A book fair in Paris has become the subject of controversy with several Muslim countries announcing boycotts because the guest of honour is Israel.

Saudi Arabia has become the latest to withdraw, following Iran, Lebanon, Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria.

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Isesco) has also urged its 50 members to pull out from the fair, which starts on 14 March.

By knowing that all these parasites won’t be sneaking in on their faux visas, didn’t this book fair just become 100% safer?

Really, is it any great loss to the book fair - let alone the entire world of literature - if the Muslims don’t want to play along? What kind of contribution would they have made, anyway (not counting dead bodies)?

In other news…

Early morning shoppers at a supermarket in Jeddah were left reeling yesterday, with some falling unconscious, after a well-built Syrian man clinched a knife and decapitated his 15-month-old nephew in front of his mother in the store’s fruit and vegetable section.

In a brutal murder that has shocked the city, the 25-year-old man beheaded the boy, who was out shopping with his mother — in full glare of shoppers and staff at Al-Marhaba supermarket on Sari Street around 9.30 a.m. The man, who is the boy’s maternal uncle, apparently killed the boy following a dispute with his sister and brother-in-law.

Eyewitnesses said that the man picked up a knife from inside the store and severed the boy’s head.

This is the viper we insist on nursing to our breast.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Books, France, Islam. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.