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"They deserve death, and we deserve life"
by Claudia Winkler, The Weekly Standard. EFL.IN BETWEEN ERUPTIONS of exceptional violence that propel the Israeli-Palestinian conflict back to the front pages, life goes on in the Palestinian Authority. Friday sermons, in particular, go on, and every Friday at noon, one of them is broadcast live on the radio and shown on the PAâs single TV channel. Itâs worth tuning in from time to time. Non-Arabic speakers can do this thanks to the invaluable Middle East Media Research Institute, which posts its translations of items from the Arabic media on its website. Because of MEMRIâs work, we can sample the hate speech characteristic of extremist Islam. Thus, Friday before last, on March 12, the Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris used an example from the life of the Prophet Mohammed to explain why the Jews must be destroyed. When it came to eliminating the Jewish "cancer" from the city of Medina, the prophet got his orders direct from God. . . . History repeats itself, explained the imam. Once again, the Jews, characterized by "miserliness and cowardice," are the terrorists. "They deserve death, and we deserve life, because we are the people of Truth." Sheikh Mudeiris, MEMRI notes, is paid by the Religious Affairs Ministry of the Palestinian Authority, as are his fellow Friday preachers. For a sampler of PA TV sermons from 2000 to 2003, see the special report by Steven Stalinsky. Read up on the education of children for martyrdom ("blessings for whoever has saved a bullet in order to stick it in a Jewâs head . . ."), the reconquest of Palestine for the purpose of establishing the Muslim caliphate with Jerusalem as its capital, the rewards that await the martyr ("he is saved from the torments of the grave; he sees his place in Paradise; he is saved from the Great Horror [of the day of judgment]; he is given 72 black-eyed women; he vouches for 70 of his family to be accepted to Paradise; he is crowned with the Crown of glory, whose precious stone is better than all of this world and what is in it"), the religious war against Crusader America, and more. Whatever the headlines on any given day, these are themes that are going to be with us for a long time. Posted by: Mike 2004-03-24 |
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