Mumbai

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=rHeB81BbuYU

http://www.steynonline.com/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,33/

WHO'S VULNERABLE?
Steyn on the World > Saturday, 13 December 2008

Shortly after the London Tube bombings in 2005, a reader of Tim Blair, the> Sydney Daily Telegraph's columnar wag, sent him a note-perfect parody of a> typical newspaper headline: "British Muslims Fear Repercussions Over> Tomorrow's Train Bombing."> > Indeed. And so it goes. This time round - Bombay - it was the Associated> Press that filed a story about how Muslims "found themselves on the> defensive once again about bloodshed linked to their religion."> > Oh, I don't know about that. In fact, you'd be hard pressed from most news> reports to figure out the bloodshed was "linked" to any religion, least of> all one beginning with "I-" and ending in "-slam." In the three years since> those British bombings, the media have more or less entirely abandoned the> offending formulations - "Islamic terrorists," "Muslim extremists" - and by> the time of the assault on Bombay found it easier just to call the alleged> perpetrators "militants" or "gunmen" or "teenage gunmen," as in the opening> line of this report in the Australian: "An Adelaide woman in India for her> wedding is lucky to be alive after teenage gunmen ran amok." > > Kids today, eh? Always running amok in an aimless fashion.> > The veteran British TV anchor Jon Snow, on the other hand, opted for the> more cryptic locution "practitioners." "Practitioners" of what, exactly?> > Hard to say. And getting harder. Tom Gross produced a jaw-dropping round-up> of Bombay media coverage: The discovery that, for the first time in an> Indian terrorist atrocity, Jews had been attacked, tortured, and killed> produced from the New York Times a serene befuddlement: "It is not known if> the Jewish center was strategically chosen, or if it was an accidental> hostage scene."> > Hmm. Greater Bombay forms one of the world's five biggest cities. It has a> population of nearly 20 million. But only one Jewish center, located in a> building that gives no external clue as to the bounty waiting therein. An> "accidental hostage scene" that one of the "practitioners" just happened to> stumble upon? "I must be the luckiest jihadist in town. What are the odds?"> > Meanwhile, the New Age guru Deepak Chopra laid all the blame on American> foreign policy for "going after the wrong people" and inflaming moderates,> and "that inflammation then gets organized and appears as this disaster in> Bombay."> > Really? The inflammation just "appears"? Like a bad pimple? The "fairer" we> get to the, ah, inflamed militant practitioners, the unfairer we get to> everyone else. At the Chabad House, the murdered Jews were described in> almost all the Western media as "ultra-Orthodox," "ultra-" in this instance> being less a term of theological precision than a generalized code for> "strange, weird people, nothing against them personally, but they probably> shouldn't have been over there in the first place." Are they stranger or> weirder than their killers? Two "inflamed moderates" entered the Chabad> House, shouted "Allahu Akbar!," tortured the Jews and murdered them,> including the young Rabbi's pregnant wife. Their two-year-old child escaped> because of a quick-witted (non-Jewish) nanny who hid in a closet and then,> risking being mown down by machine-gun fire, ran with him to safety.> > The Times was being silly in suggesting this was just an "accidental"> hostage opportunity - and not just because, when Muslim terrorists capture> Jews, it's not a hostage situation, it's a mass murder-in-waiting. The sole> surviving "militant" revealed that the Jewish center had been targeted a> year in advance. The 28-year-old rabbi was Gavriel Holtzberg. His pregnant> wife was Rivka Holtzberg. Their orphaned son is Moshe Holtzberg, and his> brave nanny is Sandra Samuels. Remember their names, not because they're any> more important than the Indians, Britons, and Americans targeted in the> attack on Bombay, but because they are an especially revealing glimpse into> the pathologies of the perpetrators.> > In a well-planned attack on iconic Bombay landmarks symbolizing great power> and wealth, the "militants" nevertheless found time to divert 20 percent of> their manpower to torturing and killing a handful of obscure Jews helping> the city's poor in a nondescript building. If they were just "teenage> gunmen" or "militants" in the cause of Kashmir, engaged in a more or less> conventional territorial dispute with India, why kill the only rabbi in> Bombay? Dennis Prager got to the absurdity of it when he invited his readers> to imagine Basque separatists attacking Madrid: "Would the terrorists take> time out to murder all those in the Madrid Chabad House? The idea is> ludicrous."> > And yet we take it for granted that Pakistani "militants" in a long-running> border dispute with India would take time out of their hectic schedule to> kill Jews. In going to ever more baroque lengths to avoid saying "Islamic"> or "Muslim" or "terrorist," we have somehow managed to internalize the> pathologies of these men.> > We are enjoined to be "understanding," and we're doing our best. A> Minnesotan suicide bomber (now there's a phrase) originally from Somalia> returned to the old country and blew up himself and 29 other people last> October. His family prevailed upon your government to have his parts (or as> many of them as could be sifted from the debris) returned to the United> States at taxpayer expense and buried in Burnsville Cemetery. Well, hey, in> the current climate, what's the big deal about a federal bailout of jihad> operational expenses? If that's not "too big to fail," what is?> > Last week, a Canadian critic reprimanded me for failing to understand that> Muslims feel "vulnerable." Au contraire, they project tremendous cultural> confidence, as well they might: They're the world's fastest-growing> population. A prominent British Muslim announced the other day that, when> the United Kingdom becomes a Muslim state, non-Muslims will be required to> wear insignia identifying them as infidels. If he's feeling "vulnerable,"> he's doing a terrific job of covering it up.> > We are told that the "vast majority" of the 1.6-1.8 billion Muslims (in> Deepak Chopra's estimate) are "moderate." Maybe so, but they're also quiet.> And, as the AIDs activists used to say, "Silence=Acceptance." It equals> acceptance of the things done in the name of their faith. Rabbi Holtzberg> was not murdered because of a territorial dispute over Kashmir or because of> Bush's foreign policy. He was murdered in the name of Islam - "Allahu> Akbar."> > I wrote in my book, America Alone, that "reforming" Islam is something only> Muslims can do. But they show very little sign of being interested in doing> it, and the rest of us are inclined to accept that. Spread a rumor that a> Koran got flushed down the can at Gitmo, and there'll be rioting throughout> the Muslim world. Publish some dull cartoons in a minor Danish newspaper,> and there'll be protests around the planet. But slaughter the young pregnant> wife of a rabbi in Bombay in the name of Allah, and that's just business as> usual. And, if it is somehow "understandable" that for the first time in> history it's no longer safe for a Jew to live in India, then we are greasing> the skids for a very slippery slope. Muslims, the AP headline informs us,> "worry about image." Not enough. > The Orange County Register, December 2008