THE HANDSTAND

DECEMBER 2003

http://www.islamonline.net/askaboutislam/display.asp?hquestionID=5821 ASK ABOUT ISLAM

Q. What's the Deal with "Anti-Semitism"?

A. Response by Shahul Hameed
...The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines anti-Semitism as, “The strong dislike or cruel and unfair treatment of Jewish people.” Perhaps, we can take this definition as the commonly held opinion among most Westerners.

The word Semite originally refers to a people who descended from Shem, son of the Prophet Noah (peace be upon him). The present day Arabs and some Jews are their descendants. These peoples are grouped under the classing Semitic peoples, chiefly because the languages Hebrew and Arabic (in addition to Aramaic and Amharic) were found to be related, deriving from a common language group

The Arabs, be they Muslims or Christians, are Semites. Ironically, hatred directed against them is rarely called anti-Semitism. To the contrary, ignorant and sometimes scheming people use the term to describe genuine Semites, such as the Palestinians. The Western media is a prime propagator of such a ruse.

There is strong evidence to suggest that many present-day Jews, particularly Ashkenazi Jews, are ethnically not Semitic, or only fractionally Semitic. Their ethnicity is primarily Eastern European, while they have maintained merely the cultural shell of their Semitic roots. This naturally does not hold true for Iraqi, Moroccan, and Yemeni Jews, among other small pockets of truly Semitic Jews.

The Zionist propaganda machine uses anti-Semitism as a tool to instantly dismiss and cast a cloud of incredibility [suspicion] over its opponents. It is a clever ploy to counter all criticism of Israel’s unjust policies. Few educated people are aware of the Israeli government's gross infractions of the Geneva Convention, as it carries on its increasingly brutal ethnic cleansing of the native Palestinians in favor of the "racially superior" Jewish settlers. Israeli is an apartheid state by definition.

If a Muslim is accused of anti-Semitism for his or her criticism of Zionism, he or she should remind their accusers that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was as purely Semitic as is humanly possible, and there is none that we as Muslims revere and love more than him. An Arab Muslim should simply say, "Hey, I'm Semitic."

Uri Avnery, a former member of the Knesset, and leader of Gush Shalom, the Israeli peace movement, has written that the decision legitimizing the assassination of Yasser Arafat is by itself a far-reaching political act. “It is intended to get the Israeli and international public used to the idea. What used to sound like a crazy plot by extreme fanatics now has the air of a legitimate political process, with only the time and mode of implementation still open.”

Can Avnery, a Jew and a citizen of Israel, be anti-Semitic? The answer according to the Zionists definition is yes. Zionists use the term anti-Semitic to smear all those who criticize the unjust policies of the Zionists state, be they Jew or Gentile.

It is clear that Muslims have no business to oppose Judaism or the Jewish people as such; their criticisms must be directed only against the racist Zionist paradigm. In fact, Muslims must give special respect to the Jews as they are considered People of the Book, along with the Christians, according to the injunctions of the Qur'an. Muslims equally revere the prophets whom the Jews consider as theirs. All these prophets were the prophets of God and the religion they taught was the same religion, namely Submission to God (literally: Islam).

Furthermore, many Jews are in fact opposed to Zionism and the existence of the Zionist state (please see the link below).

I quote from Harun Yahya:

At a time when anti-religious, atheist and materialist ideologies surround the world, similarities among theistic religions should be emphasized, and cooperation should be established for common aims.

Concerning the People of the Book, God gives Muslims a command in the Qur'an to rally to a common formula. He says in Surah 3, verse 64:

*{Say: O People of the Book! come to an equitable proposition between us and you that we shall not serve any but Allah and (that) we shall not associate aught with Him, and (that) some of us shall not take others for lords besides Allah; but if they turn back, then say: Bear witness that we are Muslims.}*

This is indeed our call to Christians and Jews. As people who believe in God and follow His revelations, let us rally to a common formula - faith. History proves that when we all return to the true altruistic teaching of our religions, harmony and a successful civilization will follow...

Gene Research Shows Jews
And Palestinians Almost Identical
By Robin McKie Science
Editor The Observer - London (11-25-01)
4-15-2

A keynote research paper showing that Middle Eastern Jews and Palestinians are genetically almost identical has been pulled from a leading journal.   Academics who have already received copies of Human Immunology have been urged to rip out the offending pages and throw them away.   Such a drastic act of self-censorship is unprecedented in research publishing and has created widespread disquiet, generating fears that it may involve the suppression of scientific work that questions Biblical dogma.   'I have authored several hundred scientific papers, some for Nature and Science, and this has never happened to me before,' said the article's lead author, Spanish geneticist Professor Antonio Arnaiz-Villena, of Complutense University in Madrid. 'I am stunned.'   British geneticist Sir Walter Bodmer added: 'If the journal didn't like the paper, they shouldn't have published it in the first place. Why wait until it has appeared before acting like this?'   The journal's editor, Nicole Sucio-Foca, of Columbia University, New York, claims the article provoked such a welter of complaints over its extreme political writing that she was forced to repudiate it. The article has been removed from Human Immunology's website, while letters have been written to libraries and universities throughout the world asking them to ignore or 'preferably to physically remove the relevant pages'. Arnaiz-Villena has been sacked from the journal's editorial board.   Dolly Tyan, president of the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics, which runs the journal, told subscribers that the society is 'offended and embarrassed'.   The paper, 'The Origin of Palestinians and their Genetic Relatedness with other Mediterranean Populations', involved studying genetic variations in immune system genes among people in the Middle East.   In common with earlier studies, the team found no data to support the idea that Jewish people were genetically distinct from other people in the region. In doing so, the team's research challenges claims that Jews are a special, chosen people and that Judaism can only be inherited.   Jews and Palestinians in the Middle East share a very similar gene pool and must be considered closely related and not genetically separate, the authors state. Rivalry between the two races is therefore based 'in cultural and religious, but not in genetic differences', they conclude.   But the journal, having accepted the paper earlier this year, now claims the article was politically biased and was written using 'inappropriate' remarks about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Its editor told the journal Nature last week that she was threatened by mass resignations from members if she did not retract the article.   Arnaiz-Villena says he has not seen a single one of the accusations made against him, despite being promised the opportunity to look at the letters sent to the journal.   He accepts he used terms in the article that laid him open to criticism. There is one reference to Jewish 'colonists' living in the Gaza strip, and another that refers to Palestinian people living in 'concentration' camps.   'Perhaps I should have used the words settlers instead of colonists, but really, what is the difference?' he said.   'And clearly, I should have said refugee, not concentration, camps, but given that I was referring to settlements outside of Israel - in Syria and Lebanon - that scarcely makes me anti-Jewish. References to the history of the region, the ones that are supposed to be politically offensive, were taken from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and other text books.'   In the wake of the journal's actions, and claims of mass protests about the article, several scientists have now written to the society to support Arnaiz-Villena and to protest about their heavy-handedness.   One of them said: 'If Arnaiz-Villena had found evidence that Jewish people were genetically very special, instead of ordinary, you can be sure no one would have objected to the phrases he used in his article. This is a very sad business.'   Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001 http://www.guardian.co.uk/genes/article/0,2763,605806,00.html http://www.rense.com

W.Bowles... "A joke my mother used to tell: A Jew is just an Arab on horseback."