"I want to rule out any question of euthanasia.... We Muslims do not accept euthanasia."
-- Palestinian "Foreign Minister" Nabil Shaath, dismissing reports that switching off Arafat's life support was under consideration.
Instead, in accordance with accepted Muslim practice, Arafat will be returned to Jerusalem, where he will be loaded onto a bus and detonated....
2 comments:
While it would be a fitting end for the man who fanned the flames of terrorism, let's not kid ourselves. No matter what it seems like, blowing themselves up is not the Occupied Territories Pastime, and we shouldn't make it sound like that even if that was a joke.
Searcher,
I appreciate your desire for integrity, even when making a joke. Clearly not all Palestinians are terrorists, though unfortunately a very high percentage of them do support such behavior. But my posting wasn't meant to imply anything about that at all.
I was commenting on the irony of Sha'ath referring to Muslim religious law (sharia), which bans "mercy killing" of the terminally ill - while Islamic movements lead the way in targeting and killing Israeli civilians, claiming legitimacy from Muslim law. I suspect that many of the same Islamic clerics who reject euthanasia would indeed approve of Arafat blowing himself up to kill Israelis.
(See this summary of Muslim debate on the issue.).
Post a Comment