Of course, every ethnic community has its share of corruption. And it is sad because it unfairly reflects on the entire community, even though only a few individuals are involved.

The Jewish community is no exception, with its share of scandals. What has helped the Jewish community is its ability to organize itself politically and charitably, so as to promote policies which most Jews believe in. So, for example, the Jewish support for the State of Israel is reflected in such organizations as: the Associated Jewish Charities, Israel Bonds, Hadassah, the Zionist Organization of America, the Jewish National Fund, etc. And on the political front, organizations like AIPAC do lobby vigorously on behalf of causes which are important to Israel.

By having this organizational stucture, it makes it possible to have credibility on Israel, even when an occasional scandal breaks out here and there. This kind of structure differentiates between the organization, on the one hand, which has some constancy to it, and acts of individuals, which may be a bit eratic at times.

It is important for Arabs and Muslims to become similarly organized because it will allow them to have more say with regard to what’s happening in the Middle East, and to have more influence in moving things forward there, hopefully in a positive direction.