[Los Angeles Times] Raymond Ibrahim - After Israel's victory in the 1967 war, the Jews did not deface or convert the Al Aqsa mosque into a Jewish synagogue or temple, even though the mosque is deliberately built atop the remains of the Temple Mount, the holiest site of Judaism and, by extension, an important site for Christians. Moreover, since reclaiming the Temple Mount, Israel has granted Muslims control over the Al Aqsa mosque (except during times of crises). When Islamists wage jihad - conquering and consolidating non-Muslim territories in the name of Islam, never once considering to cede them back to their previous owners - they ultimately demonstrate that they live by the age-old adage "might makes right." But if we live in a world where the strong rule and the weak submit, why is it that whenever Muslim regions are conquered, such as in the case of Palestine, the same Islamists who would never concede one inch of Islam's conquests resort to the UN and the court of public opinion, demanding justice, restitutions, rights, and so forth? Put another way, when Muslims beat infidels, it's just too bad for the latter; they must submit to their new overlords' rules with all the attendant discrimination and humiliation mandated for non-Muslims. Yet when Islam is beaten, demands for apologies and concessions are expected from the infidel world at large. The writer, a research librarian at the Library of Congress, is author of the forthcoming The Al Qaeda Reader.
2006-12-06 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive