Shiraz Maher is a courageous British Muslim of moral integrity who supports Israel’s right to defend itself against annihilation.In Standpoint magazine’s blog, he writes an extremely sharp article -- marking the fall of the Berlin wall -- which lists the many ‘security walls’ in the Muslim world but which are totally ignored in the frenzy over Israel’s separation fence:
Built in response to the Palestinian intifada which claimed more than 900 lives since September 2000, the fence has dramatically halted the number of terrorist attacks inside the country. Excuse the pun -- but from the wall-to-wall coverage it received you could be mistaken for thinking that Israel's decision to defend itself in this was unprecedented.
Yet, not only is this wrong but, ironically, a lot of the physical barriers currently in place are located in the ‘Muslim world’.
These include Saudi v Yemen:
Yet, parts of the Saudi barrier stand inside the demilitarised zone, violating the 2000 agreement and infuriating Yemen... A prominent leader of the Wayilah tribe which occupies the disputed area explains: ‘The barrier has hindered grazing and free movement by many tribesmen. The tribesmen have the right to be free, but the barrier is taking away their freedom’,
Iran v Pakistan:
The opposition leader of Balochistan's Provincial Assembly, Kachkol Ali, has bitterly opposed the wall saying his people were never consulted about it and that it cuts off families from one another
and Morocco v Sarhawi separatists:
Much of the wall is lined with barbed wire and landmines, which is something it shares in common with parts of the Pakistan-Indian border (particularly in Kashmir).
Maher comments:
I’m hoping to join the next occupation of lecture theatres at universities around the country to protest against this insufferable outrage.
I can hear it now: ‘Viva, Viva, Balochistina!’... Ultimately, my point is the same as the one I made earlier in the year when the Gaza conflict took place: where is the ‘fairness' and ‘consistency' that Islamists and their leftist cheerleaders continually complain about? And why this one-track obsession with everything Israeli?
Cue Steve Bell’s offensive cartoon in the Guardian which drew an analogy between the Berlin Wall and – you guessed it. The ever-more invaluable CiF Watch has spotted an intriguing congruence between this Guardian cartoon and another which made an identical point -- and which was published in the neo-Nazi Stormfront.
A propos, CiF Watch has also conducted an enterprising poll to see whether readers could distinguish between the enlightened comments published on Comment is free and Stormfront. Actually, the style of writing and language makes the distinction quite clear, but even so the point remains.
A game for all the family to play to while away these long winter evenings, as we all wait for Iran to get its genocide bomb.
Source: Melanie Phillips
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