Subscribe to Breaking NewsRuby-Sachs: Muslim leaders convicted in Dallas
Yesterday, five Muslim leaders in Dallas were convicted of support of terrorism because of a long standing stream of aid they collected and distributed to organizations in Palestine, including Hamas.
Although the court found no evidence of direct funding for violent individuals, it was clear that the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development had been sending money to Hamas after it was deemed a terrorist organization by the United States (in 1995).
It’s not a surprising conviction, but for the past few days a close friend of mine has been sending emails about the recent border closures in Israel. According to The Guardian, even essential food and medical supplies are not being permitted to cross the border into Palestine.
That means that the 80% of Palestinians entirely dependent on food aid have had close to nothing to eat for over two weeks.
I understand that laws against funding terrorist organizations are necessary, and the United States is entirely justified in prosecuting those who continue to send aid to violent organizations. But when the violent organization is also the government of a country it presents new problems.
Palestinian Americans will have trouble supporting their families back home if they can’t send money directly to the government (like many Jewish Americans do for Israel) and international aid organizations aren’t even allowed inside to spend the money they already have on the people who need help.
The conviction of Muslim leaders in Dallas may seem like a victory, but, it is indicative of a great quandary in American foreign policy. How do you support a people when their government is blacklisted and their borders are closed and controlled by an enemy nation?
The population of Palestine should not be punished for Hamas. As many Americans who didn’t vote for Bush know, it’s hugely unfair to blame a citizenry for a few years of bad government.
As bad as Christians are to gay people, Muslims are far worse. Just look at the two gay teens hung in Iran, with gays routinely beaten in Saudi Arabia, etc. Israel is the *only* country in the entire Middle East where gay people have any rights whatsoever, and we as a community should support them.
Was this written by an LGBT person. Does she realize how LGBT people are treated by Hamas, the Palestinian authority, and Islam in general. Wake up!
The Palestinian people are their worst enemy in my opinion. Their entire situation has been exacerbated by their extremely high birth rates which only ensure a deeping poverty from one generation to the next. Until they implement strict family planning I have limited sympathy for their lack of supplies.
Moreover, I agree with other posters that the plight of a religion-driven, homophobic, misogynistic society is low on my list of sympathies.
A gay party with TONS of GAY arabs?!? Geeeesh, which planet was this on?
I have no sympathy for a religion or religious people that behead people for being gay.
First line typo there. It should say “give any side”
I’m not going to any side a “pass” in the Middle East. And that includes the Christians who think Americans have a divine duty to bring Jesus to Iraq. These religions – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism – are equally lousy. And the more aggressive they try to push their viewpoint through violence, the more I’m convinced they’re worthless and morally bankrupted belief systems.
Muslims, Jews, and Christians all suffer from the same ridiculous “martyrdom” complex. Perhaps it has something to do with the antagonism between them and the (Greco-Roman, Egyptian etc.) polytheistic faiths they replaced. But all three of these religions love playing the victim. They get some perverse delight out of pretending to be persecuted. And even as they’re pillaging each other’s villages over some obscure textual interpretation of what a homophobic, racist, misogynistic desert “God” actually wants, they want everyone to pity them. It is twisted and absurd.
Israel is the only state of the world which grants foreigners with no particular genetic ties to the region, full citizenship rights(and effective property rights to 93% of the land it occupies) based solely on their mother’s religion, at the detriment of natives. This is unacceptable by any human standard of justice.
Ken, I’m not certain where you get your history but it is sorely warped.
Imagine (if you will) rockets being fired from Mexico into California, Arizona or Texas on a daily basis. Imagine bombers slipping across the border and into New Mexico and blowing themselves up in food courts, malls and night clubs. Imagine if the majority government of Mexico vowed at the destruction of the United States. Imagine if the Mexican government did nothing to stop those actions. No, hold on. That would be fantasy. If Mexican nationals did that on a daily basis, the Mexican government would actively work to put a stop to it.
As for radical Jewish Settlers, there are none left in the Palestinian territory or the Gaza Strip. You may remember that all Israeli settlers were forceably removed from homes that they had lived in for decades. Palestine asked to be left to their own accord. They have been left to their own accord.
Israel is an ally to not only the United States but to the World. They are a peaceful people but will not stand by as terrorism is perpetrated against them.
I’ve never understood our blind allegiance to Israel, to the point where we deliberately ignore their blatant disregard for the basic human rights of the Palestinians. We condemn Hamas, yet for every Israeli life their fringe members take, Israel kills ten civilians. And then act surprised when the family members of the victims hate Israel all the more. And let us not forget that our beloved ally, Israel, only exists because these people were bombed into submission, driven from their homeland, rounded up like cattle, and fenced in; now even their food supplies are being cut off. Violence and the disregard for human life and dignity begets more of the same- a lesson that Israel has yet to learn. And America refuses to accept that the only thing that will prompt Israel to sit down at the peace table in good faith, and find a way to get along with their neighbors, would be for us to cut off the billions in free handouts and military aid we send them every year.
Ruby-Sachs, you keep it up.
Do you realize that missiles are fired into Israel every day from Palestine? No, not every once in a while. They are fired every day. Do you realize that Hamas not only believes in prosecuting homosexuals but executing them? You know…. kill gay folk…. dead….
Until Palestine proves that it is a responsible member of the world community, then they are rightly isolated.
Why is it that you are defending these individuals?
A few thoughts…
1. I would like to address the anti-Arab comments that we are “creeps”, anti-gay, and misogynistic. Arabs do not wear Burqas. There is no Taliban in Palestine or any other Arab country. The Taliban is in Afghanistan, perhaps in Pakistan as well. Get your geography straight. Some women in Palestine are covered, some are not. And Palestinians do not want to blow you up. They want to live free, have a chance to build their society, develop and move forward. They want to be able to move within their cities with the ease that every other person in the world enjoys except them. They do not want to be humiliated daily at checkpoints simply because they are Palestinian. Palestinian fathers want to feed their families from their own hard-earned money– not UN handouts. Palestinian mothers want to know that when their children walk to school in the morning they are not in danger of being shot by radical Jewish Settlers. Palestinian children want to look out of their windows and see olive groves– not a 20foot tall apartheid wall. Palestinians have much bigger concerns than whether or not you are gay. And for the record, while it is not openly accepted there, it is tacitly accepted and nobody is hanged for being gay.
2. I very much appreciate Emma’s comments on the reality in Gaza right now. But I would like to clarify that Palestinian-Americans, in their efforts to help their brothers and sisters in Gaza, are not sending money to Hamas. Because that would land them in jail here– as she rightfully pointed out that the US considers Hamas a “terrorist” organizaion. Palestinian Americans, Arab Americans, and other Americans are sending money to international NGOs and through the UN that are known not have relations with Hamas. However, the money we give now cannot have an impact on the Palestinians who need it, as Israel is continuing to enforce its practice of inhumane, illegal collective punishment on the civilians of Gaza. Israel uses any excuse possible to punish, weaken, and hurt the Palestinians in the hopes that this will make them “overthrow” Hamas. All these tactics do is starve the people and increase their frustration and hopelessness at ever being able to live in the peace and dignity all humans deserve.
I think that it is a sad thing when the people who really need the help can’t get the help (even though sometimes it is readily available) becuase of government issues. I think the article makes a good point about supporting (or not supporting) a governement when it is the same violent organization (running the country) that we are fighting against? As for their Treatment of woman and Gays.. it all boils down to Education. Educate your Women– Women and mothers in turn educate their children better… I recently attended a gay party with tons of gay arabs which definitely proves that Irani president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is simply not educated, or in denial with regards to his country… or is it a simple case of Reaction Formation?
I think that it is a sad thing when the people who really need the help can’t get the help (even though sometimes it is readily available) becuase of government issues. I think the article makes a good point about supporting (or not supporting) a governement when it is the same violent organization running the government that we are fighting against? As for their Treatment of woman and Gays.. it all boils down to Education. Educate your Women– Women and mothers in turn educate their children better… I recently attended a gay party with tons of gay arabs which definitely proves that Irani president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is simply not educated, or in denial with regards to his country… or is it a simple case of Reaction Formation?
These creeps want to blow us up, hang us for being gay, and bury our women in burkas. STOP THEM.