We must say nothing about Israeli provocations in recent weeks on the Esplanade of the Mosques. We must say nothing about the physical and verbal aggressions of the arrogant settlers. We must say nothing about the daily humiliation of children, women and Palestinian men. We must say nothing about the climate of repression and hatred nurtured by the Israeli government for decades, which is the true historical reason of violence and death.
We must say nothing. What is expected from us is to condemn the expression of despair of the victims. “Condemn if you are a true moderate! ” And here we are, following the followers, condemning the attack against the synagogue … and we would have to remain quiet then, having delivered our accomplished duty of civility?
For I do not want to die a coward, I condemn in the same breath, and firmly, the hypocrisy of the international community, these Western, Arab or Israeli leaders and politicians who silently accept the humiliation of an entire population, the destruction of homes, illegal colonization and the death of Palestinian civilians. The rabbis’ blood, yesterday, as the blood of so many Palestinians for decades, is tainting your hands in the same way as those dirty hands… belonging to the passive accomplices of atrocities throughout history.
You can condemn, of course, but do so in front of a mirror.
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Professor Tariq Ramadan is a man of no need to introduction. He holds MA in Philosophy and French literature and PhD in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Geneva. In Cairo, Egypt he received one-on-one intensive training in classic Islamic scholarship from Al-Azhar University scholars. Tariq Ramadan is Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University (Oriental Institute, St Antony’s College ). He is also teaching at the Faculty of Theology at Oxford. He is at the same time a Visiting Professor in Qatar (Faculty of Islamic Studies) and in Morocco (Mundiapolis) and a Senior Research Fellow at Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan).[/symple_box]
