Danish students expected to kowtow to cartoon rage. From MEMRITV, with thanks to Enzo:
Following are excerpts from a dialogue between Danish and Arab students, held in Damascus. The dialogue was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on March 24, 2006.
Ahmad Al-Shater, Chairman of Arab Students Union: The Islamic religion is not a religion of terrorism, as portrayed by Zionism or imperialism.
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According to the Islamic religion, even in times of war… Translate it bit by bit, it’s better that way… According to the Islamic religion, even in times of war, it is forbidden to uproot a tree, it is forbidden to kill a woman, it is forbidden to kill a child, it is forbidden to destroy wells… it is forbidden to treat human life lightly, It is forbidden to fill wells with earth… Water wells… It is forbidden to harm human life, it is forbidden to destroy a church, it is forbidden to attack a religious belief… Muslims do not interfere in the religious beliefs of others. Forgive me for using difficult words. Help us out, Kinda.
Why all the links? To show that many Muslims do not seem to share Al-Shater’s views of all this. He might find his time is better spent convincing them of his views, rather than hectoring young Danes. Help us out, Kinda.
Al-Shater then goes on to say that the real terrorists are the Americans and Zionists, and spreads some lies about American and Israeli behavior. And then:
The cartoons, which appeared in the Danish newspaper, were a premeditated plan, by parties known to all, to divert global and Arab attention away from the crimes and massacres committed in Iraq, in Palestine, in Abu Ghureib prison, and in many occupied Arab territories. The plan was to divert attention away from what is going on.
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What is peculiar and surprising is that to this very moment, the Danish government does not want to punish this paper, and has not apologized. This only strengthens our feeling that the Danish government is behind this.
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We ask our Danish friends who are with us to pressure their government to issue an apology.
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The Arab people – the Arab Muslims and Christians – are an emotional and compassionate people, even though they are so strong in battle. The Arabs’ feelings and emotions must be taken into consideration, even more than their minds.
Awwwwww. Poor little things. I am sorry he includes Arab Christians in this, since I am in daily contact with many Arabic-speaking Christians, born in Muslim-majority countries, who do not share his view of the cartoons, or probably his views about much of anything else.
But let’s just say that my feelings and emotions are deeply affected by jihad violence, from Indonesia and the Philippines to Thailand and Kashmir and Chechnya and Bosnia and Nigeria and all the rest. I would feel so much better if this young man could prevail upon his coreligionists to cut it out.
Can this Danish newspaper or any other newspaper in the world draw a cartoon similar to the one about the Prophet Muhammad… Shut the door, Abdallah… Can it draw a similar cartoon about a Zionist rabbi, or discuss the imaginary Holocaust and refute it, or even draw Sharon, the arch-murderer, who has killed thousands of Arabs, in a cartoon similar to the one that appeared in the Danish paper? With all due respect, I am saying that it cannot do so. There many examples all over the world….
Demonstrably false: witness the award-winning cartoon a few years back depicting Sharon eating a Palestinian baby.
Anyway, then, after the Danes kowtow a bit, Al-Shater removes Israel from the map:
Ahmad Al-Shater: I would just like to point to a certain term… which was used by my friend, the head of the delegation, and which also appeared in the correspondence with Mr. Klaus – the term “Middle East.” I would like to emphasize to our friends – and I’m not saying this for propaganda purposes, but because it is in keeping with the constitution of the General Union of Arab Students… The term “Middle East” does not appear in our dictionary. Absolutely not. We call it “the Great Arab Homeland.” I won’t even call the term “Middle East” an international one… Its purpose is to include Israel in this region, but this is another issue, not part of this dialogue.
Muhammad, Chairman of the Sudanese Student Union: I’d like to tell you that harming the Prophet is not a new thing. 1,400 years ago, the Jews tried to kill him in Al-Madina. In our religion, harming the Prophet is where we draw the line. We are prepared to die to prevent this.
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As you know, Bush killed 110,000 people in Iraq, while Saddam did not kill even one third of this figure. Saddam did not kill even 30,000 people throughout his rule. I would like to welcome you on this visit, because the image of Denmark and the Danish people has become very negative in the Arab and Islamic world. In conclusion, I would like to say that tomorrow America will pass a resolution in the UN Security Council, calling for international military intervention in Sudan. Among these forces, obviously, there will be Danish forces. I would like to inform you that because the Sudanese people are so angry over this affront, they will kill the Danish soldiers before they kill the others.
Ahmad Al-Shater: Don’t translate that word for word. Just say that the Sudanese will put up resistance against them….
Yes, that will be much more palatable to the unsuspecting, bemused Western public.