Israel Matzav

Obama's anti-Semitism envoy fights... Islamophobia?

When last we left Hannah Rosenthal, President Obama's 'Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism,' she was attacking Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, for refusing to meet with her former colleagues at J Street.

Earlier this week, Rosenthal spoke at the OSCE High-Level Conference on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination. But in an age when Jews are fleeing Europe in fear, Rosenthal did not have a word to say about anti-Semitism. All she could talk about was 'Islamophobia' (Hat Tip: Atlas Shrugs).

Mr. Moderator,

As the United States government’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, I would like to thank the OSCE and the government of Kazakhstan for hosting this conference and bringing attention to these important issues.

We welcome the opportunity to speak here today, as the problem of intolerance and discrimination against Muslims is an issue across the OSCE region. The United States strongly supports combating all forms of discrimination and intolerance against Muslims and is taking efforts to build mutual respect between people of all faiths. The U.S. government works continuously to ensure that person of all faiths, including Muslims, can freely enjoy the fundamental freedom of religion. We raise these concerns with our Allies, partners, and others – both within the OSCE and without. The U.S. Government’s Annual Report on International Religious Freedom addresses these concerns in detail within the OSCE region and around the world.

In the OSCE region, for example, the free practice of Islam is severely constrained in different ways – from overt prejudices to non-support for structures that allow religious observance. In some participating States, Muslim communities have great difficulty operating mosques not controlled or sanctioned by the state, sometimes resulting in problematic penalties for this activity. In some states, in fact, one can’t even build a mosque. In some states, registration systems often disproportionately burden small Muslim religious communities, and some countries’ legal systems ban personal religious expression—restrictions which inevitably limit freedoms we all hold dear.

But I am not here today to name and shame. Rather, I would like to talk about how the United States has changed its entire framework for engagement with Muslim communities, and for the need to move beyond mere tolerance to partnerships based on mutual respect.

Just over one year ago in a speech in Cairo, President Obama articulated the United States’ commitment to a new relationship with Muslims around the world based on mutual respect, mutual interest, and mutual responsibility; a shared commitment to universal values; and comprehensive engagement with governments and people alike.

The President pledged that the United States would make a sustained effort to engage people, as well as governments, and to listen. Since then, our government has worked tirelessly to fulfill this Presidential priority. The United States has held thousands of events and town halls with students, civil society groups, faith leaders and entrepreneurs in the United States and around the world. Secretary Clinton and I have also held roundtables, webchats, "townterviews," and town hall meetings to engage people worldwide, with a particular focus on engaging the next generation of Muslims around the world. Our engagement at this people-to-people level is becoming a matter of course, and what we have heard has informed our policy.

We recognize that there is not one Muslim community, but rather many different communities, each with their own nuances. Thanks to the internet and new technologies, those communities are now more interconnected than ever before. As we learned in Denmark, what happens in Copenhagen affects what happens in Kabul.

We are using the strength of the U.S. government to be a facilitator among and an intellectual partner with Muslim communities. We are bringing people to the table who do not usually come to the table. In particular, we are trying to reach out to the 45% of the world’s population that is under 30 – the youth of our societies – to build lasting partnerships for the long-term. And we are identifying the best ideas and matching them with each other and the resources they need.

Fulfilling the President’s vision requires a long-term effort, and there remains much to be done. While our framework may have changed, the urgency of anti-Muslim discrimination and greater engagement with Muslims everywhere has not.

Read the whole thing.

This might not be so infuriating were it not for the fact that anti-Semitism is rampant worldwide, while 'Islamophobia' is an invention of the OIC and militant Islam, as is borne out by statistic after statistic.

Is anyone in Congress onto this?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:24 PM