UPDATE: Jonathan Curiel of the San Francisco Chronicle interviews Pierre Rehov, director of the controversial new documentary "Suicide Killers," which explores the Palestinian militant death wish.

Rehov interviews Palestinians imprisoned for trying to detonate suicide bombs and concludes they're influenced by a religious culture that represses sexual desires and channels the resulting frustration into homicidal rage....The question of what motivates some Palestinians to strap on explosives and try to kill Israeli citizens has been debated intensively in the past five years, while a string of attacks has resulted in the deaths of 1,000 Israelis. ...The Chronicle interviewed Rehov by phone from his home in Paris. Here are excerpts:

.....Q: You interview Palestinians in Israeli jails who tried to detonate suicide bombs or who abetted would-be attacks. Only one of them seems to regret what he tried to do. Did this surprise you?

A: Every single one of them tried to convince me it was the right thing to do for moralistic reasons....Every one of them said that all our behaviors on Earth are impure, and they were trying to reach purity. They said they were "invaded" by Israeli culture. When they turn on the television, they see half-naked dancers. They were offended by that. They wanted me to understand that all this was forbidden on Earth, but if you did something great for God -- like blowing yourself up and killing a bunch of innocent Israelis because they are Jews and don't believe the same thing you believe -- you end up being forgiven for all of your sins and will go to heaven and find 72 virgins waiting for you.

Rehov also remarks:

I travel a lot in Arab countries. Palestinians live much better, even under occupation, than most Arabs do. If you want to talk about real misery in the Muslim world, go to Libya, or go even to the suburbs of Cairo -- then you'll see real misery. Palestinians in the streets of Jenin are complaining about occupation, but they are complaining about it on a cell phone. (Also) the ones who blow themselves up, when they talk about occupation, Tel Aviv is occupation.

Rehov offers insight into broader problems facing Islam in modernity.

Q: Until you were 9, you were raised in Algeria. Why have you said that Muslim culture is in crisis?

A: To make it simple, I witnessed the culture for many, many years. I used to go on vacation in Morocco and Tunisia. Lately, I went back to Algeria for the first time in 40 years. I was born in this culture. I was used to being surrounded by Arabs and by Muslims. I feel very comfortable when I'm with them. I have no problem at all. It's a very warm civilization where solidarity is at a very high level. There's a lot of good aspects about Islam.

Unfortunately, what is going on right now is that Islam itself was not capable of going to the 21st century. Islam didn't have its enlightenment, didn't (lead to) new technologies, didn't participate in the modern world. I'm not saying the modern world is good or bad. Islam didn't participate in the modern world for many reasons, one of them being the level of corruption of the (political) leaders in Islam. In order to stay in place, they promoted for decades this theory that the West, especially Israel, is responsible for all the misery of their people. I don't recognize the Islam of my childhood. I don't recognize the Islam of my vacations 25 years ago to south Morocco, where there is a lot of poverty and where people consider Islam as a very generous and nonviolent religion.

The longer that Western apologists brandish the gospel of "multiculturalism" to excuse the heinous aims and practices of the Islamists, the deeper into the abyss our world sinks. Here is what I would like to know: what are the actual texts used in Islamic schools in the United States, in Seattle? Can I be assured there is no Wahhabist influence, anywhere? If not, where does it exist and to what extent? Let's clear the air, to everyone's benefit. What are the actual, truthful translations of the discourses by Islamic religious leaders given in American mosques? What, if anything, is said about Jews, Judaism, and Israel in these Arabic-language discourses? Like, one posted on the Web site of the Islamic Center of The Eastside on the topic: "Claims By The Kuffar That The Prophet PBUH Fabricated The Quraan." (MP3 file here). "Kuffar" is the Arabic word used to denote those who do not follow the religion of Islam. A common usage is "dirty kuffar", one prominent example being this jihadist music video. The term is roughly equivalent to the Christian denotation of "the heathen." I find it both offensive and worrisome. The division of people into camps of "believers" and "unbelievers" by adherents of any religion is inimical to the concepts of "diversity" and "tolerance" that multiculturalists are so quick to espouse when it suits them.

Any bona-fide translators are urged to send me a transcript of the above-linked MP3 file, at the e-mail address listed on my main page under "Contact." Perhaps - and hopefully - this recorded discourse will prove utterly harmless. Yet if we are to worry about "hate speech" directed toward minorities, we must also root out the marginalization of "unbelievers," a loaded phrase under any circumstances. People should be judged on the basis of how they live their lives, how they realize their own potential, treat others, and regard the world and communities in which they live. They should not in any way be judged by the religion - if any - to which they swear allegiance. How sad that this needs to be said to anyone, including some of those newer arrivals to the U.S. who enjoy the great freedoms our nation grants - and which their lands of origin did not.

TECHNORATI TAGS: PIERRE REHOV, SUICIDE KILLERS, DOCUMENTARY, PALESTINE, ISRAEL, ISLAMISM, KUFFAR

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at October 26, 2006 04:09 PM

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