ARAB TOLERANCE: In what was billed as a celebration for Ramadan, the second most popular television program in the Arab world featured a skit in which an actor playing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon drank the blood of Arab children. The program was shown over the weekend on Abu Dhabi Television, which is produced in Kuwait. The idea that Jews drank the blood of Christian children, or even used it in Passover matzohs, received a lot of play in the Middle Ages, but it can still be seen in Arab newspapers.

Considering that this is what gets served up as a holiday treat in the Islamic world (instead of, say, "It's the New Moon, Charlie Brown"), it's no wonder if the "Arab street" hates us. How can we possibly win the "hearts and minds" of the Arab world, when all they know is this kind of horrible propaganda about the west? The Israelis are going to report this incident to the UN. It will be interesting if they can bring themselves to condemn it, when propaganda passed out at their Racist Conference in Durban also pictured Jews with Arab-child blood dripping from their fangs.