George:

The one that needs to "get a grip" is Helena Cobban. It is true that Mahathir said "Is there no other way than to ask our young people to blow themselves up and kill people and invite the massacre of more of our own people?" But, we should not think that he means peaceful ways to deal with Israel... or the "jewish problem". He is not talking about peaceful ways to solve the conflict in Palestine. He is only talking about changing to more effective tactics, than the ones being presently used.

When Mahtir says "As Muslims we must seek guidance from the Al-Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet. Surely the 23 years struggle of the Prophet can provide us with some guidance as to what we can and should do." Most westerners don't know what this means. It actually means ethnic cleansing and genocide of the jews of Medina (Madinah). The same jews that gave him, and his followers, asylum from his enemies in Mecca.

Mohammed and his people, just as Hitler did centuries centuries later, expulsed two of the three jewish tribes in Medina under some flimsy pretext. Then, the last tribe -- approximately seven hundred people, consisting of men, women and children -- was killed. A "final solution" if there ever was one, with striking parallels to Hitler's. And, here lays the problem with Mahathir's words. What he means is very clear. There is no need to try to embellish his yearning for an effective way to eliminate Israel. No more no less.

Henry Weinschenk (electronic mail, October 23, 2003)

Editor's Note: See also, Helena Cobban's Response to Henry Weinschenk.