David Bukay - Views

Views

Bukay is a supporter of the controversial Huntington thesis of the Clash of Civilisations. He argues that there is a wide gap between what he categorises as "Western political culture" and "the Arab-Islamic political culture". Bukay also holds controversial opinions in his own right. In a speech to a conference in Jerusalem in 2003, he argued that "the aggressiveness and fanaticism of Islamic fundamentalism is an existentially lethal phenomenon". He went on to claim that "Islam and democracy are totally incompatible, and are mutually inconclusive. The same applies to Modernity, which is perceived as a threat to Islamic civilization", and that "Leaders and policy-makers in the West refuse to grasp that the Islamic and Palestinian terrorism embodies the SARS decease: Suicide and Ruin Syndrome of democratic society. Until it is understood that this struggle is the war between the Son of Light against the Sons of Darkness, that they represent the invasion of the Huns, in order to destroy modern culture - the world will continue to face an existential more growing threat".

In his book Arab-Islamic Political Culture, Bukay writes: "This is a culture where rumors are an integral part of social activity, and they quickly become absolute truth that cannot be challenged. It has to do with exaggerations, flights of fancy, and especially, in a society that believes in conspiracies, a society wherein every date is important, that remembers everything and forgives nothing. This is a society wherein the lie is an essential component of behavior patterns, and lying is endorsed by religious sages".

According to an article in Haaretz, Bukay also wrote in the same book: “There is no condemnation, no regret, no problem of conscience among Arabs and Muslims, anywhere, in any social stratum, of any social position”. The article further alleges that he distributed a document to his students stating that “when an Arab or a Muslim opens his remarks with the expression wallahi, he is apparently intending to lie”.