A recent headline on Gawker.com - "Who is Alicia Colon
and Why is a Religion of Peace Trying to Kill Her?" - has
prompted an Albanian Muslim to send me an e-mail expressing
concern that I had received death threats for my columns
supporting Israel. I explained that the blog entry was satiric
and not to be taken seriously.
Whoever edits the Gawker site decided that I was overwrought
about Muslims in my community not rising up to condemn Islamic
terrorism, especially in light of a Staten Islander being
arrested for plotting to bomb our subway system. The site's entry
began as follows: "Remember the plot to murder Sun columnist
Alicia Colon? You don't? Well, it happened a couple years ago,
but, as the target, she hasn't forgotten." Who could blame
the Albanian for misunderstanding?
I explained to my correspondent that the threat was against all
New Yorkers, not me in particular, and that I wasn't taking it
personally. The point in my article was about the need for all
Muslims to express their outrage against terrorist activity done
in the name of Islam.
Once again, it is obvious that Staten Island has residents who
are sympathetic to known terrorist groups. Last week, Javel Iqbal
was arrested for allegedly giving a confidential informant
satellite TV access to al-Manar, Hezbollah's network. His
neighbors insist that Mr. Iqbal, a Palestinian businessman who's
a permanent American resident living on Staten Island, is just a
nice guy. Frankly, I'd be more interested in knowing about his
regular customers than whether he's a nice guy.
My e-mail writer, Mr. G., made a vigorous defense of all
Albanians. I learned more from him in a few paragraphs than I did
during 28 years of living next to my Albanian neighbors, who
never spoke about their religion. "Albanian Muslims have
nothing to do with what you call Islamic world therefore they can
not be picked as an example to illustrate your point," Mr.
G. wrote. "They are Albanian and European first, and …
very few of them still practice any religion at all. …
Albanians feel strongly that they were forced into converting to
Islam by 500 years of Ottoman rule … and never fully forgot
the Christian traditions."
From what I've observed among many of the Albanians who live on
Staten Island, this lack of religious fervor may be accurate.
While some local women wear headscarves, very few appear to
observe hijab - the traditional Muslim dress - and I've yet to
see a burkha. Nevertheless, to many outside the Muslim community,
silence on the subject of terrorism by any Muslim, moderate or
extremist, means acceptance.
Perhaps Mr. G, my neighbors, and the decent Palestinians and
non-jihadist Muslims do not like being identified with the
terrorists, but they aren't exactly holding rallies in the large
cities to demonstrate their objections. No, it's always the
anti-Israel, anti-Bush dingbats holding the demonstrations. A
"Stop the U.S.-Israeli War" rally was held in San
Francisco on August 12. It was one of several rallies held around
the country that day. "Nazi Kikes Out of Lebanon" read
one sign. Others were just obscene, but the most ridiculous was
the one that read:" If Hezbollah Hides among civilians, the
IDF have no choice - They must hold fire." Apparently,
Hezbollah can do no wrong with this crowd.
There is a bright sign, however, that some in Hollywood are
finally waking up to the true face of our enemy. Nearly 90
heavyweight stars, directors, and personalities took out a
full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times last week to protest
terrorism around the world.
The Hollywood heavyweights with their gray cells still intact
include: Michael Douglas, Dennis Hopper, Sylvester Stallone,
Bruce Willis, Danny De Vito, Don Johnson, James Woods, Kelly
Preston, Bernie Mac, Patricia Heaton, William Hurt, Gary Sinise,
Kelly Preston, and William Friedkin.
Now that Hollywood is facing reality, perhaps my Muslim neighbors
on Staten Island will take a stronger stand against the
terrorists in our midst. Hope springs eternal.