Ikhras plays the victim card -- hey didn't mean to be mean

The goofs at the anti-Arab hate site Ikhras, attached at the hip to KabobFest, are whining that they were unfairly attacked by American Arab intellectual Hussein Ibish in a recent blog post. Actually, Ibish skewered them worse than they could ever be skewered. You could see the Ikhras site was smoking in their muddle although they did need some people to help them understand precisely how powerful the knock on their lack of credibility really is. That's okay. Ikhras claims that if you don't speak Arabic, then you are not an Arab, Of course, there are lots of people who speak Arabic who are not Arabs at all. The Ikhras attacks against Arabs who are not fluent in Arabic are reflective of the hate attacks by Israeli settlers who claim that Palestinians don't exist. Same ilk. Same low lifes.

But Ibish noted in a followup that Ali Abunimah, who loves to dish criticism out but plays the victim too, is probably not involved with Ikhras. Ali Abunimah denies any ties to Okhras, which has to be a blow to the Ikhras hate site and their puny illerate writers Qassim Lufti and Thabet al-Arabi. Abunimah attacks a lot of people, and sometimes can't get the facts right either but when people criticize him, he whines to his followers about being criticized and then calls his critics "bile." Wow. Big words.

Well, it's probably true that Abunimah has nothing to do with Ikhras. Afterall, Abunimah is at least articulate in his writings and well spoken, despite our disagreements and his hypocrisies in how he criticizes others. And I still challenge his outspoken criticism of Syria's government but his silence when it comes to the Jordanian Government.

And I am sorry if I criticized him too hard and he took offense, calling him mukhabarat, or being a representative of the Jordanian Government.

After all, Ikhras says I can't speak Arabic (they have no idea what they are talking about of course -- that's all my mother spoke to me as a child). But still, I would love to debate Abunimah anytime and anywhere but I don't think he could handle it. I certainly wouldn't want to injure his fragile ego. I mean, a guy who can hit people so hard has such a soft spot when it comes to criticism of him, might not be able to take it.

So here's to you Ali Abunimah. One day you might just be able to help the Palestinians when you rise up from your hypocrisies and disassociate yourself from people like Ikhras.

Read the Ibish column.

Hussein Ibish has far too much class to be dragged down by Ikhras or Abunimah and his insights are right on the button. Deep down, the Ikhras people are just jealous of Ibish, and maybe Abunimah is a little jealous, too.

-- Maklooba Man