afshad

You should hear me chant in Hebrew! Surah Ikhlas speaks to the one-ness of God, and it’s what I offer when I visit a mosque. It’s comparable in important ways to the Shema, one of the central prayers in Jewish liturgy, which also declares that God is one. In fact, the Hebrew word for one, “Echad,” is the same as the Arabic word, “Achad.” But here’s David Frum telling me to pipe down about it in a way that manages to be antisemitic and Islamophobic at the same time.

Hasan Piker says the designated terrorist organization Hamas is 1,000 times better than Israel. His statement outraged many — who now just want to write him off. That's a mistake. He has a massive audience and is emerging as one of the major voices of his generation. Those of us who disagree owe him — and his audience — a real argument. Here's mine … And my position doesn’t come from ignorance about oppression. For a big chunk of my life, I was a grassroots activist — because of the pain of my own people. During those years, I was lucky enough to learn from elders who had been in the Black Panther Party, in SNCC, in the ANC. These were people who had to choose whether to pick up the gun — and how to use it if they did. They taught me this: even in armed struggle, there are principles. No women. No children. No rapes. No kidnapping. Mandela held that line. Amílcar Cabral held that line. You don't become what you're fighting. Hamas fails that test. They are not fighting for MORE freedom for Palestinians. They're fighting for less. They want theocracy, not democracy. And their means? They don’t use principled armed struggle (hitting military targets). They use terrorism (targeting civilians). The vast majority of Americans — including those who sympathize with the Palestinian cause — reject terror tactics. Reasonable people would agree on three principles: secure homelands for both peoples; no hatred for Jews or Muslims; and protection for all civilians. Hamas’ approach undermines all three. That's the conversation Piker's audience deserves. Not name-calling.