Author: Beth Goodtree
Publication: Israel Insider
Date: May 10, 2004
Israel, the United States, the European
Union, India and parts of Africa, as well as Jews, Christians, Buddhists,
Hindis, Animists and many others all have a common problem. Actually three
common problems: they are all in a state of war with an organized global
entity numbering in the many millions, they refuse to accept this reality,
and they cannot even name the enemy.
This enemy uses new tactics and
fights an unconventional war. No more massing of uniformed troops on their
victim's borders prior to invasion. This enemy infiltrates their target
using the legal means set up by their targets, hides among civilians, covers
their faces when out in the open, and uses lies and propaganda, as well
as blackmail to establish a foothold. This enemy has no shame, certainly
no morals or a particle of honor. And yet all of the abovementioned nations
cannot name this enemy, confusing the symptom with the actual pernicious
disease.
Unlike Mr. Bush and his compatriots
have stated, the enemy is not terror. Terror is merely a symptom of a fatal
sickness; it is a warfare tactic employed by the adversary. Therefore,
stopping the terror is not feasible unless the enemy, and thus the disease
itself, is vanquished.
So who is this enemy that everyone
refuses to identify? The enemy is radical Islam; what some call Islamism,
Islamists, Islamo- fascists or Islamo-Nazis. And what is even worse, radical
Islam is becoming the norm instead of the aberration. Politically incorrect
as this may be, it is time for the truth to come out. Besides, the evidence
is rampant if only people have the fortitude to face it. As much as the
purveyors of political correctness may delude themselves into thinking
that everyone will behave nicely and everything will be equal and hunky-dory
if only we speak in socio-religious-neutral tones, reality doesn't work
that way.
One has only to examine acts of
terrorism for the past three and a half years to see that it is almost
exclusively caused by Islamists. America, Bali, Madrid, Kashmir, the Philippines,
Pakistan, India, Russia --- no place is safe from the cancer of Islamism.
And their hideouts include England, France, Germany, Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
Pakistan, Canada, South America, the US -- like cockroaches they go wherever
they can infiltrate a society.
And if one looks at all the wars
currently being waged on the planet, it is almost exclusively Islamists
on one side of each conflict. In the Sudan they enslave the Christians
and Animists. In parts of Indonesia they force conversion to Islam with
the threat of having one's head chopped off. Then they sexually mutilate,
without anesthesia, the newly converted men and women -- all in the name
of Islam1.
Last month I had the honor of meeting
Sheik Abdul Hadi Palazzi, secretary general of the Italian Muslim Association.
In our all-too-brief conversation he told me -- in direct contradiction
to President Bush's exhortations that most Muslim's in the US are peaceful
-- Islam in America has become radicalized. And unlike Mr. Bush and his
apparently inadequate advisors, this man is an expert on Islam and its
adherents.
So I began looking for the evidence.
Sadly it is all around me. For example, CAIR (Council on Islamic-American
Relations) is unfortunately still a respected and influential lobbying
group, even though it has proven ties to Hamas and al Qaeda. It also has
no tolerance for anyone other than Muslims as evidenced by the following
frightening statement2 made by Omar Ahmad, co- founder of CAIR: "Islam
isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant.
The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority
in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."
And while CAIR may be just one group
of Muslims in America, the entire Muslim-American community has at best
been silent whenever a Jew is injured or murdered by Muslims for merely
being a Jew. No condemnations, no public examinations (as the Catholics
are now doing in light of abuse by priests). Those who keep publicly silent
are, in fact, showing their support for genocide (killing someone because
of their religion) by refusing to condemn it. And living two towns over
from Paterson New Jersey, I witnessed the virtual glee and the celebrations
in the street with which the mostly Palestinian Arabs treated the news
of the murderous attacks of 9-11.
Nor are Jews the only victims of
Islamism. I have yet to hear any Muslim in America condemn the Islamist
killings and desecrations of Christian Arabs and their holy sites. Lebanese
and other Arab Christians have been systemically slaughtered for being
Christian. They have had their lands confiscated, their holy sites held
hostage and their bibles used as toilet paper3 without any official Muslims
in this country condemning the practices or offering assistance to the
victims.
Even countries that have been officially
termed 'moderate' are anything but gentle and accepting. Malaysia has been
deemed moderate by the US and yet here is what Malaysia's former leader,
Dr. Mahathir had to say4 at the Organization of Islamic Countries in the
Fall of 2003: "We need guns and rockets, bombs and warplanes, tanks and
warships..." And every last delegate there -- from all 57 Islamic countries
-- gave that speech a standing ovation. Even the whole concept of an Organization
of Islamic Countries is not merely exclusionary, it pits Islam and an Islamist
agenda against the rest of the world.
Then there is Saudi Arabia; her
royal family honored guests for a Bush barbecue. They are the funders and
supporters of the founding movement of Islamism --Wahabbism. And they continue
to fund it to this day. They also prosecute those who would purge their
schoolbooks of material offensive to Christians and Jews and advocating
armed jihad.5 Meanwhile Egypt, another country designated 'moderate,' has
official state textbooks exalting Islamic holy war.6
Until the civilized world gets the
moral courage to tell Muslims that certain forms of Islam are unacceptable
and merely a cover for a Nazi-like agenda, we will continue being victims,
as will the truly peaceful, gentle Muslims who are hiding out of fear.
Sheikh Palazzi has said this at risk to his life. It is time for our political
leaders to stop being so cowardly and politically incorrect as to put their
voting public at risk by refusing to acknowledge the real problem --Islamism
-- and make a stand.
Footnotes:
(1) "Christians in Indonesia", National
Review Online, Jan. 2, 2002
(2) Anti-CAIR
(3) "Palestinians in Nativity Church
used Bibles as toilet paper" (Note:
this is a notoriously anti-Semitic,
anti-Israel website.)
Beth Goodtree is a frequent columnist
on Arutz Sheva and Israel Insider, among other publications. Ms. Goodtree
lives in the New York City metro area and has a background in advertising.
She writes political commentary and the occasional humor piece.