The editorial page in yesterday's Ha'aretz is a snapshot of how the Jewish left deals with its problems.  In the upper right corner is an editorial that emphasizes the paper's commitment to what is politically correct internationally. It criticizes the insensitivity of papers that publish cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed as a terrorist. The editorial is, of course, well written and balanced. It ends by condemning the severely anti-Semitic cartoons that appear routinely in the press of Arab and Muslim countries. The final sentence is a paean to multiculturalism: "But neither European countries' fears of their Muslim minorities, the fear of terrorism by Al-Qaida zealots nor the anti-Jewish publications of the Arab states suffice to justify hurtful assaults on religion." http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/679107.html

 

The upper left corner features the daily cartoon. It shows the editor of an Arab paper praising Ahmed for producing an excellent cartoon. It shows a large-nose Jew with a swastika on his hat and an Israeli flag, carrying a satchel dripping dollar bills.

My own view of torched embassies in Damascus and Beirut, plus the rage of Muslims in Europe, is something close to "so what," and "you should have known." To use a term employed by the Romans about undesirable outsiders, the barbarians are inside the walls. Western Europe and the United States must deal with the barbarians among the Muslims, just as they have done against criminals and radical movements that threaten the public order.

 

Not all Muslims are barbarians. The source documents of Islam include sentiments as humane to outsiders as do the source documents of Judaism and Christianity. Moreover, the sources of Judaism and Christianity include sentiments as hostile to outsiders as those of Islam. The difference is that almost all Jewish religious leaders have relegated the hateful stuff to the archives since the squelching of Jewish uprisings by the Romans; and Christian leaders have done the same for their hateful stuff, primarily since the Holocaust. Many Islamic leaders, in contrast, are currently trumpeting claims about monopoly of truth, the punishment due non-believers, and the special perfidy of the Jews.

 

There is no simple solution for the problem. Too many Muslims are already inside. I doubt that any regime can be systematic in identifying the undesirable, and sending them back to wherever. A temporary cooling of diplomatic relations between the governments of targeted embassies and the Muslim governments that did not protect them (and may have organized the riots) may be all we can expect. From western intellectuals, including those of Israel, we might hope for a more focused condemnation of the riots, while dismissing the cartoons as hardly more significant than their anti-Semitic equivalents. But I am not holding my breath in anticipation.