It's Almost Supernatural

Happy Birthday Arik

Always and forever our hero.
*sigh

A Warm SA Welcome for Hamas

To my disgust (but not surprise) President Mbeki in an interview yesterday with City Press newspaper divulged that he plans to meet in the near future with the leadership of Hamas.

President Mbeki revealed that last year South Africa concluded a clandestine agreement with this Palestinian terrorist organisation to discuss the political situation in the Middle East. President Mbeki is quoted as saying

I m quite sure that we will engage with Hamas as we have an agreement with them. They approached us last year as they needed to see us so that we can discuss the situation.

Why did South Africa have secret contact with Hamas - an internationally declared terrorist organisation? Were their friends in the PLO aware of this I wonder? Sounds like they stabbed Abu Mazen in the back if you ask me. How South Africa’s backing might have strengthened Fatah in the Palestinian elections one does not know - but fraternising with the extremists certainly didn’t help.

I find it morally repugnant that the ANC, a party that fought for so many years against racial injustice could agree to meet with Hamas, one of the most racist organisations in the world. Have you read their charter Mr President?

Peaceful Solutions, Initiatives and International Conferences Article Thirteen The initiatives, the so-called peace solutions, and the international conferences for resolving the Palestinian problem stand in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement, for to neglect any part of Palestine is to neglect part of the Islamic faith. The nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its [Islamic] faith. It is in the light of this principle that its members are educated, and they wage jihad in order to raise the banner of Allah over the homeland. "And Allah has full control over His affairs; but most people do not know." (Koran, 12:21) ... There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are a waste of time and a farce.

Its blatant anti-Semitism would make any descent human being sick. Their covenant is littered with quotes from the Koran that incite hatred and even violence against all Jews. Is this something that President Mbkei should be associated with? In article 14 "The three circles" of the covenant the following quote appears.

"You strike more fear in the hearts of the Jews than does Allah, because they are people who do not understand." (Koran, 59:13)

Article 7 is even worse

Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to realize the promise of Allah, no matter how long it takes. The Prophet, Allah's prayer and peace be upon him, says: "The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: 'Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,' except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews." (Recorded in the Hadith collections of Bukhari and Muslim).

A photo op with President Mbeki and the leaders of Hamas sullies South Africa’s moral authority internationally. We used to be at the forefront of the struggle for human rights, now we cosy up to repressions greatest advocates. Our neutral stance on every international conflict has placed a fog of mist over our sense of moral clarity.

SA Blog Awards

In the spirit of tomorrow's more important South African municipality elections remember that you can also vote in the SA Blog Awards. It's a fun way of showcasing the South African blogosphere.

Visit this page to see the contenders.

Voting takes place from this page. You can cast your votes once every day until Friday 3 March. This means you have only a couple more days left to cast your vote.

It's Almost Supernatural has been nominated in the following categories: Best SA political blog, best post on a South African blog, and best South African group blog.

So if you like what we do...go vote for us. Every day...

Speaking of the South African municipality elections It's Almost Supernatural agrees with Commentary and endorses a vote for the Democratic Alliance. Read this excellent post at Commentary to see why.

The Islamic Republic’s Unknown Victims

While the international media and Western diplomats are focused on the threat of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, the Islamic Republic’s daily repression of its tiny Jewish minority has gone unnoticed. The deterioration of Iran’s official political discourse from vicious anti-Zionism into frightening traditional anti-Semitism places the lives of Iran’s 30,000 Jews in grave danger. Their perilous situation will most certainly worsen as the international community increases the political pressure on Iran.

Under Iran’s Islamic Sharia law, Jews are classed as dhimmis. As such they are excluded from public office and armed service. Moreover, Jews may not give evidence in the Islamic courts resulting in them being denied access to justice. They are routinely arrested and placed in jail for years without trial or worse. At least 13 Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic revolution, most of them for either religious reasons or their alleged connection to Israel.

Their second class status is symbolically reinforced by the fact that Jews are forbidden to ride horses or camels lest they be higher than Muslims, they are forbidden to build synagogues taller than mosques or to construct houses grander than those of their Islamic neighbors.

Before the 1979 Islamic revolution, Jewish life flourished in Iran. There were, for example, some 20 Jewish schools functioning throughout the country. However, in recent years, most of these have been closed down. In the remaining schools, Jewish principals have been replaced by Muslims and the curriculum imposed on students is strictly Islamic. Saturday is no longer recognized by ‘Jewish schools’ as the Jewish Sabbath and Jewish pupils are compelled to attend school on that day in contravention of Jewish law. Although there are still three synagogues in Teheran, there is no rabbi and the Beth Din (Jewish Religious Authority) has been disbanded.

These remaining 30,000 descendents of Iran’s ancient Jewish community are virtual prisoners in the Islamic Republic. Jews who apply for a passport to travel abroad must do so in a special bureau and are immediately put under surveillance. Furthermore, the government does not allow all members of a family to travel abroad at the same time to prevent Jewish emigration. Those Jews found attempting to leave are severely punished. In May 1998, for example, Jewish businessman Ruhollah Kakhodah-Zadeh was hanged in prison without a public charge or legal proceeding, allegedly for assisting Jews to emigrate.

But perhaps more chilling than Iran’s systemic oppression of its Jewish citizens, is the homicidal anti-Semitic rhetoric of its leaders and official media. In the writing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khomaini, Jews are described as ‘unclean’ along with urine, pigs and dogs. Iran's official government-controlled media often publishes the notorious anti-Semitic forgery the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Perhaps it is fitting that a state that is so Nazi like in its anti-Jewish propaganda has also become the greatest denier of the Nazi Holocaust.

Despite this dangerous environment the chairman of Iran's Jewish Council, Haroun Yashayaei, recently sent a letter to Iranian President Ahmadinejad harshly criticizing him for his anti-Semitic outbursts. In the letter Haroun Yashayaei writes ‘your remarks on the Holocaust have shocked the international community and caused fear in Iran's Jewish community’. Mr Yashayaei bravely declared that ‘the Holocaust was a fact of history and not a myth’ and accused the Iranian president of ‘ignorance and political prejudice’. In a country where criticism of the Islamic government is not tolerated, especially from Jews, these comments will certainly not be well received. I fear to imagine the terrible retribution the Islamic Republic will exact on its helpless Jewish minority for this courageous show of defiance.

Alert some local newspapers about these discriminatory and apartheid-like practices in Iran with letters to the Editor. I recommend the Sunday Sun ([email protected]) and the Sowetan ([email protected]).

END the MRN Monopoly of the Palestinian Voice

Readers of this blog will know that the South African media regularly use the hateful Media Review Network as the South African “voice of the Palestinians”, providing them with a platform to spit their vicious propaganda.

Their columns only serve to further polarise Jews and Muslims in South Africa. By constantly demonising Israel, they force Jews onto the defensive preventing the real issues from ever being debated or considered.

Why does the South African media allow the use of lies, deceit, and hyperbole to put the Palestinian case forward? Does the Palestinian cause not merit a just resolution without resorting to lies, deceptions and propaganda?

I encourage all readers to email the editors of the media groups listed at the end of this post and ask them to stop providing the Media Review Network with a platform to spread their hateful propaganda. Instead they should consider using the Muslim voices of sanity from the Centre of International Political Studies (CIPS) for the Palestinian voice.

CIPS is a University of Pretoria based institution that, amongst other things, provides insightful and challenging opinion on the Middle East. Members include the likes of Hoosein Solomon and Walid Salem – two Muslim opinion makers whose insightful commentary allows both sides to see the challenges that the other side faces – without resorting to the childish demonisation of Israel so characterised by the MRN.

Download the latest CIPS briefing by Walid Salem entitled:The Palestinian political_earthquakepeace and democracy at risk.pdf.

This short article will argue that: 1) A democratic route or process without the liberalisation of the economy and, specifically, without Liberalism (individual and collective rights) in the Middle East leads to only one path: the path of Islamicisation. 2) Democratic processes without freedom (Democracy in a cage) lead inevitably to replacing the building of democracy with a fight for freedom. 3) Islam is not contrary to democracy; therefore it is possible to develop an Islamic organisation into a democratic organisation. The Justice and Welfare Party of Turkey is one example of such a possibility

It’s an article that would make Natan Sharansky smile. Like Sharansky, Salem says that Israel erred during Oslo by not tying progress on the peace front to the PA’s ability to deliver democracy and liberalisation.

It could be assumed that the building of citizenship, civil society and the democratic institutions and laws that defend, express and act on behalf of citizen rights, would be done prior to the elections, or at least be accompanied by them. However, with an international community and Israel focused, in the period between 1996 and 2003 (till the Road Map was declared), on Arafat delivering peace and security, they forgot to apply pressure for the delivery of democracy and liberal rights. Therefore, while the years from 1996 to 2000 saw a period (relatively speaking) of increasing freedom to the Palestinians brought about by the gradual Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian area, accompanied by Arafat delivering (also relatively speaking) security to Israel, the absence of democracy to accompany this liberalisation led to a breakdown. The final outcome of that was the collapse of peace.

Compare Salem’s thoughtful description of Oslo to this by Firoz Osman of the Media Review Network in an article from the Sunday Independent.

The "peace process", from Oslo to the road map, simply served as a camouflage to expand, secure and entrench Zionist settlements and guarantee the perpetual enslavement of the Palestinians.”

Or the concluding statement of their press release on Ariel Sharon.

UNTIL MORE SIGNALS EMERGE TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE APARTHEID STATE OF ISRAEL ITSELF IS UNDERGOING A HEMORRHAGE, IT IS CLEAR THAT THE PALESTINIAN INTIFADA WILL CONTINUE ITS FREEDOM STRUGGLE.

Or how about when Iqbal Jassat of the MRN supported Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s call to wipe Israel off the map in an article entitled: Iran`s anti-Israeli stance stuns Bush, Blair and Sharon but Ahmedinejad echoes sentiments of Muslims globally!

The MRN opinion pieces are littered with this unproductive hatred and should be ignored by the mainstream media. Yet week after week our newspapers turn to the same fundamentalists for the “Palestinians voice”.

The South African media should marginalize the radicals and champion the pro-Palestinian voices of tolerance and pragmatism. To do this they need look no further than the Centre for International Political Studies.

Contact the media

Cape Times - [email protected]
Sunday Independent - [email protected]
The Star – click here
The Sowetan - [email protected]
Sunday Times - [email protected]
Business Day - [email protected]
The citizen - [email protected]
Cape Argus – click here
The Mercury – click here
Pretoria news – click here

It's the Violence Stupid

Peter Fabricius is fast becoming my favourite South African columnist. His column in The Star on Friday is a reasoned response to voices bemoaning the “double standards” of people raising the issue of freedom of expression with the Muslim cartoon while turning the dreaded blind eye when the issue of Holocaust denial is raised.

(Of course these voices never compare the intimidation to prevent the printing of Muslim cartoons with the open printing of anti-Jewish cartoons in South Africa – like the Zapiro cartoons I posted here at the bottom of this post.)

With the backdrop of David Irving’s 3 year sentencing to prison by an Austrian court for Holocaust denial Peter Fabricius investigates these alleged “double standards".

Muslims have mostly seen the Danish cartoons as examples of extreme Islamophobia, a deliberate insult to the very essence of their faith. The cartoons which caused most offence were those which associated Mohammed with terrorism and violence. Most Muslims saw these as implying that their Prophet and their faith are intrinsically violent. But it is easier to interpret them as satirising not Islam itself but those Muslims of the al Qaeda ilk, a small minority surely, who have illegitimately – blasphemously - harnessed the name of Islam in the cause of terror. The Austrian law emanates of course from the country's lingering guilt about the Nazi era. This would probably be a good time for countries which retain such legislation to consider purging it from the statutes. It has perhaps become an anachronism. Nonetheless the laws evidently reflect worthy impulse to prevent another Holocaust or something like it, on the principle that those who do not understand history are condemned to repeat it. If that is true the ultimate target of these laws is violence. And the same could be said about most of the cartoons. In that sense the double standards are at a deeper level not such double standards. After all, those who defended the rights of the cartoonists and yet sentenced Irving ultimately stand together in defence of the same standard - an opposition to violence used in the cause of politics. The effect of the cartoons was ironically just the opposite - an explosion of violence around the Islamic world. Critics of the publication of the cartoons have pointed out that the West has always accepted that freedom of expression is limited by the greater cause of safety. The classic example given is that one does not have the right to shout Fire in a crowded cinema. The Danish cartoonists have done something similar by igniting the fury of Muslims, they suggest. But of course the cartoonists had no idea that would be the result. And those who have responded with violence must ultimately bear the responsibility for their conduct. Is violence not the real issue that underlies the controversy beneath all the other more apparent issues such as blasphemy and freedom of expression? It is evident that many of those Westerners especially who have condemned the cartoons or refused to publish them have been motivated ultimately not by principle but by fear of violence. The debate has been chilled by intimidation. The cartoons were not a great idea. But burning down embassies and killing people for alleged blasphemy is an even worse idea.

SA Media Review

A short summary on the SA media from last week...

Ronnie Kasrils’ letter to Joel Pollak in the Mail & Guardian reiterated that Zionist myths are rooted in racism and are particularly exclusivist; and claimed that the objections to Zionism and Israel as “invariably containing anti-semitic nuance” are typical of the Zionist movement’s attempts to “rubbish any objective criticism of Israel’s apartheid policies or the fallacies at the core of Zionism.”

Also in the M&G, “The myths of Ronnie” by Israeli Ambassador Ilan Baruch (writing in his personal capacity) answered the earlier Kasrils piece. Ambassador Baruch’s synopsis of Zionism and its multifarious offshoots was excellent and thought-provoking, and made nonsense of the fallacious and so-called “facts” with which Kasrils tried to influence his readers.

Israel’s decision to withhold the monthly customs revenues of about $60 million from the PA until Hamas recognises the country and lays down its arms was centre spread in much of the media from Friday onwards. Predictably, the decision was condemned but few if any of those covering it stated publicly that it would be almost impossible for the country to negotiate with and pay money to a government hell-bent on destroying the country – double standards again.

Rob Amamto, in “We are suffering an outbreak of vulgarity, both locally and globally” in the Sunday Independent, took a different line from his usual neutral stance, in his discussion of Israel and Hamas. Commenting on Israel’s decision to withhold the customs and taxes from the PA, he wrote, “You can’t preach about spreading democracy in the Middle East and then recognise elections only when “your” side wins.” He went on to criticise the description of Steven Friedman as a “token Jew” as some Zionists have done because of his “advocacy of a single constitutional secular state in the conflict stricken territories” insisting that such a state, constitutionally guaranteeing “cultural and religious freedom and survival to all, is the only unvulgar answer.” The alternative, a “vulgar world war three”, is too horrible to contemplate; and he concluded with, “It has become a vulgar matter of not losing face.”

Electronic media continued to focus on the international Muslim outrage vis-a-vis the offending cartoons; and Muslim radio stations in the Cape continued to pour vitriol and threats on those responsible as well as on anyone else in the media world. The frenzy and hysteria which resulted in Christians in Nigeria being assaulted and killed for no reason other than that they were not Muslims is yet another manifestation of the lunacy which has turned the world on its head.

As the political landscape in the Middle East changes rapidly, a number of seminars and discussions have been, and will be, held on the topic.

The Centre for Policy Studies held a seminar on recent critical events in Israel, entitled Hamas and Middle East Peace: A not-so Fresh Appraisal. Speakers Na'eem Jeenah, an expert on Islamic politics, and Dr. Virginia Tilley, scholar of the Middle East peace process, addressed the audience...(both of them call for a one-state solution in Israel and both of them call Israel an apartheid state.)

The Wits Branch of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) will be hosting an address by Ambassador Ali Ahmed Halimeh, Ambassador of the State of Palestine to South Africa, entitled The Future of the Middle-East on Thursday 9 March. Should anyone wish to attend, please call (011) 339 2021 to reserve your seat.

Update
A comment from a reader has corrected me. Na'eem Jeenah did not speak at the Center for Policy Studies Seminar. I was incorrect.

Bravo South African Muslims

Regular readers of this blog are aware, I am sure, of the extensive criticism I have levelled against the South African Muslim Community for the hypocritical way in which it dealt with the Mohammed Cartoon issue. This, amongst other things, resulted in an extremely vicious condemnation of Its Almost Supernatural in the letters pages of the Jewish Report by a Mr Selwyn Hurwitz.

Despite Selwyn Hurwitz’s position, I stand by my argument that the South African Muslim community was duplicitous in crying hate speech over the cartoon, when only a few weeks earlier they had defended their right to sprout offensive anti-Semitism. Nevertheless since the Mohammed cartoon furore, there does seem to have been a change in their position.

Last week some of the official organisations of the South African Muslim community excommunicated one of its senior members for espousing extreme anti-Hindu racism.

The Sunday Times reported that Muslim religious and community leaders washed their hands of the son of fiery Islamic scholar Sheik Ahmed Deedat for promoting a DVD denigrating Hinduism.

The DVD features Deedat’s late father mocking Hindu deities and preaching to Muslims about how fortunate they were that their forefathers saw the light and extricated themselves from Hinduism. It also remarks on how susceptible Hindus are to converting to Christianity and how Muslims are losing their daughters wholesale to the Hindus.

Although these types of racist comments are not uncommon from the local Muslim community, condemnation of them certainly is. This was a brave decision by local Muslim leaders and should be commended. So much more so when you consider that Deedat Jnr, a former trustee of Durban’s Islamic Propagation Centre International (IPCI), is a high profile member of the community.

I certainly hope that South African Muslims’ new found respect for the dignity of other religions (particularly Hinduism) also extends to Jews. But only time will tell.

SA's First Anti-Semitism Case

South Africa's first anti-semitism case to be heard in the equity court has been postponed. Pretoria News reports:

South Africa's first anti-Semitism case to be heard in the equity court, has been postponed to March 2 to give the defence team more time to examine documents. Gerhard Barkhuizen is accused of painting a swastika on a wall facing his Jewish neighbour, Yaron Fishman. There was also Hebrew writing which, loosely translated, means "offensive bastard". Fishman's legal representative is provincial manager of the South African Human Rights Commission Luluno Mmbadi. She said the magistrate granted the defence until March to "view any particulars her team will be using in the case". The case was brought before the White River Equity Court in Mpumalanga recently. Fishman, who was born in Israel and is now a South African citizen, says the sign is insensitive considering his father was a prisoner in one of the Nazi concentration camps during World War 2. Mmbadi said the commission believed it had a strong case and wanted a precedent to be set on the limits of freedom of speech and expression. "We expect a favourable decision. Freedom of speech must not be used to incite violence or be hurtful, otherwise it can be viewed as a violation of a person's human rights," she said.

In light of the medi-evil reactions to the Mohammed cartoon saga this case will be followed with great interest. Hopefully we will be able to bring you the opinion and views of Yaron Fishman at some stage during this trial.

When this swastika-on-the-wall incident occurred I argued in support of limitations to freedom of speech.

I support the sanctity of an individual's right to express his opinions but freedom of expression has its limitations which are grounded in the other freedoms that a liberal democracy provides. It's a trade off of competing principles and you have to consider the impact each principle has on the others.

In the end we are left with a common economic trade off. Do you value the right to free speech (including hate speech) more than you value other democratic principles such as equality, privacy, security, and the prevention of harm?

We will keep you posted regarding the outcome to this precedent setting trial. Thankfully, at the time of this writing, Fishman has limited his response to the courts. No embassies have been burned and no people have been killed.

Food for Thought

Over the weekend the South African media took an overtly critical stance against Israel's decision to halt funding to the Hamas led Palestinian Authority.

An editorial at the Wall Street Journal makes an important point.

We agree that the results of the Palestinian parliamentary elections must be "respected," in the narrow sense that they reflect the outcome of a lawful democratic process. But just because something is respected does not make it respectable: Recall the diplomatic quarantine the European Union slapped on Austria in 2000 when elections there put the proto-fascist Freedom Party in government.

I really don't recall the South African media crying about the EU's decision to isolate Austria after the fascist and badly named Freedom Party won the elections in 2000.

Why the hypocrisy?