Holy Sites Quotes
When the Turks defeated the Christians, the only explanation many Christians could conceive of was that God was on the side of the Turks.
This quotation is one of history’s great examples of the classic problem of quotes taken out of context. The Blog was dealing with the potential reactions if Islamic terrorists set off a nuclear device or a radioactive dirty bomb in the United States. Lowry was reporting that in the event of a retaliation there was then a considerable amount of sentiment for attacking Mecca, the holy city of Islam. However, the Arab press picked up Lowry’s quote and Muslims throughout the world were told that the Editor of a prestigious American Journal admitted that there was much American public sentiment for a nuclear attack on Islam’s holiest city. By the time this “fact” was spread by word of mouth, a huge proportion of Muslims the world over truly believed that America was indeed out to destroy Islam. The fact that the “sentiment” was only in the context of a hypothetical retaliation for a first nuclear strike was totally lost by the time it reached most Muslims.
The Israeli’s signed a similar agreement at the same time and have honored it ever since. However, the Arabs quickly reneged and would not give Israeli Jews access to the Wailing Wall and the other Jewish Holy sites. When the Arabs again attacked Israel, they were beaten back out of the Holy sites in Jerusalem. The Israel’s have given access to the Holy sites to all religions ever and even allow the Muslims control of the Al Axa Mosque on the Temple Mount. Egypt and Jordan have negotiated peace treaties with Israel.
