would not be right. He did however have one request which was to insert one important clause: the defense of minorities. Michael has close relations with many Iraqis, both in Iraq and throughout the world. His novel Aida (2008) is set in Iraq in the days of Saddam Hussein. Friends from Iraq sent him up-to-date pictures of the country so that Michael could see the Iraq of today. He wrote thereon in the acknowledgements of the novel: "I will not forget the good people who extended me their help which was priceless, but I am not able to mention their names as it may put them in danger, amongst them university professors businessmen and women and journalists who risked their freedom to help, and where one of whom was actually arrested for this literary mission." On religion, secularism, and Judaism Sami Michael defines himself first of all as a Jew and only secondly as an Israeli. He comes from a secular Jewish family in Baghdad. "In the Jewish community in Iraq we lived in harmony, almost absolute between the religious and the secular. In Israel I demand the religious to respect my secularity. I have a personal permit to talk with my own personal god. For this I do not need the rabbinate." –Unbounded Ideas Michael wrote on Judaism: "The Jewish religion is somewhat like a covenant between the people and godly justice, and at the same time constitutes a treaty of brotherhood and solidarity between people. Judaism has taken a dangerous route with the last generation in Israel). From within it an unbending nationalistic leadership has arisen that strives tirelessly to recruit the faith for clearly political goals. This leadership schemes to destroy the humane, spiritual side of the religion and use it as a weapon of war. Regrettably, this tendency is intensifying. In these times, Judaism, as a religion, is in desperate need of redemption. I had always thought that Judaism is a religion of compassion and grace, benevolence and of progress and freedom. Judaism is a religion where, at its very center, stands above all else the human being as a holy and superior entity. Life, all life, is supreme, even above good deeds and religious obligations. If freedom has meaning then mere attempts to free Judaism from its chains will be likened to a miracle. "The marriage between politics and religion is the most destructive marriage