Free Speech In Israel
You'll find it in the Israeli part, not the Palestinian one -- as is typical of anyplace under Muslim rule. Bret Stephens writes in the WSJ of a Palestinian blogger:
Consider the predicament faced by a Palestinian named Walid Husayin from the West Bank city of Qalqilya. Mr. Husayin, 26, is suspected of being the blogger known as Waleed al-Husseini and author of an essay, posted on the Proud Atheist Web site (proud-a.blogspot.com), titled "Why I Left Islam."The pseudonymous Husseini makes no bones about his opposition to religions generally, which he says "compete with each other in terms of stupidity." But nothing seems to exercise his indignation more than the religion he used to call his own. Islam, he writes, is "an authoritarian religion that does not respect the individual's freedom of choice, which is easily noticeable from its barbaric verdicts such as stoning the adulterous, pushing homosexuals off a cliff and killing the apostates for daring to express a different viewpoint."
And that's just Husseini getting started. The essay proceeds by way of a series of questions, such as "Is Islam a religion of tolerance?" Answer: "The sacred texts of Islam also encourage blatant war and conquest of new territories." What about equality? "Islam has legitimized slavery, reinforced the gap between social classes and allowed stealing from the infidels." Women's rights? "I have a mother, a sister and a lover and I cannot stand for them to be humiliated and stigmatized in this bone-chilling way." The prophet? "A sex maniac" who "was no different than barbaric thugs who slaughtered, robbed and raped women." And so on.
This being the Arab world, it should come as no surprise that Mr. Husayin has spent the past 24 days in detention, that he has been forbidden from receiving visitors or speaking to a lawyer, that he faces a potential life sentence, and that people in Qalqilya have called for him to be burned alive.
Lovely. And no, for someone like me who has read a good deal of the Quran, the Hadith, and other texts about Islam, that last bit doesn't come as any surprise.







Actually, the crowd is showing a great deal of restraint. I wouldn't put it past them to storm the jail, drag the prisoner into the streets, and stone him to death.
I R A Darth Aggie at November 23, 2010 6:48 AM
He's signed his own death warrant by daring to criticize Islam. I doubt the tolerance crowd who wish to bend over backwards for those who wish to practice Sharia in the US will be saying much about his plight.
Tony at November 23, 2010 7:25 AM
For every Mr. Husayin who has the balls to actually say the truth about Islam, there must be countless others who know it, but are too terrified to admit it. And imams everywhere must be terrified of what would happen to the rotten, crumbling edifice of Islam if all those slaves of Allah ever broke their silence. It probably won't be much comfort to this guy if he gets lynched by the mob, but he has demonstrated the pathetic weakness of Islam to the whole world.
Martin at November 23, 2010 10:30 AM
It's my understanding that Israel does a great deal of reflexive, naked, shameless censorship.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at November 24, 2010 12:26 AM
Actually, Crid, in Israel, people can speak out against the government, for the Palestinians, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Israel#Freedom_of_speech_and_the_media
Amy Alkon at November 24, 2010 12:37 AM
Leave a comment