Category Archives: Interfaith

you’d better watch out, you’d better beware… netanyahu’s coming to town!

By bananabrain | Published: August 19, 2009

the jewish chronicle has asked prominent british jews – i would say, in fact, representatives of most streams of opinion – what they would say  if they had a chance to speak to everyone’s favourite prime minister when he arrives in the UK at the end of the month. you’ll find the variety of opinions on display quite interesting considering who they’ve chosen to ask. there are many different party lines here; one can hardly say that british jewry speaks with one voice. on the whole i think that’s probably a good thing, because if it did, it would probably be the voice of vanessa feltz, whose views, i would say, are alarmingly representative of your average community member.  also interesting is the evidence that uri geller has equally good political judgement as he does socially.

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Also posted in International Affairs, Israel/Palestine | Tagged | 1 Response

the narrative has two sides

By bananabrain | Published: August 13, 2009

as, generally speaking, genuine cross-green-line dialogue encounters are quite rare in israel and palestine i just thought i’d cross-post to this blog on the haaretz “makom” site by a friend of mine, rabbi gideon sylvester, on his recent visit to bethlehem.

Our first stop was just a stone’s throw from a Yeshiva where I studied. But, like most Palestinian towns and villages it is served by roads that Israelis don’t travel on, so although for years I have driven past it on a daily basis, I was totally unaware of its existence.

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Also posted in Activism, Israel/Palestine | 4 Responses

How about jeans and a top?

By Houriya | Published: August 3, 2009

Three women, two police constables and one community support officer decided to wear full face veiled burkhas and other ‘Muslim women’s clothing’ in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, as part of an effort to understand ‘diversity’ in a police initiative titled ‘In your shoes’. The three went out shopping to feel how it was to be a Muslim woman.

In describing her experience, Sergeant Deb Leonard said:

I have gained an appreciation and understanding of what Muslim females experience when they walk out in public in clothing appropriate to their beliefs.

We are keen to gain a better understanding of issues which our communities face.

Why doesn’t she and her colleagues start walking out in jeans and a t-shirt to also experience what other Muslim women feel when they walk out in public in clothing appropriate to their beliefs!

A South Yorkshire Police in-house magazine said:

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Posted in Interfaith | Tagged , , | 3 Responses

Islamist Doublespeak Part II: Misrepresenting the Divine Word Itself

By bananabrain | Published: July 20, 2009

we’ve already seen in my last piece how islamists manage to pervert the Quran’s open-minded approach to the other abrahamic religions:

the only true followers of Moses [pbuh], are the Muslims, for it is part of moses religion [and the religion of all other prophets] to accept the latest Messenger and revelation; that is why Muslims are considered to be the followers of all the Prophets.

it also appears that the last piece upset some of our local islamist trolls.

good.

anyway, what i’m going to take a look at now is the assumption i noted in the previous piece, namely that “the jews” possess a “corrupt” verion of the Torah and that, as a result, we have drifted away from the “original religion” of every prophet from adam to abraham – which was, of course, “islam”. there are four components to this idea, namely:

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Also posted in Exegesis, Islamism | Tagged , , | 6 Responses

Islamist Doublespeak and the “People of the Book”

By bananabrain | Published: June 25, 2009

just to introduce myself and give a bit of context, for those who haven’t come across me before. i am what you might call a “grassroots activist” particularly with regard to interfaith dialogue activities. i’m a traditionally observant jew (although i wasn’t always observant), from a sephardi/indian/baghdadi background, although i have a pretty wide acquaintance across the jewish community from the secularist ultra-left to the religious ultra-right. i don’t speak for anyone but myself and i do not hold a brief for any community or political organisation. although i’d describe myself as a “religious zionist”, that probably doesn’t mean what you think it means (i’m also a supporter of palestinian self-determination) but that’s a discussion for another day.

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Also posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 15 Responses

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