plnelson, there was indeed a time when the Muslim world was recognized to be much more socially advanced and progressive than Europe was...and they were also more tolerant of other faiths living among them than the Christians of the time were. Progressive forces in Europe had much admiration for the Muslim world during that era.

These things always change as time goes by. They ebb and flow with the tides of history. One part of the world is ahead at one period, and it falls back at another period. One should not try to reshape all of past history in such a way as merely to blow the trumpet for one's own civilization and push present day political causes, because most civilizations have had their periods of great advancement and their periods of sharp decline...the Muslims included.

*****

CarolC is 100% correct that Israel (and the USA and Great Britain in concert with their agent Israel) have a definite policy set in place to prevent any nation other than Israel from assuming the position of a major regional military/political power in the Middle East.   They intend to crush any such emerging regime by any means possible, and they will use a variety of excuses toward that end. One of the favorite excuses they use is that the nation in question is "attempting to build a nuclear weapon"...something that Israel did themselves many times already, and without saying a word about it.

The intention is that Britain, the USA, and Israel should hold the whiphand in the Middle East and effectively run the place...and control the oil...and control the political process. This requires killing, dominating, bribing, and terrorizing a whole lot of Arabs, Palestinians, and Persians, needless to say...

In this case I'll quote from Star Trek, commander Data, as he said once to the Borg: "Resistance is not futile." Oh, it's dangerous all right. Damned dangerous. But it's not futile.