Hate Vs. Life

From IBD:

Ideology: Do Islamic governments so revile Jews that they'd rather see hundreds of their own people die than get help from Israelis? That seems to be the case in the sinking of an Egyptian ferry.

After Friday evening's sinking of the Salaam 98 on its way from the western Saudi Arabian port of Dubah to Safaga in Egypt, 120 miles across the Red Sea, Egypt refused offers of search and rescue assistance from the Israeli navy. Hundreds of passengers were still missing after four Egyptian frigates arrived.

According to reports, the passenger load of 1,415 was 20% more than the maximum allowed on board. Some of the passengers were apparently returning from the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Since so many were still missing, Egypt can't say that its efforts to save people aboard were adequate and no outside assistance was necessary. So why say no to Israel's able help?

Were there fears that massive safety violations would be exposed, embarrassing the government? Were there worries about being shown up by the Israeli military?

Maybe the spectacle of Israel saving the lives of Arabs would contradict some of the anti-Semitic propaganda being taught in Saudi elementary schools. Or maybe it was just plain, old-fashioned hatred toward the Jews: Better to die than be involved with them.

Whatever the motivation of Egypt's behavior, almost anywhere else in the world such a tragedy would be met with unquestioned international cooperation. A maritime disaster endangering the lives of more than 1,400 men, women and children is not the time for politics, or ethnic tribalism.

But too many times, even in "moderate" Islamic countries, we've seen hatred for Israel and Jews take a front seat in politics and culture. In Turkey — viewed in the West as the world's most civilized, reasonable Islamic society — advance tickets are selling out for what is the most expensive Turkish film ever made, "Valley of the Wolves Iraq."

The movie opens with the true incident of a U.S. Army search for Iraqi insurgents during the raid of a Turkish special forces office in 2003. But attached to that is the fictional story: U.S. soldiers in Iraq machine-gun to death a little boy in front of his mother at a wedding, murder dozens of the wedding guests at random, shoot the groom in the head, and take those left to Abu Ghraib prison, where a Jewish doctor removes their organs and sells them in New York, London and (of course) Tel Aviv.

The film, said to have cost $10 million, features American actors Billy Zane and Gary Busey, which shows how far ill will for those who wear the uniform will take Hollywood personalities.

In his State of the Union last week, President Bush rightly pointed out that "democracies replace resentment with hope." But as we saw in the Palestinian election of Hamas, when Mideast minds subsist on a diet of hate, they can and will misuse their freedoms.