Muslims and Jews Fight a War of Values

July 11, 2004

Source: The Pioneer Press

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/9119785.htm

On July 11, 2004 The Pioneer Press reported, "Recent events have carved out two distinct sides, and they are not the West and Islam as it has been constantly portrayed. This has become a war of those who value human rights against those who do not believe those rights are applicable to all of humanity. There is the side that vehemently spoke out against prisoner abuse and reported murders as crimes against humanity. And there are those who trivialized them as the price of war. There are the Muslims around the world who repeatedly voice their abhorrence at the bombings and beheadings. And there are the extremists who carried out the crimes and their supporters. There is the side that knows there is no one with an exclusive hold on God's favor against those who believe there is no price too large for "national security." There is the side that knows no government can be absolved from the moral questions of human rights, that knows that scattered groups cannot be allowed to perpetrate terror with false religious pretexts. One side is fighting for universal justice for all civilians who wrongly die either on the streets of New York or the streets of Palestine. The other first evaluates who died to deem its importance. What is becoming clear is that these two sides do not follow neatly along religious, national or linguistic lines as we so badly want to believe."