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Cartoons And Islamic Imperialism

Philadelphia

they were less hypo-
• GerMany: "Why should the
critical. When Syrian
German government apologize
he key issue at
television showed
[for German papers publishing
stake in the battle
drama documentaries
the cartoons]? This is an expres-
over the 12
in prime time depict-
sion of press freedom',' said
Danish cartoons of the
ing rabbis as canni-
Interior Minister Wolfgang
Muslim prophet
bals, the imams were
Schauble.
Muhammad is this: Will
quiet." Nor, by the way,
• France: "Political cartoons are
Daniel Pipes have imams protested
the West stand up for its
by nature excessive. And I prefer
Special
customs and mores,
-
the stomping on the
an excess of caricature to an
Commentary
including freedom of
Christian cross embed- excess of censorship:' commented
speech, or will Muslims
•
ded in the Danish flag.
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
impose their way of life on the
The deeper issue here, howev-
Other governments wrongly
.West? Ultimately, there is no corn-
er, is not Muslim hypocrisy but
apologized: .
promise. Westerners will either
Islamic supremacism. Flemming
• Poland: "The bounds of prop- .
retain their civilization, including
Rose, the Danish editor who pub- erly conceived freedom of expres-
the right to insult and blaspheme,
lished the cartoons, explains that sion have been overstepped:' stat-
or not.
if Muslims insist "that I, as a
ed Prime Minister Kazimierz
More specifically, will
non-Muslim, should submit to
' Marcinkiewicz.
Westerners accede to a double
their taboos, they're asking for
• United Kingdom: "The repub-
standard by which Muslims are
my submission."
lication of these cartoons has been
free to insult Judaism, Christianity,
Precisely. Robert Spencer rightly unnecessary; it has been insensi-
Hinduism and Buddhism; while
calls on the Free World to stand
tive; it has been disrespectful and
Muhammad, Islam and Muslims
resolutely with Denmark!' The
it has been wrong:' said Foreign
enjoy immunity from insults?
inforthative Brussels Journal
Secretary Jack Straw.
Muslims routinely publish car-
asserts, "We are all Danes now."
• New Zealand: "gratuitously
toons far more offensive than the
Some governments get it:
offensive,' Trade Negotiations
Danish ones; are they entitled to
• Norway: "We will not apolo-
Minister Jim Sutton called the car-
dish it out while being insulated
gize because in a country like
toons.
from similar indignities?
Norway, which guarantees free-
• United States: "Inciting reli-
Germany's Die Welt newspaper dom of expression; we cannot .
gious or ethnic hatred in this
hinted at this issue in an editori
apologize for what the newspapers manner is not acceptable,' said
al: "The protests from Muslims
print:' commented Prime Minister State Department Press Officer
would be taken more seriously if
Jens Stoltenberg.
Janelle Hironimus.

T

((

.

Strangely, as "Old Europe" finds
its backbone, the Anglosphere
quivers. So awful was the U.S. gov-
ernment reaction, it actually won
the endorsement of the country's
leading Islamist organization, the
Council on American-Islamic
Relations. This should come as no
great surprise, however, for
Washington has a history of treat-
ing Islam preferentially; and on
two earlier occasions, it also fal-
tered in cases of insults concern-
ing Muhammad.
In 1989, Salman Rushdie came
under a death edict from Ayatollah
Khomeini for satirizing
Muhammad in his magical-real-
ism novel, The Satanic Verses.
Rather than stand up for the nov-
elist's life, President George H.W.
Bush equated The Satanic Verses
and the death edict, calling both
"offensive' Secretary of State
James A. Baker III termed the
edict merely "regrettable."
Even worse, in 1997 when an
Israeli woman distributed a poster
of Muhammad as a pig, the U.S.
government shamefully aban-
doned its protection of free
speech. On behalf of President Bill
Clinton, State Department
spokesman Nicholas Burns called

the woman in question "either sick
or evil" and stated that "She
deserves to be put on trial for
these outrageous attacks on
Islam." The State Department
endorses a criminal trial for pro-
tected speech? Stranger yet was
the context of this outburst; as I
noted at the time, having combed
through weeks of State
Department briefings, I "found
nothing approaching this vituper-
ative language in reference to the
horrors that took place in
Rwanda, where hundreds of thou-
sands lost their lives. To the con-
trary, Mr. Burns was throughout
cautious and diplomatic."
Western governments should
take a crash course on Islamic law
and the historically abiding
Muslim frnperative to subjugate
non-Muslim peoples. They might
start by reading the forthcoming
book by Efraim Karsh, Islamic
Imperialism: A History (Yale).
Peoples who would stay free
must stand unreservedly with
Denmark. ❑

Daniel Pipes (www.DanielPipes.org) is
director of the Middle East Forum
and author of Miniatures
(Transaction Publishers).

Israel's Symphony Of Economics

srael is not known for its
consumer exports, but some
products may come to mind
like olives and Jaffa oranges. Jaffa
oranges constituted a consider-
able part of Israel's economy dur-
ing the 1900s.
During the last decade, the
Internet revolution freed Israel
from its agricultural dependence
and allowed it to focus on becom-
ing one of the leading technology
nations in the world. Israel is now
exporting Olive Software and
designing new platforins for
Orange Phones.
A U.S. sandal company called
Teva was inspired by an individ-
ual's visit to Israel. A multibil-
lion-dollar pharmaceutical corn-
pany based in Israel, also called
Teva, is now inspiring individuals
to visit Israel.

I

36

February, l6 • 2006

Much of this progress, and it
truly is extraordinary, has gone
largely unnoticed. Yet during a
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish
Campus Life-sponsored business
and technology mission, I was
fortunate to explore this theme
with students from an assort-
ment of U.S. and Canadian uni-
versities over winter break.
• The American dream is alive
in Israel. Teenagers now matricu-
late in school with the hope of
someday forming the next great
startup. On average, more than
one new business is brought to
fruition (through venture fund-
ing) every single day.
Opportunities for success and
advancement are not limited by
one's gender, background or race.
Hadassah Hospital employs many
thriving female physicians. It is

IN

also common for busi-
workers are now given
ness to have a number of
great opportunities: cre-
languages spoken from
ating software compa-
various ethnicities.
nies, solving unique
Moreover, immigrants
mathematical problems,
are equally allowed a
advancing academia at
piece of Israel's economy
leading universities.
and one leading venture
• ISrael's greatest natu-
capitalist stated he would Adam Finkel ral resource: education.
take an employee that is
Community Israel has more engi-
making aliyah over
neers per capita than
View
another Israeli to help
any other nation.
that citizen adjust to their new life. Hebrew University and the
• Israel is an economy of
Weizmann Institute of Science
empowerment. We learned about
beat both Massachusetts Institute
the planeloads of Russian immi-
of Technology and Harvard in
grants that made aliyah to Israel
revenue received from patents
in the 1980s. Most of thein were
annually. Several Israeli academ-
well educated yet poor, stuck in a
ics have won Nobel prizes during
persecuting society with barriers
the last few years.
to opportunity. Many held minor
During a visit to the William
janitorial or clerical jobs.
Davidson School at the Technion-
In Israel, those same Russian
Israel Institute of Technology, we

saw some of Israel's most innova-
tive minds focused on finding
solutions to a few of the chal-
lenges that plague our world.
Israel places a high value on edu-
cation and that is seen through
the plentiful - opportunities for
advanced learning that it offers.
Though its land lacks the lucra-
tive natural resource of the larger
Middle East economy, a rich cul-
ture and intelligent society is one
resource that will never run dry.
• Israel's leading industries are
focused on solving worthwhile
problems. This is the most mean-
ingful characteristic of the mod-
em Israeli economy.
Soldiers learn how to be quick,
impromptu thinkers and that
helps them solve short-term
problems. After their service, they
use their intelligence to cultivate

