Tuesday, February 26, 2008

"Lebanese professor of politics, As'ad AbuKhalil, of the blog Angry Arab, offered criticism of Arab news coverage of Obama. He wrote, "Al-Jazeera is covering Obama as if he is the political equivalent of Muhammad Ali." AbuKhalil also mocked the Islamophobia surrounding Obama, including e-mail campaigns insinuating he is a Muslim or attended religious schools. He joked that "the Clinton attack machine will now claim that Sen. Obama has pledged to ask Mahmoud Ahmadinajad to be his running mate if he wins the nomination." He compared the hysteria about Obama's religious background to Nazi persecution of Jews. "This discussion of whether Obama was ever a Muslim is not different from Nazi discussion of the Jewish heritage of certain individuals.""
PS Here, the writer in this Turkish weekly misunderstood my last point. I would be insensitive to the victims of the Holocaust if I compare the prejudice regarding Obama's background to Nazi persecution of the Jews. I did not mean that. I meant that the discussion of Obama's background is similar to when present-day Nazis (or anti-Semites) discuss the background of a person to determine whether he/she is Jewish or not.