OTHER VIEWS

Keeping Hope Foremost

N

othing. And so, once again,
we pray and hope. We look
towards Jerusalem and think,
"Well, maybe this time." Can we be
blamed for being skeptical?
We have visions of the White House
handshake that we watched teary-eyed
and with fervent hope. We listened as
the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
embodied all our dreams and gave us
chills when he said, "Enough of blood
and tears. Enough."
Sadly, it all came to nothing as did
efforts at Wye, Madrid, Oslo, Camp
David. All code names for failure.
But — a recurring word in this con-
tinuing nightmare ... now ... maybe.
Yasser Arafat, the merchant of
death for four decades, is gone. Oh,
the blood he spilled over those years.
And this Nobel Peace Prize winner

An author and former political reporter,
Berl Falbaum is now a Farmington
Hills-based public relations executive
who teaches journalism part-time at
Wayne State University in Detroit.

left us with his legacy: The perfec-
tion of the suicide bomber.
Some believe in the proverb that one
does not pray for a new king. But the
new king, Mahmoud Abbas, has
stirred hope among our midst when it
appeared that would not be possible,
at least, for a long time. He is saying
the right things; appears to be trying
to rein in terrorists created, trained
and bred by Arafat.
But ... there is always a "but.'
Abbas was a top Arafat lieutenant.
He labeled Israel "the Zionist enemy."
He has a history as a Holocaust
denier. He does not condemn terror-
ism — blowing up women, children,
innocents to bits — because it is
morally wrong, but because it does
not serve the political interests of the
Palestinian Authority. He says the sec-
ond intifada was a strategic — not
moral — mistake.
Not very reassuring leading to
another "but" — a "but" relating not
to skepticism, but rather to embryonic
hope.
Yes, Abbas' profile is disturbing.

Yes, it is too early to make a
late Prime Minister Menachem
sound judgment. Yes, negotia-
Begin, is adopting more mod-
tions will be difficult. Yes,
erate policies. Most important-
we'll have to make conces-
ly, Egypt recently signed a
sions. Yes, yes, yes ...
trade agreement with Israel,
Still, there have been hope-
and Egyptian President Hosni
ful signs besides Abbas'
Mubarak is urging other Arab
demeanor.
countries to open diplomatic
BE RL
The inciteful language used
relations with Israel.
FALB AUM
against Israelis and Jews by
Indeed, Abbas has criticized
Corn munity
Palestinian leaders and clergy-
terrorism not just in English
Persp ective
men is tempering. Several arti-
for Western audiences, but in
cles have appeared that these
Arabic as well, something
leaders — who in the past
Arafat always refused to do.
seemed to wallow in denigrating Jews,
In addition, the Palestinians have
calling them "pigs" and "vermin" —
been offered billions of dollars in aid
are less hostile.
by various countries and institutions
Video news tapes of damage caused
if they work to end terrorism and
by Israeli military actions are not
support for terrorist attacks. It
replayed over and over again as propa-
appears they may respond positively
ganda on the Arab airwaves.
and more sincerely than in the past.
More Palestinians, once worried that
But what is the choice? Where else
their criticism of Arafat's policies may
can we turn? Unlike the poet,
be a death sentence, are reportedly
Robert Frost, who was faced with a
speaking out.
fork in the road, we do not have two
Egypt, while a partner in peace with
roads from which to choose. We face
Israel had hardly met its obligations
only one path.
under the agreement signed with the
To turn around, to stall at the trail

Religious Hatred, Saudi-Style

I

Boston
n which country are Muslims
being taught the following les-
sons?
"Everyone who does not embrace
Islam is an unbeliever and must be
called an unbeliever ... One who does
not call the Jews and the Christians
unbelievers is himself an unbeliever."
"Whoever believes that churches are
houses of God ... or that what Jews
and Christians do constitutes the wor-
ship of God ... is an infidel."
To offer greetings to a Christian at
Christmas — even to wish "'Happy
holidays" — is "a practice more loath-
some to God ... than imbibing liquor,
or murder, or fornication."
Jews "are worse than do- nkeys."
They are the corrupting force "behind
materialism, bestiality, the destruction
of the family, and the dissolution of
society."
Muslims who convert to another
religion "should be killed because

Jeff Jacoby is. a Boston Globe columnist.
This column is distributed through the
New York Times Syndicate. His e-mail
address is jacoby@globe.com

2/24
2005

30

[they] have denied the Koran."
Democracy is "'responsible for all
the horrible wars" of the 20th century
and for spreading "ignorance, moral
decadence, and drugs."
If this sounds to you like the kind
of fanaticism you might encounter in
Saudi Arabia — where the established
creed is Wahhabism, an intolerant and
extremist version of Islam — you're
right. Unfortunately, this religious
hatred isn't confined to the Arabian
peninsula. Thanks to the Saudi gov-
ernment's elaborate campaign to
export Wahhabism worldwide, such
anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, anti-
Western poison can also be found
throughout the United States.
We know this from the work of
Freedom House, a venerable human
rights group that promotes democracy
around the globe. In a new report, it
documents the alarming degree to
which Wahhabist propaganda has
penetrated American mosques.
Between November 2003 and
December 2004, Freedom House
researchers assembled more than 200
publications from 15 mosques and
Islamic centers in Illinois, Texas,
California, New York, New Jersey,

Virginia and Washington,
was an accredited Saudi
D.C.
diplomat in Los Angeles until
All the documents were
2003, when he was expelled
linked to the Saudi religious
from the United States for
establishment — many were
suspected involvement in ter-
official Saudi government pub-
rorism.
lications or had been supplied
by the Saudi embassy, and sev-
Hatred Is Preached
eral of the mosques dissemi-
JEFF
nating them are funded by the
JACOBY Perhaps Hazmi and Mihdhar
Saudi royal family. Each was
spent some of their time at
Special
reviewed by independent
Commentary the mosque studying "Loyalty
translators, who found them
and Dissociation in Islam," a
replete with what Freedom
Wahhabi work that empha-
House calls "a totalitarian ideology of
sizes the duty of every Muslim to cul-
hatred that can incite to violence."
tivate enmity between themselves and
Before (the terrorist attacks of)
non-Muslims.
Sept. 11, 2001, the notion that litera-
"Be dissociated from the infidels,"
ture in mosques could be dangerous
the book instructs. "Hate them for
might have struck some as alarmist.
their religion, leave them, never rely
But of the 19 terrorist-hijackers that
on them for support, do not admire
day, 15 were Saudi, and all were
them and always oppose them in
steeped in the relentless hostility to
every way according to Islamic law."
"infidels" that the Saudi publications
Or perhaps they consulted Religious
inculcate. For some, the mosques were
Edicts for the Immigrant Muslim.
a crucial resource.
As Nina Shea of Freedom House
The King Fand Mosque in Los
observes, they would have found in
Angeles, for example, was a home
its pages detailed instructions for
away from home for hijackers Nawaf
intensifying their resentment of
al Hazmi and Khalid al Mihdhar. The
Americans: "Never greet the
mosque's imam, Fahad al Thumairy,
Christian or Jew first. Never congrat-

