Purim and Today's Iran; Wafa Sultan Interview

Tonight and tomorrow is the Jewish holiday of Purim.

For anyone who doesn't know, Purim commemorates a time when the Jewish people of ancient Persia (the historic name for Iran) were saved from destruction. A wicked king's adviser named Haman had plotted their extermination, but ultimately the Jews were saved and Haman lost his life instead.

Hear that, Mr. Ahmadinejad? The track record of evil Persian leaders who want to kill Jews is not in your favor.


Also: It's been forwarded all over the internet, but if you haven't seen it, here is a link to a transcript of the Al-Jazeera interview with Arab-American psychologist Dr. Wafa Sultan, who defines the Western-Islamic conflict as not a clash of civilizations, but a clash between the mentality of the 21st Century and that of the Middle Ages. Among other strong statements, Dr. Sultan slams the Muslim world for its barbaric practices, and praises Judaism and Buddhism over Islam:

The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people. The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy. Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them.

Dr. Sultan is absolutely right. In contrast to practitioners of all other religions, only Muslims have acted violently in large numbers in response to perceived slights. If Islam wants respect, it must respect others first. For Muslims who consider themselves moderate, now is the time to follow Dr. Sultan's lead and speak out as well.

As Edmund Burke famously said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Let's all ensure that the former part of this statement never comes true.