The Ilhan Omar case.(A young Muslim Democrat in the U.S. House of representative spouting hateful stereotypes of Jews in a public forum).I am not usually a big fan of Fareed Zakariah who is another example of elite Ivy League American University education but this time he is right on.I quote him:“But I believe that Muslims should be particularly thoughtful when speaking about these issues because anti-Semitism has spread through the Islamic world like a cancer.Antisemitism”, he added, “is now routine discourse in Muslim populations in the Middle East and also far beyond.”Yes! As a Muslim convert I have seen it over and over again! And it is pathological- a paranoid conspiratorial mind-set that is definitely not to our advantage.So this is NOT an individual problem of Ilhan Omar who seems nice enough(I like her presence actually.A cut above most politicians I would say). it is a collective problem of the Muslim Ummat.And i dare say this is a major factor in Muslims not playing their rightful part in American politics and, in fact,being outplayed regularly by the Zionist supporters.
Zachariah goes on to say(again I couldn’t agree more)” Israel was guilty of bigoted policies towards Palestinians and that AIPAC exerts considerable political influence over elected officials.These are legitimate issues to vigorously debate and discuss in the United States, just as in Israel,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, by phrasing the issue as the two new representatives sometimes have, they have squandered an opportunity to further that important debate.”
So,to his credit,Zachariah is NOT a black and white thinker.And nor should we,as Muslims, be so.What always astonishes me about the Muslims on this question is that they don’t realize that WE HAVE WON!There are 1.4 billion Muslims and the Jewish population is less than 25 million.Why do Muslims feel so victimized?! The vast majority of our problems are self-inflicted ,if you analyze the situations properly.

P.S. I think this subject is finally being opened up for discussion.During the back and forth dialogue on my Facebook page I brought up the fact that I have NEVER heard an Imam at jumaa praying for peace in the Middle East! That is a problem and an anachronism.It is a carry-over from the vulnerable state of the Muslims at the very beginnings of our tradition when they were surrounded and vastly outnumbered by their enemies.We are now 1,4 billion strong.But it’s as if the Muslim ummat has not caught up with the times and still wants to blame others(Israel,U.S.A.,C.I.A., Freemasons etc.) for its failures.Sad,really!