Cause of unrest: Oppressive Islamic law

Why aren’t the world’s leaders speaking out with expressions of strong support for the protesting masses?

By EARL COX
Earl Cox 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Earl Cox 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
While the Middle East smolders with demonstrations and uprisings by oppressed Arab Muslim peoples against their dictatorial and tyrannical leaders, I can’t help but wonder why the world’s leaders are not learning anything. Are they paying attention? Are they seeing and hearing anything clearly enough to change their minds? Why have there not been widespread comments, complaints and condemnations  as there always are whenever there is even the smallest upheaval about anything in Israel?
Instead, United Nations and European Union leaders have not said a thing. Why are they keeping their mouths shut? Are they so shocked that the alleged “peaceful religion” of Islam turned out to be so violent that they can’t talk? Is their pro-Arab and anti-Israel bias so strong that they can’t say anything?
How can the world rationalize the UN recently trying to pass a resolution condemning Israel for the construction of Jewish homes in East Jerusalem — when such unprecedented upheavals are erupting all across the Arab Muslim world? Is the UN blind and deaf?
After weeks of dissident uprisings across Arab Muslim countries, world leaders should have learned by now that the Islamic governments of the Middle East are anything but peaceful. The common people have seemed peaceful for decades and longer because they have feared to oppose their tyrannical Muslim dictators. They have feared to rise up against the oppressive Muslim laws.
But, all of a sudden, the dam broke, revealing a torrent of discontent across the Middle East. The proverbial “final straw that broke the camel’s back” is clear for all to see. It started with the people in Tunisia rebelling and rioting against their long-time, oppressive Muslim dictator. The people won their victory, overthrowing the dictator — and that encouraged the people in Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Algeria, Bahrain and Libya to do likewise. One Arab Muslim in Egypt expressed his dismay, saying, “Our leaders don’t care about us. We struggle and suffer every day and they don’t care. They get so much aid from so many sources, but none of it ever gets to where it helps us. We are tired of their unconcern.” He obviously expressed the view of all the protesters in all the rioting Middle Eastern countries.
Why aren’t the world’s leaders speaking out with expressions of strong support for the protesting masses? Are they so pro-Muslim that they don’t whether to side with the Muslim leaders or the Muslim masses? Are they trying to be careful not to offend one side or the other out of fear they’ll offend Islam?
The Obama Administration in the United States initially came out with support for Mubarak to remain in office in Egypt, but flip-flopped and supported the crowds when they succeeded in ousting their 30-year dictator. Now the US government says it is “cautiously optimistic” that all the uprisings will result in peace and stability in the Middle East. One official commented that it is “too soon to make judgments.”
Some analysts have claimed that the uprisings have not been anti-Islam but simply a quest for more liberties within Islam. Yet others argue that the lack of liberty has been the clear result of oppressive Islamic law and, therefore, Islam is the cause of all the unrest. In Egypt, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood claimed that the toppling of President Mubarak and his regime was driven primarily by a desire “to return Egypt to its Islamic roots, and not by a Western ideal of democracy.” He cited a poll taken in Egypt that allegedly showed 80 percent of the Egyptian people want to continue living under Muslim laws, but he did not explain what changes should, or could, be made. Certainly, Islamic ideas of human dignity, social justice and human rights are diametrically different from those in Israel and America. What does he think the people were rebelling against, if not the oppressive Muslim values in these areas?
With the uprisings still going on in several Arab Muslim countries, and with the Muslim ruling regimes still trying to crush the uprisings in some areas, this is obviously still a transition period. We do not know if, or where, the people or the regimes will win or lose. Even if the people win, I believe that nowhere will they enjoy the liberties and human rights as those of us do who live in Israel and the United States. I believe that it takes a strong foundation of Judeo-Christian values for a democracy to function and thrive. Islam will never provide such a foundation anywhere.
Whatever develops in these presently disturbed Arab Muslim countries, the people and the governments will still be Muslim; some to a greater degree than others but, nonetheless, still Muslim. Therefore, the people will never experience the freedoms and human rights that Israel and America so deeply appreciate and enjoy.
Can’t world leaders understand this?