Micah Halpern's most recent column (it's dated "Tuesday, August 7, 2006") is on the symbolism that permeates Arab culture. Specifically, it's on the symbolism of the name of Hezbollah's newest Iranian-made missile: the Khaibar. It's a name well-known to Arabs and to Jews.
Khaibar was the name of an ancient town. As the story unfolds in the Koran, it was a town predominantly inhabited by Jews. Mohammed the prophet targeted Jews. He tried to convert them in order to show off the success of his new theophany, his new revelation - that there is but one God and he, Mohammed, is his prophet.
Mohammed gave the Jews of Khaibar the option to leave the town taking with them all their belongings. The Jews declined to leave. Mohammed gave the Jews of Khaibar the option to just leave. Again, the Jews declined. Mohammed massacred the Jews of Khaibar. All of them. The story of Khaibar is the story of Sodom and Gemmorah, only Mohammed style.
The name Khaibar resonates with hatred and the mass murder of Jews.
Every Arab and every Muslim who has read the Koran realizes the true meaning behind this choice of name. Naming a missile Khaibar is a metaphor for the struggle between the Arab world and Israel. It is a metaphor suggesting the ultimate end to this struggle. The Arab world is telling us, the West, that this battle is not about Southern Lebanon, it is about the very destruction of Israel.
When does the Arab world band together? Never to offer praise and rejoice because of the good that has happened to them, only to rejoice because bad has happened to someone else. The Arab world gathers together in hatred. They gather because of the United States and because of Israel.
The world leaders calling for a cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel are blind. They're culturally ignorant. They fail to understand how deep the hatred goes, and that failure of understanding leads them down a road that would hasten Israel's destruction. Because Iran hasn't finished developing weapons. Khaibar is not the end. Not if Iran and its puppets have anything to say about it.
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