Dear
Friend of FLAME:
I want to tell you about an incident that happened at the University of California Irvine
campus several weeks ago that is both deeply disturbing and profoundly instructive.
Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was introduced to speak to an assembly of students and faculty
at UC Irvine, but within minutes of his beginning to speak, he was loudly and continuously
interrupted by series of Arab students, one after the other, each of whom was summarily
led from the room by campus security. It was obvious that a large group of these students---reportedly
members of the Muslim Students Association---had methodically planned to disrupt Mr. Oren's
speech in this way.
Words cannot describe this unsettling scene, so I invite you to view the video before
continuing to read my letter and the short article that follows. Just click on this
link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w96UR79TBw.
I don't know about you, but when I first watched this video, I was livid---literally
shaking with anger. I feared that if I had been in the auditorium that evening,
I might have done violence. While watching, I kept muttering to myself that this
kind of outrageous behavior---to deny someone's right to free speech---is simply un-American.
This week's FLAME Hotline offers a message to us as passionate supporters of Israel and to
moderate Muslims---both of whom too often choose to keep our thoughts to ourselves:
We often resist the temptation to speak too loudly about what we believe is right . . . and
what is terribly wrong.
The article below, by Paul Marek, a Canadian citizen whose grandparents fled Czechoslovakia
just prior to the Nazi takeover, warns moderate Muslims (the majority of Muslims, we may
hope) of the dangers of Islamic fanatics and those who suffer and observe their crimes in
silence.
We supporters of Israel and of free speech might take the same message to heart. Are
we, each of us, doing everything we can to support Israel and the United States in our fight
against Islamist fanatics---through our voices, our efforts, and our financial resources? I
urge you to read this short piece and send it on to others.
Anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes this email without sending
it on is contributing to the passiveness that allows these problems to expand. So,
please extend yourself a bit and send this message on and on and on! Let us hope that
thousands worldwide read it and think about it, and send it on further---before it's too
late. Please review this classic article, then use the forward button at the bottom of the
email to pass it on to friends and colleagues.
Am Yisrael chai! Long live the people Israel!
Best regards,
Jim Sinkinson
Director, FLAME
| P.S. |
Have you seen the recent FLAME hasbarah message
titled "Racism in the
Islamic World: How can peace prevail in the Middle East in the face of Islamic bigotry and
hate? When will moderate Muslims speak out?"? This piece tells the truth about Islamic
anti-Semitic fanaticism and the reluctance of "peace-loving" Muslims to fight back against
it. This article is about to be printed in publications, including American college
newspapers, reaching more than 5 million people. (NOTE: FLAME is the only pro-Israel group
regularly publishing pro-Israel messages in college publications.) I hope you'll review
this message and pass it on to friends. If you agree that FLAME's outspoken brand of public
relations on Israel's behalf is critical, I urge you to support us. I hope you'll consider
giving a donation now, as you're able---with $500, $250, $100, or even $18. (Remember, your
donation to FLAME is tax deductible.) To donate online, just go to http://www.factsandlogic.org/make_a_donation.html.
Now more than ever we need your support to ensure that Israel gets the support it needs---from
the U.S. Congress, from President Obama, and from the American people.
|
 |
| P.P.S. |
The brief article below is circulating on the Internet, erroneously
attributed to Dr. Emanuel Tanay, a Canadian psychiatrist. Dr. Tanay has denied being
the author and has identified Mr. Marek as the author. We tracked the original publication
of the piece in 2007---still amazingly relevant today---and so publish it under Mr. Marek's
by-line. |
Why the Peaceful Majority is Irrelevant
by Paul E. Marek, March 18, 2007, Arutz Sheva — IsraelNationalNews.com
History lessons are often incredibly simple. I used to know
a man whose family were German aristocracy prior to World War II. They owned a number of
large industries and estates. I asked him how many German people were true Nazis, and the
answer he gave has stuck with me and guided my attitude toward fanaticism ever since.
"Very few people were true Nazis," he said, "but many enjoyed the return of German pride,
and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a
bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew
it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family
lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories."
We are told again and again by experts and talking heads that Islam is the religion of peace,
and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unquantified
assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make
us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging across the
globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It
is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide.
It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa
and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics
who bomb, behead, murder, or execute honor killings. It is the fanatics who take over mosque
after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims
and homosexuals. The hard, quantifiable fact is that the "peaceful majority" is the "silent
majority," and it is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian
Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority
were irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed
to kill a staggering 70 million people. The average Japanese individual prior to World War
II was not a war-mongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across Southeast
Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians—most
killed by sword, shovel and bayonet. And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery?
Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were "peace loving"?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt; yet, for all our
powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points. Peace-loving
Muslims have been made irrelevant by the fanatics. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant
by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because,
like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them,
and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Bosnians, Afghanis, Iraqis,
Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians and many others, have died because the peaceful
majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us, watching it all unfold, we must
pay attention to the only group that counts: the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
