National Post columnist Jonathan Kay (who is very pro Israel, before anyone asks), has taken the CIJA to task:
Given this massive build-up, readers will expect a really epic anti-Semitic hatefest. But Jew-hatred-wise, the 160-page East End Madrassah document is a major let down.
Most notably, it doesn’t “equate” Judaism with Nazism. It merely lumps the two together (on page 71, along with “the beliefs of the ancient Romans”) as thought systems that are “restricted to a certain community or a certain race” — as opposed to Islam, which is “for all human beings.”
I agree that choosing Jews, Romans and Nazis as a three-pronged control group is weird and offensive, sounding more like the premise to a misfired three-guys-walk-into-a-bar joke than anything else. But the point is accurate from a purely technical perspective. (As anyone who has gone through the Jewish conversion process can attest, becoming an official Jew is very difficult. Becoming a Muslim, on the other hand, takes seconds.)
The other CIJA charge — that the madrassah’s curriculum contains “anti-semitic themes” and “horrific conspiracy theories” — also fizzles out upon close inspection.
Yes, it’s true that the 20-page section of curriculum text extending from pages 111 to 131 contains references to various “treacherous” and “crafty” Jews, not to mention “Jewish intrigues and conspiracies.” But the very same themes can be found in the Koran and Hadiths themselves (of which this portion of the madrassah curriculum, and some of the pages that follow, is largely an abbreviated version)
What I can't figure out, is what were the CIJA thinking. Are they not aware of the many, many negative statements in the Talmud about gentiles? Do Jews not teach those sections?
I can only imagine that the CIJA's response will be something along the lines of "The Talmud was written at a different age, and no one believes those comments", or "That stuff isn't taught anymore", or "When we teach it we explain this shouldn't be interpreted literally".
My answer would be - sadly, many Jews do believe that stuff, People do teach them, and sadly they do interpret them literally.
And so..Jews in Glass Houses...
*Small sidenote: I'm purposely not providing talmudic quotes. A while back I blogged about Jews who seem to delight in claiming Jews killed Jesus. I was somewhat unhappy to see that post go viral on some antisemetic websites, and so I've decided to be a little more careful.
No comments:
Post a Comment