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Focused Attention
By Chad Barlow, New Milford
Mr. William Carlotti is focused, I'll grant him that. To solicit Mr. Carlotti's attention, all any Voice contributor has to do is submit a pro-Israeli theological or political sentiment, and like in the Field of Dreams … he will come! It is blatantly obvious that Mr. Carlotti has some major grievances with Jews, Judaism, Christianity and Israel. On the other hand, as Mr. Joseph Harnett pointed out in the March 8 issue of The Voice [A Few Reactions from the Past Month], not one critical stroke has come from Mr. Carlotti's pen concerning any other cultures, customs and beliefs. While he does cast all "god concepts" to the "ash heap," none seem to annoy him like that terribly "Semitic" one. This myopia of his demonstrates a prejudicial attitude.
In his July 26 article [Making Scapegoats of the Palestinians], Mr. Carlotti used the oft-repeated term "the territories of Palestine occupied by the Israelis." Most people are very unaware of the fact that most of these so-called "Palestinian territories" actually belonged to Jordan, Syria and Egypt prior to the Six Days War. It’s interesting that these anti-Israel commentators never suggest that these territories go back to those three Arab nations! Instead, these territories automatically become "Palestinian."
Back when Israel was created by the United Nations, the Palestinian representatives were offered a neighboring state, with its own borders and sovereignty. They refused! Why? They were deeply offended by presence of Jews returning to the Middle East, and didn't want them as neighbors. They had an "all or nothing" attitude in regard to that thin slice of real estate known as Israel, an attitude most of them still embrace. This is why no Palestinian textbooks or maps recognize the state of Israel to this day.
Another oft-repeated misconception is that most of the Palestinian settlements have been their family homes "for centuries." Wrong! While this may be true of a tiny number of families, most of the Arab/ Palestinian population in Israel immigrated into that land around the same time most of the Jews did, in the early to mid twentieth century. What indigenous population lived in Israel prior to World War I is miniscule in comparison, as Mr. Marvin Peyser had astutely pointed out—even quoting Mark Twain's observations on the then barren "Holy Land" of Twain's day [A Palestinian State Would Be a Disaster for the World, August 2]. This "for centuries" spin, which is an effort to liken the Palestinian people to Native Americans forced onto reservations, is just another liberal rewriting of history—much the same way liberals tried to rewrite history at the Smithsonian, when it labeled our World War II actions against Japan "the persecution of a proud and unique culture." Most elderly veterans reading this right now would agree that what we did in Japan was tragic but necessary, as it ultimately saved more lives than it extinguished.
This is the ugly truth, one people don't like to hear or discuss: The majority of the world's Muslims are radically anti-Semitic. This includes the unfortunate Palestinians, who in Jenin actually refused life-saving blood because it came from Jewish donors. The Muslim sects that aren't anti-Semitic are strangely silent—one can never hear them on the news, or see them on discussion panels.
Jews, Christians and all non-Muslims are considered the dreaded "infidels," and the Koran and the Hadith have plenty to say about how they should defeated in wartime. The Koran, Surah 5:33 and Surah 8:12 instructs the faithful to behead, chop off fingers, crucify, cut off alternating limbs or banish those infidels who would dare oppose them on the battlefield. In the Hadith, Mohammed is reported as saying that next to believing in Allah, "jihad" is the Muslim's greatest deed; this is found in Al Burkhari vol. 4:196. (And we all know how subjective the definition of "jihad"—holy war—can be! Any Muslim sect can declare "jihad" over any conflict they wish.) Not only is jihad considered sacred, but in Al Burkhari vol. 1:33, it teaches that to die in battle against the infidel guarantees paradise to all the so-called "martyrs"! Unfortunately for the rest of the world, this one teaching alone has inspired countless suicide-homicide bombers, and all other Islamic terrorists and hijackers.
It is also reported, in Al Burkhari vol. 5.716, that Mohammed's very last words were to expel all Jews and infidels from the sacred land of Arabia. Mohammed 's early followers succeeded in this task. This leads us to the fact that Jerusalem isn't the holiest city in the Islamic faith—it actually comes in third! First on their list is Mecca, second is Medina, and both cities are in Saudi Arabia. One doesn't find any indigenous Jewish or Gentile populations within these Saudi city boundaries. Apparently, the United Nation's touted ethic of "inclusive diversity" imposed on Israel doesn't apply to those royal, oil-rich Arab kingdoms.
In response to this illustration of how radical the Islamic world can be, Mr. Carlotti may be tempted to once again highlight the brutality of ancient Judaism, the only culture and history he has yet to criticize in this fine publication. But all that is irrelevant, because what is important is today. The current global climate is even more important than the tragic loss of the USS Liberty 35—yes, 35!—years ago. For example, how many women are stoned by faithful Jews today? None that I know of. How many women are currently stoned in Islamic countries? These accounts are well publicized, along with various dismemberments, beheadings and the forced female equivalent of castration.
Mr. Carlotti characterized Ms. Lorraine Stone's comparisons of pro-Palestinian thinking to Nazi Germany "irrational." If one watches enough CNN, one gets the impression that the Palestinians are an oppressed people who simply desire sovereignty. The reality of the situation is that they are a culture indoctrinated with anti-Semitic hatred, and their primary desire is the destruction of the state of Israel. Yassir Arafat and his Palestinian Authority do a good job at keeping this hatred alive and well with their people. This fact alone explains the Palestinian street celebrations one could witness last September 11, as they lumped the United States and Israel together as this "great Satan" that needs to be destroyed.
As a Gentile, I never believed all the claims of rampant, worldwide anti-Semitism until one year, when I was in college. It was at this time (in the mid ‘80s) that a Jewish man, confined to a wheelchair, was on a cruise ship hijacked by the Palestinian Liberation Organization. I believe his name was Leon Klinghoffer. Anyway, this man was thrown overboard, chair and all. Through chuckles and chortles, a few classmates of mine asked me: "What does P.L.O. stand for?" I gave them the technical answer, and they replied "Nope! It stands for ‘Push Leon Overboard!’" I was dismayed. How could anyone find humor with such a disgusting murder? Now I know why—it's because the disabled man was wealthy and Jewish.
Now comes the worst reported case of anti-Semitism I can think of. Most of the Arab world, including the Palestinian Authority, reported that some 4,000 Jews and Israelis called in sick on September 11. The insinuation was that these "scheming Jews" had foreknowledge of the terrorist attacks, and were in fact behind it. Uh-huh. I personally don't know of many Jews named "Mohammed Atta."
As a passing comment, I see that a few Voice contributors (including Mr. Carlotti) have tried to embarrass Mr. Peyser concerning his claim that he has served in the United States military. Well, Mr. Peyser had been previously asked "where his loyalties lie," and he simply answered that hostile inquiry. I find it strange that while Israel and England assist the United States in their current war against terrorism (and while the rest of the European Union sneers at the "ugly Americans"), these anti-Israel Voice contributors cry crocodile tears for a people who danced in the streets on that horrible day last September. Loyalties indeed!
To conclude his article, Mr. Carlotti equates Ms. Stone's attitude with white racism and the "go back to Africa" attitude. To quote his sneer at Marvin Peyser, this took some "Chutzpah!" Most white racists I am aware of would collect and stick Mr. Carlotti's anti-Israeli articles to their refrigerators, dreaming of the day when the Jewish people, culture, history and religion is thrown to "the ash heap."
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