Double standard ably skewered: “While we wouldn’t dare say ‘boo’ to a Muslim here, Christians are persecuted in a Muslim country,” by Cristina Odone in the Telegraph, May 18. After detailing some of the stories of the persecution of Christians in Iraq — stories that were posted along with other, similar ones, at Jihad Watch — Odone writes:
So far, their appeal has not moved Hillary Clinton. Here, supporters of Iraqi Christians fear that William Hague will be similarly uninterested in the issue. Iraq is very much a live issue with the electorate – especially among Muslims; and, in these paranoid times, to defend Iraqi Christians from their Muslim fellow-citizens could be misinterpreted as an attack on Islam.
While Muslims in this country enjoy the benefits of a society where tolerance is not only legal but culturally ingrained, Christians in a Muslim country (in fact several Muslim countries – being a Christian in neighbouring Iran is no picnic) must withstand wave after wave of attacks. How amazing if the new Foreign Secretary were to address this thorny issue – though it would be nothing short of miraculous for Hague to get backing from his fiercely secular Lib Dem coalition partners on this one.
Indeed.