Egyptian Jews, Facebook and tolerance

In my cautious elation about the Egypt situation I was surfing the web curious about the status of Jews in Egypt. In my web journey I found a fascinating Facebook group about Egyptian jews. Group seems to be made up of people of all religions in Egypt, US and around the world (Poland.) I joined and I found a wide range of knowledge of history and of the holy texts of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Here's my posting. The FB group is located here

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Very interesting discussion, I thank Tarek Saied for starting it. It's clear we all need to study each other's holy texts. Torah, Bible and Koran are all written a very long time ago and may not be relavent to modern people. Examples: Many wear two types of cloth together and are not stoned, shellfish is often consumed, many women show their hair in public and in church. I Corinthians 14:34-35 states that women should not be allowed to speak in church but they clearly do. Many women have become pastors in Christianity and Rabbis in Judaism. (Not sure about Islam, I'd be curious if women can become Imams..) Commandments read "Thou shalt not kill (or murder depending on translation.) Sadly, humans kill and murder all the time. Also, many translations of the holy books contradict each other. Some would argue that we must follow the writings to the letter. To these I ask: "Have you not sinned?" I believe Matthew 5:29-30 states they should cut their hands if they sin, cast out the eyes if they see evil... do they?

Here's an idea. Why don't we all agree to listen to each other, be open to new ideas but not to say that our TRUTH is the ONLY TRUTH. People who have the TRUTH and cannot live with others not having the same TRUTH are very, very dangerous. Avicenna, Muslim philosopher, wrote that if one lives near a city of "non-belivers" then it's one duty to convert those "non-believers" by word.....or...of course... by the sword. We have enough trouble in this world with climate change, 6 billion people straining the planet's resources, poisoning of air, oceans, water and land, lack of education for the vast majority of the population and rich countries hoarding resources, closing their minds to new ideas, voting for idiots, building weapons and invading countries that had not attacked them. Let's not fight over who's deity is best.

Thank you again Tarek for starting this discussion. Communication is key to increasing wisdom, knowledge and peace. I hold good thoughts for all the people of Egypt. May all sides have wise discussions like this one.

Mubarak Resigns?...hope so....

Mubarak resigns? I'll believe it when we have peace and a fairly elected democratic government where all economic classes, religions and genders are represented. Egypt could be a true powerhouse in the region. I fear that Mubarak is going to try to gum up he works and stay in charge of the economy via the well established kleptocracy behind the scenes. Good luck people of Egypt, you have an amazing opportunity.

Egyptian chickens have come home to roost

Egypt: Why is no one mentioning that the US is not a neutral party in the Middle east. The Bush Administration used Egypt to torture terror "suspects" after 9/11. Didn't start with Bush, however. For the last century the US has a history of bringing down democratically elected leaders and installing and supporting right-wing fascist dictators who better serve our political and/or economic interests. All the while the US professed to sponsor democracy. Diem in Vietnam, Prime Minister Mossadegh in Iran in 1951 & support of the Shah, installation of Noriega and his eventual removal from Panama, support for Death-Squad wielding leaders of Central America in the 1980s including the junta in El Salvador led my Adolfo Ramos. Allende's government in Argentina was brought down and Pinochet installed with assistance from the CIA on the behalf of United Fruit. At first we backed Sadam Hussein against Iran in the 1980s, before we took him down in the first decade of this century.

Egypt has had 30 years of peace with Israel, a model the US had hoped others would emulate, but this "Peace" was purchased by over 1 Billion a year to Egypt and over 2 Billion to Israel. Most of those funds went to the Egyptian military to fund purchases of US equipment. Richard Engel, NBC's chief foreign correspondent reported that the Tear gas canisters used on protesters in Egypt came from Pennsylvania.

Is this the "change" we expected after 2008. I've said it before but if the Obama administration had cleaned house, sent people to prison over torture, banking, Katrina and the other travesties of the Bush Administration then this bold action would place our "less democratic allies" like Egypt on notice that reforms must occur.

Many reports state that the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt government is NOT the religious/political force that came about in Iran. They could easily become radicals, however. Iranians had to deal with oppression from the Shah. I would argue that the Iranians would not have become as reactionary once they came to power if the Shah and his secret Police, the Savak, had not cracked down on the protesters with such force. You'd be amazed what seeing your friends and families tortured and killed could do to push an individual's mindset toward fascism. Of course, if the US had left well enough alone and not helped eject the Iranian elected leader Mossadegh in 1951 things might have been different.

President Obama, it is clear that Mubarak will not leave willingly, he must be "invited" to leave. Allow him to take some wealth, hist title, his skin and his pride along with his son Gamal, the rest of the family and supporters. Bend the arms of the military if necessary, we do send them quite a lot of funding. Impress upon him that he does not want to end up like Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania, Mussolini in Italy or Diem in Vietnam. (Oh wait, the US had a hand in that killing also.)

Why not focus on human rights and political freedom through your reelection and last term? The Republican congress are going to attempt to gut all the work made in the last two years, destroy health care, give more tax breaks to the rich and make abortions illegal. Why not distract them with a demand to all countries for reforms. Wave the flag, talk about how democracy brings security, that'll get them riled up. Hell, Bush did it, it should work again! And unlike Bush act on it and demand it!

Maybe the U.N. would like to push the issue of true human rights. All they are missing is support from the US. This way fascists can't state that the "Great Satan" (or whatever) is trying to exert force and control the world.

Mr. President, you have a real opportunity to exact great change not only to make a great speech. It will require bold actions not half measures. You have disappointed the right thinking base that elected you. Many would argue that the last two years has been one of weakness surrounded by half measures with a slice of capitulation. You've stood up to the congress and senate over the Lame duck, show the same kind of back-bone now with an issue that is truly a security issue and get Mubarak to leave Egypt and come to Disneyland. Hell, I'll even spot for his ride on Space Mountain.

Thank you

- Josh Weisbuch