Turkey's Jewish Islamists

From the Washington Post

A Turkish writer's creative -- and popular -- sequel to "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

By Mustafa Akyol
Sunday, October 7, 2007; B02

ISTANBUL -- Look in just about any bookstore in Turkey, and you'll see some strange bestsellers. The cover of "The Children of Moses," the first and most popular book in a series of four, shows the country's devoutly Muslim prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the middle of a six-pointed Star of David. Inside, you'll find a head-spinningly weird argument: that Erdogan and his conservative allies in Turkey's ruling pro-Islamic party are actually crypto-Jews with secret wicked ties to the conspiratorial forces of "global Zionism."

The books are hardly a fringe phenomenon. They're arrayed in chic bookstores along Istiklal Avenue, the funky pedestrian mall that's the heart of secular Istanbul. They're openly displayed alongside Orhan Pamuk novels at Ataturk International Airport. And they're even sold on tiny bookstands on the Princes' Islands, the vacation destinations in the Sea of Marmara that many well-off Turks view the way Manhattanites do the Hamptons. By the publishers' figures, they've sold about 520,000 copies since the books started rolling out this year -- a staggering figure for a nation of about 71 million people.

Of course, paranoid theories about Jewish conspiracies have never lacked for imagination. "International Jewry" has been blamed for destroying both czarist Russia and the Soviet Union, for cooking up both capitalism and communism. But dreaming up a conspiracy theory about a Zionist plot to create an Islamist state? That's a new one.

Continued...

Iranian Jews condemn Columbia University president

September 27, 2007

Tehran Times Political Desk

TEHRAN -- The Society of Iranian Jews here Wednesday issued a statement condemning Columbia University President Lee Bollinger’s insult to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad delivered a speech on Monday at New York’s Columbia University where the school’s president used disrespectful epithets in his introduction of the Iranian president.

The impolite behavior that was shown toward Iranian president proved that those who claim freedom of speech and democracy are only using these terms as a tool, the statement said.

Creating any kind of chaos and tension is in contrast with the Jewish ideology, and according to the teachings of Prophet Moses, the Jews believe in holding negotiations in a peaceful atmosphere, it added.

As the president is legally the representative of the Iranian nation, Iran’s Jews strongly condemn such misbehavior, the society said in the statement

High Holy Days for Jews and Muslims

High holy days for Jews and Muslims

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 - In an unusual convergence of liturgical calendars, Jews and Muslims will enter their holiest periods of the year within a day of each other.

Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year that begins a 10-day period of High Holy Days culminating with Yom Kippur, begins at sundown Wednesday.

The Islamic holy month of Ramadan begins Thursday. The two holy periods are rarely so close, because the beginning of Ramadan rotates throughout the year in accordance with the lunar calendar of Islam. Jews follow a modified lunar calendar that adds periodic leap months so festivals fall within several weeks of each other in specific seasons.

If the calendars often separate their observances, there are similarities in practices. Followers of both faiths will engage in periods of fasting, repentance and self-reflection. And these days are an opportunity for both Jewish and Muslim families to grow closer together in faith.