O Intermitente<br> (So long, farewell, auf weidersehen, good-bye)

O Intermitente
(So long, farewell, auf weidersehen, good-bye)

terça-feira, novembro 18, 2003

Os Atentados na Turquia pt II

Artigo no Daily Telegraph.

Anti-Semitism used to be known as the socialism of fools. Today it might more appropriately be known as the liberalism of fools. Last weekend's suicide bombing of two synagogues in Istanbul killed 23 people and wounded some 300, but it might have been far worse. According to the authorities, the death toll might have been up to 800 if security had not been tightened. Yet this massacre prompted a curious article in yesterday's Guardian by Fiachra Gibbons, who is an expert on minorities in the Ottoman empire. Rather than concentrate on the Islamist extremists responsible, Gibbons depicted a Jewish minority that had lived in harmony with its Muslim neighbours until the creation of Israel. "Of all the trials that have befallen them over the last 500 years, none has brought more threat than the existence of Israel." The mere existence of the Jewish state, apparently, "may unwittingly provoke attack".

What has happened to the liberal media in Europe that the slaughter of innocent worshippers and the desecration of ancient synagogues in Istanbul should evoke implicit criticism, not of the perpetrators, but of Turkey's ally Israel? Since the last attack on an Istanbul synagogue in 1986 by Palestinian terrorists led by Saddam's late protégé Abu Nidal, a great deal has changed. Then, the condemnation of the killers was universal and unconditional. Now, each new atrocity against Jews is greeted by new attempts at justification or relativisation. When Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir expounded his anti-Semitic conspiracy theory at a recent gathering of Islamic leaders, all 57 present applauded. Western responses were muted. As the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, said yesterday: "Radicals are preaching hate and nobody is protesting."

Nor is the new anti-Semitism limited to the Muslim world. On Saturday, a Jewish school near Paris was burnt down. So common have such attacks become in France that Le Monde did not even consider this incident worth reporting yesterday, but President Chirac appears to have woken up to the danger - late in the day. A poll sponsored by the European Commission finds that Israel is now considered by EU citizens to be the greatest threat to world peace. A liberal consensus is emerging that holds Israel responsible for the resurgence of anti-Semitism. To blame the victim is to exonerate the perpetrator. The carnage in Turkey should be a warning to Europe.

posted by Miguel Noronha 5:55 da tarde

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"A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual and cannot really know freedom."
F.A.Hayek

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