ISLAM NOT VIOLENT
Your correspondent J.H. (Nov. 20) states that Islam is a violent religion and "history indicates" that. She is wrong! When making such statements one should support them with evidence. History on the contrary has shown Islam to be a peaceful religion since its very inception. The spread of Islam between 600 and 800 AD was a peaceful one. People across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia Minor as far as southern Russia accepted the new religion en masse without any resistance. Jews could - often quite successfully - continue proselytizing their religion and lived in peace and harmony with their Muslim brethren. There is no historical evidence whatever of any battles or violent resistance from the populace waged against Islam. On the other hand there is an abundance of historical evidence available of European "Christians" with the Bible in one hand and the gun in the other conquering whole continents and killing their inhabitants. We cannot blame Islam fro the crimes of a bunch of psychopathic renegades whose geneses has clearly been the result of our own aggressive policies towards them since WWII.
Published 'Press' 25/11/'15
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ROOT CAUSES
Often overlooked are the root problems that have ultimately given rise to the "Islamic Sate". Terrorism is a global threat and this threat does demand solidarity amongst nations. Only concerted actions of all key players, both East and West can effectively resolve this problem. Right now Russia has taken the lead - embarrassing the United States - by taking the chestnuts out of the fire resulting from the US and NATO's "regime change" policies over the last two decades.
(abridged)
Published in the Chch Press 18/11/'15
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NOT INDIGENOUS
Mr. H (Oct 27) in response to the recent letter of the Israeli ambassador, raised an interesting question when he rightly stated that Jews and Arabs both belong to the Semitic race. There is no doubt about that, but we have to make a distinction here. The Israelis who since 1948 populate the former Palestine British Mandate are genetically and ethnically of Russian and East European origin. They are the Ashkenazims, people who converted to Judaism many centuries ago. They are not the Jews of antiquity. Netanyahu's ancestors came from Belarus and Lithuania. His family name before 1910 was Mileikowski. You will find many east European names in Israel today. There is a consensus amongst secular historians that Jews and Palestinians from antiquity were both Canaanites. The indigenous people of the region converted to Islam between 600 AD and 800 AD, which from then on spread rapidly to the east and west. Although Judaism became henceforth a minority religion, the two religions coexisted peacefully together until the usurpation of the Palestinian Mandate by East European immigrants after WWII
Published 'PRESS' 28/10/'15
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