It cannot be that those who broke into the bilingual school in Jerusalem the other night and torched books, thought that they were committing a crime. Come on, churches and mosques are being burned there, in the Holy Land, day in and day out, and lately even human beings. So what are some burned books in a classroom at school between you and me. Besides, nobody reads anything anymore except for some bizarre students who go to a bilingual school with teachers who are trying to instill in them some basic old fashion universal values, such as الحرية, المساواة, الإخاء or Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood. So why did they have to sneak in under cover of darkness to burn some books?
Maybe because they know that the burned books tell about the freedom to think, the freedom to define, the freedom of the right to organize, the freedom to speak, freedom to break through barriers, the freedom to bring down the wall, the freedom to dream of a society where everyone is equal and the freedom to make this dream a reality. And they are afraid. Or perhaps because they know the burned books tell that all men are equal, not because of some divine promise, not because they belong to the ‘chosen’, not because they were born on the right side of the wall, and not because they were born into some sort of a nation, but rather simply because they are Human Beings. You know, all men are created equal. So they are afraid. Or perhaps because they know the burned books tell about brotherhood, and how brotherhood and partnership between people can defeat any attempt to restrict freedom, and any effort to inequality, and how brotherhood based on freedom and equality is contagious. So they are afraid.
But when they stop sneaking like thieves during night, and come garnished with national flags to torch books in broad day light, this is when we know that even though they are still afraid of what they tell in the books, they’ve been told to be afraid of something else.