Daily Minyan

For the past many months an Iranian man (I’ll call him Mahmud) has been writing to me about Israel, Jews, Judaism, Islam, his country and the rest of the Muslim world. Our dialog has been a mix of friendliness and hostility.

This morning, after a long hiatus and no doubt prompted by the events in Israel, he wrote the following to me (I corrected the typos and some grammar to make his words more comprehensible):

I am glad my country [Iran] does not recognize Israel. I hope we never recognize Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu is a dirty pig.  Also, Israel is tiny country but it is dangerous to the world. It is a cancer should be removed. I used the Bible as toilet paper. God gives those lands to Jews… haha. Change New Jersey name to Israel, and migrate Jews there.

I wrote the following in reply:

Mahmud, my friend, it doesn’t matter to me that the billions of enemies of the Jewish people do not recognize their country. Israel will do what it must to destroy the bloodthirsty Hamas cowards who are hiding behind their own women and children, evil men who are storing and shooting rockets from schools and residential homes. The blood is on their own hands.

Why is all of the Muslim world so backward, full of dictators, so oppressive to their own people? What advanced technology has the Islamic world developed in the last 200 years that has benefited the world? What do Islamic countries produce, other than oil, most of which is pumped out by Western companies, that the world needs? Nothing. They should be ashamed of themselves, instead of blaming the tiny Israel for all their pathetic backwardness. The poorest country in Europe, Spain, makes more money each year than ALL of the Muslim nations put together. Who is providing nuclear technology for Iran? Russia! But Muslim nations are good at being angry and blaming others for what they caused themselves.

Israel is not a cancer – a cancer was already in the brain of the Islamic world. Israel is an excuse, because the Islamic world looks at Israel’s success, at Israel’s technology, at Israel’s army, that six million Jews can hold back a billion Muslims, and they are envious and feel humiliated.

Also, I don’t remember getting email from you condemning Syria for killing 200,000 of their own Muslim people, countless women and children, cutting off people’s heads. Let me guess – this too is Israel’s fault?

Be well,

Gene