The Muslim impulse to resort to violence whenever the prophet Mohammed or any other Islamic saint is criticized did not disappoint this time either. It had to crush and burn everything in its path over something that appeared Western enough to be hostile to Islam as well.

Just as Theo van Gogh was murdered in Amsterdam in 2004 after criticizing Islamic society in his movie "Submission," and just as the publication of prophet Mohammed caricatures in Denmark (2004) sparked violent riots that claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people worldwide – it is only natural that an amateurish film such as "Innocence of Muslims" – produced by a Coptic Christian – serves as a good enough excuse for the Muslims to murder, torch embassies and riot in 2012.

Muslim Riots Biting the feeding hand Guy Bechor Op-ed: Islamists who rose to power with Obama's help want US out of Mideast Biting the feeding hand

But even if the Arab-Islamic riots subside soon and Obama, Clinton and other senior officials in the US and Europe continue to condemn the violence, still only a few of them will be willing to shed the naïveté within their ranks and take a closer look at the Islamist-fundamentalist incitement and its sources of inspiration, at the violent character of Arab-Muslim society and at the anti-Semitic and anti-Western propaganda in its newspapers, books and television broadcasts.





'Valley of the Wolves'

The same society that turns violent whenever its holy figures are disparaged, revels in the horrific portrayals of Jews and Judaism in Arab media, particularly during the holy month of Ramadan. Movies such as the Iranian-produced "Saturday Hunter" and the Egyptian television series "Horseman Without a Horse," as well as the TV series "Al-Shatat" (which was cancelled in Jordan after 22 episodes due to American pressure) and the Turkish mini-series "Valley of the Wolves" – all contain hateful anti-Semitic motifs that the Muslim viewer "eats up" enthusiastically.





Cartoon in Saudi newspaper al-Watan

These motifs are also endorsed by respected Muslim academics. Between 2003 and 2006 a slew of Egyptian scholars explained how despicable the Jewish religion is and how big the lie which the Jewish religion is based on is – and all this at a time of peace with Israel, when Mubarak, not the Muslim Brotherhood, ruled.

In his 2003 book "The Nature of the Jews (as reflected) in the Torah and the Talmud," Dr. Ahmad Hijazi al-Saqa explained that "almost all the revolutions, coups d’état, and wars that ever happened in the world were brought about by the Jews, instructed by the falsified Torah, the Talmud, and ultimately The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. (These texts) all incite (the Jews) to eliminate non-Jews, using all means to achieve their goal: ruling the world from Jerusalem…."

That same year al-Saqa published "The Complete Version of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion," which served as the basis for another monumental book about the "protocols" - Dr. Baha al-Amir's "The Divine Inspiration and its Reversal, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion," published in 2006. A year earlier Dr. 'Ayid Taha Nassef published "The Children of Israel and the Lie of Semitism." All of these books (and this is just a partial list) were on display at the international book fair Cairo in 2007.

When a crown of thorns is promised to whoever speaks of the violence in Islamic society and culture, and when double moral standard becomes a profession in Arab countries, as well as in Western countries, a feminist such as Judith Butler can view Israel as the devil incarnate and at the same time consider Hamas and Hezbollah to be legitimate organizations representing the global leftist camp.

In such an atmosphere, Edward Said can refer to the descriptions of the Levant's backwardness - including the oppression of women and the hatred of the West, Jews and Judaism – as racist Western propaganda, no less.

The people of the Levant can view an esoteric film as an excuse to launch a pogrom against the infidels from the West and at the same time accept fatwas describing Jews as the descendants of apes and pigs.