Now syndicated columnist Helen Thomas blames the world’s problems with radical Islam on Israel. If Israel would tear down the security fence, resume cash transfers to the PA and find a way to get along with the Palestinians, the world situation might improve. Thomas explains why:
The unresolved Arab-Israeli clash has been a festering sore for decades. It is the root cause of the hostility of much of the Middle East toward the United States.
However, not everyone agrees with this assessment. The NY Times profiled Wafa Sultan, a Los Angeles-based Arab-American psychologist who made waves around the world by bluntly telling Al-Jazeera that global jihad is really a clash that has nothing to do with Israel. The Times writes:
In the interview, which has been viewed on the Internet more than a million times and has reached the e-mail of hundreds of thousands around the world, Dr. Sultan bitterly criticized the Muslim clerics, holy warriors and political leaders who she believes have distorted the teachings of Muhammad and the Koran for 14 centuries.
She said the world’s Muslims, whom she compares unfavorably with the Jews, have descended into a vortex of self-pity and violence.
Dr. Sultan said the world was not witnessing a clash of religions or cultures, but a battle between modernity and barbarism, a battle that the forces of violent, reactionary Islam are destined to lose.
In response, clerics throughout the Muslim world have condemned her, and her telephone answering machine has filled with dark threats.
Thomas can see the interview here.
