"The Trouble with Islam," by Tawfik Hamid,04/03/07

(This column of opinion appeared in the Wall Street Journal on April 3, 2007. )
In initiating this "thought piece" with the rhetorical query, "What went wrong?", the writer cited the "brilliant Orientalist Bernard Lewis," well-known as a virulent Zionist propagandist. This is the first thing that "goes wrong" in his column for the pro-globalization Wall Street Journal, published from Mayor Bloomberg's trans-Atlantic financial base. It is soon disclosed, mirabile dictu, that the author has labored in the Islamic vineyard for twenty years (his count) to channel a pacifist current, or better, streamlet, within the House of Islam. Next, after agreeing with the "politically correct" argument that terrorism is correctly interpreted as a symptom, and not the cause, of unrestrained conflict, Mr. Hamid paradoxically asserts that the same Western "progressives" accompany Islamist radicals along the path to the next bloody barbarity with enthusiastic cries of "Hallelulah!" and "Hosannah!"In a word, they are fellow-travellers with practicioners of insensate murder. Queerly, he excuses Israel's catastrophic impact on the Muslim world as having no influence to create a model for Islamic (as distinguished from Zionist) radicals to emulate. The author's fallacious accusation that Western intellectuals restrict themselves to "self-criticism" represents a rebirth (or eternal return) of the opprobious practice of insinuating that opponents of the Hamid-Lewis axis of distortion are Reds.
From the distorted description of anti-Muslim demonstrations in Spain and Denmark, it is apparent the author desires to propagate the illusion the public opinion on the Continent is dominated by fear of Islam. His assertions are directly contradicted by observed reality. Mr. Hamid is a fugitive from his home culture who perhaps presumes to emulate the role of the notorious Iraqui exile, Mr. Achmed Chalibi. The columnist rushes impetuously forward to provide further evidence when he asserts that "interfaith dialogues with Muslims have largely been fruitless," ignoring the existence of Christian support for the Palestinians in organizations such as SABEEL, the charitable labors of ANEER, and the visit of Pope John Paul II to the mosque in Damascus, Syria. It is scarcely necessary to recall the cooperation of many decades between the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, into which the Israeli authorities have long pressured to insinuate thier own organization, symbolized by a resplendent diamond.
In sum, Mr. Hamid's slanted column of opinion, reeking of neo-con radicalism and Likhud Party extremism, constitutes an atrocity against objectivity. It cannot be accidental that his propagandistic eruption appears while House Speaker Pelosi is en route to Damascus. If Mr. Hamid has undergone a conversion experience leading him to renounce Islam in favor of the Weltanschauung of the late general Ariel Sharon, he should at least dispose of the courage to confess his apostasy.
--Isaac D'Israeli