If This Young Man Had Been a Moslem

A few days ago a flight was diverted because of strange behavoir deemed possibly the prelude to an act of terror.

It turned out that the young man who was behaving oddly was davvening with tefillin.

The incident was quickly brought to a close since the boy cooperated with the authorities, explaining what he had been doing, and showing them his tefillin. Neither his parents nor his grandparents have made an issue of what must have been a major embarrassment and not a little frightening for the 17 year old in question.

They, nor their rabbi, nor American Jews in general, have issued threats, of violence or death, against the airline, the US Government, or indeed anyone at all for "insulting Judaism" or "racism" or abusing the right of freedom of religion. No fatwas, no physical attacks, no paranoia, no attempts to sue for damages, as we have seen ever since Salman Rushdie put his life in danger by writing a book, or a Scandinavian cartoonist attempted to poke fun at Islamic extremism, or a Dutch filmmaker who tried to show what lies behind Islamic misogyny. This shows very clearly the difference between the Moslem mentality, and the Jewish mentality. Moslems seem to need to be provocative, "in your face", to demand not just equality under the law but to be superior to the local civil code [witness calls for Shari'a law in the UK for Moslems], and to behave like thwarted, but heavily armed, children when their demands aren't met for complete capitulation.

The Jewish response: “I would suggest, pray on the plane and put the tefillin on later on,” the boy's rabbi said. “Pray, and fulfill the ritual later.” That is called being civilized, something Islam has yet to understand.