Alert me when we get to Saudi Arabian Gender Apartheid Week

[jbg]

The article by Rex Murphy (link in title, excerpts below) is self-explanatory:

Rex Murphy: Alert me when we get to Saudi Arabian Gender Apartheid Week

Rex Murphy Mar 12, 2011 6:59 AM ET

Its incredible when you stop and give thought to it; but Saddam actually drained Iraqs historic marshes as an act of vengeance and terror, and pursued the 300,000 Arabs who for centuries have inhabited them with all the frenzy and violence that marked every campaign against his enemies.

It was a vast human rights crime. It was also an act of horrendous violence against a unique natural landscape, the kind of environmental crime that had it been perpetrated by some Western oil company would have set ecologists and NGOs into incandescent rage.

*********************

I pluck this example from my reading of Rumsfeld for the very particular reason that in Canada (and elsewhere) we have been in the midst of the ludicrous and mendaciously named Israeli Apartheid Week.

IAW as, alas, most know is the annual festival of scorn and propaganda against the worlds only Jewish state, a yearl attempt to depict Israel as being in the same moral sewer as South Africa in the days of apartheid.

IAW tries to do much with big words like apartheid and genocide and racism, where they really do not apply at all. Israel is not perpetrating a genocide against the Palestinians. Nor is Israel a racist state.

Yet in cases where some of those big words might actually have applied such as Saddam and the marsh Arabs, which is why I summoned the example these campus activists forwent anything like a campaign equivalent to their tireless, annual, and at times feral denunciations of Israel.

Did I miss Saudi Arabian Gender Apartheid Week? Or lets take another example: This very week in Libya, there is a zealous tyrant turning fire on his own people. Is there, or has there ever been, a Gaddafi Apartheid Week or its equivalent anywhere?

Even as injustices multiply against Christians in various Middle East countries, as Egypt roils with sectarian outrage, why is there not the same righteous fury that grips all the groups who annually appoint themselves scourges of the Zionist entity against the perpetrators of those depravities? Their moralism is so singular.

****************

[eyeball]

It’s incredible when you stop and give thought to it; but Saddam actually drained Iraq’s historic marshes as an act of vengeance and terror, and pursued the 300,000 Arabs who for centuries have inhabited them with all the frenzy and violence that marked every campaign against his enemies.

It was a vast human rights crime. It was also an act of horrendous violence against a unique natural landscape, the kind of “environmental crime” that — had it been perpetrated by some Western oil company — would have set ecologists and NGOs into incandescent rage.

My guess is that ecologists and NGO's were too stunned by the horrendous act of betrayal that George Bush Sr. perpetrated on the 300,000 Arabs and that preceded the environmental crime that followed.

Saddam Hussein's vengeance against these people had a very direct root cause that of course Rex Murphy and you conveniently left out.

[jbg]

My guess is that ecologists and NGO's were too stunned by the horrendous act of betrayal that George Bush Sr. perpetrated on the 300,000 Arabs and that preceded the environmental crime that followed.

Saddam Hussein's vengeance against these people had a very direct root cause that of course Rex Murphy and you conveniently left out.

I guess GWB is the cause of all the world's problems.

[GostHacked]

I don't trust anything that comes out of Rumsfeld's mouth.

[no1ninja]

IAW — as, alas, most know — is the annual festival of scorn and propaganda against the world’s only Jewish state, a yearl attempt to depict Israel as being in the same moral sewer as South Africa in the days of apartheid.

I want to call you on your bullshit. Because I doubt you have ever travelled to the west bank and probably do not realize how difficult it is to travel within the occupied regions. You need papers and can be denied passage at a moments notice. It's been already admitted that it is in part a policy to demoralize the enemy and a way to apply punitive measures on the region.

As far as this conflict goes, I think both sides have acted inappropriately. I don't think there is anything cool about marching kids out with fake plastic explosive vests. Kids do not hate, they need to be taught to.

...but just because Israel is isolated in its stance does not mean that all criticism levied against it is undeserved. It takes two to have a conflict.

Edited March 13, 2011 by no1ninja

[William Ashley]

THIS THREAD DOES NOT BELONG IN CANADIAN POLITICS, IT IS ISLAMOPHOBIC JUNK, PROZIONIST MISREPRESENTATION, HATE DIRECTED AGAINST MUSLIMS AND NOTHING MORE.

A lot of women in Canada would benefit from having a male chaperone in some places too. From a Saudi I communicated with there seems to be a little false potrayal of the Saudi system in western media, especially in regard to the concept of honour killings. It is more about sex out of wedlock. It isn't really about gender equality it is about religious adherance. A woman wrote the Khoran for christs sake - she is the one who wrote the rules for women.

Yeah and builiding rail road tracks through indian reserve hunting grounds, and building dams to reverse rivers to make it seem like land is treaty land when it isn't are attacks against the native peoples of Canada that are still ongoing and unrectified.

Solve your own human rights abuses and injustices first, there are plenty to go around in Canada to make up for butting into other countries' affairs.

REX MURPHEY IS ISLAMOPHOBIC

Israel is a religously biased state - it does not give equal rights to non Jews.. it is biased it is a state of apartheid. It is not a country without issues, it was made in a very bad way through illegal aquisition of land, and illegal immigration, through war, and through terrorism (yes later leaders of israel were terrorists in their younger days) I am not pro or anti israeli but there are simple truths that lying about only makes people like Rex Murphey to be totally without scrupples or credibility.

Israel is an apartheid state. It is in their law

Edited March 13, 2011 by William Ashley

[Shady]

REX MURPHEY IS ISLAMOPHOBIC

Don't you love how holding people to the same standards is Islamophobic?

Islamophobia is the new McCarthyism.

[Shady]

I guess GWB is the cause of all the world's problems.

Bush Derangement Syndrome strikes again!

[Scotty]

...but just because Israel is isolated in its stance does not mean that all criticism levied against it is undeserved. It takes two to have a conflict.

Not really true.

[KeyStone]

The article by Rex Murphy (link in title, excerpts below) is self-explanatory:

Rex Murphy: Alert me when we get to Saudi Arabian Gender Apartheid Week

Rex Murphy Mar 12, 2011 – 6:59 AM ET

It’s incredible when you stop and give thought to it; but Saddam actually drained Iraq’s historic marshes as an act of vengeance and terror, and pursued the 300,000 Arabs who for centuries have inhabited them with all the frenzy and violence that marked every campaign against his enemies.

It was a vast human rights crime. It was also an act of horrendous violence against a unique natural landscape, the kind of “environmental crime” that — had it been perpetrated by some Western oil company — would have set ecologists and NGOs into incandescent rage.

*********************

I pluck this example from my reading of Rumsfeld for the very particular reason that in Canada (and elsewhere) we have been in the midst of the ludicrous and mendaciously named Israeli Apartheid Week.

IAW — as, alas, most know — is the annual festival of scorn and propaganda against the world’s only Jewish state, a yearl attempt to depict Israel as being in the same moral sewer as South Africa in the days of apartheid.

IAW tries to do much with big words like apartheid and genocide and racism, where they really do not apply at all. Israel is not perpetrating a genocide against the Palestinians. Nor is Israel a racist state.

Yet in cases where some of those big words might actually have applied — such as Saddam and the marsh Arabs, which is why I summoned the example — these campus activists forwent anything like a campaign equivalent to their tireless, annual, and at times feral denunciations of Israel.

Did I miss Saudi Arabian Gender Apartheid Week? Or let’s take another example: This very week in Libya, there is a zealous tyrant turning fire on his own people. Is there, or has there ever been, a Gaddafi Apartheid Week or its equivalent anywhere?

Even as injustices multiply against Christians in various Middle East countries, as Egypt roils with sectarian outrage, why is there not the same righteous fury that grips all the groups who annually appoint themselves scourges of the “Zionist entity” against the perpetrators of those depravities? Their moralism is so singular.

****************

[eyeball]

I guess GWB is the cause of all the world's problems.

Why?

[KeyStone]

Rex has somehow made an entire article out of the age-old argument of:

Gosh, there are worse regimes in the world, why pick on Israel.

The subtext of this of course, is that the only reason people pick on Israel is because they hate Jews.

Now, there is no doubt that there are worse regimes than Israel, and certainly when it comes to human rights, people are treated worse than Israeli Arabs. However, there are reasons other than anti-semitism, as to why people single out Israel.

1) Israel has an army of apologists working non-stop. One can not go two consecutive days without the National Post needing either to berate Palestinians/Arabs or make excuses for Israel.

2) Israel and the Jewish lobby have more control over Canada's foreign policy than any other body, including the US, and the Prime Minister and Canadians resent it.

3) Some of the people protesting have Palestinian roots, so it is only natural for them to be particularly interested in their own people.

4) Israel believes they are an honourable country, deserving of a seat at the table of respect. There is no such illusions when it comes to Gadaffi, or Hussein or any of a dozen African dictators. Rex does have a point about Saudi Arabia though, but nobody says shit about them, because they buy our weapons and give us oil, so we don't care what human rights abuses go on their, as long as they are willing to play ball with big business.

5) Israel routinely kills Arab children. There are not many other nations in the world that routinely kill the children of other nations. Moreover, there are even less nations that kill the children of other nations and are not condemned for it.

6) I know of no other international protest movement, where the targets of that protest, attempt to stifle free speech, try to make it illegal, ban it from campuses, refer to it as hate speech, and get our pandering politicians to line up to discredit it and find new ways to express how loathsome they find it. This bothers the sensibilities of Canadians.

If Israel wants to stop being criticized, it needs to do three things:

1) Stop collective punishment of Palestinians by destroying their property and killing civilians.

2) Stop trying to limit free speech when they are criticized.

3) Ignore the people saying bad things about Israel. The more you provide opposition, the more entrenched the position becomes.

Apartheid is the wrong word, and there are far worse things, but how dare the Canadian Jewish lobby try to make it illegal to use the word apartheid, and how dare the Canadian politicians pander to the lobby groups.

[no1ninja]

Here is a BBC documentary on the subject.

http://www.realnews247.com/bbc_rachel_corrie_report.htm

An Isreli sniper shooting a british man in the head for picking up a child that was in the line of fire.

The Isreli government then sending the family $12,000 to pay for funeral expenses, and the government check bounces with "insuficient funds".

Attacking a a flotilla with food aid, with your comandos.

...you can't make this shit up. Someone needs to take responsibility for their own image. (and what is worse, I did not want to read this post on a Canadian politics forum, you brought it up with an attempt to create propaganda, and it has backfired in your face, because no matter how much you repeat bullshit, people with common sense can recognize the truth.)

Edited March 14, 2011 by no1ninja

[PIK]

THIS THREAD DOES NOT BELONG IN CANADIAN POLITICS, IT IS ISLAMOPHOBIC JUNK, PROZIONIST MISREPRESENTATION, HATE DIRECTED AGAINST MUSLIMS AND NOTHING MORE.

A lot of women in Canada would benefit from having a male chaperone in some places too. From a Saudi I communicated with there seems to be a little false potrayal of the Saudi system in western media, especially in regard to the concept of honour killings. It is more about sex out of wedlock. It isn't really about gender equality it is about religious adherance. A woman wrote the Khoran for christs sake - she is the one who wrote the rules for women.

Yeah and builiding rail road tracks through indian reserve hunting grounds, and building dams to reverse rivers to make it seem like land is treaty land when it isn't are attacks against the native peoples of Canada that are still ongoing and unrectified.

Solve your own human rights abuses and injustices first, there are plenty to go around in Canada to make up for butting into other countries' affairs.

REX MURPHEY IS ISLAMOPHOBIC

Israel is a religously biased state - it does not give equal rights to non Jews.. it is biased it is a state of apartheid. It is not a country without issues, it was made in a very bad way through illegal aquisition of land, and illegal immigration, through war, and through terrorism (yes later leaders of israel were terrorists in their younger days) I am not pro or anti israeli but there are simple truths that lying about only makes people like Rex Murphey to be totally without scrupples or credibility.

Israel is an apartheid state. It is in their law

You are anti- isreal, or other wise you would be critizing the arab neighbours who IMO have done more damage to the palastine cause then isreal, and if you knew anything about that situation, you would realize that arafat cause alot of grief for his own people. I wonder how arafats widow is doing with the mega millions she walk away with. And what about that group ''queers against isreal apartied''you do realize that the only country they would be protected in ,in the ME would isreal, but yet they cheer on the countries that would kill them the minute they got there hands on. Edited March 14, 2011 by PIK

[bush_cheney2004]

...2) Israel and the Jewish lobby have more control over Canada's foreign policy than any other body, including the US, and the Prime Minister and Canadians resent it.

So are you saying the "US" should have more "control" over Canadian foreign policy? If so, why?

Shouldn't Canada have control over its own foreign policy?

[Shady]

you can't make this shit up.

Actually you just did!

Hamas would be proud.

[Scotty]

Rex has somehow made an entire article out of the age-old argument of:

Gosh, there are worse regimes in the world, why pick on Israel.

The subtext of this of course, is that the only reason people pick on Israel is because they hate Jews.

Now, there is no doubt that there are worse regimes than Israel, and certainly when it comes to human rights, people are treated worse than Israeli Arabs. However, there are reasons other than anti-semitism, as to why people single out Israel.

1) It's on TV a lot.

And really, we know that's basically it. It's on TV a lot and thus able to grasp the shallow minds of a largely knowledge-free group of lefty do-gooders who see armed soldiers against 'civilians' and instinctively figure the soldiers must be the bad guys.

And why is it on TV a lot?

Because in the world of infotainment, action and blood are what catches the viewers and draws sponsors. And unlike in most other troubled areas, Israel has 5 star hotels with pools, A\C and top flight restaurants right near the 'front lines', and doesn't boot out reporters for criticizing the government.

[Moonbox]

Rex has somehow made an entire article out of the age-old argument of:

Gosh, there are worse regimes in the world, why pick on Israel.

You're right. It's not the strongest moral argument. It does beg the question though. Why DOES everyone froth at the mouth about Israel, but yet ignore behaviour that is undeniably worse in other countries?

The subtext of this of course, is that the only reason people pick on Israel is because they hate Jews.

That's just as weak an argument as the one you posted above. There are indeed tons of people who will pretend that any sort of anti-Israel talk is anti-semitism (and it's not ALL balogna), but the real reason I think Israel is so villainized is because it's a democratic country in the middle of a bunch of dicatorships and nut jobs who've made an ART out of negative PR campaigns against Israel. We hold Israel to a higher standard than Pakistan or Iran or Iraq because we can relate to them much more easily, and Hezbollah etc know this and exploit our sense of morality towards their cause.

Israel has an army of apologists working non-stop. One can not go two consecutive days without the National Post needing either to berate Palestinians/Arabs or make excuses for Israel.

Israel's enemies have an equally big army of people condemning them. The idea of an army of 'apologists' does sound a lot like the regular Jewish conspiracy theories people throw around. Don't criticize people for throwing around the anti-semitism card and then come right back to us and tell us there's an army of jews and apologists controlling the media. That's a joke.

2) Israel and the Jewish lobby have more control over Canada's foreign policy than any other body, including the US, and the Prime Minister and Canadians resent it.

There it is again. The Jewish lobby! Oh no! Tinfoil hat time! They have microchips in our brains too!

3) Some of the people protesting have Palestinian roots, so it is only natural for them to be particularly interested in their own people.

Like the Jews supporting Israel right?

5) Israel routinely kills Arab children. There are not many other nations in the world that routinely kill the children of other nations. Moreover, there are even less nations that kill the children of other nations and are not condemned for it.

Ummm...you're pretty much totally full of &*!*^ on this one. Israel routinely kills children? That's their plan? In their war rooms they have generals drawing up detailed plans of ground formations with schools and day cares as their objectives? Is that what you're saying? The have Apache gunships chasing little girls on bicycles? Give us a freaking break.

6) I know of no other international protest movement, where the targets of that protest, attempt to stifle free speech, try to make it illegal, ban it from campuses, refer to it as hate speech, and get our pandering politicians to line up to discredit it and find new ways to express how loathsome they find it. This bothers the sensibilities of Canadians.

What about China? North Korea? Iran?

Edited March 14, 2011 by Moonbox

[scribblet]

Actually you just did!

Hamas would be proud.

Indeed, it just proves that the Hamas propaganda machine is working, these guys probably still believe the 'Jenin Massacre' actually happened.

[Muddy]

Yes it takes two to have a conflict! But it was the bully and his gang who picked on the new kid on the block and got the crap kicked out of them . Now the little guy has a bigger piece of the block. No more the humble Jew to quake at the hands of those who would drive them into oblivion.