Respect must be earned

This letter was published in the Sunday Times, London, 2/19/05:

Dear Editor:
I commend the British Muslim Council for the peaceful demonstration and the
moderate tone of their placards.
But why did they feel it necessary to organise another demonstration about a
few cartoons when there have been hundreds that show that the extreme face of
Islam is more prominent than the moderate face that they tried to project? I
have been offended for years (without demonstrating about it) by the
Nazi-style cartoons depicting Jews in the Islamic press.
When Muslims give to others the consideration that they demand of others, the
rest of us may start to take them seriously. Respect must be earned.
Jack Cohen
Netanya, Israel
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The response to the Danish cartoons is "over the top." Now there
have been riots in Nigeria, where 16 were killed and 11 Churches were
torched, and in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran and elsewhere. This
response has clearly been organized and instigated by the Islamist political
movement. In London, New York and Los Angeles there have been
peaceful, but threatening protests. In Libya there was a violent protest at
the Italian Embassy because an Italian Minister wore a T-shirt with one of
the cartoons on it. He has been forced to resign, and in Benghazi 10 were
killed.
What is expected of a cartoon? That it at least be funny, or even just
slightly amusing. But, the "cartoons" that appear in the Muslim press are
nothing of the sort, the Muslims don't seem to have a sense of humor, they
are very serious about everything, and everything is related to the fight of
Islam against the rest of the world. The cartoons that I have seen over the
years and particularly now in response to the (funny) cartoons from Denmark,
are humorless. They are blatantly anti-Semitic, with rivers of blood,
Sharon eating children, lots of Nazi swastikas, etc. They are not just in bad
taste, they are disgusting! They can only be understood as a part of the
anti-Semitic polemic of the Muslims.
Plays that engage in political propaganda don't work, since no-one wants to
be blasted by a one-sided political opinion. Art that is overtly political,
such as much Soviet art, is superficial and uninteresting. So it goes with
cartoons too. The fuss about the Danish cartoons has drawn the focus to
the anti-Semitic Islamic drawings, they are not cartoons, but are crude
attempts at Nazi-style political propaganda.
_______________________
For earlier messages see: www.commentfromisraelblog.blogspot.com