Tel-Chai Nation

I used to think more highly of prof. Bernard Lewis, but now, after reading some clearer revelations about him from both Diana West and Andrew Bostom, I realize that Lewis isn't being frank, or seems to be pulling his punches when he discusses the subject of Islamofascism. He seems to think that anti-Semitism in the mideast was brought over from Europe, without even considering that European colonization of the mideast only began several centuries after Islam first showed up in the 7th century.

Nobody who wants to win the war against terror should have to take anything Lewis says at face value.

Update: here's something he told the New York Sun a year and a half ago that I find flawed:

Mr. Lewis said a great deal of material exists - from Arabs, from Persians, and from Turks - that can form the basis for democracies in the region. He quoted from a 1786 letter to the king's court in France from the French ambassador to Istanbul explaining why the Ottoman Empire was slow in making decisions. The ambassador reported that unlike in France, where the king made a decision and that was it, "here the sultan has to consult" and so it "takes time to get things done."

Let me get this straight. The king of France didn't have a council to discuss many issues with? Actually, the problem here is that Lewis is ambiguously referring to king Louis XVI, who together with his queen, Marie Antoinette, ran an absolute dictatorship that led to the French Revolution and the subsequent overthrow of the terrible twosome for their crimes against the people of France. The way in which Lewis cites this, it's as though he were implying that ALL monarchs, whether in France or other parts of Europe, were total autocrats. Not so, and many of them did have councils. Of course, even with a council, there can still be corruption, and many of these political ruling councils, both in Europe AND the middle east, were as bad as the monarchs under whom they worked. This was certainly so even for the Ottoman empire, and whether or not things worked slowly under the Turkish sultan of the time, he and they were still a bad lot. Lewis is really blowing it by looking at all these details in such a superficial way.

Labels: islam