Bill Maher just hosted Mona Eltahawy to talk about the Egyptian Revolution. I knew Bill was anti-religion, but I didn't expect him to blow off the entire situation because of a few innaccurate facts on Islam. Mona handled it like a pro, and by the end I wondered if it was all an act, like he was playing a bigot to make her look good...
Sources say...no. Here is "Bill Maher on Islam," telling Anderson Cooper, yes Islam is a religion of peace. They blow you up, there's a piece of you here, a piece of you there...
He does step back and look at the bigger picture. Islam is different from Christianity because it's a younger religion. But he makes no mention of dictatorships, colonialism and occupation. How do you look at extremism in the Middle East and not connect it with history?
I always liked Real Time, watching Maher fight it out with the panel. He provoked great discussion on domestic issues like health care. In Mona's interview you can see he prides himself on being the opposite of Fox News. In many ways, yes, but he's just as racist. I would use the word Islamophobic except he lumps Arab Christians in there too...
Today on Fox News:
Mike Huckabee was giving an interview to an Israeli general. After talking for a bit about how Israel's moderate southern buffer of Egypt is being compromised, Huckabee said the Muslim Brotherhood has always been about taking total control, that they were just "bad people." The general echoed this sentiment by saying that without a secure border between Gaza and Egypt there will be more opportunity for the "bad guys" to communicate.
So this is what we're up against. The toxic alliance between American and Israeli neocons that believes their security is all that matters. The Egyptians will have to transition their government based on OUR needs because we need to be able to sleep at night without worrying that the Muslims are coming to get us.
Jerusalem Post-We Know that Netanyahu Can't Sleep Now
Note the comments-JPost never disappoints.
Yes, if Egyptians gain a representative democracy, the 1979 peace treaty will Israel will be reviewed. The southern buffer will indeed fall. Israeli presence in the Sinai will be challenged, and the occupation of Palestine won't escape either. Question is, how long will this transition take? I want to brush off the neocon talk and say it doesn't matter what anything else thinks, that the Egyptian people have spoken and they won't take anything less than full regime change. I'm just afraid that outside meddling is going to drag this thing on for far too long.
