Saturday, June 28, 2008

""If you ask 70% of the Lebanese population, they would tell you that Iran is more of an enemy than Israel." Of course, this is not true. Public opinion surveys regularly and consistently--and across sects--indicate that Israel is seen as the biggest threat (along with the U.S.). This is also true in Sunni Muslim Arab countries. But don't you like it when Israeli newspapers make generalizations about Arabs and Muslims and then attribute them to "Sami" who lives in Beirut, or "Batata" who lives and eats in Baghdad, or "Abu Shoes" who lives in downtown Damascus. This is like Bernard Lewis in his book on the Middle East and the West (it used to be titled "Islam and the West" in previous editions) makes generalizations about the Arabs and then attribute them to a letter to the editor in a newspaper, and another to a Kuwaiti that he encountered while shopping--I kid you not. (thanks Electronic Ali)