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Health & Fitness

Green Party Candidate Diaferia Strongly Condemns Anti-Islamic at Metro-North Train Stations

Diaferia has strongly condemned anti-Muslim ads that have appeared in Metro North Stations this week.

Green Party Congressional Candidate Joseph Diaferia (NY-16)
has issued a strong condemnation of anti-Islamic advertisements that have
appeared at Metro North train stations in Westchester County.

Calling the ads “inflammatory and fictitious”, Diaferia, who has taught Middle Eastern history and politics, is calling upon its creators and sponsors to “make an honest and thorough examination of history before making such groundless and mindless
claims”.

Diaferia commented, “Many either fail to understand, or ignore outright, that Islamic extremism—and the term itself has been subject to manipulation—is the exception and not the norm. It is no more typical of Islam than the Ku Klux Klan is of Christianity, or the Israeli military is of Judaism. Furthermore, it needs to be noted that Islamic extremism, in the everyday application of the term, is a new phenomenon relative to the almost 1,400 year history of Islam. The creation of the State of Israel in 1948 destroyed centuries of Jewish and Islamic understanding; and the savage apartheid state that the Israelis have imposed upon the Palestinians—from the time of the Deir Yassin Massacre in April of 1948, right through to the present, has caused some Muslims to resort to retaliatory
violence”.

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Diaferia continued, “There’s another aspect that even some of my colleagues in academia have failed to acknowledge, and that is that purported attacks against Western citizens by one or the other ‘terrorist’ organization may often be the work of the CIA or Mossad. This tactic, known as synthetic or false-flag terrorism, has been a favorite among Western powers dating back to at least the mid-19th Century. Governments bent on war and plunder often resort to self-inflicted catastrophes to compel public opinion in favor of military action or escalation.”

Diaferia also registered incredulity at the name of the sponsoring organization, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, asking "Against whom must America be defended? I’m trying to recall a single instance of proven terrorism against Americans by Muslims, as every instance of so-called Islamic terrorism in the United States has been prosecuted with the most dubious evidence. On the other hand, I seem to remember that in June of 1967, it was Israel that attacked the U.S.S. Liberty with bombs and missiles and then strafed the lifeboats as American sailors were abandoning ship. It might appear that the notion of ‘defense’ is somewhat misdirected.”

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Diaferia emphasized that he deplores violence against
anyone, by anyone, and that because certain forms of terrorism are retaliatory
they can never be justified. Said Diaferia, “Many will ask what right the PLO
and Hamas, for example, have in attacking innocent people and the answer is: nothing. Violence is never justified; but the grievances of the Palestinians are
most certainly legitimate. As for the attacking and killing of innocent people,
history has shown that it is the US and Israeli militaries that need the most
comprehensive instruction into the meaning of crimes against humanity. Yet, as
the standard American narrative would have it, Islam is the only purveyor of violence”.

Diaferia also referred to a little known directive signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1979. The directive, which came to be known as Operation Cyclone, was penned by Carter’s then National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski for the purpose of aiding counter-revolutionary rebels in Afghanistan, with the ultimate objective of drawing the Soviet Union into a Vietnam-like military quagmire, as eventually happened. Operation Cyclone, reported Diaferia, created numerous militant organizations including the forerunner to Al Qaeda. Said Diaferia, “Instead of haplessly searching caves in Afghanistan, perhaps if we look to Langley, Virginia or Tel Aviv we may find the West’s most sinister adversaries. As I emphasize to my students, a lot of what is represented as Islamic extremism is not even real.”

Diaferia concluded with a reminder that Islamic teachings do not call for the liquidation of Judaism or Christianity, and that one would search the Quran in vain for any reference to “driving Israel into the sea”.  Diaferia also asserted that while much of Europe was still mired in the Dark Ages, Islam was already contributing surgery, hospitals, social services and a great deal more to civilization. Moreover, Diaferia maintains that Islam, by many accounts,  is the first of the world’s major religions to have reconciled reason and faith. “Islam has contributed a great deal more to civilization than establishment pundits and even many academic will ever acknowledge. And let us not overlook that egalitarianism is a principal Islamic tenet. Thus the prospect of shared and redistributed wealth in regions of the world, under which valuable resources are located, is very troublesome to Western political leaders intent on imperial brigandage.  This is precisely why the demonization of Islam has become so much a part of American discourse and political life. It is a function of Carl Schmitt’s neocon theory, that there needs to be an enemy image in order for there to be a society.”

Diaferia is calling upon his Democratic and Republican opponents to join him in condemning the ”ludicrous and irresponsible” anti-Islamic advertisements.

 

 

 

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