And the whole thing is enveloped in dhimmi fiction right from the start: “Seville was chosen to host the meeting because of its rich symbolism as one of the Spanish cities where Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in harmony under Moorish rule that began in the 8th century and lasted more than 700 years.”
No doubt the Muslims and Jews there have no idea whatsoever that that harmony was based on the institution of the dhimma: Jews and Christians lived in Muslim Spain as second-class people whose contract of “protection” could be revoked at any time by their Muslim masters. Even Maria Rosa Menocal in her whitewash The Ornament of the World, the book that has become a principal foundation of this myth and which I discuss in my book Onward Muslim Soldiers, acknowledges this.
“Muslim, Jewish Open Congress to Talk Peace,” from AP, with thanks to all who sent this in:
SEVILLE, Spain (AP) — Muslim and Jewish leaders meeting in a rare face-to-face forum appealed Sunday to their faithful not to view each other as enemies and keep religion from being hijacked by extremists.
”We have more common elements than elements which pull us apart,” the chief rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, said as a four-day congress of imams and rabbis opened in this southern Spanish city. ”We have to continue to prove that Jews and Muslims are not enemies.”
Metzger, I hope you will be able to get that message through to those who believe things like this.
The meeting, called the Second World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace, is being sponsored by Hommes de Parole, a peace foundation based in Paris….
Seville was chosen to host the meeting because of its rich symbolism as one of the Spanish cities where Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in harmony under Moorish rule that began in the 8th century and lasted more than 700 years.
The first version of the congress was held last year in Brussels and since then ”things have not gone in the right direction,” said Andre Azoulay, a Moroccan Jew who is an adviser to King Mohammed VI, apparently alluding to Muslim extremism.
”Our voices are not listened to, compared to those who can mobilize hundreds, thousands or millions with their message of hate,” Azoulay said.
And why is that, Azoulay? When are you going to face the root causes?
Metzger said Judaism has fanatics, too. He noted an attack last August in which an Israeli soldier opposed to Israel’s pullout from the Gaza Strip opened fire on a bus in the town of Shfaram, killing four Israeli Arabs.
Metzger, to imply that such incidents, as few as they are, are remotely comparable to the global jihad network that has murdered thousands around the world since 9/11, is simply obscene.
Ahmad Taoufiq, the religious affairs minister of Morocco, condemned Islamic terrorism and said Muslim leaders are sometimes silent when attacks occur.
”We have to separate ourselves from trends which are dividing the world into darkness and light,” he said.
Metzger also addressed the issue, saying Muslim leaders have failed to criticize al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
”Why don’t you speak out when bin Laden evokes your religion to justify terrorism? Why don’t you express yourselves in a loud voice?” he asked.
Why indeed?