Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Moral Selectivity | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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I was relieved to watch nationalist and Islamist Jordanian politicians condemn the latest terrorist attacks that targeted civilians in Jordan as I still remember the celebrations that followed a suicide operation by a young Jordanian man, brainwashed by terrorists, and the death of innocent civilians in Baghdad. At the time, these groups and their spokesmen in the press, as well as the remnants of the Baath party in Jordan hailed this “heroic act” and referred to the bomber as the “martyr of the Iraqi resistance”!

We continue to suffer from a moral crisis across the Arab world with differences between one country and another. The problem is our lack of moral compass, which we replace with a selective view of reality filled with hate and resentment. When our neighbors houses burns down, we do not concern ourselves so long as ours are safe. But no one asks the simple question, if you allow your neighbor’s house to go up in flames, what guarantees that the fire will not reach your bedroom?

Our moral crisis is that some of us kill according to identity cards, lament this indiscriminate form of murder and celebrate it at once. When Saddam Hussein committed his heinous crimes against the poor and innocent inhabitants of the Kurdish town Halabja, the Arab reaction left to be desired. When we wrote, at the time, demanding this crime be condemned, the issue did not elicit a response. When Muslim extremists killed the Serbs, this was considered normal. Yet, when the Serbs committed their crimes against Bosnians, many were infuriated!

It is moral selectivity which does not believe in humanity. Didn’t the United Nations announce a world day to the pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust? If we sympathize with the Jewish victims of Nazism, it is our right to ask what about the murder of Palestinians, Kurds, Armenians and others. Isn’t this yet another case of selectivity and moral crisis?

Those who murdered civilians at the Jordanian wedding party are relatives of the professional killers in Iraq , Riyadh , Sanaa and Cairo!

To celebrate the killing of some and mourn the death of others is a tragedy, represented by those Jordanian parties which rejoiced at the murder of Iraqis and grieved at the death of Jordanians. The latest events represent a window of opportunity to repent and apologize to the nation for the past silence towards terrorism