Thanks For Visiting...Sign at the Door

James, my buddy at Wigderson Library & Pub, has commented on the previous post regarding the cartoons, Flemming Rose and Daniel Pipes. He must have linked over to the article by John Sugg, because in his comment to me, James challenges me to prove that Pipes advocates elimination of Palestinians or that he is racist.

Now normally, I'd tell James one of two things: One) I don't have the time for this, do it yourself, or Two) John Sugg made those claims, not me, go challenge him (though I do happen to agree with Sugg).

But, in the interest of having some fun and I have just a little time before I need to shower and get ready to go to a play with my wife, here are some items for James' perusal.

One other thing...I am under no illusion that James will agree with any of this stuff. He has sources, I have mine...so tra la la.

One of James own favorite writers, Christopher Hitchins, was not very complimentary of Pipes in this piece published in Slate. Hitchens says this about Pipes:

On more than one occasion, Pipes has called for the extension of Israel's already ruthless policy of collective punishment, arguing that leveling Palestinian villages is justifiable if attacks are launched from among their inhabitants. It seems to me from observing his style that he came to this conclusion with rather more relish than regret.

Hitchinson concludes with:

The objection to Pipes is not, in any case, strictly a political one. It is an objection to a person who confuses scholarship with propaganda and who pursues petty vendettas with scant regard for objectivity.

Okay, I'll admit no where does it say he wants to eliminate Palestinians, but there is some groundwork laid for feeling unkind things for Palestinians. Here's more:

Pipes is best known for his strident and often racist denunciations of Arabs and Islam. In an effort to divide Americans -- one that if you inserted "blacks" for "Muslims" and "whites" for "Jews," would be vigorously damned as KKK-speech -- he told the American Jewish Congress a year ago that he worries "the presence and increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims...will present true dangers to American Jews." I contacted Pipes, and he not only confirmed his quote but, incredibly, added: "It is accurate in itself but you must note that this was spoken to a Jewish audience. I make the same point respectively to audiences of women, gays, civil libertarians, Hindus, Evangelical Christians, atheists, and scholars of Islam, among others, all of whom face 'true dangers' as the number of Muslims increases..." --John Sugg, Creative Loafing, 10/2/02

Then there was this:

Based in Philadelphia and headed by anti-Arab propagandist Daniel Pipes, Campus Watch unleashed an Internet firestorm in late September, when it posted "dossiers" on eight scholars who have had the audacity to criticize US foreign policy and the Israeli occupation. As a gesture of solidarity, more than 100 academics subsequently contacted the Middle East Forum asking to be added to the list… Pipes is notorious in the academy for calling Muslims "barbarians" and "potential killers" in a 2001 National Review article and accusing them of scheming to "replace the [US] Constitution with the Koran," in a similar piece in Insight on the News. Along these lines, a 1990 National Review article insisted that "Western European societies are unprepared for the massive immigration of brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene....All immigrants bring exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more troublesome than most." In addition to running the Middle East Forum, serving on a Defense Department antiterrorism task force and writing columns for the Jerusalem and New York Post, Pipes is also a regular contributor to the website of Gamla, an organization founded by former Israeli military officers and settlers that endorses the ethnic cleansing of every Palestinian as "the only possible solution" to the Arab-Israeli conflict… --Kristine McNeil, The Nation, 11/11/02

How about this:

Israel needs to take more active steps...Bury suicide bombers in potter's fields rather than deliver their bodies to relatives (who turn their funerals into frenzied demonstrations)…Permit no transportation of people or goods beyond basic necessities. Shut off utilities to the PA...Raze the PA's illegal offices in Jerusalem, its security infrastructure and villages from which attacks are launched. --The National Post, 7/18/01

Oh, and this:

As Danish politicians, we are offended by the way integration problems in Denmark were portrayed by Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard and we wish to set the record straight (Muslim Extremism: Denmark's had Enough, Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard, Aug. 27). The authors claim that 40% of Danish welfare expenses are consumed by Muslim immigrants…Muslim immigrants do not receive 40% of those allocations even though they represent a substantial part of the clients. The main reason being: It is hard to compete on a job market not interested in employing immigrants. The further assumption that more than half of all rapists in Denmark are Muslims is without any basis in fact, as criminal registers do not record religion. NOTE: In the article referenced above, Daniel Pipes smears the Muslim community in Denmark with several accusations eerily similar to those leveled against the Jewish community in Europe by anti-Semitic propagandists prior to World War II. These include: 1) being parasites on the society, 2) being disproportionately engaged in criminal behavior, 3) having "unacceptable" customs, 4) seeking to take over the country, and 5) sexual aggression against women in the dominant culture. --Elisabeth Arnold and Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, National Post, 9/6/02

This:

"The Palestinians are a miserable people...and they deserve to be." --Daniel Pipes, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July 2001


I have more...but it dawned on me that James is getting the better of this deal. It's obvious that he is a Pipes apologist. Nothing I provide here will change his mind. One has to wonder if James is a member of Campus Watch, a website crusade that claims to expose subversive teachers in America. Gadzooks...shades of McCarthy. The other thing about CampusWatch that is so egregious...it solicits students to spy on their teachers.

So anyway, James, do your own work. But, thanks for visiting.