1

Hi Rhymes!  I was glad to see you at MuslimMatters, and I figured you and Amad would be sparring again in no time.

Regarding your question about the perceived anti-Semitism on our blog...it's tough for me to respond - Amad is a very spirited and intense writer and I don't want to put words in his mouth by debating whether or not his comments are anti-Semitic. 

This group blogging is new to me and it will be interesting to see how it plays out - the group is an interesting mix of people and we won't always agree or express ourselves the same way.  Maintaining our blogging identities while staying true to the spirit of the blog will be a challenge but I have hope that God willing it will prove successful.

BTW, I'm sure you saw what the Chronicle has done with some of the readers blogs - sent them over to this chron.commons fiasco that I just can't adjust to.  I'm asking the blog editor to let me go back to the old platform (blogs.chron.com) and if you think it's a worthwhile thought, maybe you could let him know.  (I also have my own blog going at http://ruth-nasrullah.blogspot.com - thanks for letting me plug!)  And thanks for calling me "charming"!

2 I have already replied to your unfounded and unfortunate charges of antisemitism. I have dealt with Jewish people all my life and have had friends among them. So, not only are you complete off the mark, but your tactic is also quite despicable.

Secondly, your quote, "�Our Muslim brothers�? First of all, we ain�t your brothers, especially YOUR brothers." is another example of cut and paste half-truths. Not because you misquoted me but you did in fact misinterpreted me. The quote was directly targeted at Washington Times editors... the whole article was referring to them, how did that somehow become a generalization?

Finally, I live in this country as an American. I work with Americans, Americans work for me, and all of them are non-Muslims. I have friends among them, we eat out together, etc, etc. What we are protesting is the treatment of the bigots in this country to us Muslims. So, WE are the victims of this bias, not you. If you put yourself in our shoes, and what we are up against, you may appreciate what we say and when we say, keeping it in context all the while.

I hope we are able to maintain some of the mutual respect that I thought we had gained in past online meets.

3 Well, Amad, let me correct myself -- you only consider those of us who dare to support Israel to not be your brothers. And let me be clear -- I found absolutely nothing wrong with the editorial in question, and fully support Israel's right to exist and protect its citizens from those who would finish what Hitler started.

4 Greg, you have to be more fair than that. It is not a question of supporting Israel, it is a question of not allowing others to voice their opinions, even when they are not talking about Israel. Do you recall Muslims having a protest meeting with any elected official to stop them from attending an ADL or a AIPAC function? At least I don't. And when I have been to CAIR events, they do not talk about foreign issues usually, 99% of their agenda is local civil rights. Why do you allow it to be colored by just one stance that you disagree with? Just like AIPAC has a right to support Israel's occupation, CAIR has a right to support Palestinian freedom. And I think we should support each other's right to express that opinion. The problem is not when you discuss this subject academically... the problem comes when either side starts throwing in unproven allegations and starts spinning the rumor-mill to damage the other's reputation. If CAIR was really a terrorist-linked organization, there would be hard evidence available or at least one indictment , right? Yes, there have been staffers who have been found guilty of 'support', but you cannot use a 'guilt by association' strategy to demonize the whole organization. You know as well as I do, that we cannot control the people who work for us, if we run any business or organization. Just like you cannot blame the Military for a few bad apples that mar its image.

Anyway, I can see that you want to be fair and sincere. I just hope you would start seeing what we are going through over here. Our civil liberties are at stake, and we cannot let the terrorist win by stripping freedom of speech and freedom of religion in this country from ANY of its countrymen. While you took offense to merely the slightest possibility (and unintended as we hopefully agree now) of anti-semitism... why don't you also stand up to the explicit Islamophobia that is rampant in the West. I don't think I need to provide you examples, because you are well aware of them. One way to make your views less colored, is whenever you see a situation which we see as Islamophobia, is to imagine a Jew instead of a Muslim in it, and then judge whether you would have considered that situation anti-semitic. If yes, then please afford Muslims the same thoughts.

Again, thanks for the update that you added.