Today, a young man from Qalqiliya, Walid Husayin, was arrested by the Palestinian Authority for writing on Facebook in criticism of Islam. He wrote parody. Some, if not much of what he wrote was highly insulting of Islam, and he went so far as to write under the name of “God” in some Facebook groups. It is understandable that many Muslims were offended by what he wrote. In fact, considering the lack of tolerance in the Arab world, it is astounding that a Palestinian MUSLIM, his family are MUSLIMS, would write in this manner. Needless to say, he tried to keep his identity a secret. Husayin is an atheist who proclaimed the evils of his family’s faith in public. He aired dirty laundry. Hussein committed heresy.
If you have not read the story in today’s Haaretz about the Palestinian man jailed for criticizing Islam on Facebook, you should. I think that nothing comes closer to illustrating the depth of the difficulty in achieving peace and explain why it detail on the We Are For Israel blog, for which I also write.
In this case, this man may well never be let out of prison, if he is not sentenced to death. You read it right, “DEATH.” Of course, if he were let out of prison, he might well be murdered in the streets by someone “acting in defense of Islam.” The article relates the following:
Now, he faces a potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for insulting the divine essence. Many in this conservative Muslim town say he should be killed for renouncing Islam, and even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.
“He should be burned to death,” said Abdul-Latif Dahoud, a 35-year-old Qalqiliya resident. The execution should take place in public to be an example to others, he added…
Two cousins attributed the writings to depression, saying Husayin was desperate to find better work. Requesting anonymity because of the shame the incident, they saidHusayin’s mother wants him to remain in prison for life – both to restore the family’s honor and to protect him from vigilantes.
The Haaretz article went on to note that:
A small minority hasquestioned whether the government went too far. Zainab Rashid, a liberal Palestinian commentator, wrote in an online opinion piece that Husayin has made an important point: that “criticizing religious texts for their (intellectual) weakness can only be combated by oppression, prison and execution.“
I agree. How is condemning a person to life in prison or even sentencing such a person to execution for expressing unpopular views in accord with either modernity or Western morals and ethics? The terms that come to mind to describe such a government are “oppressive,” “tyrannical,” and dare I say it, “fascist.”
Merriam-Webster’s definition of Fascism is pretty much on the mark here:
a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
Should America support such a government??? How can it???
“Should America support such a government??? How can it???”
i don’t get it either. i mean, last i checked, the Palestinians *have no oil*.
“How is condemning a person to life in prison or even sentencing such a person to execution for expressing unpopular views in accord with either modernity or Western morals and ethics?”
This is, of course, a rhetorical question. It is, of course, not at all in accord with modernity or Western ethics, nor should we be surprised that it is not. It is the action of a distinctly non-Western, non-modern society that is, in many ways, the antithesis of everything Western civilization stands for. Pretending that they are “just like us” is ridiculous… and so is being astonished at outrages like this.
Too bad the Israelis can’t do a jailbreak and get him out. But I expect that, even if he was freed, transported to Israel, and escaped punishment for blasphemy under what passes for law in the Palestinian Authority, he’d still hate Jews and want Israel destroyed.
I suppose someone could say that this is none of our business, that if the Arabs want to live in states that kill people for unpopular opinions, that is their business. But I am dubious about that. The mindset that drives such actions is the same mindset that drives Muslims to attack us and try to destroy Israel, because it offends their monstrously puffed-up vanity that Muslims do not rule the world, and that Jews rule a few square miles out of the tens of thousands of square miles that Arab countries rule. I suspect that either we catalyze modernizatin of thought and political culture in Muslim lands or one day the jihadists will spark off a hideous bloodbath of a war between Muslims and the West. Most of the blood will be Muslim.
This does give us some idea of what the “democratic, secular state of Palestine” would look like. It will, of course, be entirely ignored by those who see Israel’s intransigence as the sole block to an outbreak of peace and love in the area.