Im glad that many Singaporeans, of various backgrounds, attended the event at Hong Lim Park to show solidarity with Gaza. This month Ive seen many Muslims on my newsfeed attempting to provide a corrective to pro-Israeli media reports. I found myself also disturbed by the rhetoric of Israel has the right to defend itself and Israel is acting with maximum restraint when self-defence involves such wide aggression (airstrikes, shelling) rather than targeted raids and the Palestinian body count keeps increasing by the day. At the same time, Im only too aware that its easier to identify with the obvious underdogs, the clear victims in a conflict. The Israeli-Palestine conflict, for many Muslims, has become much more than a specific, localised, geopolitical conflict. It has become a fertile symbol for the persecution of Muslims, the hypocrisy of a global superpower like the USA, the barbarity of a supposedly civilised and developed West. It is the hellmouth through which Muslim grievances around the world issues its plaintive cry. Its equally important to take note that in other places around the world, Muslims are no better than the Israeli Defence Force; often more monstrous. In Nigeria, Boko Haram have caused the deaths of 12,000 people. They have most recently kidnapped 200 Nigerian schoolgirls, with many of them destined to be sold to slavery. Upon entering Christian villages, bibles are burned, churches destroyed, and residents forced to convert to Islam, with the women coerced to wear the veil. In Iraq and Syria, ISIS has unilaterally declared the restoration of the Islamic caliphate, which in their books involves killing 5,500 civilians and the ethnic cleansing of non-Muslim minorities and even Shiites. While we grieve for the Palestinians, lets not forget the victims of those who unleash nightmares in the name of Islam. And these nightmares are closer to us than we might think: some Muslims in Malaysia and Singapore have volunteered to be martyrs for ISIS, and in recent years anti-Shia rhetoric has intensified, a sign that a particularly Mid-east Sunni-Shia conflict has reached our shores. Lets all be very wary of calls to defend Islam from infidels, when often the greater threat to Islam comes from the demagogues, the warmongers and the extremists who spill sacred human blood in Gods holy name.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 15:28:32 +0000
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