As part of this trend, great effort has been expended to emphasize that the conflict with the Taliban is not a US war against Islam. Additionally, in Israel this past month, the annual pilgrimage of Israeli leaders to Muslim hosts for Ramadan feasts took place once again this year, as did the annual early release of several Arab prisoners in honor of the feast marking the end of the holy month.
What bothers me is that this trend exists only toward Muslims. Why not the Jews as well? After all, Jews are sensitive people who tend to get offended at times as well. Take, for instance, the last stage of the battle in Afghanistan.
At the outset of the campaign, the US was afraid of offending Muslim sensibilities in the naming of their operation in Afghanistan. Thus, the name Infinite Justice was replaced with Enduring Freedom. There was some debate about whether the US should prosecute its campaign during Ramadan, out of a worry that Muslim religious sensibilities would be offended.
And recently, I heard from an acquaintance that the Nike “swoop” logo is similar to an Arabic character, and that this “offense” is leading some Arab sources to suggest a boycott of Nike’s products. (Muhammad: “Should we boycott them or not?” Mustafa: “Just Do It!”)
Osama Bin Laden apparently has no problem holing up in a place called Tora Bora, and the US media has no problem tossing the name about as if it has no significance. Well it does. Torah is the Hebrew term for the Five Books of Moses, and in its expanded meaning refers to the entire body of literature upon which Jewish religious and cultural identity is based. Bora, according to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (which itself is two volumes), means “a severe north wind that blows in the Adriatic.”
I think Jews should be getting angry at the juxtaposition of these two terms. To say that the Torah is nothing but a lot of cold wind, and to term it "severe" is, to me, the height of crass insensitivity to the religious sensibilities of an entire national ethnic grouping. Could you imagine if Bin Laden had decided upon an area called Koran Moran? The association of their Holy Book with an actress who wore exceedingly short pants on TV in a 1970s pop culture sitcom would enrage most Muslims and further weaken an already non-existant coalition.
If Bin Laden’s final hiding place had been called Koran Moran, you would never catch CNN mentioning the name of the location on air. It would be considered too offensive. Never mind that Bin Laden is himself a Muslim, and uses his religion to justify his terrorist activities. Never mind that he is not among the smallest of minorities in this grouping. After all, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hizbulla, the regimes of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the PLO, and even Yasser Arafat himself, are all Muslims. And they all use their religion to justify their actions. Almost all of these people and groups are on the US terrorism list, and Yasser Arafat should be there as well.
But dare the US risk upsetting Muslim sensibilities? Never. Jewish sensibilities? Who knew?
Copyright 2001. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
