"Making America Great". By giving a free pass to murderous ruler?

Questioned by reporters as to why he was not taking a firm stand against the Saudis for the grizzly and gruesome murder of Khashoggi, an American resident and journalist who wrote in Washington Post, Trump replied, “It’s America first to me. It’s all about America first”. That is what he wants us to believe. However, the real reason was apparent in the words that followed.

“We are not going to give up hundreds of millions of dollars in orders and let Russia, China and everybody else have them. Saudi Arabia, if we broke with them I think your oil prices would go through the roof………It’s a very simple equation for me. I am about making America great again. America first.”

We all want America to be great. The question is whether president Trump’s handling of the Saudi murder of Hashoggi Is making America great or is it bringing shame on the nation.

It is essential to remember relevant details. Khashoggi, an American resident, entered the Saudi consulate in Turkey to get some paperwork attended to. He never exited therefrom. On enquiries being made, the Saudis denied all knowledge. Later they said Khashoggi left the consulate and they had no knowledge as to where he went. Later a video was put out showing the back view of a man of the same height and weight as Hashoggi and wearing what appeared to be Hashoggi’s clothes emerging from the Saudi consulate and walking away. Yet later it was admitted that Hashoggi was killed in a scuffle that broke out in the consulate. Finally it was admitted that he was murdered and that the murder was premeditated. But, it was claimed, it was a rogue operation about which the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) had no knowledge. A hasty “investigation” was held and five high ranking officials were sentenced to death.

During this entire period Trump said there was no evidence that the Crown Prince was responsible. Ultimately the highest investigative body in USA, the CIA, announced its conclusion that “it had high confidence” that the murder was ordered by the Crown Prince himself. President Trump bent backwards and belittled CIA’s finding by saying “Maybe he (MBS) did, maybe he didn’t”.

Worse, he went on to smear the murdered Khashoggi by saying, without any evidence, Khashoggi was an "enemy of the state" and "a member of the Muslim Brotherhood." Implying that therefore it was of no consequence if he was murdered!”

Agreed that thus is a complex situation. Agreed that holding the Crown Prince accountable or condemning him or imposing sanctions on Saudi Arabia may result in the alleged “hundreds of millions of dollars” worth of orders being cancelled or even Saudi Arabia breaking away from us. Is that enough reason to prevent our government from doing the right thing? From upholding the long held reputation of America putting honor above price?

Also consider this. Thelorders would be for military hardware. True that this would bring in a lot of money and would provide a large number of jobs. It also would result in us exporting weapons of war -- planes, drones, tanks, missiles, bombs et al. It would facilitate raining of death and destruction, large areas being devastated, whole cities being flattened. It is often pointed out that America needs wars to keep its economy going. Must we continue down this road?

Just as Saudi Arabia is trying to wean its economy from oil to other ventures we also must try to wean our economy away from manufacturing weapons of war to other venues.

It is time to pay heed to the words of Dwight Eisenhower: “Every gun that is fired, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed"

Anti=Semitism, Zionists, Jews, Israel -- and I !

                                                 

 By: Gulamhusein A.Abba

Note:There is a lot of confusion about this subject and questions have been raised about where I stand. I hope this clarifies not only my position but also helps clarify the larger issues.

Am I anti-Semitic?

Certainly not. There are among Jews, as among people of other faiths, millions of good, kind, loving, sympathetic, generous and helpful people. If anything, I have great sympathy and compassion for the Jews who have suffered so much. And I notice the similarity between the way they recite their Torah and the Muslims their Quran, their burial rites and those of Muslims, the dietary laws in both faiths. There are so many other similarities. For Muslims, Jews are people of the Book

Am I anti-Zionists?

Yes I am anti-Zionists, whether Jews or Christians, for one reason and one reason alone. Before I proceed further, please understand that not all Jews are Zionists and not all Zionists are Jews. A sizable section of Zionists are Christian Evangelicals, perhaps more influential in the US than Jewish Zionists. I am anti-Zionists not anti-Semitic. There is a big difference.

Why am I anti-Zionist?

Because their sole reason for existence, their sole aim and goal is to reclaim the Biblical Israel of old and replace not only the British Mandatory Palestine but all of Palestine with "Eretz Yisraeel", including Judea and Samaria. This inherently involves taking, by force, Palestinian land from Palestinians who have lived there for centuries and replacing the Arab Palestinians (Muslims and Christians) with Jews brought in from foreign countries. There is no justification for this and it is clearly against International Law.

Furthermore, this goal is in the process of being achieved through unimaginable cruelty and violation of Human Rights, property rights and International law.

All peace and justice loving people, all those who believe in and respect International law cannot be other than anti-Zionists.

Am I against Jews having a homeland, a nation of their own?

Certainly not. Indeed I have for long felt that the Jews should have a homeland of their own where they can feel safe, in control of their own destiny and practice freely, openly and publicly their faith and rites and customs. After all, the Hindus have Hindustan (India, nominally secular but with a commanding Hindu majority increasingly clamoring for renaming India as Hindutwada), Buddhists have Burma (Myanmar) and Muslims have several well-known homelands. But it would have been preferable for the Jews to have stuck to their original plea of “A land without a people for a people without a land”.

Am I against the Jews having a homeland in Palestine?

I think it would be preferable for the Jews themselves to have a homeland in a region more friendly and accepting towards them and that has more in common with them than the Mideast. As for having it in Palestine, no one would have any objection provided it was done with the consent and goodwill of the Palestinians. Though the Palestinians initially objected to the Jews establishing a homeland in any part of Palestine (a perfectly legitimate objection under International law), currently the Palestinians, those in control of the West Bank (PA) as also those in control of Gaza (Hamas), have agreed to the Jews having their homeland in 88% of the land the Palestinians had (far more than the 55% envisaged in the UN Partition Plan). Instead of accepting this most generous offer Israel is refusing to end its illegal, brutal and continuing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, is demanding more land from the 22% of the land the Palestinians have agreed to accept and are putting more conditions for the Palestinians to accept before they end their illegal occupation and recognize a sovereign, independent state of Palestine in the meager 22% of the land the Palestinians had.

It is this that those wanting peace with justice and those who believe in the rule of law and International law object to and are critical of.

In conclusion.

I honestly believe just as Muslims all over the world condemn and oppose ISIS and its cruel and barbaric acts, the time has come for the Jews to condemn, oppose and publicly denounce Israel’s continuing illegal occupation of the West bank and Gaza and its cruelty and injustice towards the Palestinians.

The righteous Jews owe this to themselves.

Israel, as it exists today, is disgracing the Judaic faith and Jews in general and is a clear and serious danger to the Jews all over the world.  

Pittsburgh shooting emphasizes need to combat anti-Semitism

                                          By Gulamhusein A, Abba

I was ten years old when I saw in the Illustrated Weekly of India (a Times of India publication which my family got every week) a photograph of a store with its glass font window smashed. In the caption below the photo I came across the word Kristallnacht. I was horrified at seeing the window smashed like that and mystified at Kristallnacht. It didn’t sound English. I did not know what it meant. In the days that followed I kept asking about it and was told that the Germans were angry at the Jews and were expressing their anger by destroying Jewish property and doin g violence against the Jews. Even at that young age I was very angry at what the Germans were doing and felt great compassion for the Jews.

This compassion for the Jews grew as I learnt more about the subject and has remained with me ever since. It multiplied a hundredfold when I learnt about the Holocaust. Later in life I made friends with many Jews and found most of them to be friendly, kind and helpful. I will never forget that after my wife-to-be and I got secretly married against the wishes of both families, not sure where to go, we ended up having our first meal as husband and wife with Jewish friends at their house!

I am sure there are, among Jews, as with people of all faiths, millions of very fine human beings. There is no reason, much less any justification, for the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. I, along with millions all over the world, condemn it in the strongest words possible

Following the attack, groups are now using it to push their own agenda. Fingers are being pointed. 

Some blame Trump for inflaming an atmosphere of hate and anger. Others decry lack of needed gun control laws. Yet others tout stationing of armed guards at schools and places of worship.        

Being ignored is the fact that we have this inexplicable phenomenon of RISING anger and hatred towards Jews and, with it, acts of violence against them and against their property. Growing anti-Semitism is not only confined to America but is worldwide. The reasons for the rise being touted may apply but they cannot and do not apply to other parts of the world where tis violence is also on the rise.

The fight against anti-Semitism will be better served by trying to find the root cause why it has flared up so horribly in recent times and then trying to deal with it effectively. Responsible for it are certainly not the Jews. Then who or what is responsible? All of us must dedicate ourselves to finding this out.