Hi Kert1,

The truth, as you imply, IS much more important than timing. The truth of the matter is, Colin Powell rightly called America out for it's intolerance (repulican mindless intolerance for Islam, specifically). The truth is, Rabbi Hirschfield could have added his influential voice to the chorus. The truth is, Rabbi Hirschfield didn't. The truth is, Colin Powell was not wrong at all.

Thx,
Craig

I respectfully disagree. Please read the following set of statistics:

http://www.muslimindex.org/whowho.html

Oh just shut up Rabbi, had these been jews powell was talking about instead of Muslims, you would be singing praises.

There is no way you can justify the igly utterances of politicians and others referring to Obama as a Muslim, as if something was wrong with being a Muslim in America.

You of all people should realize that nothing....nothing, not a 911, not any conflict around the world justifies collective punishment of American Muslims.

For every bogus example of Christian persecution you cite in Iraq etc, there is a positive example of Muslims respecting minorities amongst them, it was jews and Christians who thrived among Muslims for centuries while European Christians were flogging you for your beliefs.

Dont equate the ignorant hate cult of Al Qaeda as if it speaks for the entire Muslim world. Christians were not only protected in Iraq under Saddam but were one of the strongest communities. Iraqs Vice President Tariq Aziz was a Christian.

So please keep your hate to yourself and dont try to cover it up with some intellectual BS.

An American Muslim.

Here is CNN's Cambell Brown on the subject:

http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=_LXMMmfd1lw

Guilt by association is illogical and irrational. The Rabbi should know that.

Not all blue-eyed white Christians think like Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh. Nor do all the Jews think like Baruch Goldstein.

Despite a 400 year old sectarian war in Northern Ireland, most Catholics and Protestants in other places remained peaceful.

I am not sure where the Rabbi got the figure that 300 million Muslims out of 1.3B hate America. I have never seen a census taken on the subject. Has any such census been taken for other ethnic groups? My suspicion is that this figure has been concocted.

And even if that figure is correct, will the Rabbi tell us why is that so? Are the reasons political?

The Rabbi accepts that Muslims are not monolithic. In that case the reason could not be religion.

"while 1.3 billion Muslims do not hate this country and that for which it stands, as many as 300 million report that they do"

You are implying they hate this country because they are Muslim. This is an invalid and libelous assumption. For example, there are undoubtedly blacks in the world who hate the US. Would you say they hate us because they are black? No. There is always a rationale for hate, and it seldom is directly associated with the prescriptions of a church. If these haters are organized, you would need representatives of your group to discuss with them the source of their hatred, and possibly do what was possible to dissuade them from these feelings. In my opinion, killing those who hate you is not an option. Nor is apologizing for them if they happen to belong to your church.

Guilt by association is illogical and irrational. The Rabbi should know that.

Not all blue-eyed white Christians think like Oklahoma City bomber, Timothy McVeigh. Nor do all the Jews think like Baruch Goldstein.

Despite a 400 year old sectarian war in Northern Ireland, most Catholics and Protestants in other places remained peaceful.

I am not sure where the Rabbi got the figure that 300 million Muslims out of 1.3B hate America. I have never seen a census taken on the subject. Has any such census been taken for other ethnic groups? My suspicion is that this figure has been concocted.

And even if that figure is correct, will the Rabbi tell us why is that so? Are the reasons political?

The Rabbi accepts that Muslims are not monolithic. In that case the reason could not be religion.

You sound incredibly naive, and I'm sure that you're not. Let a different non-Christian (a Jew, a Hindu) run for president and you'll see that the fear lies in xenophobia, not really in a fear of terrorist.

General Powell SHOULD ask,"So what if Obama were a Muslim?" As should many. It is about time.
Being a Muslim is a thing that is a point of pride for many,as it should be.
It is disappointing to see such xenophobia so freely expressed, and seemingly, unapologetic!

When McCain assured that poor misguided woman,"No, he's not an Arab. He is a decent family man."
The implication is that being an Arab(or muslim) is mutualy exclusive to being decent, or loving your family.

Here is a very funny clip from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, by Muslim in residence Aasif Mandvi-

http://blog.indecision2008.com/2008/10/15/aasif-mandvi-arabs-and-family-men-are-not-mutually-exclusive/

who proclaims, The ignorant also deserve a voice!

This piece reeks of double speak.

On one hand, the Rabbi wishes to present himself as a man who abhors the incessant anti-Muslim innuendo in this country, and on the other hand he can't resist contributing to it.

Powell spoke about one point: American Muslims are proud and patriotic Americans like anyone else, they are part and parcel of this great democracy and don't need to apologize for being Muslim.

Why should the Rabbi expect him to haul in a million other talking points including the plight of Christians in Mosul or 9/11 or anything else unrelated to that single statement of fact.

The Rabbi's desire to force this artificial link betrays his deep seeded belief that indeed Muslims the world over are a monolith, and that's just sad.

Also, Muslims have spoken out against terrorism and violence in the most compelling way possible and that is by virtue of the fact that 99.9% of them are not terrorists and lead peaceful lives.

The best way for them to send a message on terrorism is to live and breathe the opposite. It is mind boggling that the Rabbi does not judge people by how they run their own lives, but how much effort they put in interceding into the lives of others who make opposite choices.

It seems that this is logic only applied to Muslims. I mean since when are Filipino Catholics expected to protest in the streets against the misdeeds of the IRA in Dublin, or Canadian Catholics held accountable for their "silence" vis-a-vis "Catholic" drug dealers in Columbia?

The Rabbi needs to make up his mind: either he understands and appreciates that while Muslims have their bad apples, most Muslims are peaceful, or he more courageously and directly states his argument that Muslims, peaceful or not, are accountable for any misfit who claims Islam for a faith, even if they are a world away.

He can't have his cake and eat it too. It's intellectual cowardice, it's see-through, and it's embarrassing.

How disappointing. I expect better out of this forum.

ASTORIA Author Profile Page:

I'm glad to see that I am not the only one who was shocked at how easily the bigotry advocated by the author pours forth.
300 million muslims in the world that hate America?
If that isn't hate speech- well- it is.
_______________________

What is it? Er, ninety per cent of what you post?

I'm glad to see that I am not the only one who was shocked at how easily the bigotry advocated by the author pours forth.
300 million muslims in the world that hate America?
If that isn't hate speech- well- it is.

Here is Assif Mandvi on Jon stewart- it is hilarious and is talking about th remark McCain made to that woman saying, No, he's not an Arab. Obama is a decent loving family man-
As of the two are nutually exclusive-

http://blog.indecision2008.com/2008/10/15/aasif-mandvi-arabs-and-family-men-are-not-mutually-exclusive/

DebChatterjee:

Deb, the WaPo Censor is mindless. Last night, it refused a poem by William Stafford, an important American modern. The one rejected is his most widely anthologized.

Sometimes it helps if you can guess at a word the censor might be programmed to reject and find a synonym. Sometimes there's nothing for it except to rephrase a little.

If the post exceeds the word limit, send it in parts.

It gets to be a pain.

Rabbi Hirschfield:

My post just got held up. Why am I being censored ?

Brad, you're obviously some kind of idiot. All that remains is to determine exactly which kind. Let us begin:
"The fact is that many Americans are scared because more than three thousand Americans were murdered for the "crime" of being in America."
------------------------------------------------
Hmmm... are you sure that this was the terrorists' motivation? They didn't want people to 'be in America'? Really?
------------------------------------------------
"Many are scared because even as I write this, Christians are running for their lives from Mosul and much of the rest of Nineveh province in Iraq."
------------------------------------------------
Is it just the Christians, or is everyone with the means to do so fleeing Iraq? How were things for Iraqi Christians before the U.S. invasion?
------------------------------------------------
"They are scared because while 1.3 billion Muslims do not hate this country and that for which it stands, as many as 300 million report that they do. That's a country's worth, and that is scary."
------------------------------------------------
Well, we're a nation of 300 million. How many of us mindlessly hate Muslims? Wouldn't that, under your stupid argument, justify the hatred of the U.S.? Just how does the Post go about picking bloggers for these pieces? Pathetic.

Canadian Craig,
Let's not get caught up in logic or truth. Timing of arguements is much more important. Actually, I have no clue what you are upset about but I get the fact you are disappointed.

I think we should always remember that Muslims that actually practice have a much different worldview than Western Civilizaion, which is steeped in over a thousand years of Christian teaching. Remember about "Energy Independence". Why is it such a big deal. Every candidate agrees it's so we don't have to buy oil from dangerous countries like Iran and Saudia Arabia. These are Muslim countries run exclusively by Muslims who hold to strict Muslim teachings. I think everyone would agree there isn't a country with a Muslim government that we would want to live in.

There is no need to hate any Muslims but I don't really see anyone hating. We should be informed about our differences. You can't expect a Muslim to go against their beliefs, but many beliefs are incompatible with human rights. In Europe they are trying to include Sharife into common law, but it erodes human rights.

These differences need to be acknowledged without chants of bigotry. We need to accept Muslims who choose to live within our laws and become real US citizens. But we must also work to reform those who will not or make sure they are not allowed to become citizens or live hear. Remember, one of biggest threats are radical Islamists who hate Western values. There is just no way to incorporate their values in our society.

Rabbi,

Why aren't Muslims around the world protesting the ethnic cleansing of Jews in the Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, etc.?

We've been killed, tortured, emptied out. My family fled Iran in the MIddle of the night.

How come there are no protests? How come Muslims aren't speaking out against the deliberate murder of babies, little children in Israel?

The Muslims here are afraid of the Christians, so they say nothing about the Christian Bush who never apologized and the Christians who invaded Iraq, etc.

But in their own countries, it's another story. Christians are imprisoned for the crime of being Christian, that is, the ones who are still left.

But the Muslims are afraid to say anything. So are the Christians. They're scared of each other and they're both in it for the oil.

Do you get it, Rabbi? Fear is what these people understand. Hate.

That's what they are. They the Christians and Muslims STOLE our country and now that we've got it back they want to steal it again.

Israel isn't unique in this. They the Christians stole Vietnam, literally. The Vietnamese were exiled, like us, like me who is exiled from Iran.

But they came back.

Remember this Rabbi: Fight fire with fire, not with a cup of water.

RABBI.....

what about the MURDER going on in the GAZA strip? what about the MURDER of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians????

why arent Jews around the world protesting that???

Double standard......

the holocaust was no more horrible than the middle passage, the boxer rebellion, the trail of tears, japanese internment camps, etc.

You all don't have a monopoly on genocidal actions toward your group. So stop...just stop.

Rabbi,

Just one other point. Have you looked at muslim "history" books? How do muslims portray persons of the Jewish faith?

Rabbi,

I think it's very generous of you to speak out against the nonsense with Obama. I do agree with Farnaz, though. I can't see how this occasion could have been used to ask Muslims to speak out against terrorism or anything else.

However, I also don't think there's any reason for
Jews to get involved. Farnaz is right. It's the Christians, not Jews, the Christians and Catholics who have been calling Obama a Muslim and thinking there's something wrong with that.
Let the "Priests" and the "Ministers" say something about that.

Notice that the "Priests" and the "Ministers" haven't said anything.

Notice, too, all the racists posts on this thread.
Whenever Jews say anything, they're attacked via guilt by associations, often for things that their not associated with. This is happening right now on your thread.

DO YOU EVER SEE CHRISTIANS, CATHOLICS, AND MULIMS PROTEST THIS ON A THREAD? True, you see me, but I'm a former Christian. I discovered the bull in time to save me.

IMO, LET THE "PRIESTS" AND "MINISTERS" ADDRESS THE RACISM AGAINST MUSLIMS AND OBAMA. IT'S THEIR PEOPLE WHO HAVE PRACTICED IT.

In the same way, they, and the Muslims practice it against us. Just look around this blog, Rabbi. READ this THREAD.

Bunk. All this faux outrage because Powell didn't insist that there may be a kernel of truth behind anti-Muslim American prejudice? Have we forgotten that we unleashed the horror that is now a daily reality for too many Iraqis? We did it. Lily-white, Jesus-loving, flag-waving, pin-wearing Americans. Quit blaming everyone else...

WP,

Strange that U have not posted my comment of yesterday:all I said to the Rabbi is
"Why don't U condemn and spaek up against the attrocities of israel,the racist apartheid miltaristic jewish occupying theocrcay?"

And "against the jewish terrorist gangs that ethnically cleanesed 70% of the indigenous Palestinians in 1947/8 who have been languishing in refugee camps for the past sixty yeras?"

And the collective punishment of the occupied PAlestinians in Gaza and West Bank-whic are no differnt than Aushwitz concentratin camp in WW11?"

All this is even documented by the so called jewish neohistorians.

SO why WP did not post my comments????????? So much for freedom of expression!!!!!!

WP,

Strange that U have not posted my comment of yesterday:all I said to the Rabbi is
"Why don't U condemn and spaek up against the attrocities of israel,the racist apartheid miltaristic jewish occupying theocrcay?"

And "against the jewish terrorist gangs that ethnically cleanesed 70% of the indigenous Palestinians in 1947/8 who have been languishing in refugee camps for the past sixty yeras?"

And the collective punishment of the occupied PAlestinians in Gaza and West Bank-whic are no differnt than Aushwitz concentratin camp in WW11?"

All this is even documented by the so called jewish neohistorians.

SO why WP did not post my comments????????? So much for freedom of expression!!!!!!

Posted on October 24, 2008 11:19

vvfranklin :
Like Powell said, if Obama was muslim then what? George Bush wasn't and look what he did to this country. Please!
_________________________
Good point. How about some speaking out and apologizing by the Christians?

Like Powell said, if Obama was muslim then what? George Bush wasn't and look what he did to this country. Please!

Rabbi,

I think it's very generous of you to speak out against the nonsense with Obama. I do agree with Farnaz, though. I can't see how this occasion could have been used to ask Muslims to speak out against terrorism or anything else.

However, I also don't think there's any reason for
Jews to get involved. Farnaz is right. It's the Christians, not Jews, the Christians and Catholics who have been calling Obama a Muslim and thinking there's something wrong with that.
Let the "Priests" and the "Ministers" say something about that.

Notice that the "Priests" and the "Ministers" haven't said anything.

Notice, too, all the racists posts on this thread.
Whenever Jews say anything, they're attacked via guilt by associations, often for things that their not associated with. This is happening right now on your thread.

DO YOU EVER SEE CHRISTIANS, CATHOLICS, AND MULIMS PROTEST THIS ON A THREAD? True, you see me, but I'm a former Christian. I discovered the bull in time to save me.

IMO, LET THE "PRIESTS" AND "MINISTERS" ADDRESS THE RACISM AGAINST MUSLIMS AND OBAMA. IT'S THEIR PEOPLE WHO HAVE PRACTICED IT.

In the same way, they, and the Muslims practice it against us. Just look around this blog, Rabbi. READ this THREAD.

Remember Pope Benedict criticizing Muslims two years ago? And the storm it created both in the Muslim and the non-Muslim worlds?

Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret that Muslims misinterpreted his intent and were misguided enough to be offended by his words. But he did not express regret for the comments themselves.

The pope repeated, uncritically, words that call Islam violent without acknowledging Christianity's bloody history.

The Rabbi here is reminding us of the 3,000 deaths caused by Muslim extremists causing 9/11. He rationalizes the Americans' fear of Muslims (with condemnable act of 9/11) and uses GUILT BY ASSOCIATION to make it an understandable phenomenon. Hog wash!

Does the massacre of Muslims committed by Baruch Goldstein mean that all Jews were terrorists?

One basic principle of conducting a dialogue among all peoples and religions is to look both inward and outward. Muslims have been doing it for centuries.

The medieval Muslim philosopher Averroes concluded that man was neither in full control of his destiny nor did his destiny fully control him.
This principle applies to all people regardless of religion.

The Rabbi is wrong when he says that Colin Powell was both right and wrong. No, he was only right.

Remember Pope Benedict criticizing Muslims two years ago? And the storm it created both in the Muslim and the non-Muslim worlds?

Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret that Muslims misinterpreted his intent and were misguided enough to be offended by his words. But he did not express regret for the comments themselves.

The pope repeated, uncritically, words that call Islam violent without acknowledging Christianity's bloody history.

The Rabbi here is reminding us of the 3,000 deaths caused by Muslim extremists causing 9/11. He rationalizes the Americans' fear of Muslims (with condemnable act of 9/11) and uses GUILT BY ASSOCIATION to make it an understandable phenomenon. Hog wash!

Does the massacre of Muslims committed by Baruch Goldstein mean that all Jews were terrorists?

One basic principle of conducting a dialogue among all peoples and religions is to look both inward and outward. Muslims have been doing it for centuries.

The medieval Muslim philosopher Averroes concluded that man was neither in full control of his destiny nor did his destiny fully control him.
This principle applies to all people regardless of religion.

The Rabbi is wrong when he says that Colin Powell was both right and wrong. No, he (powell) was only right.

Remember Pope Benedict criticizing Muslims two years ago? And the storm it created both in the Muslim and the non-Muslim worlds?

Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret that Muslims misinterpreted his intent and were misguided enough to be offended by his words. But he did not express regret for the comments themselves.

The pope repeated, uncritically, words that call Islam violent without acknowledging Christianity's bloody history.

The Rabbi here is reminding us of the 3,000 deaths caused by Muslim extremists causing 9/11. He rationalizes the Americans' fear of Muslims (with condemnable act of 9/11) and uses GUILT BY ASSOCIATION to make it an understandable phenomenon. Hog wash!

Does the massacre of Muslims committed by Baruch Goldstein mean that all Jews were terrorists?

One basic principle of conducting a dialogue among all peoples and religions is to look both inward and outward. Muslims have been doing it for centuries.

The medieval Muslim philosopher Averroes concluded that man was neither in full control of his destiny nor did his destiny fully control him.
This principle applies to all people regardless of religion.

The Rabbi is wrong when he says that Colin Powell was both right and wrong. No, he was only right.

Remember Pope Benedict criticizing Muslims two years ago? And the storm it created both in the Muslim and the non-Muslim worlds?

Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret that Muslims misinterpreted his intent and were misguided enough to be offended by his words. But he did not express regret for the comments themselves.

The pope repeated, uncritically, words that call Islam violent without acknowledging Christianity's bloody history.

The Rabbi here is reminding us of the 3,000 deaths caused by Muslim extremists causing 9/11. He rationalizes the Americans' fear of Muslims (with condemnable act of 9/11) and uses GUILT BY ASSOCIATION to make it an understandable phenomenon. Hog wash!

Does the massacre of Muslims committed by Baruch Goldstein mean that all Jews were terrorists?

One basic principle of conducting a dialogue among all peoples and religions is to look both inward and outward. Muslims have been doing it for centuries.

The medieval Muslim philosopher Averroes concluded that man was neither in full control of his destiny nor did his destiny fully control him.
This principle applies to all people regardless of religion.

The Rabbi is wrong when he says that Colin Powell was both right and wrong. No, he was only right.

Remember Pope Benedict criticizing Muslims two years ago? And the storm it created both in the Muslim and the non-Muslim worlds?

Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret that Muslims misinterpreted his intent and were misguided enough to be offended by his words. But he did not express regret for the comments themselves.

The pope repeated, uncritically, words that call Islam violent without acknowledging Christianity's bloody history.

The Rabbi here is reminding us of the 3,000 deaths caused by Muslim extremists causing 9/11. He rationalizes the Americans' fear of Muslims (with condemnable act of 9/11) and uses GUILT BY ASSOCIATION to make it an understandable phenomenon. Hog wash!

Does the massacre of Muslims committed by Baruch Goldstein mean that all Jews were terrorists?

One basic principle of conducting a dialogue among all peoples and religions is to look both inward and outward. Muslims have been doing it for centuries.

The medieval Muslim philosopher Averroes concluded that man was neither in full control of his destiny nor did his destiny fully control him.
This principle applies to all people regardless of religion.

The Rabbi is wrong when he says that Colin Powell was both right and wrong. No, he was only right.

Remember Pope Benedict criticizing Muslims two years ago? And the storm it created both in the Muslim and the non-Muslim worlds?

Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret that Muslims misinterpreted his intent and were misguided enough to be offended by his words. But he did not express regret for the comments themselves.

The pope repeated, uncritically, words that call Islam violent without acknowledging Christianity's bloody history.

The Rabbi here is reminding us of the 3,000 deaths caused by Muslim extremists causing 9/11. He rationalizes the Americans' fear of Muslims (with condemnable act of 9/11) and uses GUILT BY ASSOCIATION to make it an understandable phenomenon. Hog wash!

Does the massacre of Muslims committed by Baruch Goldstein mean that all Jews were terrorists?

One basic principle of conducting a dialogue among all peoples and religions is to look both inward and outward. Muslims have been doing it for centuries.

The medieval Muslim philosopher Averroes concluded that man was neither in full control of his destiny nor did his destiny fully control him.
This principle applies to all people regardless of religion.

The Rabbi is wrong when he says that Colin Powell was both right and wrong. No, he was only right.

Remember Pope Benedict criticizing Muslims two years ago? And the storm it created both in the Muslim and the non-Muslim worlds?

Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret that Muslims misinterpreted his intent and were misguided enough to be offended by his words. But he did not express regret for the comments themselves.

The pope repeated, uncritically, words that call Islam violent without acknowledging Christianity's bloody history.

The Rabbi here is reminding us of the 3,000 deaths caused by Muslim extremists causing 9/11. He rationalizes the Americans' fear of Muslims (with condemnable act of 9/11) and uses GUILT BY ASSOCIATION to make it an understandable phenomenon. Hog wash!

Does the massacre of Muslims committed by Baruch Goldstein mean that all Jews were terrorists?

One basic principle of conducting a dialogue among all peoples and religions is to look both inward and outward. Muslims have been doing it for centuries.

The medieval Muslim philosopher Averroes concluded that man was neither in full control of his destiny nor did his destiny fully control him.
This principle applies to all people regardless of religion.

The Rabbi is wrong when he says that Colin Powell was both right and wrong. No, he was only right.

Remember Pope Benedict criticizing Muslims two years ago? And the storm it created both in the Muslim and the non-Muslim worlds?

Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret that Muslims misinterpreted his intent and were misguided enough to be offended by his words. But he did not express regret for the comments themselves.

The pope repeated, uncritically, words that call Islam violent without acknowledging Christianity's bloody history.

The Rabbi here is reminding us of the 3,000 deaths caused by Muslim extremists causing 9/11. He rationalizes the Americans' fear of Muslims (with condemnable act of 9/11) and uses GUILT BY ASSOCIATION to make it an understandable phenomenon. Hog wash!

Does the massacre of Muslims committed by Baruch Goldstein mean that all Jews were terrorists?

One basic principle of conducting a dialogue among all peoples and religions is to look both inward and outward. Muslims have been doing it for centuries.

The medieval Muslim philosopher Averroes concluded that man was neither in full control of his destiny nor did his destiny fully control him.
This principle applies to all people regardless of religion.

The Rabbi is wrong when he says that Colin Powell was both right and wrong. No, he was only right.

I am appalled at the lack of sense of American fairplay.

Very few of the commenters also seem to 'get it'.

There are Muslims dying in service for this country and Brad and the majority of other commenters seem to ignore this. This fact alone should serve as an answer as Powell intended.

Brad and the other mis-inforned commenters would do well to reread Powell's comments and reflect how their views do a disservice to the unity of US citizenry.

Sham, shame, shame.

"[M]ore than three thousand Americans were murdered for the "crime" of being in America."

If this is a reference to 9/11, you should get your numbers and nationalities right. American Muslims died in that attack too.

"The moral authority to take hateful and fearful Americans to task rests with the ability to create mass awareness of the decency of most Muslims with acts as big as those that generate the fear and hatred."

Let's replace the word Muslim ihn that statement with the word Jew - "The moral authority to take hateful and fearful Americans to task rests with the ability to create mass awareness of the decency of most jews with acts as big as those that generate the fear and hatred."

What we clealy see is that this author is a racist and bigot. Thanks for giving a racist and bigit such a forum, WP. Oh, but I forgot that Heatt ruined your institution when he turned it into a neo-con propaganda agency.

This "Rabbi" needs to be "taught" how to not be an intolerant racist and jerk.

Rabbi,

Bottom line. Through a policy of ethnic cleansing the Islamofacists and their Christofascists oil buddies have cleansed the Middle East of Jews who lived their since the Middle Ages. Such was the case with my family. We fled Iran in the Middle of the night. As a child, I saw a good family friend, Ismael, murdered in the street, while being "taken into custody."

The Muslim-Christian oil cartel doesn't care who they kill, how many. Look at what their doing in Iraq and Afghanistan? Look at how at their instance Israel dismantled whole villages, displaced people. Remember the woman who burned herself to death? Meanwhile, what did the Islamofascists do with their billions? Build new homes for Palistinians? No. What is there now? Nothing.

Did you notice how many Palestinians left Israel when statehood seemed imminent under the Clinton Plan? None. NOT ONE. It's true. Scroll up.

We are three million in exile. It is good for you to speak out against the Christians bashing of Obama. But this isn't our issue. Let one of the Christian clerics speak out. It's all a sham anyway. The Islamofascists and Christofascists are the same SLime.

MumboJumboo:

Quite an interesting description. Funny thing is that you have no credibility because you say nothing about what YOU are. The Rabbi is a rabbi. We know his name and we know his faith. We don't know your name, your faith, or the faith of your parents, ancestors, if you yourself have no faith.

So who cares what you think?

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield is a zionist columnist an oxy moron.
ZIONISM is a racist ideology like Fascism and Nazism.
They share the belief that one race is purer and more entitled than an other weaker race - God's chosen people - should ring a bell.
Apartheid israel is portrayed in the "US free media" as the only democracy in the middle east by a zionist propaganda machine that controls this media, therefore americans have no idea about the ethnic cleansing committed against
the palestinians for over 60 years. Travel to the west bank and gaza to see the open prison
palestinians live in.

This is biased propaganda, the writer belongs to
the Zionist Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

I think it was unnecessary for Powell to comment on other acts by Muslims. Those commenting on Christians do not feel it necessary to mention the Christian Timothy McVeigh who committed the second biggest attack in the US by destroying the federal building in Oklahoma City or those Christians who murder doctors and others at abortion clinics.

Most people of any religion as well as those of no religion are peaceful.

There is no reason why an atheist or Muslim should not be president if they arequalified..

Just a factual point, but the number of American citizens killed on September 11 was substantially below 3,000. Citizens of more than 90 countries died in the 9/11 attacks.

Sorry, dude. Totally wrong you are. The only way we will fight bigotry is when we can stop being scared of Muslims? I am a Christian, and I have faith that God will protect his children. I won't be afraid of people who may have a name different than my own, because of their background. Timothy McVeigh was as white as you can get, and he killed a buildingful of Americans too. Where's the fear of white people? Where's the discrimination? Somehow, when white people do stuff, we manage to get over it and realize that it was that one person's sickness and not a reason to discriminate agains a whole group of people.

The fact is, white people used the excuse of being "scared" of black people for DECADES - to lynch them, and deprive them of their civil rights. I am a woman and I am "scared" of men.

Men kill more girlfriends and wives every year than all the people killed in the 9/11 attacks. Where's the fear and outrage there? Does that mean I have the right to discriminate? No. Because stirring up fear or hatred against any group of God's children is wrong.

I thought Americans were braver and fairer that that. I guess I was wrong.

Wow 300 million Muslims hold anti-American views? How could this happen - I mean you gave them the freedom to choose between coca-cola or pespsi. Aren't they grateful?

Maybe it has something to do with death? Maybe they resent that a million Iranians died fighting an Iraqi invasion armed and sponsored by your US government. Maybe they resent that following gulf war 1 when, having been exhorted to revolt and overthrow Saddam, they were left to their fate and 500,000 were slaughtered. Maybe they resent the fact that 20% of the worlds refugees are Palestinian. Maybe they resent living in penury with a dictators boot on their throat, while those same tyrants are protected and enriched by western patronage.

hope all the jews are happy when obama stops supporting Israel and she is attacked, because you get what you voted for and you all voted for obama, your choice...

Why should the Muslim American soldier who gave his life in defense of a mostly Christian United States have had also to protest the Muslim persecution of Christians in Mosul to satisfy American bigots who have an irrational "scare" prejudice against any Muslim, including American citizens of the Islamic faith who give their lives in defense of all Americans? There was nothing wrong in Powell's statement. He rightly demanded an end to the irrational prejudice of many Americans, particularly of right wing Zionists, against Muslim Americans that extreme Zionist bigots like Hirschfield want to continue, because he insists on a standard of behavior for American Muslims that he does not insist upon for Israeli perpetrators of crimes against "scared" Palestinians, or insist upon that standard also for white Florida and other Southern Jewish bigots against "scared" black victims, historically brutalized, exploited and discriminated by Mr. and Mrs. Daisy.

Mr. Hirschfield,

Are you familiar with the domestic terrorist William Ayers and his bunch called Weather Underground?

Did you know WU published a manifesto, Prairie Fire in 1974 that lists ALL their bombing targets?

The book has been scanned and resides at this website.

http://www.zombietime.com/prairie_fire/pfpg10_chebig.jpg

It is authored by William Ayers, Bernadine Dorhn, Cecilia Sojourn and Jeff Jones.

http://www.zombietime.com/prairie_fire/

I really hope you get to look at it because while WU may not be a violent terror group any longer, I do VERY MUCH believe they are trying to subvert our democracy through our education system.

Thank You

Mr. Hirschfield, have you heard of a Catch-22? If a person has no voice, can you blame them when you do not hear their screams? I have never seen any American news outlet give voice to Muslims, have you (in any forum or genre)? Do see them portrayed on TV or in movies as moderates, as someone worth listening to, do you seem them write in our newspapers and magazines (who would let them)(also, atheist Arabs don't count - they're safe), do you see them profiled in ways that would even allow for a conversation to happen. Moderate and liberal American muslims do speak to the power that perverts crimes in their name, but nobody wants to hear it. A moderate Muslim is even scarier than a extremist - because we aren't sure whose side they're on. Are they like Barack Obama(in reality, an unabashed Christian), just waiting to expose themselves to the world as a 'muslim'. Frankly, if I were Muslim I would be scared to speak up in this country, or even western Europe (which although has decidedly different problems is more tolerant at least of Muslim intellectuals). And even if I did have the gumption to do so, I would be skeptical of its impact. Muslims have spoken up and it continually falls on deaf ears. The BBC has done several high profile meetings of young Muslims from a number of different countries in which they can voice their disgust at atrocities committed in their name. But would we want to hear it? It would destroy the black and white image we (?) have that makes life so much easier, it would complicate things and make us (?) less safe. And if we heard it, its all just lies and propaganda - they're just apologists to keep us (?) back on our heels. Then again, maybe too much cynicism exist in American Muslim communities.

There is also one other reality that's been bugging me since the run up to the Iraq War, and embedded in your piece. Even though 3oo million Muslims hold violent anti American views, the truth is that this leaves 1 billion Muslims who don't. After 9/11, a lot of Americans, most who don't read Arabic, complained: why aren't there more moderate Muslims voices speaking out?

But they didn't comprehend the paradox: IF I am moderate, and I must take up ARMS to make the more violent faith practitioners HEAR ME, then I am no longer moderate--I'm a partisan who can be targeted for extinction, by western powers, by terrorist ideologues, by my OWN country. A la Clooney's Syriana. Add to that the reality that most Muslims live in dictatorships, and the possibilities for dissent decrease dramatically. It doesn't mean they shouldn't try, and I know because I've lived in the Muslim world, but it makes it just that much more difficult to make enough change to get heard. I mean, Bin Laden has 2oo million in funds to pursue his own dismantling of the west. It is hyperbole, but a kid in the West Bank starts with a rock, and graduates to an rpg. What does the moderate Muslim have? Faith that God will change their fate? Faith that God will change their fate.

But no one, not the MSM or investigative journalists, exposed this fundamental paradox, so all the coverage has been skewed since the Towers fell. And that's a crime.
heavyheadtoo

and here is where you are both right and wrong. 9/11 saw PEOPLE killed, from all over the world, with national allegiance to MANY countries--and I'm not referring to the terrorists either. Absolutely--most were Americans, but ALL were not. And your eagerness to get at Powell's largely secular response put your own on the slippery slope, which is unfortunate. The moment we can lose sight of our common humanity by generalizing all those impacted as only "Americans," we've lost a piece of ourselves--whether we are people of faith or not. Or if we just have faith in each other, functioning at a planetary level.

We can reduce that tragic day to a merely American moment, as so many people of faith, who see the world strictly in black and white tend to, or we can see it as one narrative at the center, or spoke, of a wheel, radiating out across our planet to differing degrees. And I'm still hurtin' from that day, but that radial narrative is every bit as important to healing this thing than strictly focusing on American identity alone.

Finally, it really irks me as a historian that we are so fixated on "two" sides, "two" possibilities; "two" approaches. We live in a world of multiple vocalities. Until we embrace that, all our solutions will continue to produce unintended consequences, and more problems.

We are survived on this planet because we have cooperated more than we have given in to our conflicts. With only 1 percent of the species that have ever lived on this planet still here, we need to find a way to hold on to that. THAT, is our struggle.

Heavyheadtooo

I have to assume you're only using Powell's comments as a segway for your finger-waggling. Fine. But let's not say he was right and wrong; he was simply right. There was no wrong in what he said, or didn't say, in that context. He was responding to people like crazy southern bigot lady who yell things like "Arab!" as an insult.

Please, stop acting as though every sentence must take every possible aspect and view into account. Don't equate possible omission errors of the 'Muslim Community' to the bigotry of people who deride all those belonging to the former. I'm sorry, do you feel the need to apologize for every white person who commits a crime, even a heinous one? Do you have to condemn every attack by a Jew? By a man? This equalization is useless.

schwaje1 Author Profile Page:

Rabbi Hirschfeld is documentable wrong on one key fact. While Jews and Muslims have similar numbers in the US, according to the FBI hate crimes database, 2/3 of all religion based hate crimes in the US are against Jews.

"The 2006 FBI hate crime data, collected under the mandate of the 1990 Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA), documented 7,722 hate crimes in 2006 – 8 percent more than the 7,163 hate crimes reported by the FBI in 2005. The report documented over 1,462 religion-based crimes – more than 66 percent directed against Jews and Jewish institutions."
___________________

Yes, but you know that this can be stopped, and you know how to stop it. Amazingly simple really. Figured it all out the day Catholic thugs knocked out my daughters' front teeth.

But then I'm Sfardic.

Rabbi, I should also say this. It is not we who have been attacking Obama with this craziness, but the AmeriChristians. We are right to condemn it, but would you would concern yourself with us, Jews, that is, just a bit more.

Rabbi Hirschfield,
All I can say is ....huh?

Powell's point was that in the USA, no one is to be discriminated against or thought badly of simply because of religious affiliation. It was that simple.

Or it use to be that way before Bush played into Bin Ladin's hands and allowed fear to consumed the nation, and decided fighting Bin Ladin meant tearing up the Constitution.

Rabbi Hirschfield, your parsing Muslim's into good and bad, those that like America or hate America, can be done with any religion.

Your point has no point, except to divide. Shame.

When are you going to talk about the three million of us, Rabbi? The burned boys and girls at Hebrew University? Us, Rabbi? The three million? And all the murdered Ismaels, murdered by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard?

There is no defense against what has been done to Iraq and Afghanistan, none whatsoever. However, it would be helpful if Arabs from all over the Middle East did not come to Damascus to avail themselves of the little girls who are selling their bodies to feed themselves and their families.

It would be helpful if the media would show the hundreds of thousands of refugees on TV. It would be helpful if wealthy Arab nations and persons started helping instead of exploiting.

Most helpful would be for this country never to have set foot in Iraq. Ending the horror in Afghanistan would help. There are many Pashtuns in Pakistan, going back and forth to Afghanistan every day. I have pictures of people without arms, legs, etc. We are simply murdering civilians who had nothing to do with the 9/11 murders. What is the point?

OK, so you're saying it's only partially true that there's nothing wrong with being a Muslim in this country?

My point is, Powell wasn't discussing the nation of Islam. He was making a very precise and salient point: Implying that someone is a Muslim, especially in this country, should not be considered an insult. It's as like someone having to deny they are gay when it's meant, again, to be an insult.

If you want to talk about the complexities of Islam overall, or even the paradoxes of the faith in this country, it's simply another discussion altogether. Give Powell a break.

Where are the Muslim voices of outrage speaking out against the ethnic cleansing of Mosul? Where are the leaders who address the real fears that are born of the fact that more people have died in recent years in the name of Islam than any other faith? Where is the public demonstration, in numbers that rival the dead, which declares that this is not the only way to live a full Muslim life?
And before one person writes asking me "how much do you want us to apologize" or "why do I have to prove anything to you", let me tell you something: you don't. The reason for such public demonstrations is not for anyone but you. The reason for such demonstrations is because you want to take back your own culture.
When hundreds of thousands took to the streets following the religiously motivated assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, it made a difference. And it would if the world saw tens of millions of Muslims (the proportional equivalent) do the same thing now. The moral authority to take hateful and fearful Americans to task rests with the ability to create mass awareness of the decency of most Muslims with acts as big as those that generate the fear and hatred.
The only answer is as Muslims are divided into illegal client States under dictator illegal Governors created during First European war known as First World War when 1300 years old
Caliphate was destroyed with Anglo French conspiracy. Million Iraqis were killed and millions Iraqis became refugees in other Arab countries though there is no protest from Muslims as Muslims are divided. Millions in Western World are protesting in different way though not by present illegal Governors of illegal Arab and Muslim clients States. Rest is following books.

http://www.authorhouse.com/bookstore/ItemDetail~bookid~44552.aspx

http://www.authorhouse.com/bookstore/ItemDetail~bookid~55528.aspx

Best regards,

It was not Powell's intent to dismiss the lives lost on 9/11. But I do believe that the fearmongers and religious bigots have made the word "terrorist" synonymous with the word "muslim" and thus synonymous with the word "Un-American". During this campaign season, we have seen the GOP right-wing stoop to the lowest of the low to paint Barack Obama as less than American and less than a worthy aspirant to the nation's highest office. They have twisted his views and distorted his positions. They have painted him as less than qualified, when in fact Senator McCain has no executive experience and Governor Palin has no real exposure to the world outside of Wasilla or Juneau. General Powell was on point and presented a sound argument for his support of Senator Obama and made a well thought our case against the GOP ticket.

Actually, I don't think Powell should have had to say anything about whether Obama is Muslim or not since I can't understand the role someone's religion or lack thereof should play in a public election, a point I have made whenever the topic has come up.

That said, I think it's a good thing that Powell spoke out on this AmeriChristian Muslim bashing of Obama, a phenomenon I found disgusting. For the life of me, I can't see how this occasion could have or should have been used to discuss Muslims speaking out against terrorism, or, for that matter, against anything else.
__________________________________

That said, I have to agree with Observer12 on most of the points he makes. Rabbi, I have said this before to you, and I will say this again. I am a Persian Jew. My family fled Iran in the middle of the night. We lost everything, and we weren't wealthy. As a child I saw a close family friend, Ismael, murdered in the streets by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as he was being "taken into custody."

As you should know, there are three million of us, some with worse stories than mine, much worse. There are very few Christians left in Iran and the Bahai are in mortal peril. The UN has declared them in danger but does nothing.

When will you speak for the three million rabbi?

When will you speak out against Muslim anti-Jewish and anti-Christian racism in the Middle East, Pakistan, and India?

When will you speak out against Muslim anti-Jewish racism right here in the good old US?

And when will you speak out against the Catholic "ethnic cleansing" of Jews in France? How many have fled to Israel, Rabbi? And the Christian racism in England and here? Rabbi, I'm not going to be cleansed. My daughter had her teeth knocked out by Catholic thugs, Rabbi.

We're talking here about the AmeriChristians. You know, the ones that ethnically cleansed this continent? Are cleansing Iraq? Afghanistan?

"Where are the Muslim voices of outrage speaking out against the ethnic cleansing of Mosul?"

Probably in the same self-imposed silence of fear and complicity as those Christian and Jewish voices of outrage at the ethnic cleansing of the Occupied Territories.

Christians in India are living in refugee camps in their own country, not because on Hindu extremist but because the Christians are under attack from the Hindu population. I didn't see this reported in many American mainstream media and yet a few Christian threatened by Al Qaeda in Iraq becomes international headline news. Al Qaeda might not even be the cause since it could be Kurdish reaction to ensure control in an incoming local elections.

The fact of the matter is that, Muslims receive disproportionately negative news. Rabbi Hirschfield, I can assure you the supposed Muslim demonstration against the extremist will receive very little or no news coverage in the Western world.

The Rabbi uses Powell comments about the election in the US of A as a springboard to muddy the water about muslims in general. SAD.

continued from previous post:

Feisal believed that a Jewish Palestine would help the newly liberated Arab world develop into modern states with prosperous economies. But Husseini refused to accept a Jewish Palestine, and he instigated pogroms to force the Jewish settlers out. The first pogrom took place in 1920. Morse writes:

In 1921, shortly after the launching of the 1920 pogrom and for reasons that will forever remain shrouded in mystery, Sir Herbert Samuel, a British Jew who had been appointed as British High Commissioner of the Palestine Mandate that same year, appointed al-Husseini as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

Despite vigorous opposition to this appointment, Husseini proceeded to instigate violence against the Jews in Palestine and spread hatred of Jews throughout the Arab world, brutally purging any Arab who opposed him. In 1937, Husseini met with Adolf Eichmann in Palestine and became a full-fledged paid Nazi agent. In 1941, Husseini moved on to Baghdad where he helped organize the pro-Nazi Rachid Ali officers' coup against the British government in Iraq. When the coup failed, Husseini fled to Rome and then to the Third Reich.

One of the Iraqi coup plotters was Gen. Tufah Khariallah, uncle, guardian, mentor and future father-in-law of Saddam Hussein. The mufti was also a mentor to Yasser Arafat, who is believed to be Husseini's nephew.

Overlooked in the history books is the fact that about 100,000 European Muslims fought on the Nazi side in World War II. They included two Bosnian Muslim Waffen SS Divisions, an Albanian Waffen SS Division in Kosovo and Western Macedonia, the Waffengruppe der-SS Krim, formations consisting of Chechen Muslims from Chechnya, and other Muslim formations in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

Bosnian Muslims, who were in the Croatian pro-Nazi Ustasha, were especially brutal toward the Christian Serbs. In 1943, a report on Ustasha activities stated:

The Ustasha terror began in Mostar. The Ustashi, the majority of them local Mohammedans, are arresting, looking, and shipping off Serbs or killing them and throwing the bodies in the Neretva River. They are throwing Serbs alive into chasms and are burning whole families in their homes. Outside of Zagreb the strongest Ustasha hotbed is Sarajevo. The Muslims committed unbelievable barbarities for they murdered women and children even with scissors.

Btw., Rabbi, the following describes a well known phenomenon. Oddly, I never saw you comment on it. Nazi Muslim Middle East connection will follow in subsequent post.

Chuck Morse's latest book, "The Nazi Connection to Islamic Terrorism, Adolf Hitler and Haj Amin al-Husseini," provides the clearest, most incisive history of how Islamo-fascism and Jihad terrorism have become the dominant political philosophy in the Arab world. It is the untold story of how Nazism took root in the Islamic world through the untiring efforts of the mufti of Jerusalem, whose aim it was to destroy the Jews in Palestine. Morse writes:

The Nazi Holocaust appears to have kicked into high gear on Nov. 25, 1941, during a Berlin meeting between the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini (1895-1974) and the Nazi Fuhrer of Germany, Adolf Hitler. At that well-documented meeting, Hitler promised al-Husseini, the Palestinian pan-Arab leader, that after securing a dominant military position in Europe, he would send the Wehrmacht, the Nazi war machine, on a blitzkrieg across the Caucasus and into the Arab world under the guise of liberating the Arabs from British occupation.

It should be noted that merely two months after the Hitler-Husseini meeting, the infamous Wansee Conference took place in which the Nazis produced their plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe.

Although Husseini spent the war in Germany, he managed to flee the advancing Allied forces and made his way to Cairo. While the captured Nazi leaders were tried at Nuremberg, Husseini escaped judgment and became the major force in transferring Hitler's program of genocide to the Arab world.

During the war, he had recruited Bosnian Muslims to serve in Nazi-Muslim SS Hanshar brigades which slaughtered Jews and Christian Serbs in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Memory of that slaughter was one of the reasons why the Serbs went after the Bosnian Muslims 50 years later.

After the war, Husseini established working links between Nazis and Arabs in the Muslim world. He also got rid of anyone who stood in his way. That is why moderate Arabs are so rare. Husseini killed most of them.

He began his public career after World War I, when moderate Arab leader Emir Feisal signed an agreement with Chaim Weizmann recognizing the Balfour Declaration, which facilitated the development of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

abhab :
Observer12 pontificates:
“I'd like the rabbi to speak out about the three million Jews in exile from the Middle East.”
He would not because those alleged 3 millions left of their own accord after they had been promised free Palestinian lands and homes. They sold their properties in their native lands and used the Israeli authorities to smuggle them to Vienna and Sudan with the promise that they would settle in the occupied territories, yet many skipped to Australia , Canada and the US.
The good rabbi did not mention even in passing the 6 million Palestinians who have been rotting in refugee camps for over sixty years. Some argue that the Arab countries should have taken better care of their brethrens, but that should not exonerate the people occupying Palestinian lands from their horrendous crime.

As usual, the rascist rambles, spouts, spews. Jews were hung in the streets of Iraq, escaped in the middle of the night from IRan, Syria, Egypt, etc. They fled in the middle of the night, like Farnaz and others I know personally, and they're horror has been thoroughly documented. The theiving MUslim nations took their property if tney had any since they had to leave with nothing.

Pig Abhab says that "Israel smuggled them out." Why should Israel have to smuggle them, Moron? Why should they need to leave homes they occupied since the Middle Ages? And if they did, why couldn't they just leave on their own?

You make my case for me, Moron. Now, why did the Egyptians, Syrians, et al keep the Palestinians in regugee camps? Why didn't they allow them to form a state pre-1967? How are Palestinians treated in Egypt? Remember Black September, Putz? How are they treated in JOrdan where they are the majority!!!

Oh and how are they treated in Saudi Arabia?

Israel is the only country where Muslims CAN vote, have rights. And, btw., A hole, how comes it that not a single Muslim left Israel when Palestinian statehood looked certain, under Clinton, that is, before Arafat blew it? NOT a SINGLE Muslim went to Palestine. Not one. None. Zero.

Speaking as a former Christian, I gotta wonder just when the Palestinian Muslims are gonna stop tormenting the Palestinian Christians. I"d also like to know why they are fleeing into Israel, and why Israel is taking them.

Give Israel back to the Jews from whom you stole it, and restore the three million in exile to their homes. High time you wrote about this, Rabbi.

Otherwise, spot on, Rabbi. Spot on.

I was also disappointed in the rabbi's post. Powell was addressing something important and integral to the life of this country- we are one people. This young Muslim soldier died in the name of freedom. He was an American soldier, a fellow countryman and Powell's comments, if nothing else should have reminded us or shamed us into remembering just what this country is really all about. The "yes...but" argument is the one that those who can't let go of their bias use.

Frankly, the bias against Muslim-Americans in this country hits far too close to home for me, as a Jew. I don't think it should be necessary to explain why I think that, and despite the statistics, or the realities of who is a terrorist, the big mistake we make is confusing the individual terrorist with his entire demographic. yet I have never heard anyone do a "yes, but" when talking about white people and the Unabomber or Timothy McVeigh.

Powell asked us to go with our better natures and our true pride of country. You, rabbi did just the opposite. I'm disappointed in you.

Observer12 pontificates:
“I'd like the rabbi to speak out about the three million Jews in exile from the Middle East.”
He would not because those alleged 3 millions left of their own accord after they had been promised free Palestinian lands and homes. They sold their properties in their native lands and used the Israeli authorities to smuggle them to Vienna and Sudan with the promise that they would settle in the occupied territories, yet many skipped to Australia , Canada and the US.
The good rabbi did not mention even in passing the 6 million Palestinians who have been rotting in refugee camps for over sixty years. Some argue that the Arab countries should have taken better care of their brethrens, but that should not exonerate the people occupying Palestinian lands from their horrendous crime.

WOW! The comments here are so hateful, if Muslims don't stand against Muslim violence it will continue. If any other group stands against it, they are just labeled "infidels" and so nothing is accomplished.
Personally, I thought Powell's statements regarding Muslims were just as naive as his endorsement of Obama ... now, bash me if you want because I don't agree with you!

I'd like the rabbi to speak out about the three million Jews in exile from the Middle East.

Spot on about Muslimns condemning terrorism. They attacked this country twice, and they're living in it. They have centers with pictures of slaughtered Americans hung outside.

Spot on Rabbi. Keep up the good work. Just start talking on behalf of the Jews deported or forced to flee or murdered in the Middle East, including Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Israel.

...aside from the fact that you are demonstrating a singular focus on 9/11 and ignoring all the American "intervention" in the Middle East, some of which was the motivating-factor behind 9/11. Some of which was done by Muslim-Americans.

Fine. Some Americans are scared of Muslims. What do you want to happen as a result? How many hairs do you want to split here?

There comes a point when it is clear that you are doing nothing more than using this as an opportunity to split hairs and attempting to castigate Powell for not doing the same on national TV. Personally I see it as nothing more than rabble-rousing, the exact reason that this was brought up in the first place. The fact that there are plenty of Muslim Americans (not to mention non-Muslims) who not only are NOT afraid of Muslims but who would flip if a Jew were to run for President, that surely must stick in your craw.

Why don't you run for President in 2012 and you can address all of these issues.

The title of "Islamophobe" being ascribed to this rabbi is spot on. He wants Muslims to denounce violent acts by extremists when innocents are targeted, but I see no acknowledgment on his part that Muslims have repeatedly taken great pains to speak out against extremism, unlike many who of his own faith who have repeatedly failed to condemn the violence perpetrated against Muslims! To call yourself a man of god while displaying such bigotry is unconscionable and outright hypocricy.

"The report documented over 1,462 religion-based crimes – more than 66 percent directed against Jews and Jewish institutions.""

...indeed and not only are you spiraling off onto a tangent, this merely states facts about their documentation of religion-based crimes.

The central issue here is whether Obama would or would not be somehow "disqualified" for the Presidency if he were a Muslim. The issue here is not to take the opportunity to debate inter-religion (or international) violence.

Unless you want to come out and say it would be too much of a risk to have a Muslim President...or that Americans should view a Muslim with distrust even if he were simply running for President because of what other Muslims have done in the past. but that would of course mean that you would have to turn the Presidential election (and the whole issue of having members of one group interact with members of another) into a discussion of violence by one group against another. A discussion which isn't going to be held on equal footing, honestly and openly, it's just going to be used as a wedge discussion against Obama.

You would end up splitting all ethnic and religious groups in the US based on that concern.

It would be like answering the question of whether it matters if Obama is black or white, by going into a long history of racial violence in the United States. Why should anyone trust someone who isn't of their own race? Well except for the fact that you don't have to be of a different race to commit violence against a member of that race, no reason, really.

You are just bringing all these non-sequiturs into the issue and in the process demonstrating an obsession with the issues that you are bringing up. Powell wasn't "wrong", he was entirely right, and even more so, entirely to the point. You are the one who is wrong and spinning off on a tangent.

Um, I'm still missing why it was Powells' responsibility to address all of this in asking the question of why would it be bad if Obama were Muslim.

I'm sure that Jews have a lot to answer for in this world, if someone sits next to you on a bus and says "hey Jew, I don't like Jews and you need to get out of here because you're a Jew!" what are you going to do, sit there and try to rationalize away all of the bad things that have been done by Jews over the entire history of Mankind?

No you're going to say quite rationally "yes I am a Jew, so what, is that a crime? I have the right to be here just like you do, go away and stop bothering me."

That's the whole issue here, no one has to defend who they are based on the actions or beliefs of other people who may share some of their beliefs or some of their culture or history. Merely doing that implies that it is necessary. It isn't! It simply is not Colin Powells' responsibility to explain, rationalize, analyze, whatever, the issues between Muslims and Christians in 2008 and how that plays into Presidential politics. He addressed a salient point. It doesn't matter if he *is* a Muslim. And he handled it well.

You on the other hand are making a complete kibosh of this whole issue.

you're really nothing more than an islamophobe in disguise. you're just taking the same tired arguments that muslims need to "speak out" more against terrorism, and linking it to powell's speech.

it is preposterous to expect that every time a muslim does something wrong in the world, that all other muslims must clamour and protest it in such a way so that the US media picks it up. muslims speak out all the time, it just doesn't make good print.

do you personally rise up in protest every time a lebanese child's legs are blown off from a cluster bomb dropped by israel?

you giving credence to the notion that bigoted views are ok unless proven otherwise. however, your prejudices are your own character flaw that you need to work to reduce. its not the fault of all of the muslims in the world that you don't like them. that's your fault.

but your goal is for people to dislike muslims by placing impossible stipulations for them to think otherwise. hence, your agenda is to maintain the negative impressions that people have towards muslims. hence you are an islamophobe.

I took the text of your column and did a search and replace of the word "Muslim" with the word "Black." This is how the last sentence reads:

...The moral authority to take hateful and fearful Americans to task rests with the ability to create mass awareness of the decency of most Blacks with acts as big as those that generate the fear and hatred.

I wonder if you have the gall to post that on the Washington Post Website? You're a bigot - and in case it matters, I'm not muslim.

Rabbi Hirschfeld is documentable wrong on one key fact. While Jews and Muslims have similar numbers in the US, according to the FBI hate crimes database, 2/3 of all religion based hate crimes in the US are against Jews.

"The 2006 FBI hate crime data, collected under the mandate of the 1990 Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA), documented 7,722 hate crimes in 2006 – 8 percent more than the 7,163 hate crimes reported by the FBI in 2005. The report documented over 1,462 religion-based crimes – more than 66 percent directed against Jews and Jewish institutions."

I have been offended, outraged, amused, uplifted, and inspired by panel members here at WaPo...I have never, EVER felt such disappointment as I do reading this column.

While I cannot fault the logic (and truth) of your argument, Rabbi Hirschfield, it is appalling that you have taken an example of the very best of the American mindset and twisted it into a negative. Again, I understand (and agree with) your reasoning. Your timing, however, is deplorable. You could have said NO MORE BIGOTRY! Instead, you said, NO MORE BIGOTRY...YOU HEAR THAT, MUSLIMS AROUND THE WORLD?

Disappointed doesn't even begin to cover it...

And until Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiography, Infidel, is available and can be read without fear in all Islamic countries, no Muslim from said countries is to be trusted. Ditto for Sir Salman Rushdie's book, Satanic Verses.

We need to constantly remind ourselves that Muslims are the first and main victims of their ideology. Many see their shortcomings but always lose the argument to the orthodox fundamentalist elements who can quote verses from the Quran, the supposedly literal words of the Creator, that support their thesis. When Borgiba , the late president of Tunis ,suggested the banning of fasting during Ramadan, his clerics incited a rebellion from among the peasant class. Ataturk of Turkey managed to secularize his country through the support of a strong and loyal army. As long as the clerics have a sway over the minds of the uneducated masses, things will not change in Muslim societies. Hopefully now with the explosion of means of communication and with the increase in the number of western educated Muslims, things will move forward ,albeit at a slow pace. For an immediate transformation what is needed are Ataturks throughout the Muslim societies.

Also where is the Muslim outrage when non-Muslims are prevented from entering Mecca and praying to their non-Muslim gods in Mecca? Why dont decent Muslims boycott the hajj until full freedom of religion is allowed and implemented in Saudi Arabia and all Muslim countries?