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Bagels in Dubai?

Pictures of the very first Airbus 380 flying from Dubai to New York City show a smiling attendant at the first class bar. Yes, a Persian Gulf airline serves alcohol. But what's really of interest is the plump bagel sitting on the right side of the counter, under a glass top. Bagels are, of course, the Jewish ethnic food that legend holds goes back to 1683 and the defeat of the Turkish army at Vienna. How curious to find them on a maiden A380 voyage of Emirates airline. Incidentally, those bagels are a relative bargain, with a one-way first-class Dubai-New York ticket costing just shy of US$7,000. (August 15, 2008)

"Der Spiegel" published this picture to illustrate its story on the maiden Airbus 380 flight from Dubai to New York.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Fri, 15 Aug 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (14)

Extra! Leading New York Publisher Spikes Book Dealing with Islam!

Random House, a unit of Bertelsmann AG, has announced that is has canceled publication of a novel, The Jewel of Medina, by Sherry Jones, that was to be published on August 12. The novel concerns the child wife Aisha of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Random House made no bones about its reasons in doing so, with Deputy Publisher Thomas Perry stating that Random House received "cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment." Therefore, he went on, "In this instance we decided, after much deliberation, to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel." Perry indicated that Jones is now free to shop her manuscript elsewhere.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Thu, 7 Aug 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (26)

A Final Reply to Yoram Schweitzer

Yoram Schweitzer has now responded twice to me, and I think it about time to close down his and my exchange, but not before one final, brief reply on my part.

(To recapitulate, the sequence, all published in The Jerusalem Post, began on July 21 with my article, "Samir Kuntar and the Last Laugh," which criticized the Israel-Hizbullah exchange; he replied July 24 with "Not That Bad a Deal," disagreeing on specifics and castigating me for even opining on the matter; on July 28, in "May an American Comment on Israel?" I justified my right to an opinion; today, he replied in "Obfuscation and Oversimplification.")

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Sun, 3 Aug 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (16)

Cairene Book Covers

In my three years resident in Cairo, between 1971 and 1977, I spent an inordinate amount of time combing the city's book stores for what the sellers called turath, or tradition - the classic texts of Islamic civilization. While searching out these cultural gems, however, I could hardly miss the garish, grisly titles and covers of Arabic-language books on current affairs, ugly rants against Israel, Jews, the United States, Americans, the West, Christians, orientalists, and other targets.

These memories come to mind on receipt of a traveler's recent photographs of current book covers in the book shops of Cairo. These have lost none of their wild-eyed, extremist, intemperate, or nasty qualities. Here is a sampling, with my translations into English. (Click on the pictures to see a full-size version of the covers.)

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Thu, 31 Jul 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (18)

Islamic but Not Shar‘i?

Soner Cagaptay, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, is one of the most astute analysts of Turkish politics. But he writes something in the conclusion to an article, "Turkey Versus Turkey," in the Wall Street Journal Europe that I cannot agree with. Looking at the "battle for Turkey's soul" currently taking place between "secular Turkey" and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), he speculates what will follow should the AKP win. In that case,

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Tue, 8 Jul 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (1)

How Europe's Counterterrorism Laws Differ from America's

In my column, "Which Has More Islamist Terrorism, Europe or America?" I show that "the Muslim per-capita arrest rate on terrorism-related charges in the United States is 2.5 times higher than in Europe." I mentioned there a difference in the legal systems between the two continents that makes that ratio even higher but lacked the space to explain it. In brief, European laws make it much easier to arrest terrorism suspects than do the American ones. Consider two expert views on the topic:

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Thu, 3 Jul 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (21)

If Not [Arab-Israeli] Peace Now, What?

Moment Magazine asked several analysts briefly to discuss the state of Arab-Israeli diplomacy.

"Many Israelis, perhaps even a majority according to some polls, believe that the time has come for Israel to follow the 2003 Road Map to create two states—one Jewish, the other Palestinian. Yet, others in Israel and in the diaspora caution that the pursuit of peace at this time is hopeless, foolhardy, even dangerous. In the belief that it is important to hear voices from all sides of the debate, Moment posed the following question to a spectrum of such critics:

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Tue, 1 Jul 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (19)

Barack Obama, Google, and This Website

I pay my first visit to the "Googleplex" in a few days and thought I'd prepare by seeing how this website, www.DanielPipes.org, does in Google's rankings. I started out with the hot name of the moment, "Barack Obama," and was midly stunned to see that I come in #5, following only Obama's campaign site, his Senate site, Wikipedia, and Reuters – and ahead of nearly 61 million other entries.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Mon, 9 Jun 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (25)

Richard Silverstein Shoots Himself in the Foot

I count 16 attacks on me penned by one Richard Silverstein during the past four years, or one every three months; is it fair to say that this leftist is obsessed with me? I make a habit of ignoring him, but his latest screed in London's Guardian, "Uninvited Guests," contains not one but two errors, so here follow my corrections.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Fri, 6 Jun 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (1)

John Hagee, the Holocaust, and Me: Thinking about Allies

Leonard Fein has noted in the Forward that I am one of those scheduled to speak at John Hagee's Christians United for Israel conference in July. In the light of new information about Pastor Hagee's views on the Holocaust and the news that John McCain repudiated Hagee's endorsement of him for president, Fein wonders, what are the others and I doing about the CUFI conference? Will they cancel their appearances, he asks. "Or will they twist and turn to rationalize their continuing support for this false witness?"

No twisting and no turning here, Mr. Fein. I plan to speak, as scheduled, at the conference.

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By Daniel Pipes  |  Thu, 29 May 2008  |  Permalink  |  Comments (46)

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