Let My People Go!!!

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Trying to Find My Voice

As Salaamu Alaikum and Greetings of Peace:

My heart is heavy ... I have a lot going on.  Alhamdulillah, it's not as bad as some people have it.  It's merely another test, or rather a series of them, and it will be okay, Insha Allaah.

The thing about it is that it has paralyzed my writing voice.  Some people get writer's block.  I'm not blocked.  I have a lot to say.  But my friend Aaminah put a quote on her Facebook page that describes it perfectly for me:

""One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter." (James Earl Jones)

In addition to my own problems, it just seems to me that the whole world has gone crazy - The BP oil catastrophe on the Gulf Coast, the Arizona immigration law ...

And the fitnah on a lot of the Muslim blogs is also depressing.  It seems like every click on my list of blog feeds, takes me to a place that gives me a grand headache.  More than once, I have started to write a comment, but canceled it.  What's the use?

But, a recent court battle won by Gisha of its Freedom of Information Act petition got me thinking (after I got over my waves of nausea), and has motivated me to write. 

You can go to the link and read for yourself and see the lists of items that the Israelis consider contraband for Gaza in the name of national security (like coriander, lol), but what REALLY caught my eye was that Israel admits the existence of a "red line" document that establishes the minimum nutritional requirements for the residents of Gaza BUT REFUSES TO REVEAL IT!  I read somewhere else that the Israeli government is trying to determine how much food a person from Gaza needs based on gender, age, etc., to prevent starvation.

Ya Allah ... Ya Rabb

How can a people who suffered the cruel atrocities of the Nazis even dream up such a plan?

And now this morning - we wake up to the news of the Israeli IDF assault on the Freedom Flotilla that was taking aid to the people in Gaza.  This flotilla was the 9th such trip of international peace activists, mainly organized by the Free Gaza Movement.  Seventy-five miles off the coast of Isreal, in international waters, the IDF attacked the flotilla of six ships, and then boarded the Turkish vessel, Mavi Marmara.  All of this is in direct violation of international law.  (And so is the blockade of Gaza, by the way ...)  Facts are hard to come by at this time, but what is known is that a number of civilians have been murdered by the IDF, and some 800+ activists are being held by the Israelis out of communication with their familes and embassies. 

Until this incident, Turkey was the only Muslim friend of Israel.

Lately, however, there have been problems and tensions have risen.

When I was in Istabul a few months ago, we were the guests of a Turkish aid organization called Yardimeli that does a lot of work in Gaza.  Shortly before we arrived, a Yardimeli group had gone to Gaza to bring aid.  When the group prepared for return to Turkey, one of its team members was not permitted by the Israeli government to come home.  For no reason.  Except to discourage people and organizations from helping the Gazans.  Alhamdulillah, on the day we left, the brother was allowed to return to Turkey.  But, the Turkish government had to get involved.  All of Yardimeli's efforts to resolve any "problem" the Israelis might of had was in vain. 

Well, the Turkish government is now pissed.  Allaah only knows where this Flotilla crime will lead.

Say dua.  Please.

Insha Allaah I will be writing a series of posts about Jewish people and Israel.  But, I leave you with this fact: not all Jewish people are Zionists.  Even some Zionists in Israel do not like what's going on with Gaza.  Please remember this.

Ishmael Khaldi: Voices From The Israeli Muslims

While we hear and read many opinions about the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, mostly from the Muslim or Zionist perspectives, it is fascinating to hear a voice that is seldom heard. That is, the voice of the Muslim Israeli.

The article below originally appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. It was reprinted on Aish.com.

The author of the article is Ishmael Khaldi. He is the Deputy Consul General of Israel for the Pacific Northwest (USA).

His perspective is interesting. After reading the article, tell me what you think.

A Muslim's Letter to the Organizers of Israel Apartheid Week by Ishmael Khaldi

For those who haven't heard, the first week in March has been designated as Israel Apartheid Week by activists who are either ill intentioned or misinformed. On American campuses, organizing committees are planning happenings to once again castigate Israel as the lone responsible party for all that maligns the Middle East.

Last year, at UC Berkeley, I had the opportunity to "dialogue" with some of the organizers of these events. My perspective is unique, both as the vice consul for Israel in San Francisco, and as a Bedouin and the highest-ranking Muslim representing the Israel in the United States. I was born into a Bedouin tribe in Northern Israel, one of 11 children, and began life as shepherd living in our family tent. I went on to serve in the Israeli border police, and later earned a master's degree in political science from Tel Aviv University before joining the Israel Foreign Ministry.

I am a proud Israeli -- along with many other non-Jewish Israelis such as Druze, Bahai, Bedouin, Christians and Muslims, who live in one of the most culturally diversified societies and the only true democracy in the Middle East. Like America, Israeli society is far from perfect, but let us deals honestly. By any yardstick you choose -- educational opportunity, economic development, women and gay's rights, freedom of speech and assembly, legislative representation -- Israel's minorities fare far better than any other country in the Middle East.

So, I would like to share the following with organizers of Israel Apartheid week, for those of them who are open to dialogue and not blinded by a hateful ideology:

You are part of the problem, not part of the solution: If you are really idealistic and committed to a better world, stop with the false rhetoric. We need moderate people to come together in good faith to help find the path to relieve the human suffering on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Vilification and false labeling is a blind alley that is unjust and takes us nowhere.

You deny Israel the fundamental right of every society to defend itself: You condemn Israel for building a security barrier to protect its citizens from suicide bombers and for striking at buildings from which missiles are launched at its cities - but you never offer an alternative. Aren't you practicing yourself a deep form of racism by denying an entire society the right to defend itself?

Your criticism is willfully hypocritical: Do Israel's Arab citizens suffer from disadvantage? You better believe it. Do African Americans 10 minutes from the Berkeley campus suffer from disadvantage -- you better believe it, too. So should we launch a Berkeley Apartheid Week, or should we seek real ways to better our societies and make opportunity more available.

You are betraying the moderate Muslims and Jews who are working to achieve peace: Your radicalism is undermining the forces for peace in Israel and in the Palestinian territories. We are working hard to move toward a peace agreement that recognizes the legitimate rights of both Israel and the Palestinian people, and you are tearing down by falsely vilifying one side.

To the organizers of Israel Apartheid Week I would like to say:

If Israel were an apartheid state, I would not have been appointed here, nor would I have chosen to take upon myself this duty. There are many Arabs, both within Israel and in the Palestinian territories who have taken great courage to walk the path of peace. You should stand with us, rather than against us.

Peaceful Pro-Gaza Demonstration, Harrisburg, PA, 1/4/09