The softest target of all

The Temple Mount - Jerusalem

Tolerance between religions has become so trendy, the White
House is now obligated during the holiday season to not only trim the nation's
Christmas tree and light Hanukkah candles with American Jewish leaders, but also
to break the Ramadan fast with emissaries of the country's burgeoning Muslim
community.

But if US President George W. Bush really knew how this their
holiest month was being celebrated back in the Muslim world, he would think
twice about inviting polished Islamic front-men into the presidential mansion...
Or using the bully pulpit to reprimand Christian ministers for warning that
Islam might not be such a "peaceful" religion.

Sadly, Jew hatred is a growth industry once more, and the
Arab/Islamic heartland was buying it up this Ramadan like a run on the year's
hottest Christmas toy.

First there was Egyptian state television's heavily marketed
screening of the 40-part series "Horseman without a horse," which
depicted Zionism as a Jewish plot to rule the world. Every night of Ramadan,
just after the evening meal, viewers in Egypt and 21 other Arab states settled
in for a guided tour through the history of the "Protocols of the Elders of
Zion" - a proven forgery presented as if proven fact. The hit drama
portrayed Jews as devious, murderous, subhuman creatures - an elaborate
production designed to stir anti-Semitic feelings across the Middle East.

There was no shortage of such Ramadan fare throughout the
region. Syrian state TV aired a series enlightening viewers that there is no
archaeological evidence to support the stories of the Old Testament, which were
fabricated to give the Jews a claim to the Land of Israel. The ruling party's
Al-Ba'ath daily paper also defended the Egyptian "Horseman" series as
an accurate account of the Jews "flagellation of human society, sucking its
blood, harming its sanctity, and attacking human rights, morality, and general
values so as to take ownership of all the nations of the world."

Not to be outdone, Palestinian media outlets gave special
billing to anti-Jewish themes during Ramadan. One series of TV documentaries
drilled home the singular message that any talk of a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem
is a complete "myth" concocted to steal the holy city from its
rightful Muslim owners. A televised sermon referred to Jews as "cursed...
the brothers of monkeys and pigs, with a stream of curses that will continue
until the Resurrection..." Moreover, attacking and afflicting Jews was
presented as part of the destiny Muslims and Arabs have to fulfil, as a
religious obligation from Allah.

All during the month-long observances, Arab media featured
programs and interviews blaming the Jews for plotting the 9/11 terror attacks,
hailing Palestinian suicide bombings as "noble, precious, and honourable
missions," and offering prayers for all Muslims and Arabs "to rise as
one man and fight... the tyrannical Jews."

Noted Arab affairs expert Ehud Ya'ari alarmingly noted in a
Jerusalem Report commentary that the "essence" of the well-timed
anti-Semitic crescendo was to show "there is no possibility of making peace
with the Jews -– not because of any political argument or clash over territory,
but because that nation is a priori unfit to be counted among the human race...
it is gradually building a case for justifying genocide!"

Meantime, Hizb'Allah TV station Al-Manar broadcast a call by
the Shi'ite terror militia's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah urging Palestinians
"to take suicide bombings worldwide. Don't be shy about it."

Nasrallah's appeal came just as the al-Qaida terror network
targeted hundreds of Israeli tourists in simultaneous strikes near Mombasa,
Kenya.

An al-Qaida-linked Internet site claimed the attacks were
meant to punish Jews for their "sins against the Palestinians." It
announced the formation of a special new branch in Palestine to "defeat the
Zionist Jewish invaders and return them to the place... whence they came."
The site also promised the world another "gift for the holiday" to
mark the end of Ramadan.

Analysts are concluding that al-Qaida has changed its mode of
operations since being dislodged from Afghanistan and now is going after
"softer" targets that are more vulnerable and easy to hit -
synagogues, discos and hotel resorts. The added focus on Jews is calculated to
quickly rebuild the terror group's support base by tapping into the rampant
pan-Islamic anti-Semitism, while also making continued support of Israel a
painful liability for the United States and other Western powers.

After all, hasn't history marked the Jews as the softest
target of all?

Used by permission - ICEJ NEWS SERVICE provides news and
comment on Middle East affairs www.icej.org