Religion in the News: Islam Was No. 1 Topic in 2010

ANALYSIS February 24, 2011

Events and controversies related to Islam dominated U.S. press coverage of religion in 2010, bumping the Catholic Church from the top spot, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Much of the coverage focused on the plan to build a mosque and Islamic center near ground zero in New York City, a Florida pastor’s threat to organize a public burning of the Koran and commemorations of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Stories related to these three events collectively accounted for more than 40% of all religion-related coverage studied in mainstream U.S. media (broadcast and cable television, newspapers, radio and major news websites).

Mainstream media devoted more attention to religion in 2010 than in any year since the Pew Research Center began measuring coverage of religion and other subjects in 2007. The amount of space or time media devoted to religion doubled between 2009 and 2010, going from about 1% of total coverage to 2%. And for the first time since tracking began in 2007, neither the Catholic Church nor religion’s role in American politics were the No. 1 topic of religion coverage in major news outlets.

These are some of the findings of a new study that examined news stories from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2010.

Among other key findings:

Although the volume of religion coverage in the mainstream media increased more than two-fold from a year earlier, it was still small compared with coverage of some other topics, especially elections and politics.
The Tea Party replaced the religious right as the most-talked-about element of the Republican Party’s grassroots support in coverage of the 2010 midterm elections. Religious individuals, groups or institutions were mentioned in only about 1% of all mainstream media coverage of the elections. By contrast, the Tea Party movement was mentioned in nearly one-in-six midterm election stories (14.1%).
In 2010, religion appeared as a major topic more often in the blogosphere than it did in traditional media. Religion was among the most-discussed topics on blogs in 12 of the 48 weeks studied by PEJ and the Pew Forum. In three of those weeks, the plan to build a mosque and Islamic center near ground zero was among the top subjects.
Analysis of social media, produced with technology from Crimson Hexagon, indicates that people who were active on social media sites were deeply divided about the proposed New York City mosque. About a quarter of the comments about the mosque and Islamic center posted on blogs, Twitter and online forums were neutral in character; the remaining comments were roughly evenly divided between those ardently for and those ardently against construction of the proposed mosque and Islamic center, now known as Park51, for its location at 51 Park Place in Lower Manhattan.
The study of traditional news sources analyzed 50,508 stories from newspaper front pages, home pages of major news websites, the first half hour of network and cable television news programs and the first half hour of radio news and talk shows. (For details, see the full methodology.) The new media content was analyzed separately by aggregating and coding a sample of blogs, tweets and other sources monitored by Technorati and Icerocket, which track millions of blogs and social media entries. (For details, see the full New Media Index methodology.) In addition, PEJ and the Pew Forum used software provided by Crimson Hexagon to analyze a broader range of social media conversations about the New York City mosque controversy during the period when the debate was most intense, Aug. 16-Sept. 13, 2010. That analysis monitored the tone of the conversations on blogs, Twitter and public forums. (For details, see Crimson Hexagon’s website.)

Religion Coverage Overall in 2010
There was more coverage of religion in the mainstream press in 2010 than in any year since PEJ and the Pew Forum began measuring coverage of religion and other subjects in 2007.

Of the news content analyzed in 2010, religion-related issues and events accounted for 2.0% of the newshole – the total amount of space or time available for news content in newspapers, on television or in other media. That is about double the amount of religion coverage generated in each previous year of tracking (0.8% in 2009, 1.0% in 2008 and 1.1% in 2007).1

PEJ monitored 130 different topics and sub-topics in the news in 2010. As usual, politics and elections attracted more coverage than any other category of news, accounting for 11.9% of the overall newshole in 2010. U.S. foreign affairs (9.3%) and the economy (8.3%) also occupied a large share of the media’s attention last year.

However, religion placed higher than a number of other important topics in the news. It slightly outpaced coverage of science and technology, which accounted for 1.7% of the overall newshole; education, which accounted for 1.6% of the newshole; and immigration, also at 1.6%. Several other topics, such as race and gender issues, trailed further behind. This was the first year since PEJ and the Pew Forum began measuring various categories of news coverage in 2007 that religion surpassed both education and science/technology in overall coverage.

While the amount of attention devoted to religion increased, the geographic focus of the coverage, as in past years, was largely domestic. Of all the space and time allocated to religion last year in the mainstream U.S. media, 70.3% was devoted to stories that took place in the U.S. About a fifth of the religion coverage (18.9%) focused on international events. And 10.8% dealt with subjects that spanned domestic and foreign locales.

Top Religion Stories of the Year
Four of the top five religion stories of 2010 involved controversies related to Islam. The plan to build an Islamic center and mosque near ground zero was the No. 1 religion story in the mainstream media in 2010, accounting for nearly a quarter of the religion coverage (22.7%). A Florida pastor’s plan to host a Koran burning event on Sept. 11 was also a major newsmaker, the No. 3 religion story overall, filling 14.5% of the religion newshole. Many stories on the religious dimension of 9/11 commemorations also focused on Islam. In addi-tion, much of the coverage of the administration of President Barack Obama and religion issues (the fourth biggest religion story) dealt with public perceptions of the president’s faith and the belief among a large segment of the public that Obama is a Muslim.

The only one of the five biggest religion stories of the year that did not involve Islam, at least in part, was coverage of the Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal, including controversy over Pope Benedict XVI’s role. This ranked as the second biggest religion story of the year, filling nearly one-fifth of the religion newshole (18.8%). But among the top religion stories, Catholicism and related issues received less than half as much attention as the media paid to Islam in 2010. In 2009, by contrast, three of the five top religion stories involved Pope Benedict, accounting for 9.6% of all religion news that year, far more than any other single religious tradition or leader. And in 2008, Pope Benedict’s visit to the U.S. was the No. 1 story of the year, accounting for more than a third of all mainstream religion coverage.

Islam in the News
The plan to build an Islamic center and mosque in Lower Manhattan, several blocks from the site of the World Trade Center attack, became the biggest single religion story of 2010, accounting for nearly a quarter of all religion-related coverage in the mainstream media (22.7%). Although early news reports about the plan had surfaced in December 2009, the controversy erupted in the summer of 2010, during what is typically a slow point in the news cycle.

The mosque’s chief proponent, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, and other organizers presented their plans to an advisory board representing the Lower Manhattan neighborhood on May 5, 2010, setting off a flurry of news reports. Commentators and bloggers – many, but not all, political conservatives – criticized the plan to build the mosque because of its proximity to the former site of the World Trade Center. On Aug. 3, the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission approved construction of the mosque, an action that precipitated even more commentary and news reports.

On ideologically driven radio and television talk shows, the coverage was intense regardless of political orientation. Conservatives generally decried the proposal as an affront to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, while many liberal commentators portrayed the reaction as xenophobic and contrary to American ideals of religious freedom.

Sean Hannity, a conservative host of a Fox News program, devoted most of his Aug. 16 program to the topic, which he referred to as the “August surprise.” Hannity played a clip of Obama telling a Ramadan gathering of Muslims at the White House on Aug. 13 that he supported the right of the developers to build the Islamic center. Hannity also showed a clip of the president backtracking a day later by saying he was not endorsing “the wisdom” of the project.

Hannity put the mosque project in a political context. “By commenting on this controversial topic,” Hannity said, “President Obama has, perhaps unintentionally, made this a pivotal midterm issue, and vulnerable Democrats up for re-election this November are doing their best to distance themselves from the White House.”

That same night, across the television dial and the political divide, liberal host Keith Olbermann also focused on the mosque controversy on MSNBC. He called the reaction to the proposed mosque “fake hysteria with the real danger of intolerance.” He noted that the architectural plans called for a YMCA-like center with a swimming pool, and he reminded viewers that the proposed building would be blocks away from ground zero.

Like Hannity, Olbermann played clips of political leaders speaking out against the center, but he added his own commentary on each. “The president’s shrillest political opponents, having gotten it wrong on principle and fact, now say he is out of touch,” Olbermann said.

As the public learned more about the project, it became a flashpoint in a national debate about tolerance of Muslims and Islam, and about freedom of religion more broadly. During the week of Aug. 16-22, the controversy was the No. 1 story in all of the mainstream media collectively, filling 15% of the total newshole. The coverage faded slightly the following week, but the mosque controversy was still among the top stories, at No. 4, filling 6% of the newshole. During the week of Aug. 30-Sept. 5, the mosque controversy briefly disappeared from the top news stories. But as the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks approached, the debate over the mosque and Islamic center returned to the headlines, reaching the No. 4 spot and filling 4% of the total newshole during the week of Sept. 6-12.

Even the terms used to discuss the controversy became fodder for media debate. Was it fair to call the center a mosque? Was it “close to ground zero,” “in Lower Manhattan” or “in New York City”? And what about the decision to change the name of the building from Cordoba House to Park51? The Associated Press drew fire from political conservatives for issuing guidelines to its reporters suggesting that they “continue to avoid the phrase ‘ground zero mosque’ or ‘mosque at ground zero’” and instead “say it’s ‘near’ ground zero, or ‘two blocks away.’”

The national attention focused on the New York mosque controversy may have helped generate interest in another story related to Islam – Florida pastor Terry Jones’ plan to burn a Koran to mark the anniversary of Sept. 11.

Jones, the leader of Dove World Outreach Center, a small church in Gainesville, Fla., tweeted a simple announcement on July 12: “9/11/2010 Int Burn a Koran Day.” In the weeks that followed, Jones’ announcement volleyed around the internet and was picked up by the national media. On July 29, Jones was interviewed on CNN, one of many interviews he gave to national television, radio and print news outlets. Anchor Rick Sanchez asked, “Why would you want to do this?” and Jones answered, “What we are doing, by the burning of the Koran on 9/11, is saying ‘stop.’ We’re saying ‘stop’ to Islam, ‘stop’ to Islamic law, ‘stop’ to brutality.”

Some commentators questioned whether it was wrong to provide the pastor with such a major platform for his pronouncements, which ignited protests around the world. But others saw a connective thread between the Koran story and the plan to build an Islamic center near ground zero. In a Sept. 12 Washington Post column that took the form of an open letter to the Muslim world, Kathleen Parker wrote, “Obviously, Muslims have the same right to worship when and where they please, just as any other group in America. The same rules of tolerance that allow a Florida pastor to preach his message also allow Muslims to preach theirs.”

Jones’ plans, along with the debate over the Park51 mosque and Islamic center, injected an element of tension into the annual round of stories remembering the Sept. 11 attacks. The religious dimension of the 9/11 attacks and the religious aspect of many of the commemorations was the fifth biggest religion story of the year, accounting for 4.7% of the religion newshole in the mainstream press in 2010.

A New York Times article published on Sept. 11, for example, opened with the following observation: “The ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was marked on Saturday by the memorials and prayer services of the past, but also by events hard to envision just a year ago – heated demonstrations blocks from ground zero, political and religious tensions and an unmistakable sense that a once-unifying day was now replete with division.”

Catholic Church in the News
In recent years, the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict have been at the center of the mainstream media’s coverage of religion. In 2010, the Catholic Church once again garnered a lot of press attention, even though it was supplanted in the No. 1 spot by Islam-related events and controversies.

The chief storyline concerning the Catholic Church – sexual abuse of minors by priests – re-emerged in early 2010 in the European press then gradually gained traction in the U.S. media despite a lot of competing news. The federal health care overhaul and the sputtering global economy dominated headlines in the late winter and early spring. Still, the sexual abuse story became one of the 10 most-covered stories in the following weeks.

In the six-week period from March 12 to April 27, the sex abuse scandal was the No. 8 story overall, filling 2.1% of the total newshole in the 52 mainstream media outlets analyzed.

On NBC’s March 29 “Nightly News” program, anchor Brian Williams introduced a segment on the scandal: “It’s another crisis over allegations of child abuse. This one comes during Holy Week…There is growing pressure on the pope to address this once and for all.” Correspondent Anne Thompson described Pope John Paul’s legacy and Pope Benedict’s papacy as “clouded by claims priests sexually abused children in the European church under their watch.”

The media’s focus on Pope Benedict’s role in addressing the scandal became the focal point of much of the coverage during this period, as documented in a June 2010 study by PEJ and the Pew Forum. Overall, the clergy abuse story accounted for nearly a fifth of all mainstream religion coverage (18.8%) last year.

In addition to the sex abuse scandal, the Catholic Church also made headlines with Pope Benedict’s visit to the United Kingdom in September, which accounted for 1.5% of all religion coverage in the mainstream press in 2010 and ranked as the No. 8 religion story of the year. It was the first papal visit to Britain since 1982.

Religion and Politics in 2010
Coverage of the midterm elections and other political issues accounted for about 12% of the total mainstream media content in 2010, attracting more coverage than any other category of news. But few news outlets chose to focus heavily on the religious aspects of the congressional and gubernatorial races.

Of the 4,263 front-page stories about the Nov. 2 midterm elections that were studied, only 49 mentioned religion (1.1%). By contrast, 601 stories (14.1%) mentioned the Tea Party movement. In 2010 media coverage, the Tea Party replaced the religious right as the most-talked-about element of the Republican Party’s grassroots support.

The little attention that religion did receive was largely about the personal beliefs of two Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Christine O’Donnell of Delaware. Both were Tea Party favorites, and both had to confront unusual allegations about their pasts. Paul faced allegations that in his student days at Baylor University, a Baptist school, he belonged to an irreverent secret society. O’Donnell, an evangelical Christian endorsed by Sarah Palin, faced an old video clip of herself telling a TV interviewer that she had “dabbled into witchcraft.” When the clip was unearthed and broadcast repeatedly, O’Donnell responded with an ad beginning, “I’m not a witch.”

In addition, many mainstream media outlets paid attention to another story at the intersection of religion and politics: the public’s rising uncertainty about Obama’s faith and the persistence of rumors that he is a Muslim, despite his consistent public statements about being a Christian.

The subject of Obama’s religion took off after an August poll by the Pew Research Center found that nearly one-in-five U.S. adults (18%) said they thought the president is a Muslim, up from 11% the year before. The finding set off a debate among analysts and pundits about why only a third of Americans (34%) identified Obama as a Christian and why a plurality of Americans (43%) said they did not know what the president’s religion is. In all of 2010, the subject of Obama’s faith filled 3.6% of the religion newshole.

Some in the media were embarrassed by what they perceived as widespread xenophobia in the American public. Time magazine’s Mark Halperin, interviewed Aug. 19 on MSNBC’s “Hardball” program, said, “It’s, I think, so unfortunate for the United States and for our relationships around the world. Those numbers on the rise show a degree of ignorance that I think can only be based on the kind of prejudice we’re seeing in this country, seemingly also on the rise against Muslim Americans.”

But others, such as conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, used the poll as an opportunity to legitimize the questions about Obama’s personal faith. “The bottom line,” Limbaugh said on his Aug. 19 broadcast, “is the more people get to know about Obama, the more confused they are.”

Other Top Religion Stories
Several other stories rounded out the list of top religion stories in 2010.

Mainstream media devoted 2.3% of all religion coverage to a Supreme Court case addressing whether a small, independent Baptist group based in Kansas can picket at military funerals. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church have repeatedly demonstrated at soldiers’ funerals, holding placards and shouting that U.S. deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan are God’s punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality. The Oct. 6 Supreme Court hearing on the case became the sixth biggest religion story of the year.

The seventh biggest religion story of 2010 centered on a sex scandal involving Bishop Eddie Long, the spiritual leader of an Atlanta megachurch. In September, four young men said that Long, an outspoken critic of homosexuality, had made sexual advances toward them. After an initial media storm, the story all but disappeared from public view, as a long legal process began its course. The story filled 1.7% of the religion newshole for the year.

Religion and education also made the list of top religion stories in 2010. This category included news reports on the closure of parochial schools in New York City and other urban centers. It also included a variety of feature stories, ranging from coverage of the decision by Claremont School of Theology to begin clerical training for Jews and Muslims to articles on the increase in Muslim students enrolling at Catholic universities. These reports collectively accounted for 1.4% of religion content in the mainstream media in 2010.

Religion in Social Media
In 2010, new media focused heavily on religion. Indeed, religion appeared as a major topic more often in the blogosphere than it did in traditional media. Overall, religion was one of the top five subjects covered in the blogosphere for 12 of the 48 weeks studied. That is about the same as in 2009, when religion was a top subject on blogs for 11 of the 45 weeks examined.

As in the mainstream media, the most frequently occurring story was the plan to build an Islamic center and mosque near ground zero. The subject was either the No. 1 or No. 2 topic in the blogosphere for three weeks in 2010 – Aug. 9-13, Aug. 16-20 and Aug. 23-27.

Other Islam-related news stories also surfaced as major points of discussion in the blogs. During the week of April 19-23, for example, the second most popular story among bloggers, at 20% of the links, was a speech by an Iranian cleric named Hojjat ol-eslam Kazem Sediqi who claimed that earthquakes are caused by promiscuous women who wear revealing clothing. Some bloggers found the argument outrageous and offensive, while others dismissed it as laughable.

In July, a ban on traditional Islamic veils in France captured the attention of the blogosphere. And around the time that the mosque near ground zero became a popular subject, related topics gained traction. In the week of Aug. 16-20, stories about Obama’s faith were the No. 2 topic in the blogosphere. Two weeks later, the No. 5 story concerned Jones’ plan to burn a Koran on Sept. 11.

Unlike controversies related to Islam, the Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal never appeared among the top subjects in the blogosphere in 2010, even though it was the No. 2 religion story for the year in traditional media. The pope’s stance on renewable energy generated more discussion among bloggers: It was the No. 3 topic in the blogosphere during the week of Dec. 6-10.

Social Media and the Mosque Near Ground Zero: Tone of the Debate
To study blogs, Twitter, forums and message boards, this study used technology from Crimson Hexagon, which identifies statistical patterns in the words used to express opinions on different topics. Crimson Hexagon was used to analyze these platforms for a month’s time, Aug. 16-Sept. 13, 2010, for themes relating to the Park51 mosque and Islamic center.

The period marks the time when the subject of the mosque was most widely covered in the media. Attention to the matter shot up after Obama addressed the issue on Aug. 13. Attention dissipated markedly around the Labor Day holiday and then rose again as the anniversary of Sept. 11 approached. Attention began to drop off again after Sept. 11, when memorial ceremonies had ended and Jones’ Koran-burning event was cancelled.

The analysis of blogs and social media reveals a roughly even division of sentiment for and against the proposed mosque. Among bloggers, Twitter users and online forum participants, 35% favored Park51, while 39% opposed it. Only slightly more than a quarter of the social media conversation (28%) was neutral.2

Of the opinions expressed in favor of the mosque, a portion focused on criticizing conservatives who opposed the mosque rather than on making a case in favor of the proposed project. Those accounted for 11% of all opinions, either positive or negative. For example, a Sept. 8 post titled “tolerance” on digbysblog.blogspot.com said, “It’s not even noon yet and my brain is already fried trying to untwist GOP logic.”

Of all postings, both for and against the mosque, 13% explicitly defended the proposal, arguing either that its planners have a constitutional right to freely exercise their faith or that they would be doing the country a service by promoting peaceful, interfaith dialogue.

One Twitter user used the 140 allotted characters to make the point succinctly: “RT @tavissmiley Do Muslims have the right to build a mosque near New York’s ground zero? ‘Yes, of course.’ Shortest talk show ever.”

The remaining positive opinions contained a mixture of critiques of the opposition as well as arguments in favor of the project.

On the other side of the issue, among all those who used social media platforms to express opposition to the mosque, a portion of the postings focused on criticizing those who supported Park51. This accounted for 12% of all opinions about the matter. On Aug. 17, for example, the author of www.moonbattery.com wrote that, “By now we’ve figured out that the Ground Zero Victory Mosque is moving forward because our liberal rulers want it there. It seems incomprehensible, but once we’ve gotten our heads around Barack Hussein Obama’s election – and the hard shove from the liberal elite that made it happen – we can understand this too.”

But a slightly higher portion of those who used social media to comment on the mosque (14% in all) tried to make the case that the mosque should not be built. “The Mosque in New York on groud (sic) zero is a slap in the face of Americans,” tweeted Lakedude1k on the same day.

Most of the opinions on the topic (about 75%) came from blogs. The rest came from Twitter (16%) and social forums, such as message boards that allow users to contribute opinions around a chosen topic (9%). The volume of opinions peaked early during the period studied, but decreased by a total of 82% over the course of the month studied.

Religion Coverage by Sector
Mainstream coverage of religion varied somewhat among the different sectors that were studied, including newspapers, the Web, network and cable TV, and radio.

In contrast to 2009, when each sector of the media devoted about the same amount of coverage to religion, cable TV devoted more time than the other sectors to religion in 2010, with 2.5% of its air time devoted to the topic. That was followed by three sectors that devoted about equal measures of their allotted time or space to religion: network TV (2.0%); online news websites (1.9%); and radio, including talk programming (1.9%). Newspapers, whose front pages were studied for this analysis, gave the least amount of space to religion-related topics in 2010, at 1.6% of their total newshole.

The debate over plans to build the Park51 Islamic center and mosque received the most attention on cable TV (38.2% of its religion coverage) and radio (36.1%) – two sectors that often fill their hours with talk and argument over highly charged and political topics.

In newspapers, however, the Islamic mosque controversy accounted for only 7.0% of all front-page space devoted to religion coverage. The Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal was the No. 1 religion story in newspapers, accounting for 24.9% of the coverage in this sector. The resurgence of the abuse scandal story was driven largely by newspaper reporting, including a number of front-page investigative pieces in major national newspapers about the subject. One of these stories, appearing in The New York Times on March 24, said that top Vatican officials, among them Pope Benedict XVI, failed to take action against an abusive American priest despite warnings by other U.S. bishops.

Still, the attention devoted to Islam-related storylines was significant in all media sectors, spanning traditional and new media. The overtly religious aspects of several Islam-related events and controversies were emphasized by the gatekeepers at major national media outlets in the U.S., as well as by the throngs of individuals who contributed to a digital discourse on the subject.

About This Study
The Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life made use of three primary data sources for this study. Analysis of mainstream media coverage of religion was conducted using data from PEJ’s News Coverage Index content analysis (the methodology can be found here). Analysis of new media treatment of religion was conducted using data from PEJ’s New Media Index content analysis (the methodology can be found here). Finally, analysis of the tone of the new media conversation about religion was conducted using software provided by Crimson Hexagon, a company that uses algorithmic methods to identify statistical patterns in blog posts, forum messages, tweets and other social media platforms. Information on the software can be found on Crimson Hexagon’s website; an in-depth discussion of Crimson Hexagon’s methodology can be found here.


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Footnotes:

1 See PEJ’s The Year in News 2010 report for more information on overall news coverage. In that study, topics are grouped somewhat differently and religion accounts for 1% of overall news coverage instead of 2%, as shown here. That is because coverage of foreign religion news and events was counted in a different category. (return to text)

2 Numbers do not sum to 100 due to rounding. (return to text)

PHOTO CREDIT: Richard H. Cohen/Corbis

Our high-profile Muslim minority

Sally Neighbour From: The Australian February 18, 2011 12:00AM.

THE furious debate over the pros and cons of multiculturalism features a recurring theme. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen alluded to it in his speech to the Sydney Institute on Wednesday night when he noted it has become fashionable to blame multiculturalism for terrorism.
Conservative commentator Andrew Bolt underscored it by citing as evidence of the policy's failure the federal government's refusal in the 1980s to deport Muslim cleric Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali.

Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi summed it up in a nutshell, opining on his website: "Across the world there have been new waves of immigrants who have decided that their greatest allegiance is to the religious and political ideology of Islam rather than to their adopted land. This is the multiculturalism that an increasing number of leaders are prepared to declare has failed."

In short, according to the popular narrative, the problem with multiculturalism is Muslims. Or, to be more precise, the perceived failure of Muslim migrants to integrate and embrace the cultures and traditions of their adopted lands, which in turn allows Islamic extremism to thrive.

In his landmark speech, Bowen sought to reframe the debate, arguing that multiculturalism had strengthened and enriched Australia and had been a very different and more successful phenomenon than in Germany or Britain.

The comparisons were prompted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel's statement last October that multiculturalism in Germany "has utterly failed", and British Prime Minister David Cameron's comment this month that Britain's policy of encouraging different cultures to live separate lives had fuelled Muslim militancy.

The essential difference in Australia is that Muslim migrants, like previous waves of newcomers, have been embraced as citizens with the same rights and responsibilities as their compatriots; whereas in Germany they came as guest workers who were supposed to help rebuild the post-war economy and then leave but instead stayed; while in Britain they were treated as second-class citizens, left to live in ghettos where their grievances festered.

Bowen says the 13,000 immigrants who pledged last Australia Day to uphold this country's values symbolise the genius of multiculturalism practised here.

But for all his seemingly heartfelt intentions, two uncomfortable truths remain. The first is that Australia's fast-growing Muslim population is a source of deep community angst, which fuels a polarised and sometimes ugly debate, as exemplified by reports opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison urged his Coalition colleagues to "capitalise on" such concern. (Morrison dismissed the reports as gossip but didn't say they weren't true.)

Muslim leaders know they have to confront this head-on, but struggle in the political arena. "We've never been engaged in the political process. We never understood it because our forefathers were literally factory workers," Sydney's Lebanese Muslim Association president Samier Dandan says. He's pushing for Muslims to become more politically engaged.

Lakemba imam Hilali acknowledges the frustration and anger that can potentially breed violent extremism are palpable in his community.

"There are no terrorists in Australia in terms of execution. There are people who have the mindset to commit harm, but no one has the capacity to execute anything. What it is, is just a mindset - just talk and ideas."

In addition to tackling extremism, which has seen a few men sent to prison, Muslim leaders face the vexed issue of building the infrastructure needed to service their growing community, such as more Islamic schools, youth centres and mosques, developments that typically encounter public antipathy and local council resistance.

Two Sydney councils have recently introduced new regulations restricting the operations of places of worship, apparently in response to proposed new mosques.

Some leaders, such as Dandan, say priorities need to change. "We do not want any more mosques; that is my message to the scholars: we don't need any more mosques. We want services," he says.

The second truth is the expanding Muslim diaspora is afflicted by entrenched socioeconomic problems that fuel alienation and resentment, which no amount of political rhetoric alone will fix.

Two recent sets of statistics illustrate the issues at hand.

The first is a report published last month by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre's Forum on Religion and Public Life, The Future of the Global Muslim Population: Projections for 2010-2030. Using figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, it predicts Muslim numbers in Australia will increase by 80 per cent, compared with 18 per cent for the population overall growing from 399,000 at present to 714,000. This is due first to higher reproduction rates - Muslim families typically have four or more children, while other Australians have one or two - and, second, to migration from Muslim majority countries such as Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and Iran.

The reactions to the projection among Australian Muslim leaders varies from cautious optimism to scepticism and open dismay.

"It could be a fear campaign," Australian National Imams Council spokesman Mohamadu Saleem says. He is recalling an alarmist video posted on YouTube in 2009 that used bogus figures to suggest Europe would soon be taken over by Muslims. It has had 12 million hits. Reassured that the Pew Centre is reputable, Saleem adds: "Whatever happens, Muslims in Australia are a tiny minority, and will be so forever."

But Dandan is far from sanguine about the projected near doubling of Muslim numbers.

"That is of great concern to us because we don't have the facilities and the infrastructure, and the government is not supporting us," he says.

The Muslim community has plenty on its plate already: intergenerational poverty, undereducation and unemployment, a pressing need for more social, welfare and aged-care services, a siege mentality fostered by a suspicious public and often hostile news media, close attention from the police and security agencies and the problem of pockets of religious extremism.

The challenges are compounded in a diaspora that is diverse and disunited - in truth, many communities rather than one - and suffers from a lack of language skills, public relations and lobbying know-how, strong leadership and political clout.

Dandan claims Muslim communities have been abandoned politically, particularly in southwest Sydney, where they happen to live in electorates safely held by the Labor Party.

"We're a growing community, so where are the services? Our youth get no services, our elderly no services, employment, no service, hospitals atrocious, our schools - don't even talk about it, go and have a look at our schools. Are we not getting the services because we're Muslim or because these are safe Labor seats?"

A second set of statistics underscores his complaints, showing that despite numerous success stories such as that of Dandan, who runs a multimillion-dollar IT security firm, Muslims overall remain one of the most disadvantaged groups in Australia.

The figures are in a 2009 report by the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies, Social and Economic Conditions of Australian Muslims: Implications for Social Inclusion.

On the upside, it found that education-wise Muslims are high achievers: 21 per cent of Muslim males have a university degree, compared with 15 per cent of non-Muslims. But this doesn't translate into financial rewards, apparently because of language barriers, discrimination and non-recognition of qualifications obtained abroad. Unemployment among Muslims is two to four times the rates among other Australians. Twice as many Muslims have no income. Only 15 per cent own their own homes, compared with one-third of other Australians. Twenty-six per cent of Muslim teenagers are unemployed, against 14 per cent of non-Muslims. And, shockingly, 40 per cent of Muslim children live in poverty, almost three times the national average.

The report found Australian Muslims are more vulnerable to multigenerational endemic poverty, "thus making poverty a way of life". This in turn creates alienation from mainstream society, leading to higher rates of delinquency, crime, imprisonment and potentially resort to religious extremism.

These issues require urgent attention, the report advised. But, Dandan says, "The politicians don't care, they literally don't care." He cites an elaborate new youth centre built next to the Lakemba mosque, which took the local community 13 years to build because it received zero assistance from government.

Similar grievances are echoed in other Muslim precincts such as the city of Hume in Victoria which, according to the ABS, is the most disadvantaged suburb in Melbourne and has the highest number of Muslims in the state. Its already high migrant population has been swollen by an influx of refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan.

Leila Alloush, public officer for Victorian Arabic Social Services, says the area has become an enclave for slow integration and a high level of deprivation.

Recently, schools in the northern region of Melbourne have reported increases in cyclic racism, that is youth from Arabic-speaking backgrounds responding (in kind) to encounters with racism and violence. Feelings of alienation and helplessness have become pronounced and these youth have increasingly reported feeling disconnected from the mainstream, Alloush warns.

Dealing with these pressing challenges calls for authoritative leadership, which often seems lacking in Australia's fractured Muslim populace. This is partly a function of Sunni Islamic tradition, which eschews a political or clerical hierarchy because all men are considered equal before God.

It is also because Australia's Muslims are made up of 27 nationalities and as many different cultures and histories. The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils covers 120 Islamic societies, all with their own agendas. AFIC is seeking to assert itself as the peak Muslim body, but it is under-resourced and reliant on part-time officer-holders.

And its measured tone is often drowned out by shriller voices such as that of Hilali who, despite needing a translator, even after 30 years in Australia, is a favourite of the media for his sometimes outrageous remarks, like his oft-quoted 2006 comment comparing women and rapists with uncovered meat and a pack of wolves.

Groups such as AFIC and the LMA have initiated an array of outreach programs, such as interschool sports events, debates, interfaith dialogue, public meetings and open days at mosques. The LMA and Hilali took a team of 40 tradesmen to Queensland to help rebuild houses after the recent floods. "These are all ways by which barriers can be broken down," AFIC president Ikebal Patel says.

But it is an exhausting and often frustrating task. Dandan cites a case where Muslims were encouraged to donate blood, prompting a potential recipient to comment: "I don't want Muslim blood injected into me."

"We understand that from our point of view we need to engage, but if you engage and the engagement is not reciprocated, it's like a slap in the face," he says. "Time and time again we're stepping away from our families and businesses to do this work for the community, and we're getting burned out because we're not getting any help."

The ideology of intolerance

By TARIQ A. AL-MAEENA | ARAB NEWS Two incidents last week and thousands of miles apart, so different and yet appear to have a common thread running through them.

In the first incident, Pakistani Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti was brutally gunned down outside his residence in Islamabad and murdered.

For the record, Bhatti, a Christian, is the second senior official to be assassinated this year for bringing to the platform Pakistan’s blasphemy laws — laws which many critics claim are used for personal vengeance. Earlier, in January of this year, Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer was killed by his own bodyguard for publicly declaring his intent to seek modifications to these laws to curb abuses against minorities.

For his part, Bhatti had been actively involved in trying to promote interfaith harmony, and mindful of the powers of the religious establishment in Pakistan that has taken over the country, tried to establish dialogue with hard-line religious groups in an effort to further his cause.

In various interviews, he stated, “Every religion gives message of love and peace and there is no room for violence and bloodshed in any religion. I will prefer to die for the cause to defend the rights of my community rather than to compromise on my principles...The forces of violence, militants, banned organizations, Taleban and Al-Qaeda want to impose their radical philosophy on Pakistan and whosoever stands against it they threaten him.”

Bhatti became the first minority member to be appointed to the post of federal minister for minorities’ affairs. At the time of taking office in 2008, he declared that he had accepted the post to help the “oppressed, downtrodden and marginalized” people of Pakistan, and would use all the powers of his office to protect and empower religious minorities.

“I want to send a message of hope to the people living a life of disappointment, disillusionment and despair. Jesus is the nucleus of my life and I want to be his true follower through my actions by sharing the love of God with the poor, oppressed, victimized, needy and suffering people of Pakistan,” was his message.

And he did not stop there. Bhatti proposed to the Ministry of Education to remove all hate and divisive material from Pakistan’s curriculum, and also planned to introduce a legislation banning the use of hate speeches and divisive literature against any faith. His efforts as minister were also rewarded when four Senate seats were declared reserved for minorities.

Among his various successes was the setting up of a 24-hour hotline for reporting acts of violence against minorities. He also spearheaded a campaign to protect non-Islamic religious artifacts and sites spread throughout Pakistan. Through his initiatives, the Pakistani government formally declared Aug. 11 as “Minorities Day.”

While many Pakistani officials have refused to make a public stand for amendments to the blasphemy laws as written for fear of a backlash from extremists, Bhatti was not so easily intimidated. Understanding the sensitivity of the laws and the intensity of feelings it evoked among the majority whenever any politician dared to table the subject, and mindful of his own position, Bhatti embarked on the task of eliminating the misuse of the law rather than calling for its annulment. Unfortunately, someone did not share Bhatti’s ideology and took the life of the country’s only Christian minister.

The other incident took place many miles westward in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. At the Riyadh International Book Fair, a group of militant fundamentalists spoiled the party for the Saudi minister of information. Verbally attacking the minister with charges that his ministry had in recent years deviated toward Western values through such exhibitions and openness, this band of extremists then proceeded to abuse women visitors at the book fair by charging their presence as immoral. According to reports, “One of them even seized a microphone and started warning women visitors and journalists to comply with the so-called code of conduct and religion.”

Earlier, Indian Ambassador to the Kingdom Talmiz Ahmad in his speech had said,

“Truly, there is now an intellectual ferment in the Arab world. This is a real nahda (renaissance), a new dawn.” He was speaking during a reception held in honor of Indian scholars visiting the book fair.

Obviously those words failed to impress these extremists. Such renaissance went against their distorted way of thinking. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice denied that these misfits were members of the commission, and were acting on their own.

The thread that is common in both incidents is one of fanatic ideology. Questions must be asked as to why these people are allowed any tolerance to exercise their ideology of intolerance. How long will the majority continue to remain in silence before they too are swept away in this madness?

(talmaeena@aol.com)

Arabic words in English

Arabic words in English
You may think you don't speak Arabic but there are more words of Arabic origin in English than you might expect ...

admiral
adobe
alchemy
alcohol
alcove
alembic
alfalfa
algebra
algorithm
alkali
almanac
amalgam
aniline
apricot
arsenal
arsenic
artichoke
assassin
aubergine
azure
barbarian?
bedouin
benzine(?)
Betelgeuse
bint
borax
cable
calabash
calibre
caliph
camel
camise
camphor
candy
cane
cannabis
carafe
carat
caraway
carmine
carob
casbah
check
checkmate
cinnabar
cipher
coffee
copt
cotton
crimson
crocus
cumin
damask
dhow
dragoman
elixir
emir
fakir
fellah
garble
gauze
gazelle
ghoul
Gibraltar
giraffe
grab
guitar
gypsum
halva
harem
hashish
hazard
henna
hookah
imam
influenza
jar
jasmine
jerboa
jessamine
jinn
kafir
khamsin
khan
kismet
kohl
lacquer
lake
lemon
lilac
lime
lute
magazine
mahdi
marabout
marzipan
massacre
massage
mastaba
mate
mattress
mecca
minaret
mizzen
mocha
mohair
monsoon
mosque
muezzin
mufti
mullah
mummy
muslim
muslin
myrrh
nabob
nacre
nadir
orange
ottoman
popinjay
racket
safari
saffron
saloop
sash
scallion
senna
sequin
serif
sesame
shackle
sheikh
sherbet
shrub
sirocco
sofa
spinach
sudd
sufi
sugar
sultan
sultana
syrup
tabby
talc
talisman
tamarind
tambourine
tarboosh
tare
tariff
tarragon
Trafalgar
typhoon
vega
vizier
wadi
zenith
zero


See: W Montgomery Watt: The Influence of Medieval Islam on Europe (Edinburgh University Press, 1982)

Behind a corrupt man, a woman

وراء كل رجل «عقيم» امرأة!

الاربعاء, 02 مارس 2011
زياد بن عبدالله الدريس *

إزاء المطالب العالمية المتكررة والملحة بضرورة تمكين المرأة وإعطائها الفرصة المتساوية مع الرجل لتدير وتتحدث وتفكر وترأس، نكتشف يوماَ بعد آخر أن المرأة ليست مغيّبة كما نظن، فهي تدير وتحكم ... لكن من خلف الكواليس، وأحياناَ خلف «الكوابيس»!

ما الحكاية؟! .. فكلما سقط ديكتاتور وجدنا خلفه امرأة كانت تُدكتره!

لا ينسى العالم دوماً حكاية ماري انطوانيت التي أسقطت الملك الفرنسي لويس السادس عشر وأسقطت معه مملكة فرنسا كلها. كما لا ننسى، نحن العرب والمسلمين خصوصاَ، ما أسهمت به إيزابيلا مع زوجها الملك فرديناند في سقوط الأندلس.

النماذج التاريخية كثيرة ومتنوعة بين السلبي والإيجابي، لكننا الآن منشغلون بنماذج معاصرة كشفت عن الدور الكبير الذي لعبته زوجات الرؤساء العرب «الراحلين»، مثل «ماري انطوانيت تونس / ليلى الطرابلسي»، والحضور الطاغي لسوزان مبارك، والغياب الطاغي لصفية فركاش «القذافي».

هل كانت تلك النسوة، منذ لويس السادس عشر حتى القذافي السادس حشر!، سبباَ في «عقم» أزواجهن عن مبادرات الإصلاح والنماء والعدالة؟!

هل من الإنصاف للمرأة أن نقول: أن وراء كل رجل فاشل امرأة؟

لكن أيضاَ هل من الإنصاف للرجل أن نقول وراء كل رجل ناجح امرأة؟!

الأحداث تبين لنا، يوماَ بعد آخر، أن وراء كل رجل عظيم وكل رجل عقيم .. امرأة .

أي أننا عوضاَ عن أن نقول أن المرأة مغيّبة، لنقل: فتش عن المرأة!

الراجل اللي وراء ..»كل رئيس عربي»؟!

حسناَ .. ذاك حديث عن دور المرأة، فماذا عن الرجل؟!

هل كان سيستطيع رئيس الجمهورية الملكية العربية أن يستمر رئيساَ «منتخباً» طوال هذه العقود من السنين لو لم يكن خلفه من الرجال من يفصّل له صناديق الاقتراع، وصناديق «إيواء» للمرشحين المنافسين، ومن يكتب له خطاب التنصيب، ويدير له عمليات النصب والاحتيال .. باسم «الأسرة» السعيدة؟!

هل كان يمكن لرئيس الجمهورية الدائم أن يستمر رئيساَ كل هذه السنين لولا «الراجل اللي ورا .. كل التطبيل الإعلامي المزيف»، و «الراجل اللي ورا .. كل التقارير التنموية الكاذبة»، و «الراجل اللي ورا .. الكوابيس الجماهيرية بصحبة زوار الليل»؟!

باختصار، فرعون ما كان ليكون فرعوناً لولا هامان ... ها MAN.

الرئيس «الجماهيري» الذي أكل الجماهير!

لا بد أن نعدل في ذمّنا مثلما نعتدل في مدحنا. إذ تبين لنا من الفروق في مجريات الأحداث بين مصر وليبيا أن من الظلم أن نساوي بين مبارك والقذافي.

واللغة، لحسن الحظ، تمنحنا فرصة أن نستخدم مفردات: سيّء وأسوأ وحسن وأحسن وقبيح وأقبح وجميل وأجمل. وإذا كنا سنصف مبارك بأنه ديكتاتور فماذا سيبقى لنا كي نصف به القذافي؟!

ليس هذا دفاعاَ عن الرئيس «الراحل» مبارك، لكنه وسيلة للإقذاع في وصف الرئيس «الراحل» القذافي الذي كان يقنعنا كاذباً طوال أربعين سنة بأنه ليس رئيساً لكنه قائد ثورة جماهيرية، فلما اشتعلت الثورة أحرق الجماهير!

الرئيس «الراحل»

كنا نصف الرئيس الذي يموت بالرئيس الراحل. اكتشفنا، مع الوقت، أن الرئيس الذي يموت شعبه هو الذي يجب أن يكون: الرئيس الراحل.

إذا استمر الوضع في العالم العربي على ما هو عليه الآن، فيمكننا من الآن وصف كل رئيس عربي، حتى وهو حي يرزق، بــ (الرئيس الراحل)!

* كاتب سعودي

ziadalhayat@hotmail.com

Israel, Where are you?

By Alon Ben-Meir
While the Arab world joins together in a call for democracy, Israel's democracy is unraveling. As the Arab world demands accountability from its leaders, Israel's leaders are facing investigations and indictments. As the Arab world demands greater social mobility and economic opportunity, Israel's gap between the rich and poor continues to widen.

The Arab world has discovered the power of peaceful demonstration, while Israel continues to rely on military might, rather than peacemaking, to safeguard its national interests. The Arab world appears determined to proactively lead their countries to a more positive future, but Israel appears floundering, leaderless, with no vision and most troubling of all, apathetic. Protesters have flooded Tahrir Square in Cairo, and recently Pearl Square in Manama, Bahrain and other major Arab cities across the region; but Rabin Square in Tel Aviv remains shamefully quiet. It is not suggested here that the Arab world is on the brink of socio-economic and political modernization that will leave Israel languishing behind. But where are the Israelis demanding change that leads to peace and prosperity for all Israelis?

Where are the leaders in power? - They are preoccupied with staying in power, diverting indictment, and shuffling to find a voice. Defense Minister Ehud Barak's shameful systematic dismantling of the Labor Party he once led is indicative of the state of Israeli leadership and politics today. He set aside the values and positions for which he was elected to serve, in order to maintain a position of power and bolster an ego that appears to inflate with each passing day. Perhaps he has learned from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose second term has been an exercise in futility. Netanyahu has no policy beyond staying in power. Any policy he might pursue is beholden to the veto of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, an individual reviled by much of the world for his racist views, and who this month will face a potential indictment on charges of corruption, bribery, breach of trust, and others. Netanyahu and Lieberman cannot even agree on who should be the ambassador in the United Kingdom, let alone what shape a coherent foreign policy should take.

The opposition in Israel is, sadly, leaderless and disparaged. Kadima Chairwoman Tzipi Livni cannot instill party discipline nor generate sufficient confidence in her leadership from the public. Kadima Members in the Knesset regularly oppose one another on issues presented before the Knesset, including the investigation of left-wing NGOs which makes a mockery of democracy and free speech. The dearth of any credible and clear ideas from Kadima is disheartening. Kadima MK Shaul Mofaz's comments last week that the United States should withhold military aid to Egypt-at a time when this aid serves as a critical incentive to maintain cooperation between the Egyptian military, the United States, and Israel-was particularly perplexing. Two weeks ago, Moshe Schori, the director-general of the Kadima party, was arrested on corruption charges. Indeed, Kadima looks little different than its corrupted counterparts in the Netanyahu government; and Israel is left with little prospect of rising visionary leaders.

Where are the soldiers? - Those who have spoken out against Israel's occupation are now defending themselves against accusations of treason. Soldiers involved in such groups as "Breaking the Silence," an organization that compiles testimony of Israeli soldiers serving in the occupation, have been labeled traitors for criticizing and condemning actions by the IDF. At the same time, Israeli officers and combat units are becoming increasingly ideological and religious, when in fact Israel's national security depends on non-ideological soldiers who are committed only to the national security of the state. In 1990,

2.5 percent of infantry officers were religious. By 2007, that number had jumped to 31.4 percent. Meanwhile, religious preparatory programs are producing far more infantry units than others. A full 80 percent of religious graduates join combat units, compared to 40 percent of all soldiers. Israeli soldiers have always fulfilled their duties with dignity and discipline, and they must never be dragged into the characteristically Israeli political morass.

Where are the mothers and fathers? - They are watching as their children are indoctrinated with zealotry and even bigotry. Just over a year ago, a poll conducted by Maagar Mochot, an Israeli research institution, indicated that nearly 50 percent of Israeli high-school students did not believe that Arabs should have the same rights as Jews in the State of Israel. Eighty percent of religious high school students supported this view. Meanwhile, 48 percent of all high-school students in Israel said that after enlisting in the IDF they would not obey orders to evacuate settlements in the West Bank. As an unidentified Education Ministry official told reporters upon the poll's

publication: "This poll shows findings which place a huge warning signal in light of the strengthening trends of extremist views among the youth." Now, rather than address the problem, Israel's Education Ministry is exacerbating it.

Education Minister Gideon Saar recently announced plans to bring Israeli school children to Abraham's tomb in Hebron, in what amounts to an unnecessary and untimely provocation aiming to bolster nationalistic-and right-wing-perspectives among the youth. With such developments, the future does not appear bright for peace and coexistence even for the next generation.

So where are the peace activists? - They are few in number, and are scrambling to find a voice. Demonstrations against the investigations into left-wing NGOs that have reached Rabin Square have looked more like potlucks than protests.

With the Labor party decimated, Meretz marginalized and Kadima in perpetual disarray, there is no home for the so-called "peace camp" in Israel today.

Instead, Israel continues to rely on its military to provide security in the short-term, rather than mobilize in support of peace initiatives that could safeguard Israel's security for generations. A majority of Israelis say they want peace, but when presented with an historic opportunity to make peace with Israel's neighbors through the Arab Peace Initiative, 56 percent of the public

opposed it. In a recent poll for Israel's Channel One, parties deemed to be on

the left garnered 54 seats, compared to 66 for those on the right. Of the various reasons offered to individuals to indicate why they chose their party affiliation, the peace process was not even listed as an option. Today, for Israelis, it doesn't even appear on the radar.

Where are the spiritual leaders? - They are sowing seeds of division rather than co-existence. Last week, 70 rabbis joined together in support of Rabbi Dov Lior, who is facing arrest for refusing to answer questions regarding his endorsement of a book that advocates the killing of innocent non-Jews during wartime. In December, much attention was paid to the 50 rabbis who joined together in a letter opposing Israeli Jews renting homes to Arabs. Another letter, signed by nearly 30 wives of rabbis, opposed Jews dating Arabs or even working in the same vicinity as non-Jews. Also on the agenda of spiritual leaders in the country has been to strip the IDF from performing conversions for soldiers, deeming the process not sufficiently compliant with religious law. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Sephardic Shas party, which is a part of the coalition government, has captured headlines numerous times in the past year for his extremist rants. He has called for the death of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said that gentiles only exist to serve Jews, and stated that women should be forbidden from teaching children above age nine. Meanwhile, more progressive religious leaders appear rather quiet, focusing instead on their efforts to gain greater status in Israeli society, including the sanctioning of unorthodox religious ceremonies such as weddings. Rather than part of the solution, spiritual leaders are all too often becoming part of the problem of Israeli endemic complacency.

Where are the entrepreneurs? - They are content and apathetic. Life for successful businessmen is good in Israel-but for everyone else, it is not.

Israel's economy grew an impressive 5.4 percent in 2010, including 7.8 percent in the fourth quarter. However, the latest National Insurance Institute report indicated that 23 percent of the Israeli population lives below the poverty line, and another 29 percent risk joining them. The average salary of senior executives at the Tel Aviv stock exchange's 25 largest companies amounts to 94 times that of the national average. Furthermore, the middle class is rapidly shrinking. In 1988, the middle class amounted to 33 percent of Israel; by 2009 it had plummeted to 26.6 percent. According to the gini coefficient of inequality, which reached 39.2 percent in 2010, Israel can now be considered one of the most disparate societies in the world. But still the disadvantaged also remain quiet and alarmingly complacent.

Finally, where are the students and the vibrant academic community? Over a thousand university students marched in Jerusalem in November to protest government stipends for yeshiva students. But where are they to oppose Israel's disastrous foreign policy? Why aren't they in the streets protesting against defunct government policy that could usher in disastrous violent conflict by insisting on maintaining the status quo? And where are Israel's academics?

Israeli scholars are hailed for their ingenuity and imagination. Nine Israelis have won Nobel prizes, including Yitzhak Rabin's peace prize. However, Israel's renowned scholars are too rarely heard using their intellect and university pulpit in a consistent way to rally support for policies that lead Israel to a better future. Why aren't they raising their voice collectively and in unison, day in and day out, protesting the madness of a government that has lost its moral compass?

The emptiness of Rabin Square is frightening. Without change, the worrisome trends in Israeli society will become entrenched, and the region will be headed to another round of bloodshed that could be sparked at any moment. Israel is the nation whose national anthem conveys an eternal "hope" and whose founding father Theodore Herzl famously captured the ethos of Zionism by declaring "if you will it, it is no dream." Today, hope is in short supply in Israel, and few are demonstrating any will to create a better future.

The notion of Israel becoming a "light unto the nations" while at peace and security with its neighbors seems to be a distant dream today. If the country does not change course, and begin to make what appears now to be a dream into a reality, it could experience a nightmare of drastic proportions.

-- Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

alon@alonben-meir.com

www.alonben-meir.com