People from different viewpoints have criticized Bangladesh’s new Islamic Democratic Party as a front for the banned Harkatul Jihad Al Islami.
Many question my own support for the IDP as I am an American Jew and an outspoken Zionist who has fought radical groups like HUJI to defend Bangladeshi Hindus and others. Radicals have written that my own and Weekly Blitz editor Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury’s involvement suggests that Israeli intelligence is behind the IDP. Others have wondered, how I could support a group when its members have dubious roots.
The answer to all of them is “No.” Kazi Azizul Huq, an IDP official, and I have a relationship going back almost two years. We met for several hours in Dhaka in 2007 and frankly admitted that we disagree tremendously on many issues; but we also acknowledged a kinship in our mutual devotion to God — him through Islam, me through Judaism — and “agreed to disagree.”
Dr. Richard Benkin on Why an American Jew Supports the IDP
No comments:
Post a Comment