Hate Crime
You have featured the rise of Islamophobia around the world. You highlighted how Islam is perceived by the West and the attitude Muslims face at the hands of the Western mindset. Talking about France’s attitude, author Hall Gardner says the French have a negative stance towards all religions and not Islam alone. Perhaps that is the reason why President Macron always defends the right to blasphemy. But Professor Steven Ekovich is of the view that anti-Muslim sentiments came to the forefront after the 9/11 attacks.
The recent incident in Canada where a 20-year-old white truck driver intentionally struck a Muslim Canadian family because they were Muslims, reveals to what extent Islamophobia is on the rise. The incident was called ‘Hate Crime’ by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Sumaira Mohsin,
Toronto, Canada
Get Vaccinated Now!
Vaccination is a safe and effective way to prevent disease and save lives – and it now more relevant than ever. The arrival of safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines is a major development in the coronavirus pandemic. When we get vaccinated, we aren’t just protecting ourselves, but all those around us.
Today, vaccination is safe and side effects are usually minor and temporary.
Remember, you are far more likely to be seriously injured by a vaccine-preventable disease than by a vaccine. The benefits of vaccination greatly outweigh the risks, and many more illnesses and deaths would occur without vaccines.
So, get yourself vaccinated now!
Tabish Masood,
Karachi, Pakistan
Proud Moment
It is indeed a matter of pride, joy and satisfaction for millions of Pakistanis that Sadiq Khan, the son of a working-class immigrant Pakistani family, has on his merit and hard work, managed to get elected as Lord Mayor of London for a second time. This should prove to those who have doubts, that given a level playing field, with no space for nepotism, there is no dearth of merit in Pakistan.
I fail to understand the delay, or the hesitation by the Federal Government of Pakistan and our High Commissioner in the UK in facilitating Lord Mayor Sadiq Khan, who was elected in free and fair elections. People with small minds, captive to their egos and blinded by bias, should never sit in positions of authority unless they are willing to shed these complexes.
Anum Dawood,
Islamabad, Pakistan
‘Nazis Again!’ - A Clarification
This is with reference to the article ‘Nazis Again!’ by Syed Zain Abbas Rizvi, carried in your June 2021 issue.
Under international law, the San Remo accords, 1920, the League of Nations, 1922, the Anglo-American Agreement, 1924, and ratified by Article 80 of the United Nations Charter in 1945, Israel includes Judea, Samaria and Gaza, so there is no “occupied Palestine.”
There was never a Palestine, other than the British Mandate, 1920-48, which was held as a Jewish homeland. The Arab residents of the Mandate, half of whom were new immigrants, would have considered it an insult to be called Palestinians. Only Jews were Palestinians.
The concept of an Arab Palestine was a political invention of the KGB in 1964, when they created the Palestine Liberation Organization. The leader of the PLO, Yasser Arafat, an Egyptian, became the first (Arab) Palestinian. In 1947, the UN recommended (they had no legal authority) dividing Palestine into Arab and Jewish sections. The Jews agreed. The Arabs refused and, with the Arab League, launched a war of genocide against the Jews.
When fighting stopped and an armistice was declared, Egypt occupied Gaza and Transjordan occupied the newly-named West Bank. In the Arab-occupied areas, every Jew was killed or forced out. In Israel, every Arab became a citizen.
Today, Israeli Arabs are equally represented in academia, slightly over-represented in medical fields, have the third largest block in the Knesset, a judge on the Supreme Court and an Arab heads Israel’s largest Bank, Bank Leumi. Is that Apartheid?
Under the Oslo Accords, 1993, the PA controls part of the West Bank, Israel controls part of it and other parts are under joint security. Israel gave Gaza, Jew-free, to the PA in 2005. Those Arabs under PA control are not Israel’s responsibility or problem. Refugees languishing in camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria are there because the UN wants them there. That’s Apartheid.
As for the article ‘Nazis Again!’, claiming ‘frequent infiltration and desecration of the Al Aq-Aqsa Mosque’, here is the chronology of events leading to the recent Hamas-Israel fighting.
The Palestinian Authority cancelled elections, which Hamas believed they would win. Hamas had to assert themselves in the ‘Arab street,’ so they planned an attack on Israel. What is excuse for the attack?
Four Arab families live in Jewish-owned homes, but refuse to pay rent. The landlords took them to court (still pending) to evict them unless they agreed to pay.
It was Ramadan, always a time to riot, claiming the Jews were destroying Al-Aqsa. Arab thugs piled cement chunks and boulders in the mosque, and, on queue, threw them over the wall where Jews were praying below. The police intervened, of course.
Hamas fired a series of rockets into civilian areas of Israel and Israel retaliated.
Hamas fired 4,300 rockets indiscriminately into Israel. Israel warned the Gazans to get out of the way and go south because they were going to attack Hamas’s infrastructure. (No other army ever warned its enemy to vacate a war zone.)
Many Hamas rockets landed in Gaza. Hamas committed double war crimes; targeting civilians, and using their own civilians as human shields.
We must firmly support Israel and condemn Hamas terrorism. We should cease all funding to the PA/Hamas regimes until they make peace with Israel.
Jacques Fortier
Montreal, Canada
Leave a Reply