Bartholomew's Notes

Here’s one I missed, from a month ago:

Israeli Member of Knesset Professor Arieh Eldad (National Union) unveiled plans today for Facing Jihad, a summit of European parliamentarians united against the threat of Islamic expansion.

The summit, to be chaired by MK Eldad at the Knesset – Israel’s parliament – in Jerusalem on December 14-15, 2008, will play host to some 30 European parliamentarians from Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K., who oppose Islamization as well as immigration policies that disrupt social cohesion.

…In addition to sessions expected to be led by European Parliamentarians and internationally renowned intellectuals, MK Eldad plans to hold a screening in the Knesset of Fitna, the controversial film by Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders about the reality of Islam. Mr. Wilders will also speak at the conference.

Wilders is, of course, an attention-seeking humbug who has nothing sensible to say about the problem of Islamic extremism – and like all demagogues, all he has to offer are absurd and unworkable authoritarian measures (such as banning the Koran) and some overheated rhetoric. The idea that “internationally renowned intellectuals” would have any use for him is laughable.

Eldad’s conference has a website, although the content looks rather thin; this is unsurprising, since the its entire purpose can be summed up in one sentence: “Muslims are evil, and to stop them taking over the world you should support Greater Israel and bring in some anti-Muslim legislation”. Plus it’s been done before anyway – Eldad probably got the idea from last year’s “Counterjihad Brussels” event, where he charmed Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs. The schedule consists mainly of vague discussions about “various pieces of legislation”, leading up to what promises to be a self-important and vacuous “Jerusalem Declaration” before the delegates move on to dinner. And there are no signs of any “internationally renowned intellectuals” – all we have are the inevitable Daniel Pipes and yet another ex-Muslim-turned-Christian polemist, by the name of Sam Solomon. A report from the Jerusalem Post adds the name of Baroness Cox (1).

Back in March, Eldad called for the execution of Israeli politicians who concede Israeli territory. Naturally, he was careful to clarify that “he intended only to act within the confines of the justice system”, but only an idiot would fail to recognise this as a call for political violence, and a return of the same kind of rhetoric that led to the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.

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(1) In recent years Cox has positioned herself as a champion of Christians facing persecution; those of us with longer memories will recall her 1980s meeting with Nicaraguan Contra leader Adolfo Calero, who had been brought to the UK by Jack Abramoff’s (South African-backed) International Freedom Foundation.

Name variation: Aryeh Eldad

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