Author of Book on Arab-Israeli Conflict Says Not Enough Space
Yesterday, CAMERA published on its main website an article about The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Tough Questions, Direct Answers published by the InterVarsity Press as part of its “The Skeptic’s Guide (TM) Series.”
Today, the book’s author Dale Hanson Bourke graciously replied to this article with a tweet:
The main thrust of her response is that as a primer, her text was too short to include everything. This is excuse is simply too convenient. Properly educating neophytes about the problem of Muslim antisemitism — a main driver of the conflict — does not require a long entry. Following Bourke’s format, it could be done as follows:
Does antisemitism (or Jew-hatred) contribute to Arab and Muslim hostility toward Israel?
Yes. Sadly, Jew hatred is not confined to Christian Europe, but has been a growing problem in Muslim-majority countries throughout the world. Political, religious and intellectual leaders have been fomenting anti-Jewish hostility by combining traditional anti-Jewish teachings present in the Koran, the Hadiths (the sayings of Muhammed, the founder of Islam), and in the Sunna (the life of the Muhammed) with anti-Jewish polemics from the West. Books like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (an antisemitic forgery) and Hitler’s Mein Kampf are best sellers in Muslim-majority countries. Muslim sources portray Jews as enemies of God, Islam and of humanity itself. Such portrayals have been used to promote violence against Jews in the Middle East, just as Christian teachings about Jews promoted violence against Jews in Europe.
This is a bare bones effort to inform would be peacemakers about Muslim antisemitism, one of the most crucial issues they face in the Holy Land. It is less than 140 words. Bourke simply has no excuse for failing to inform her readers about this problem.
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