The Times of Israel: I ride the metro to work at the ungodly hour of 5:45 each morning. I sit there, and when I am not busy staring at the people around me, I read the posters displayed throughout the cabin and at the various stations. There is a kind of inner peace that I find during these rides, moments to reflect before the busy day, and to think tranquil thoughts.
However, this morning, staring at me in four DC-area metros were the most disgusting adds I have ever seen posted about Israel. They undermine the purpose of the state and what it stands for on a very fundamental level, and they make me embarrassed and infuriated. In large letters, these ads read “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel Defeat Jihad.”
Scientific knowledge from different centers of learning in the Islamic world spread to Western Europe. (History of Medicine, Arab roots of European Medicine, David W. Tschanz, MSPH, PhD)
I support Israel. I believe that Israel is a light unto the nations, and that it is a country with moral integrity. I have argued, protested, and spent countless hours in defense of Israel on college campuses, at debates, and while marching in Washington DC.
I also believe that these posters — “paid for by the American Freedom Defense Initiative” — are extremely effective anti-Israel posters.
To call another people “savage,” and to post these phrases publicly, gives light to a racist trend in some misguided pro-Israel camps. Calling Muslims savages does not make Israel look good; claiming that the only way to fight Islam is through support of “the civilized man” only gives credence to those who claim that Zionism is a modern form of colonialism. It isn’t. Anyone who cares about Israel should demand that these adds be taken down.
Is this really the best we can do?
Categories: Arab World, Asia, Intolerance, Israel