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I am always on the lookout for new additions to my growing Honor Roll, and today I have a new addition:

Irshad Manji

She lives under threat of death every day and has little chance of dying of old age. Someone, somewhere, someday is going to kill her.

Why?

Because she is a Muslim that dares to lay bare the corruption at the heart of those who control discourse in Islam. She is a brave (and beautiful) Muslim who deserves every word of praise. I am in awe.

(Which means, of course that she is awesome.)

I am always on the lookout for new additions to my growing Honor Roll, and today I have a new addition:

Irshad Manji

She lives under threat of death every day and has little chance of dying of old age. Someone, somewhere, someday is going to kill her.

Why?

Because she is a Muslim that dares to lay bare the corruption at the heart of those who control discourse in Islam. She is a brave (and beautiful) Muslim who deserves every word of praise. I am in awe.

(Which means, of course that she is awesome.)

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Yesterday’s post featured the comments of a brave and clear thinking Arab journalist, Khaled Abu Toameh. Whenever I find an article like the one he wrote yesterday, I search the web for more of what he says, and where he can be found.

I didn’t find any site dedicated to him, but I did find a great post written about him on incontext.blogmosis.com. In her article titled “A Real Journalist”, Lynn B writes a great tribute to him here:

http://incontext.blogmosis.com/archives/024656.html

Here are a few excerpts from her article: 

Yesterday’s post featured the comments of a brave and clear thinking Arab journalist, Khaled Abu Toameh. Whenever I find an article like the one he wrote yesterday, I search the web for more of what he says, and where he can be found.

I didn’t find any site dedicated to him, but I did find a great post written about him on incontext.blogmosis.com. In her article titled “A Real Journalist”, Lynn B writes a great tribute to him here:

http://incontext.blogmosis.com/archives/024656.html

Here are a few excerpts from her article: 

Read Full Post »

You would think that, with all that’s happened to the Palestinians, Hamas would be suffering from a ‘bad smell’.

Not so.

In his article last Thursday, Analysis: A year after elections, Hamas riding high, Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh says:

In a speech in Gaza City, Haniyeh boasted that “Zionist schemes” had failed to topple the “elected” government or force Hamas to abandon its principles. “The government did not collapse after one year,” he declared. “Nor did it make compromise the rights of the Palestinians.”

Here are three more excerpts from his article:

You would think that, with all that’s happened to the Palestinians, Hamas would be suffering from a ‘bad smell’.

Not so.

In his article last Thursday, Analysis: A year after elections, Hamas riding high, Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh says:

In a speech in Gaza City, Haniyeh boasted that “Zionist schemes” had failed to topple the “elected” government or force Hamas to abandon its principles. “The government did not collapse after one year,” he declared. “Nor did it make compromise the rights of the Palestinians.”

Here are three more excerpts from his article:

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Elliot Jager wrote an interesting article for the Jerusalem Post, and you can find the piece here.

At heart it’s all about cynicism.

Elliot has a pretty heavy case of it, just as I do. Don’t stand too close to us. It’s catching.  

We Americans like to think that we’re the good guys.

Actually, we aren’t. We’re just the guys who are a little less expedient than the others.

We delayed resupplying Israel in 1973 because of expediency. We pressured Israel to give up the Sinai because of expediency. We shoved Arafat down Israel’s throat because of expediency.

Elliot Jager wrote an interesting article for the Jerusalem Post, and you can find the piece here.

At heart it’s all about cynicism.

Elliot has a pretty heavy case of it, just as I do. Don’t stand too close to us. It’s catching.  

We Americans like to think that we’re the good guys.

Actually, we aren’t. We’re just the guys who are a little less expedient than the others.

We delayed resupplying Israel in 1973 because of expediency. We pressured Israel to give up the Sinai because of expediency. We shoved Arafat down Israel’s throat because of expediency.

Read Full Post »

In the grand scheme of things, he might not have seemed to be a major figure. After all, he was only a mayor.

But, he was Teddy Kollek, and his city was Jerusalem.

Was.

He passed away this morning, and with his passing a bit of living history goes with it.

Jerusalem is the city that it is today because Teddy ran it for almost 30 years from 1965 until he lost to his successor, Ehud Olmert, in 1993 – only a year after my arrival in Jerusalem.

Was he a good man?

In the grand scheme of things, he might not have seemed to be a major figure. After all, he was only a mayor.

But, he was Teddy Kollek, and his city was Jerusalem.

Was.

He passed away this morning, and with his passing a bit of living history goes with it.

Jerusalem is the city that it is today because Teddy ran it for almost 30 years from 1965 until he lost to his successor, Ehud Olmert, in 1993 – only a year after my arrival in Jerusalem.

Was he a good man?

Read Full Post »