Re: Can the concept of "democracy" survive in the Middle Eastern/Arab regions?
[quote=sono;417308]sightless, arabs don't hate jews or americans, there are jews in iran, morrocco, syria and they live there like any other muslim. it's more a political issue than a religious one. Arabs don't like israeli or american policies which have not helped them over the last century.[/quote]
sono, since when did you perfect talking out of you ass into an art form old bean?
Whilsts it will no doubt be fun to rip apart all your above bs, lets just look at one country you quoted there shall we.
Iran.
There are some 25,000 Jews living in Iran, in fact Persian Jewry is one of the Diasporas oldest communities, before the Islamic revolution there were some 80,000 Jews living there.
[quote] The Council of the Jewish Community, which was established after World War II, is the representative body of the community. The Jews also have a representative in parliament who is obligated by law to support Iranian foreign policy and its anti-Zionist position.
Despite the official distinction between "Jews," "Zionists," and "Israel," the most common accusation the Jews encounter is that of maintaining contacts with Zionists. The Jewish community does enjoy a measure of religious free dom but is faced with constant suspicion of cooperating with the Zionist state and with "imperialistic America" ? both such activities are punishable by death. Jews who apply for a passport to travel abroad must do so in a special bureau and are immediately put under surveillance. The government does not generally allow all members of a family to travel abroad at the same time to prevent Jewish emigration. Again, the Jews live under the status of [URL="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Jews_in_Arab_lands_%28gen%29.html"][I]dhimmi[/I][/URL], with the restrictions im posed on religious minorities. Jewish leaders fear government reprisals if they draw attention to official mistreatment of their community.
Iran's official government-controlled media often issues [URL="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/antisem.html"]anti-Semitic[/URL] propaganda. A prime example is the government's publishing of the [URL="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/prototoc.html"][I]Protocols of the Elders of Zion[/I][/URL], a notorious Czarist forgery, in 1994 and 1999. Jews also suffer varying degrees of officially sanctioned discrimination, particularly in the areas of employment, education, and public accommodations.
The Islamization of the country has brought about strict control over Jewish educational institutions. Before the revolution, there were some 20 Jewish schools functioning throughout the country. In recent years, most of these have been closed down. In the remaining schools, Jewish principals have been replaced by Muslims. In Teheran there are still three schools in which Jewish pupils constitute a majority. The curriculum is Islamic, and Persian is forbidden as the language of instruction for Jewish studies. Special Hebrew lessons are conducted on Fridays by the Orthodox Otzar ha-Torah organization, which is responsible for Jewish religious education. Saturday is no longer officially recognized as the Jewish [URL="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Shabbattoc.html"]sabbath[/URL], and Jewish pupils are compelled to attend school on that day. There are three synagogues in Teheran, but since 1994, there has been no rabbi in Iran, and the bet din does not function.[U].[/U]
Following the overthrow of the shah and the declaration of an Islamic state in 1979, Iran severed relations with Israel. The country has subsequently supported many of the Islamic terrorist organizations that target Jews and Israelis, particularly the Lebanon-based, Hezbollah. Nevertheless, Iran's Jewish community is the largest in the Middle East outside Israel.
On the eve of [URL="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/holidaya.html"]Passover[/URL] in 1999, 13 Jews from Shiran and Isfahan in southern Iran were arrested and accused of spying for [URL="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/israel.html"]Israel[/URL] and the United States. Those arrested include a [URL="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Rabbis.html"]rabbi[/URL], a ritual slaughterer and teachers. In September 2000, an Iranian appeals court upheld a decision to imprison ten of the thirteen Jews accused of spying for Israel. In the appeals court, ten of the accused were found guilty of cooperating with Israel and were given prison terms ranging from two to nine years. Three of the accused were found innocent in the first trial. In March 2001, one of the imprisoned Jews was released, a second was freed in January 2002, the remaining eight were set free in late October 2002. The last five apparently were released on furlough for an indefinite period, leaving them vulnerable to future arrest. Three others were reportedly pardoned by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
At least 13 Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic revolution 19 years ago, most of them for either religious reasons or their connection to Israel. For example, in May 1998, Jewish businessman Ruhollah Kakhodah-Zadeh was hanged in prison without a public charge or legal proceeding, apparently for assisting Jews to emigrate.
Today, Iran's Jewish population is the second argest in the Middle East, after Israel. Reports vary as the the condition and treatment of the small, tight-knit community, and the population of Iranian Jews can only be estimated due to the community's isolation from world Jewry.
[/quote]The above is taken from the Virtual Jewish Library, you can link to some explainations for if you like - i would, if i was you Sono click on this word [URL="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/Jews_in_Arab_lands_%28gen%29.html"][I]dhimmi[/I][/URL] maybe then you will stop sprouting so much crap.