Double Standard Alert from Der Spiegel, . Of course, this should really come as no surprise. Islamic law specifies that dhimmis must not insult Islam or Muhammad (cf. ‘Umdat al-Salik o11.10(5)), but it nowhere forbids Muslims from insulting non-Muslims.
Even as the Muslim world protests against the Muhammad caricatures printed in the West, a number of Arab newspapers publish virulently anti-Semitic cartoons. But nobody’s paying much attention. After all, Jew baiting in the Arab world has become the norm.
In the end, it was the image of the Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a lit fuse that proved perhaps most offensive. After all, as the Web site of the Arab-European League — a group supporting the rights of Arab and Muslim communities in Europe — pointed out: “The issue for us is not about depicting the prophet or any other theological consideration. It’s about stigmatizing a whole population of more than 1 billion Muslims through portraying their symbol as being a terrorist, megalomaniac, misogynic (sic) and a psychopath. This is racist, xenophobic and calling for hatred against Muslims.”
That’s a valid point. But it would have been a lot more forceful had the Web site not published a political cartoon a few days earlier depicting Anne Frank in bed with Adolf Hitler, who is looking amorously appeased. As if that wasn’t offensive enough, the illustrator throws in one of the worst crimes in recent European history by name dropping Marc Dutroux, the convicted Belgian killer infamous for kidnapping young girls, raping them and then starving them to death. Hitler is saying, “Write this one in your diary Anne!”
Read it all.