May 6, 2007: Attack at UN school in Gaza Strip

RAFA, GAZA STRIP – The list of things Islamist extremists hate is a very long one.

When you think of it, you can actually feel sorry for Islamist extremists. Now before I get hate mail allow me to explain.

These kinds of people are, to put it simply, full of hate. They hate everything and make that hatred obvious. Whatever does not conform to their narrow, exclusive interpretation of Islam is not just wrong, it is forbidden. So, what do they hate?

• any faith other than Islam;
• any version of Islam other than theirs;
• modernity;
• democracy;
• things we in the West take for granted such as freedom, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, etc.

This hatred is best summed up in a phrase I came across decades ago and use frequently: “there is no fun in FUNdamentalism‘. Now of course this does not apply solely to Islamist extremists as there are plenty of Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist (shouldn’t ‘Buddhist extremism‘ be an oxymoron??) to go around, a subject I covered at some length in When Religions Kill.

At times, this form of religious extremism turns to violence.

On this day in 2007

A clash broke out at a United Nations-run school in the Gaza Strip over a festival marking the end of the academic year. Islamist extremists had threatened to attack the ceremony if the school did not call it off, as there were plans for a gymnastics display and dancing which included girls. The protesters hurled grenades and opened fire at officials leaving the school, killing one and wounding six.

We have warnings about anything and everything, and people here demonstrate against anything and everything.

Chief of UNWRA in Rafah, Gaza

Tossing grenades because some girls were taking part in a festival? Seriously? None of this sounds like much fun to me.

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