Factually Challenged

I just read and chuckled at this review at Amazon.com of Andrew Bostom's excellent and important book "The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism". The author of the review, "M. Gam", thunders:

- In the muslim books, the Quran and Sunna, jews and christians were referred to as the people of the book like the muslims. It is a must for muslims to believe in the old and new testament the way they came to the prophets: Moses and Jesus
- Jews and Christians were always free to practice their religion where muslims ruled, and were even treated evenly in the eyes of the law. Testimonies in the books can prove it. The history of Jerusalem can prove it.
- Jews and christians were given high positions in the muslim political and social systems. This applies to the present.
- In the history, I don't recall any slaughter of the jews by muslims, but I recall the ones by Romans, and the one by Europeans
- Last one: How could Muslims be anti-semitic if a big percentage of the muslims are Arabs and the Arabs are semitic as they descend from Sam. This point alone proves that the writer did not gather true facts.

This nonsense is effectively debunked in the comments to the review, but it is amazing to note that pretty much every statement here is proven false IN THE BOOK ITSELF. I can only surmise that Mr. Gam didn't even read it, or that he wants those who haven't read it to be kept away from the truth. The statement that "Jews and christians were given high positions in the muslim political and social systems" is acknowledged in the book, but Bostom goes on to show how on all those occasions, Muslims protested violently about this violation of the sharia and in many cases slaughtered whole Jewish communities in retaliation. As for the idea that, "In the history, I don't recall any slaughter of the jews by muslims", once again Bostom destroys this falsehood with much primary documentary evidence in the book.

The best one of all is the last one: "How could Muslims be anti-semitic if a big percentage of the muslims are Arabs and the Arabs are semitic as they descend from Sam." If Gam had actually read the book, he would know that Bostom deals with this exact question ON THE VERY FIRST PAGE!

The dishonestly of Muslim apologists here is clear for all to see. And it's not the first time it's happened to Bostom, either. Take a look at the following debate on Fox News after the release of Bostom's previous book, "The Legacy of Jihad". In it, Bostom's opponent, Ahmed Younis, states triumphantly: "The term 'holy war', al-harb al-muqaddasah, does not appear in the Qur'an at any point." Just one problem, Ahmed: Bostom notes this on PAGE TWO of the book, and the rest of it is aimed at refuting this simplistic assertion. But I'm sure Younis, like so many Muslim spokesmen, knew exactly what he was doing when he made this deliberately misleading statement.