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Minarets in CH and Israel

Monday, December 7 2009 By Simon.Hilber | 2 comments

The Swiss voted. Minarets are now forbidden in Switzerland. The logic behind banning those minarets is, that they are seen as an imperialistic symbol of Islam. If Islam means surrender or submit – those minarets are seen as a sign that the country is already surrendering or at least should do so according to the Muslims. Sadly of course this kind of understanding of minarets is exactly the same as the understanding by the Islamists. The Swiss people decided by this vote that they agree with the interpretation of the Islamists and not the one of moderate Muslims.

On a different level than the obvious: that the decision mirrors a xenophobic sentiment, that banning minarets might constitute an undue limitation of freedom of religion, the real issue is, that this decision overshadows the real problems of Swiss-Islamic relations. The very same state that makes deals with Iran, that has its Foreign Minister wear a head scarf abroad to bewitch senile Muftis, the same country that succumbs to pressure of the likes of madman Gaddafi, now makes this useless and purely symbolic policy, while doing nothing to fight the worst Islamists. On the contrary: it tries to do them nice. Banning minarets wont help the real problems of Muslim integration into Swiss society: suppression of women, “honour” killings, petty crime, etc.

From an Israeli perspective this vote must seem quite absurd, I imagine. European-Islamic relations still seem to be in an infantile state. The Swiss Muslim population consists of merely 6 % of the whole population – compared to 20% in Israel. What did the Swiss Muslim do? They do not constitute an demographic threat. They surely did not wage half a dozen wars or intifadas on Swiss Christians, there were no suicide bombings in Zurich or Bern, not even stabbings. I also do not know of burning cars like in France.

In Israel nobody would think of such policies. If anything one might say that Israel has been extremely lenient. The administration of the holiest place for Jews, the Temple Mount, has been handed over to the Muslim Waqf, mosques inside Israel have been preserved, even when the Muslim population left (as after the 1948/49 war), new mosques are being built “every day”, naturally with a minaret, naturally with a call of prayers, and naturally with green lights on their top, making them visible from afar. Islamists like Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, can exercise their right of expression at will, even if it clearly constitutes hate speech.

There are some things European states might be able to learn from Israel: The disillusioned, matter-of-fact integration of a very large minority, which does not share the same religious and cultural values, might (despite all its flaws) be such an example. The incorporation of sharia law in questions of marital law is heatedly discussed in Europe, while a similar concept is not alien to the Israeli legal system, since a long time. Again it would be playing into the Islamists hands if one would regard Sharia as a law that only can mean chopping peoples’ hands off and suppressing women. Israel shows how Islamic legal traditions can be reconciled and interlaced with a modern and enlightened system.

Minarets are not a problem, Sharia is not necessarily a problem. The Swiss people were ill-advised to ban minarets. They should rather make sure that they know exactly what happens inside the mosques. They should make sure that moderate ideas become prevalent, they should make sure that Wahabi or Khomeinist Islam is not tought to adults and children alike. And they should make sure that their leaders abstain from signing lucrative gas deals with petty and cruel Iranian dictators, who suppress and murder their own people and have wet dreams of genocide. This is what really counts.

The power of music. A bridge between cultures

Saturday, November 21 2009 By Dani | no comment

Last week, Kurt Masur conducted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, playing what he is famous for: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Having visited the concert was an experience in many respects. The orchestra has a very special vibe, as does the audience, which comes dressed very casually - in jeans and sneakers. But much more than this, it is impressive to see how the 82 years old German conductor received standing ovations from an Israeli audience in Jerusalem; certainly also for him, with his very own, at times controversial, at times moving life story. Kurt Masur played an important role in the peaceful demonstrations in East Germany, which eventually lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall – an event just celebrated several days ago. Having been part of history, the German guest conductor fits quite well into the moving past and present of the orchestra. In 1936, Toscanini conducted the first concert of the newly founded Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra. Having escaped from fascism in Italy, the Maestro led an orchestra which represented a new home for Jewish musicians who had to leave their European orchestras in this dark time of European history. “I am doing this for humanity,” said Toscanini, and set the tones for the young orchestra, whose path was and is deeply intertwined with the history of Israel. After the State of Israel was declared, the orchestra was renamed Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Leonard Bernstein, not so famous yet, conducted the orchestra in Beer Sheva, while Egyptian forces left the land. One of his most moving concerts with the orchestra reportedly was the playing of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony in the amphitheatre on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, shortly after the Israelis had captured Jerusalem during the Six Day War. During the war, also Zubin Mehta arrived in Israel to substitute for the conductor Erich Leinsdorf, who had fled the country. Mehta became the orchestra most intimate conductor. He led the orchestra’s first performance in Berlin in 1971 – after huge internal discussions, if playing in Berlin was appropriate or not. Having decided to go to Germany, however, they were received enthusiastically and proudly played the Israeli national anthem there. In 1977, in the “Good Fence” concert, Zubin Mehta conducted the orchestra at the Lebanese-Israeli border with audience on both sides of the fence. In the wake of the Oslo Accords, he led a concert for 500 young Israelis and Palestinians in the YMCA in Jerusalem playing Beethoven’s 7th symphony. For his peace initiatives, Zubin Mehta was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Peace and Tolerance Award of the UN. He believes in the power of music to bridge cultures and conflicts. He shares this message with many musicians, most importantly Daniel Barenboim (Mehta was Barenboim’s best man at his wedding in 1967). Together with Edward Said, Barenboim initiated the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra of Jewish and Arab musicians. For Barenboim, music has a universal language and, contrary to words, no limited associations. This, maybe, is what Beethoven meant, when he said that “music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.”

The Hebrew University from a European student's perspective

Sunday, October 25 2009 By Dani | 2 comments

The Hebrew University starts at my bus stop in Jerusalem’s neighborhood of Rehavya. At 7.30 in the morning, I stand there and wait for my bus – doing my Italian homework, as Italian class starts at 8.30. Many other students come and join, pulling out papers on Foucault, on history of art or statistics. When the bus comes – usually late – it is already quite full and becomes totally overcrowded on the thirty to forty minutes trip to the university. Actually, the bus becomes so overcrowded that it starts to skip bus stops with angry students knocking at its doors.

After passing the walls of the old city and neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, we finally arrive at the university, which still looks to me like a stronghold from the outside. There it stands – on the top of Mount Scopus with a beautiful outlook on the city of Jerusalem; it almost seems inaccessible. This impression, however, changes, as soon as you enter the lively and welcoming campus. The architecture of the campus is surrounded by myths. Two friends of mine once discussed if it is organized like an Arab market, where you can easily hide from the noise of the main corridors in the peaceful little “backyards”, or if it is organized like honeycombs, with the different faculties being centers around which the combs are organized. Fact is that it is quite hard to actually find your classrooms in the university, but that you can find “hidden” places with amazing outlooks over the city.

I am a Ph.D. student in the International Relations Department and from my experiences the Hebrew University seems to me a more German university than the German universities from which I received my degrees. Teaching and academic discourse are strongly influenced by (German) philosophy and also the bureaucracy seems quite German to me. This is certainly due to the Hebrew University’s German heritage – the founding fathers included Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud and Martin Buber. However, in recent years, the university has changed to a more American direction and stands at a crossroads (comparable to the European universities after the Bologna process), which especially affects fields like the humanities, where reforms led to critique, intensive discussions and even strikes.

The academic level of teaching and research is high and the university was internationally ranked on place 65 in 2008. As a foreign student, you can choose to study at the departments of the Hebrew University, if your Hebrew is good enough (level 4 of 6), as all courses are taught in Hebrew. Alternatively, you can study at the Rothberg School, where courses are mainly taught in English, most of them by lecturers and professors of the Hebrew University. There, you study with many Americans, but also some Asians, Africans and Europeans – most of them actually Germans. Many students from abroad combine their studies with voluntary work for local grassroots organizations in the areas of human rights, water rights, women rights, Israeli-Palestinian encounters, or socio-economic development.

In Jerusalem, you cannot escape the realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But at the Hebrew University, you have a refuge from the often very conservative views of Jerusalemites. Here, paradigms are questioned and discussed and you can find almost any kind of opinion.

Battling Israeli-Palestinian Animosity With Words

Sunday, September 27 2009 By Desert Dweller | no comment

16 young Israelis and Palestinians met last month for a 5-day seminar of dialogue in Aqaba, Jordan ■ What began in suspicion and hostility ended in an exchange of e-mail addresses – and an agreement that there’s a long, hard way ahead for both sides

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