A Muslim friend writes:
Neoconservatives always spoke of Islam as a monolithic threat from the Middle East to Pakistan, confronting democracies such as Israel and India. The slippery slide they made was from radical Islam to Islam. The Likudniks always emphasize that slide and argue that until “Islam” is reformed, the Israel-Palestine conflict will not be resolved, which absolves Israel entirely.
So here is David Frum in the National Post of Canada, decrying Obama's decision to speak in Cairo next month:
Frumpish excerpts:
Radical Muslims have constructed a narrative in which Islam is oppressed and colonized by the West, Muslims have real and reasonable grievances against the West and any acrimony between Muslims and the West is due to the actions of the West.
Commentary: The Palestinians aren’t colonized? More:
The very act of speaking to individuals of Muslim origin as Muslims concedes a point that an American president should be wary of conceding. No president would ever give a speech to "the Christian world." He’d take for granted that Christian identity is personal and private, not collective and public. He’d remember that Christian-majority countries contain non-Christian minorities, entitled to equal respect. He’d understand that many in the Christian majority define their identity in terms other than religion; and that the freedom to choose how to define oneself is one of the fundamental principles of a free society…
What could go wrong with this heartwarming outreach? Begin with this question: Does the president regard Salman Rushdie and Ayaan Hirsi Ali as belonging to the Muslim world, yes or no? …
[Frum then mentions a lot of reform-minded westernized Muslims] Will the President talk to them? If not – it would be better to stay home.
Commentary: Why not replace Islam by Israel and then ask the question does the president regard Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein as belonging to the Jewish world; and will he address them?
Weiss adds: When Obama goes to AIPAC, he speaks to Jews who form their identity in a public not private manner, for Israel. When he goes to Notre Dame, he presumes to address Catholics who form their religious identity around very politicized issues, too.
