Say Hello to Ahmad Hashemi

Mike L.

This is a very interesting person.

Hashemi is an Iranian dissident who at one time was an interpreter for the Iranian foreign ministry.  He is currently seeking political asylum in Turkey and has recently published a piece in English entitled, Anti-Semitism is why the Arab Spring failed.

This is precisely the kind of person that we need to support.  I would very much encourage you guys to read the whole thing, but it concludes like this:

As writers, scholars, human rights activists and ordinary citizens of the region, we owe a historic apology to the Israelites for the harassment, persecution and mass expulsion from their ancestral lands. This is a phenomenon that can be labeled a “lesser holocaust” which led to the annihilation of Jewish communities in most Arab and Muslim countries. Even though we can do nothing to undo what happened in the past, we need to have the courage to face the realities with the hope of a brighter future, enriched by a mosaic of different cultures, religions and colors.

Here is a question:

Did the Jewish people erase the history of thirteen hundred years of second and third class citizenship under the boot of imperial Islam or did we simply go along with the stomping out of this important part of our history by others?  Ahmad is obviously aware of it, so why aren't we?  Or why do we refuse to discuss it?

I honestly do not know the answer to that question.  What I do know is that the Jewish people were dhimmis between the 7th and 20th centuries and immediately upon our release from this form of servitude we were subject to an ongoing war from the children and grandchildren of our former masters.

The Jewish minority in the Middle East are a people who remain under siege by the movement for Islamic supremacy.

This should be our fundamental reference point, because it happens to be a fact.