Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Taliban Vilify Another Minority
On the New York Times website I came across a five minute video Op-Ed called Last Jew in Afghanistan. This is the story of Zablon Simantov who still lives in Kabul, Afghanistan. Most Jews have fled out of fear and pressure from the Taliban even though their Jewish roots have stemmed from Afghanistan since “the seventh century A.D.” and even “as far back as 720 B.C.” Zablon admits that he even sent his daughters away from Kabul. This man is driven by his idea of destiny, and he will never leave Afghanistan because God has chosen this fate for him. The video takes the viewer inside the Flower Street Synagogue that has been ravished by the Taliban. This short film moved me because this man takes a stand in a world that is suffocating his beliefs. The Taliban have made their motives clear, and Zablon knows well that he will not be alive to see a resolution: why else would he send his daughters away? Even those Jews who want to return to Afghanistan cannot until a proper government is established and security returns to the borders. This video proves that schoolgirls are not the only ones being punished by the Taliban: Jews are receiving the barbed end of the whip as well.
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This bring the angle of religious diversity into our story of girls and school. It shows that the Taliban is not just a group with the mindset to keep girls from school, but also a group that wishes to homogenize Afghanistan to the fullest extent by scaring of Jewish natives.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very important point to bring up because it seems that in events like the holocaust and the taliban vs pakistan conflict it is important to know who is getting harmed. in both of these instances it is only publicized that jews were slaughtered in the holocaust, and that girls got acid splashed on their faces from the taliban. The majority always gets the headline, which is how it should be, but it is very important to talk about the others who were also effected. In this case the jews, and in the holocaust, homosexuals and handicaps.
ReplyDeleteI think that this man's story is touching and very powerful. The fact that he has stayed in Afghanistan and hasn't given in to the Taliban is impressive. At first I thought he was crazy in not leaving his homeland, but after learning more about him, and how his views I find it intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is a moving story and someone is finally standing their ground against the Taliban in Kabul for Judaism. However, I just hope that this one man doesn't go unnoticed by the media and the rest of the world. He sounds like the wake up call that much us need and hopefully he is not murdered before his resistance can make a difference.
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