The religion of peace is at it again

Between Katrina, the new school year, and a heavy work load, I've pretty much ignored what is a huge story developing under the PA's leadership -- the systematic destruction of long-standing Christian communities that have had the bad luck to share a geography with the Palestinians. The Captain's Quarters has a very good description of what's going on, and accurately calls it a pogrom. One doesn't need to work very hard to see that this is simply a smaller scale version of what happened in Darfur. The Left has, for a long time, tried desperately to ignore the fact that Islamic governments routinely scours their countries for non-Muslims or for the "wrong" Muslims, and systematically wipe them out. Almost immediately after the creation of the state of Israel, Israel conducted Operation Magic Carpet, during which they rescued 45,000 Yemenite Jews. Iraq long ago expelled its Jewish population, which was again absorbed by Israel. Having long-ago purged their countries of Jews, these Islamic countries are now going after Christians. In Saudi Arabia, it's illegal (and unbelievably dangerous) to be Christian; in Indonesia, Christians are arrested simply for being (their very existence seems to be regarded as prosletyzing, which is illegal); in Darfur, they're slaughtered; and now the PA, which at last has full power over chunks of territory, is burning them out. How the world can look on and pretend that Islam, when it holds the seat of power, is a modern, tolerant religion, is a staggering act of moral blindness. This refusal to see things as they are is especially true for the same Left that characterizes itself as the "reality-based" community. Folks, the reality is that Arab countries ruthlessly suppress Christianity, often by fire and sword, and that they're going to do so as long as the rest of the world pretends (a) that it isn't happening or (b) that it's all right.