabs. It is indeed the Arabs who will ultimately gain from these reformations. It is only through reformation, establishing democracy, freedom of speech and respecting human rights that the Arabs can positively influence the world through education and technological advancement. No doubt, Arabs will say that they have already achieved this in the glory days of Islam. But it is time for the Arabs to stop living on past glory and look to the future and to make real attempts for democracy in their own respective countries.
Many Leftists may accuse the West of hypocrisy in making such demands (as they claim that it is the West that is morally corrupt). However, nothing can justify the demonisation of a whole people, which, in turn, justifies murder. It is only through reforming the Arab world, that the world can truly live in peace.
And perhaps, then, the media outlets who concentrate so much on the Middle East, who add their editorial slant to their reports, can finally be put out of business or be forced to concentrate on local affairs.
There are more foreign journalists in Israel alone than in any other country in the Middle East. One of the reasons for this is that Arab states do not allow such freedom of speech and reporting as Israel does, but I believe there is a reason why Middle Eastern reporting remains the top priority of many news agencies.
While Marxist militants in Colombia are continuing to abduct Westerners for ransom and other reasons, the news does not always capture the attention of the average Westerner. The uniqueness of Middle Eastern reporting lies in the fact that something new is always happening in the volatile region. A reporter in the Middle East can never be idle, as there is always something to report on; typical examples include:
1. A homicide bomber kills Israelis, Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq or Westerners in the Wahhabi-controlled Saudi Arabia;
2. Inter-Arab rivalries resulting in covert wars (something not always reported by media outlets);
3. Islamic terrorism and its suppression by Arab dictators.
Although the average Westerner may be startled by events in the Middle East and how turbulent the region is, this is not a new phenomenon. The methods of inflicting violence may have evolved; the hatred still remains in its purest form. This is precisely what drives suicide jihadists to take the life of as many infidels along with his/her own (suicide cultists also come in the form of women too, after Arab theologians have declared that it is admissible or even righteous for women to be involved in jihad).
How is this hatred being propagated? We in the West are not always kept informed on how hatred is being circulated in the Near East. Of course, anyone who is involved in propagating hatred in any form in the West will be quickly bundled into the back of a police van and swiftly sentenced in a criminal court, or, that is how that person ought to be dealt with. However, what is classified as a crime (inciting religious hatred) in the West can be categorised as a religious duty in the Near East.
While typical examples of sermons in the West usually contain: "Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount" or "Keeping the Torah", sermons in certain mosques contain a very different, radical message with wild conspiracy theories. In the Near East, the congregation are constantly "informed" that the West is trying to "destroy" their religion and that the Jews are "spreading evil". The message continues: America and her allies are trying to "control" their resources, for the Zionists and the infidel "imperialists" are soon to control the whole Middle East. Further conspiracy theories are shared and are "supplemented" by videos depicting an IDF soldier in confrontation with stone-throwing Arabs in Jenin. The conclusion is that the Crusaders and the Zionists have reached an alliance to control the Arabs for mutual benefit.
Not only are infidels denounced, but also the Arab world?s own corrupt leaders, who are supposed to have had Zionist "blood" in them and are "part of" world Jewry, trying to deceive the Arab masses into signing peace treaties with Israel.
The Arab theologians of Islamic holy law, in their conclusion, demand total submission of the congregation to their religion, ulamas, imams, etc, in a jihad against the Crusader-Zionist alliance. The only way to counter the "plot" to enslave the Arab masses to the infidels is to join the mujahadeen warriors. Hardly a week passes without the same rhetoric being preached in mosques across the Arab world. The male congregation are encouraged to die as martyrs and are promised with 72 (or around that figure) virgins in heaven. Due to the lack of education and other factors, many individuals show their faith in the promise of virgins by strapping themselves with explosives and detonating them in the midst of crowded public places, including mosques. Many corpses of suicide bombers are found with layers of underwear, which show their literal thinking of meeting dark-eyed houris in heaven.
The reader may wonder, so what if corrupt Arab religious leaders are preaching hatred thousands of miles away from the West? They have no real power, and are just echoing empty rhetoric. Surely, this has very little, or indeed, anything to do with the conflict Israelis have with the Palestinians. If only the Israelis give the Palestinians the right to self-determination, this conflict will end, we are told in the West by the BBC, CNN and company.
But the hatred has everything to do with the conflicts in the Middle East, including inter-Arab and inter-Muslim wars, which have had a much higher death toll and collateral damage than the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is the hatred being preached that has inspired a generation of terrorists in the Middle East to murder Jews, and even their fellow Arabs or Muslims who do not agree with their interpretation of reality or Islamic scripture. This was indicated when members of the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt declared that they had killed "Pharaoh", when they assassinated Anwar Sadat after he signed a peace treaty with Israel.
As Arab nationalism has failed to bring honour and pride to the Arab street, after the string of defeats against Israel, many in the Middle East are now turning to their clergy (the ulemas and other religious figures) to bring back the pride and glory the Arabs had in the seventh and eighth centuries. It is the scourge of Islamic terrorism that the West is facing, and not Arab nationalism. The West is certainly not the only victim of Islamic terrorism; victims range from Americans to Indonesians, Australians to Norwegians and, of course, Jews and Arabs. The first and foremost victims of Islamic terrorism have been Arabs, although not very apparent from news reports.
It is time for the West to take a moral stance and demand that reforms take place in the Middle East. This should be the first priority of the West. Just as the church and state have been separated through the reformation in Europe, and many Christians paid with their lives, a similar movement has to take place in the Arab world. Firm demands should be made through the United Nations; countries that refuse to hold free elections - free in the sense that it should be free from violence and intimidation - should be boycotted. Once sweeping reformations have taken place, various Koranic scriptures need to be re-interpreted in light of the modern world, particularly the verses on jihad (that such verses are no longer applicable). Many peace-loving Muslims, particularly the Sufis, have already achieved this.
Who is to gain from reforming the Arab world? Marxist propagandists will say that the West is trying to control Arab oil through demands of reformation, completely ignoring the suffering of Arabs. It is indeed the Arabs who will ultimately gain from these reformations. It is only through reformation, establishing democracy, freedom of speech and respecting human rights that the Arabs can positively influence the world through education and technological advancement. No doubt, Arabs will say that they have already achieved this in the glory days of Islam. But it is time for the Arabs to stop living on past glory and look to the future and to make real attempts for democracy in their own respective countries.
Many Leftists may accuse the West of hypocrisy in making such demands (as they claim that it is the West that is morally corrupt). However, nothing can justify the demonisation of a whole people, which, in turn, justifies murder. It is only through reforming the Arab world, that the world can truly live in peace.
And perhaps, then, the media outlets who concentrate so much on the Middle East, who add their editorial slant to their reports, can finally be put out of business or be forced to concentrate on local affairs.