This may not be the most insightful comment on international diplomacy, but we are never going to have peace in the Middle East. Plain and simple, the people involved in this eons-old conflict never forget–and they never forgive. We were reminded of that fact last Friday when author Salman Rushdie was stabbed and seriously injured by an attacker at a literary conference in Western New York.
It’s likely that you had forgotten about Salman Rushdie. He was a little-known British author until 1988 when he published The Satanic Verses–a work of fiction referring to the prophet Muhammad initially putting verses in the Qur’an that mentioned Arabian goddesses–but then later removing them claiming Satan convinced him to originally include them. While this premise is something of a disputed Muslim tradition, it’s publication was met from great outrage from some Islamic leaders at the time. The book was flat out banned from publication in 13-counties, bookstores that carried it in other countries were fire-bombed, and the Ayatollah of Iran issued a “fatwa”–an order to all Muslims to kill Rushdie.
That forced Rushdie into a life of hiding from society under constant armed guard. He moved to an undisclosed location and used an assumed name for all public actions. Every once in a while you would hear about a public sighting, or a telephone interview. He became a joke in an episode of Seinfeld where Kramer believes a man calling himself “Sal Bass” at a health club is actually the author.
But after a few years, Rushdie started to feel as though the world may have forgotten about his “transgression” against Islam. He showed up at U2 concerts in the 1990’s. There would be an occasional appearance at book conferences. And eventually a lecture series in countries with relatively small Muslim populations. And I’m sure that he felt no real fear in appearing at a promoted event at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. It has been 34-years now, and no one holds on to a grudge or hate that long right?
Well, Hadi Matar doesn’t forget. The New Jersey man purchased a ticket for the literary conference that featured Rushdie as a speaker last week. He drove several hundred miles, and brought with him a knife that he planned to use to kill the author right there on the stage. Matar had to know this would be the perfect opportunity and environment. I’m sure the Chautauqua Institute has big signs on all the doors proclaiming itself to be a “weapon free zone”–meaning there would be no armed bystanders to foil him. Even with a speaker that had a bounty on his head, security for a conference where people were going to sit around and talk about books would be spartan at best. No metal detectors, no pat downs, no barriers to prevent access to the stage. And sure enough, he was able to get right up to Rushdie–stabbing him multiple times in the face, neck, hand and abdomen before anyone had a chance to pull him off.
Rushdie got lucky this time. He is expected to survive. The man that translated the Satanic Verses into Japanese was not so lucky. He was stabbed to death in 1991–in a crime that Japanese police have not solved–and Japanese officials have been accused of covering up in order not to “further offend”. That same year, the Italian translator was beaten in the street by a man that claimed to be an Iranian–however Italian officials were quick to say they didn’t believe the book had anything to do with the attack. The translator did survive. And in 1993, The Norwegian translator–after years of receiving death threats–was shot three times outside of his house. He survived as well, but the shooter has never been captured.
If I was running the hospital in Eastern Pennsylvania where Rushdie is being treated, I’d have the local National Guard unit stationed outside of the facility and Rushdie housed in a basement room that can only be accessed through six secure doors–because there are just a couple of billion people that would still like to see him dead. And they are very patient. I mean, it’s only been 34-years since he wrote a book they didn’t like.
