SEPTIC SEPTA

With Pesach soon upon us, it quite apparent that maror will place a distant second when it comes to bitter taste. The bitter taste of maror has been outdone by the poorest of taste of a pro-Israel group that purchased advertising space on SEPTA (South East Pennsylvania Transit Authority) buses serving residents of Philadelphia. The ad features a 1941 photograph of “Der Fuhrer” together with Hajj al-Husseini, a Palestinian Arab nationalist who spoke Adolph’s language, in that nothing would have made him happier than the entire Middle East being Judenrein. The caption on the ad which will appear on the side of 84 buses was proposed by the American Freedom Defense Initiative. It will read Jew Hatred: it’s in the Quran
Poorest of tastes! Jews respond to hurtful and hateful rhetoric; Jews don’t initiate it. While the chances of bringing Meshuggeneh Muslims up to our level of mentschlechkeit are nil at best, why must we Jews sink to Meshuggeneh Muslim level of depravity? Jew hatred: it’s in the Quran. “Absolutely!” And Jews murdering innocent Christian children so that they can use their blood to bake matzah, is in the Talmud. At least that’s what Christian anti-Semites have charged us with in previous centuries. Don’t we have enough of a headache trying to deal with non-Jewish kooks? The last thing we need is to have to deal with Jewish kooks as well.
Poorest of tastes! By my own admission, my knowledge of the Quran is very limited. However, one thing I can guarantee. If the Quran so much as intimated anything that smacked of anti-Semitism, we Jews would have been up in arms. Please remember, when it comes to detecting anti-Semitism, hypersensitive doesn’t even come close to describing how our anti-Semiteometers are calibrated. More important however, those who read from the Five Books of Moses should think twice before casting aspersions at the Quran. It doesn’t take very much for a Muslim to come back at us with double barrels (and I don’t mean Texas Tea) quoting from the Torah what HaShem says about eradicating the seven Canaanite nations. The leadership of the American Defense Initiative must have gone soft in the head.
Poorest of tastes. Jews, even fanatic Jews can take a ribbing; Muslims, especially fanatic Muslims can’t. When someone disrespects the Quran, or when Muslim fanatics perceive that someone disrespects the Quran, heads roll- in the most literal sense. Quite frankly, the standard argument defending freedom of speech has been relegated to morons. Few, if any would advance such an argument when speaking with someone strapped with explosives. Few, if any would deny that Muslim extremists are not only strapped with explosives, but look for an excuse, any excuse at all to detonate those explosives. It’s as though the credo of a Muslim extemist is: a day without carnage is a day without hope.
And so, I turn to those behind the Hitler- Husseini ad that should never have been accepted by SEPTA, and I ask: What in the world were you thinking. The next time you want to run an ad that makes a powerful statement about Muslim murderers, you might want to depict Mohammed in anguish, wringing his hands while bemoaning the murderous fanaticism of Meshuggeneh Muslims. Mohammed would be crying out: Look what they’ve done to my Quran!