by Michael A. Hoffman II
Copyright ©2006 All Rights Reserved
www.revisionisthistory.org
Here below is another tale of allleged Muslim perfidy retailed by the US media. What abominable hypocrisy on the part of the New York Times to take Muslims to task for what Judaics do with impunity! When "Holocaust" revisionists are jailed in Germany (publisher Enst Zündel and scientist Germar Rudolf) and in Austria (historian David Irving), for blaspheming the Judaics' sacred gas chamber icon, there is no talk of "pitting freedom of the press against religious sensitivity."
Rather, the imprisonment of Zündel, Rudolf and Irving is framed by the US media in righteous terms of appropriate punishment of anti-Judaic hate and bias. No mention of the role of Judaic religious fanaticism in interdicting the freedom of press of revisionists is raised.
Muslims are portrayed as religious zealots who are intolerant of western freedoms and liberties when they seek to protect the sacred aura of Muhammad. Yet many Judaics are at least as intolerant when their sacred images are violated, but the NY Times will not acknolwedge this, because to do so would create an even playing field on which the issue of religious fanaticism in general, be it Judaic or Islamic, can be discussed, debated and placed in the context of fundamentalism worldwide, whether Israeli or Arab, rather than fabricating a category of Islamic particularism in this regard.
The New York Times does not want it known that many Zionists and Judaics are intolerant of western freedoms and liberties and seek to protect the sacred aura of Auschwitz gas chambers from revisionist satire or investigative scrutiny by jailing those who engage in those activities.
For the Zionist New York Times, blasphemers of Auschwitz are rightfully imprisoned, whereas to boycott, protest or otherwise disturb blasphemers of Muhammad is a troubling indication of the degree to which Muslims are neanderthal and in need of reeducation in western "virtues" (i.e. Talmudic double-standards).
Islam is made to look like an exception to a general western milieu of religious moderation prevailing in liberal capitalism and Judaism. But the fate of Zündel, Rudolf and Irving puts paid to that lie. They are in jail for being insensitive to Judaic religious sensibilities which have rendered the Auschwitz gas chambers a sacred relic on par with the sacred image of Muhammad.
Since major Judaic organizations and spokesmen support the imprisonment of "Holocaust" revisionists, why is it wrong for Muslims to supoport a boycott of Denmark for defiling the Prophet?
Portrayal of the Prophet Prompts a Boycott of Danish Goods
NY Times January 30, 2006
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 30 A long-running controversy over a Danish newspaper's caricatures of the Muslim prophet Muhammad boiled over today with a boycott of Danish products across the Middle East and an assault on Danish interests. Muslim activists have incited a consumer uproar in one of the fastest-growing markets for packaged goods, pitting freedom of the press against religious sensitivity in a conflict played out in the arenas of diplomacy and global trade.
In recent days, Saudi Arabia and Libya have recalled their ambassadors to Denmark, protests have been held in places like Dubai, where they are virtually unheard of, and Arab and multinational companies have placed ads in local newspapers denying any connection to Denmark or Danish companies.
Today, Denmark called for its citizens in the Middle East to exercise extra vigilance. A Danish manufacturer, Arla Foods, which normally sells $1.5 million of dairy products a day in the region, announced that sales there had come to a complete halt. Two of its employees in Saudi Arabia were beaten by angry customers, The Associated Press reported.
"This is a public uprising," said Louis Honoré, a spokesman for Arla, Europe's second largest dairy company. "This has spread through the region like wildfire. And the boycott has been practically 100 percent."
Other Danish companies reported dramatic sales dropoffs as well. Trade between Denmark and the Persian Gulf amounts to about $1 billion a year, Denmark's consul general in Dubai, Thomas Bay, said.
"Consumers have a lot of power today," he said. "I'm a little shocked we were not able to settle this issue before."
The controversy centers on the September 2005 publication of 12 caricatures in the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, depicting the Prophet Muhammad, including one depicting him wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb with its fuse lit. Islam forbids depictions of the prophet for fear that they may lead to idolatry.
The cartoons, says Flemming Rose, the newspaper's culture editor, who commissioned the works, were not intended to offend, but were in keeping with a tradition of satirical cartoons.
"These were not directed against Muslims, but against people in cultural life in Europe who are submitting themselves to self-censorship when dealing with Islam," he said in a telephone interview today. "I wanted these cartoonists to appear under their own names. That was the point of the whole journalistic exercise." The cartoons were republished last week by a newspaper in Norway, further increasing tensions.
The uproar began when Muslim groups in Denmark, and then in the Middle East, demanded an apology from the Danish government. The newspaper has refused to apologize, calling the reaction unfortunate, but continuing to insist that the cartoons served a legitimate journalistic purpose.
"You give an apology when you think you did something wrong," Mr. Rose said. "What we did was perfectly in the norms of cartoons. We are perfectly within the boundaries of Danish law."
Danish authorities, citing freedom of the press issues, have refused to get involved, expressing regret but insisting there is little they can do. They assert that Muslim activists from Denmark staged a campaign that circulated insulting photographs that had not even been published by the newspaper.
A request by several ambassadors from Muslim states to meet with the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was turned down, one Arab diplomat said, raising temperatures further.
"We have freedom of the press and the government can't get involved in these kinds of matters," Mr. Bay said. "If you feel this is a racist step, you can file a suit. But people are now asking the Danish government to interfere and ask for an apology."
Muslims say the government essentially snubbed them in hope that the issue would go away.
"The pictures were published in September and people were simmering, but no one was paying attention to it," said Ihsan Bu-Hulaiga, a Saudi economist and member of the Saudi Shura consultative council. "The prophet? What brought them to this issue? This is the one thing that no Muslim can accept. And where before, boycotts built on political policies were not unanimous, here there is absolutely no difference on what's right."
In just a matter of days, Mr. Bu-Hulaiga said, the issue has taken on a life of its own.
Telephone text message have sped throughout the region calling on people to boycott Denmark and organizing demonstrations, inspiring many to act. Over the weekend, a general boycott began in Saudi Arabia as dairy products of Arla and other Danish goods were pulled off store shelves. Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and other gulf states soon followed suit, and supermarkets took to pulling all Danish products from their shelves. Major supply contracts on oil and other industrial goods were also put into question, some analysts said.
On Sunday, Mohammed Al Dhaheri, the Emirates' minister of justice and Islamic affairs, said publication of the "blasphemous" cartoons was "disgusting and irresponsible," the official news agency, WAM, reported. "This is cultural terrorism, not freedom of _expression_," he said. "The repercussions of such irresponsible acts will have adverse impact on international relations."
In a protest in Gaza today, about a dozen gunmen affiliated with the Fatah party protested at the front gate of the European Union office. One read a statement denouncing the cartoons and demanding an apology from the Danish government. The group fired automatic rifles into the air before they left.
The Egyptian Parliament's economic committee tabled discussion of a $72.5 million loan from Denmark, with newspapers quoting lawmakers as saying they do not want to cooperate with a country that has insulted the prophet.
Tonight, as Mohammad Danani walked past an empty section where Danish cheeses would normally be on display, he expressed a certain degree of satisfaction.
"I will cut them off 100 percent because there is no respect," he said. "It's no longer an issue of apologizing. Now, they have to learn their lesson. And the lesson is: Don't do this again." (End quote)
