"Muslims seem to take their religion more seriously than Christians." I am a Jew and I am laughing at your silliness. Is this because you are a comic or are you being serious here? then you write: And many Jews are no different. God forbid that you criticize Israel. You would quickly be denounced as an “anti-Semite” and “Jew-hater.” Whatever Mr. Hanania. Have you looked in the arab press over the past years to see the multitude of anti-Israel, anti-Semitic cartoons. Have you visited memri.org lately. What the heck are you talking about. But here is the kicker. You say: My views on the cartoons are simple: They were offensive and Muslims have every right to protest them. But the violence and the threats, the killings and the arson, are wrong and all symptomatic of problems that Muslims and Arabs do face but can’t seem to control. --->Can't seem to control? What, are you talking about 3 year olds or grown adults. They can control it if they wanted. Now Mr. Hanania, ask yourself 'why they don't' not say 'they can't.' Face it for as many faults we Jews have you will never in your lifetime witness anything close to the moronically vicious behavior of your fellow Arab/Muslims over a few cartoons. Cartoons btw which are mass produced throughout the Arab/Muslim world by the thousands about Christian and Jews every day of the week. This you can not deny, no way, no how!! Look at it this way sir. You have a drunk teenager. A spoiled drunk teenager. Yes, his home is bad. Yes, he lacked from attention. Yes, he did not get the attention he deserved, Yes he is starved for love and understanding, etc., etc. Bottom line, this drunk teenager has to follow the rules and live by the consequences to survive despite it all. If we continue to make excuses for why he is drunk rather than having him accept responsibility for the here and now we will officially be designated as co-dependants to him. Get it? DO YOU GET IT, SIR?? Frankly, as long as you and the rest of the world enable evil behavior by making lame excuses while dragging the Jews into it (age old anti-Semite trick btw) as you did with the following I can easily say you too have no interest in getting to the meat of the matter. (I repeat what you wrote) And many Jews are no different. God forbid that you criticize Israel. You would quickly be denounced as an “anti-Semite” and “Jew-hater.” Lastly, your moral equivalences don't cut it. Heard them all. Recorded in stone from my ancestors. Just a different date placed on them.

Once again all you do is justify in a back-handed way the feelings of the "poor muslims", you think that by pointing out the weaknesses in the western culture that it excuses this rabble full of hatred. At least in the West we can debate and criticise without fear of death by a crazed rabble and if and when it sometimes does become dangerous it is usually limited in scope. I don't see any limits to the way muslims all over the world are reacting. What are muslims doing about learning tolerance and when are they goiing to try to understand the west just as they expect the west to understand them. It works both ways.

Christians and Jews are civilized, Moslems in general and Arabs in particular, are not. For whatever reasons, Islam does not have civilizing effect on people. Yes, Jews get angry when things they hold dear are being demeaned and insulted, as do the Christians, but their culture managed to creates brakes on their behavior. Not so in Islam. Islam seems to exacerbate all human faults. It has nothing to do with taking your religion seriously – after all, haredi Jews are as fanatical about their religion as your average imam, yet cutting off heads isn't a part of their religious repertoire. Evangelical Christians are as fervent in their beliefs as your average Pakistani, but their religious practice does not require them to prove religious fervor by murdering those who disagree. Nor must they impose their faith on others. Not now. Not in the XXI century. You yourself seem to be a bit confused as to your identity. You are a Christian, who points to the fact that you may have Jewish roots, because the name Hanania is Jewish, who chose to marry out of all women, a Jewess, thus, according to a Jewish law, having a Jewish son, and at the same time fervently supporting Arab Muslims, with whom you seem to identify the most, even though they would have no problem in killing your son as both a Christian and a Jew. Now, that really is a serious identity problem. And don't worry about having your emails read by NSA, I think you're taking yourself far too seriously.

You are quite a comedian Ray, you really make me laugh with your smart analysis of these serious issues. You are sooooo funny. Do you write humor in the muslim world too? Everybody loves Ray right. Smart schmuck.

like to have a 9 year old child as one of your 6 wives, that is normal to arab society to love children in that manner. Who wouldn't enjoy beating his wife because it was not only authorized but encouraged. Being seeped in brutality from birth up to be a victim or an abuser is the arab way and their "religious" or rather cult beliefs mesh firmly with that mentality. Beat your wife? Its no big step to bomb a cafe. Abuse a child? Its no big step to fire a rocket at a Jewish home with children in it. The cult of violence found in islam is simply a reflection of the abuse in the home.

Muslims get angry because like any group of people defending something which is not interally strong, they have to- otherwise it will be seen for the failure that it truly is. Christians and Jews do not have to defend their belief in God because God defends it Himself. Christians, in the NT are taught to "love your enemies" and to "turn the other cheek". The difference between a Christian and a Muslim is that a Christian is prepared to die for his faith whilst the Muslim is prepared to kill for his!

I do agree with you with most of what you wrote here and I am incoureging you to go on writing .... just one information i would like to add .. that what's going on now has nothing to do with Moslems or Christians but to do with traditions and mentality .. for example you said the Christians don't take their relegion seriously ... depend those Christian in which area they live ... the Middle East Christians are like the Middle East Moslems ... both taking their relegion very serous ... the Copts in Egypt they riot and explose for any small reason can touch the Christianity , the Marons in Lebanon are the same ... so it's area culture you can say it ... those who accuseing you with anti-simtism or a Jews hater ... they are accusing anyone do not agree with them with the same charges ... and they forget that most of the arabs are simitics too but it's became like a brocken disc telling the same sentence all the time even without thinking ... riots in the west !!!! it's hapening too but for another reasons ... for example ... after the strong hurican in the USE a few monthes ago ... when the Africans Americans accused George Bush with takeing more care to save the white people more than the black ... they did the same thing .... burning cars , breakeing shops , stealing goods and hurting inocent people ... and those should be more civilised than the arabs (like they say) ... so ... the only diffrence is the reason of the riot but the same action ... i would like to thank you Mr. Hanania ... God bless you

as for John Lennon , Americans wanted to boycott his band, not his native country. The Muslims are blaming Denmark for a private newspaper, big difference.

Pro-al Qaeda, racist, anti-Jewish Abu Hamza, former imam of the Finsbury Park mosque in London, found guilty of most of the 15 charges against him February 7, 2006, 3:56 PM (GMT+02:00 SO WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? IT MEANS .HE WILL HAVE 15 YEARS IN JAIL TO BRAINWASH AND CONVERT OTHER RIFF RAFF TO CONVERT TO ISLAM AND CONTINUE KILLING , THIS TIME YELLING AKBAR WHEN THEY KILL. BEST PUNISHMENT IS TO HANG HIM HIGH

Ray, At least you are making a small effort..I give you that. I'm sure my reply is one of many.. You said"First, I think Muslims take their religion more seriously than Christians." I reply..You couldn't be more out of touch with reality than with that statement. Muslims don't take their religion seriously , well they sort of, they take any negative characterization of them seriously,like a huge collective EGO insult! Muslims put this huge EGO above all else, even to the death Otherwise how can you account for such double standards.I don't see Jews,Hindus,Christians or the Amish reacting this insane way for such silliness, do you? If so, please document recent events (last 60 years) that.I'm all ears. Then you said this "And many Jews are no different. God forbid that you criticize Israel. You would quickly be denounced as an “anti-Semite” and “Jew-hater.”" I reply, yeah that right Ray..At the same time why don't you point out those masses of angry Jewish bubbies burning flags of other countries, storming embassies and calling all those that criticize us to be beheaded like your jihadist brethren.I see another double standard by the religion of peace. You said"It’s that there is an underlying hatred by the West of Islam and by Islam of the West. It’s been going on for centuries." I reply, here we go again,we have the 'I'm a victim' attitude which is a trademark excuse by people and their supporters who will not accept responsibility for their own actions. So what you are saying is that any group with an axe to grind should have the same rights as those rampaging muslims? Hum..an axe to grind..well heck, the Jews really have an axe to grind.After-all, they have been treated a whole lot worse over the centuries than any muslim, eh..Or is that yet another double standard? Regards Cliff from Montreal

There are religions today who teach they must convert the world "by the sword," even using terror . . . It is important to note that God, the true God of Abraham, never forces Himself on anyone ... and never in the Bible does Jesus Christ (the Greek-English translation of Yeshua Ha'Mashiach) try to force anybody to believe in Him or to attend His church or synagogue. Jesus-Yeshua simply says that He "Stands at the door and knocks." We have to open that door and invite Him in. God tells us that He has given each and every man and woman a free will to decide for themselves whether or not to accept His offer of salvation (life in Heaven) through Jesus-Yeshua, the Messiah. He clearly outlines the choice, and sincerely warns us of the consequences. It is a personal decision. God says that He looks at each man and woman’s heart to see if they are sincere in their belief. God is looking for people to come to Him out of love. If a man or woman ever decides not to believe in Jesus-Yeshua, that is their choice. It saddens God for He knows what their destiny will be after they die. But, never does He ask others to force a non-believer to return, or try to force them into believing through threats of injury or death. God shows us the only places we will find these coercive conversion tactics are from those who are driven by a depraved spirit and the dark power of Satan. God says the Bible is His Word. The Bible says God cannot lie and God says He will never change. The Bible has withstood the test of time. God challenges every religious system to hold the words of their books, their leaders, their founders, their prophets, and their angels up to the light of truth. God welcomes all to search His Scriptures and try to find error, contradictions, or lies. He also includes many, many prophecies to authenticate His Word. If you belong to a religion, or any church, that follows a prophet or worships a god who is so small and insecure that he would have people threatened with death if they criticize or refuse to join, and will threaten people with death or bodily harm if they decide to leave through their own free will, then flee! If you follow a religion or belong to a church that is afraid to hold the people who founded the religion or the words they spoke and the books they ask you to believe, up to the light of truth, then flee! God’s warning to the non-believer is clear. But God also tells us clearly that we are not to judge others, for they will be judged by Him after our earthly bodies die. God looks directly into the heart of each man and woman to see what each truly believes. Only a strange, twisted, paranoid religion, driven by the dark and evil powers of Satan himself would ever rape, torture, kill, imprison, beat, kidnap, behead, bomb, burn alive, or harm people in any way as a means to convert or to force people into joining, or staying, in their religion. The god of that religion is not, and never has been, the God of Abraham.  Any religion that would do these things is not lead by the Holy Spirit of God. It is a religion of darkness. It is a religion of evil, twisted, wicked men, directed and lead by the power of Satan. Many blessings are promised in Heaven to those who withstand such religions and suffer or die in their faith for doing so. Remember, being a Christian (all those who love, trust, and follow the Messiah) is a relationship with God, now made possible by having our sins washed clean ('white as snow') through the precious 'blood of the Lamb'... the promised Messiah ... it is not a 'religion.' Grace and Shalom, www.alphanewsdaily.com www.theprophecies.com

their phone calls being listened to. What an inconvenience. The people diving out of the Twin Towers sure would of liked to have gotten a telephone call, before they had to jump to their deaths. Maybe some of the Bin Ladens could of called up----given all the innocent civilians a warning-----and just dropped the buildings. No one would of had to die. Compassion would of saved the day. Since that wasn't the case Ray, I find it Hilarious that you are whining about the inconvenience by the NSA, listening to incoming calls from possible terrorists. It's gonna kill someone---if the government, listens in. You can just bet, Ray would be screaming, if his family got fried in Chicago. It would be, why didn't the government do something, Bush didn't do his job. So president Bush lied about Iraq? The Egyptians, Israeli's, Brits, Germans, Jordanian's and so forth must of lied to Bush also. Since they, and the CIA were preaching about Iraqs weapons of mass destruction also. How is it----that all these countries lied, but you only blame Bush? Everyone else gets a free pass? Or was it bad intelligence? And your theory about a lie being told---is actually your lie, and the lefts lie, about what really happened. It's much easier to change the truth. Bush has to be the liar. As for Muslim Anger---Your buddies congratulate each other for blowing themselves up. The other Muslim countries pay them to do it. The Muslim's have found out that murder and fear can get them recognition, and possibly their way. Plus they hate all the non-muslims. Even though they don't have the guts to come out and say it. That's why Americans have no problem wondering what's up the muslems sleeve. They have seen what the suicide bombings and mayhem have caused. A smart sheep----is afraid of the wolf.

Please, stop it already. Jews don't accuse people of being antisemitic merely for criticizing Israeli policies. Most Jews rightly criticize those who call for Israel's destruction, describe Zionism as racism, and have no concen for murdered Israeli civilians. They criticize as antisemitic those pompous fools who won't admit that they are antisemitic but say hateful things about Jews and always blame Israel for all the world's ills. Sort of like Pat Buchanan or Ken Livingstone or the Archbishop of Canturbury or the Presbyterian official who admitted that he likes Hezbollahmore than he likes Jews. Even with the centuries of persecution by Christians, Jews have forgiven and appreciate the friendship of righteous gentiles.They don't blow up buildings or behead critics. For this goofball to say that Muslims are more angry because they take their religion seriously is a tremendous indictment against Islam.

Well Ray if you are so concerned that GW Bush is listening to your phone calls and reading your mail, then you can go to live in Ramallah or Jenin, show some solidarity with your Arab brothers. Write something bad about Hamas or IJ and see what happens. YOu don;t get the freedom of the press thing do you? YOu want to practice your religion, fine, you want me to practice your religion and follow sharia, go to hell. This was a manufactured situation, with the IMam's enciting the fools on the street. Moslems have been making photos of Mohammed for centuries, and if pictures are verbotten in Islam, why have you and your brothers made Arafat and Yassin into little gods with their ugly mugs plastered all over the PA is that not idolatry.? YOu are a hypocrite like your buddies in Hamas and the PA. Take the beam out of your eye before you try to take the splinter out the eyes of the free world.

Who knows why? It is not our job to figure them out. We cannot change them. We can only change our response to their action.

type corporations they would have less time to waste their energy on anger and hatred.

about the Atab anger. Same old Arab nonsense. Somebody is guilty for Arab/Muslim feeling. Perhaps they should look in the mirror more often. If the Arabs/Muslims had felt secure about their religion they would have been less violent and angry.

Why in the world a Jewish publication would print the articles of an Arab American commedian claiming to be Palestinian? His analysis are rudimentary and often flawed. Cannot this publication find somebody with a superior intellectual ability?

http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_13018.shtml

The issue here is not that the newspaper insulted the prophet or not. What is making muslims angry is that Denmark is defending this newspaper in the name of its right for free speech. Free speech in the western world stops when it is about insluting Jews or Blacks for example. So why when insulting an important Islamic figure, it becomes an opinion and a freedom of speech. I hope the point is made more clear now. Having said that though, I believe that rioting is not the best solution. Economical and polictiacl embargo are the solution.

Arabs called this land Filistin since long time, at least two thousands year. One of the friends of Prophet Muhammad who belive in him and arrived from Hebron was named Al-filistini. Filistin in arabic is Palestine. This word is also their in Turkish and elsewhere. Palestinians and Lebanese are Cannanite Phonecians. Why are there Lebanese? Whay are there Syrians?, Egyptians?!!! All arabs, from Morocco to IRaq were not nationalistic. They belonged to one Big Arab Islamic country! Now, after France and Britain colonizing the Arab Muslim world. We started having nationalities. Palestinians are no different from other surrounding countries in origin or blood.... If you do not like to call the Human beings who used to live on the land you hate to call Palestine. Then call the, X or Y. X or Y will keep fighting until they get back their rights and kick out all Jews who never belong there. 40% of Israelis were not born in the Holy Land!!! Check the CIA Fact book about Israel if you do not know. The Human beings who are thrown as refugees outside their lands and town and villages will continue their struggle until they acheive their right to return.

http://www.biblestudymanuals.net/palestine.htm#I

YOU CONTREDICT YOUR SELF YOU SAY MOUSLEMS TAKE THEIR RELIGION MORE SERIOUS THAN CHRISTIANS BUT THEN GO ON TO GIVE REASON THAT ARE NOTHING TO DO WITH RELIGION THEIR NOT USED TO FREE SPEACH SO THEY ACT IN THIS WAY I THINK YOUR WRONG

You say that 40% of Israelis were not bron in Israel, well more than 65% of Israelis have their roots in the Middle East. They come from countries such as Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iran and Iraq. Assuming they are deported because the Palestinians have a land claim, can they claim back what was stolen from them in these countries? Will these Muslim countries allow them free speech and allow them to practise Judaism freely? Will Jews be allowed to vote in these countries, and be allowed education, the same way arab Israelis are afforded this in Israel? Can I ask, do the 'palestinian' people want recognition of their rights and a peace partnership? Partnership means negotiation and tolerance that comes from BOTH sides, not one side. Democracy allows freedom for all concerned, but what the radical muslim world wants is outright control and this leaves no room for tolerance of others, which rules out a partnership. The muslim world won't compromise on their views towards Jews and to the western world so why do you expect the Western world and Jews to make compromises on their views towards radical muslims/arabs?

It will explain that your neighbors have 300 nuclear warheads to fix your aspirations to conquer them. Besides, you are obviously a spoiled little brat, without a golden spoon in your mouth. You were never born with land. You have to get off your lazy rear end, get a job, and buy some. That spoon in your mouth is spoiled baby food. Isn't it about time you grow up, get a job, wife, and a life?

You run around Gaza, handing out candy at every Americans or Jews death. Send it to Al Jazeera, to be viewed by a billion Muslims. Brag about the suicide bombers, while putting up their posters. Then you pay the suicide bombers families after their kid kills themself. Now after this abomination is committed over several years. Some cartoonist puts the bomb on Muhammeds Turban. After you Muslims tell us you are doing these atrocious deeds, in your religions name. Are you trying to tell us that Muhammed doesn't agree with what you did now? Are you going to stop? Are you going to turn yourself in as murderers? Repent of the sin of murder? Ask for Allah's and Muhammeds forgiveness? This guy had every right to put what you created, down on paper. You put it on Al Jazeera every chance you get. You are such a bunch of hypocrites. Terrorize your neighbors. Spoiled rotten children who can't control themselves, deserve none of our respect. You are just a bunch of backward terrorist bullies. No one respects you anymore. Even Europe is waking up now!

http://www.inshad.net/~free/Mohammad_videoclip/mohammad_Drums_64.rmvb

Muslims allowed the U.S. to occupy Baghdad and terrorise Syria (who cares about Palestine and Spain!) They are allowing the daily systematic destruction of future Muslim generations - just turn on your Nilesat and you will see first hand how. But the herd goes mad when an unknown newspaper in an unknown nation insults prophet Mohameed (PBUH). I am almost certain the prophet would have been hurt a lot more by the state of ignorance and division of his followers. Wakeup and start focusing on the real issues people – time is running out.

It used to be that religion was the opium of the masses. Ray makes a good point that in the West, consumerism is the new opium. But a little opium can go a long way... I bet if Arab countries got a little taste of it we wouldn't be these kinds of riots.