 |
|
February 13, 2012
Binyamin Rose: Back to the Bunker: How a life-risking act by a Christian family during the Holocaust saved a family and built a thriving community a world away
Menachem Wecker: Business Schools Teach Real Estate Despite Troubled Housing Market
February 10, 2012
Lisa M. Krieger: Man with defibrillator demands access to his own heart's information
David G. Savage: Why activists may not be in a hurry to have High Court rule on alternative marriage
February 9, 2012
Laura McMullen: 10 Least Expensive Public Schools for Out-of-State Students
Kimberly Palmer: How to actually enjoy -- relaxing, financially -- your vacation
February 8, 2012
Warren Richey: Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groups
Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
The Kosher Gourmet byDana Velden: Going to the bother of making soup? You know it better be good. This CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP certainly is! And it's a cinch to make, too (Includes techinques and serving secrets)
February 7, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Caught off-guard? President's Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer gives those who need a reason not to vote for him, a darn good one
Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
February 6, 2012
Jonathan Tobin: Iran Threatens Israel With Destruction, But the New York Times Doesn't Hear It
Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
Caroline B. Glick: Obama: Of course I intend to prevent a nuclear holocaust . . . in a few months
Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz: Thriving through touch: Gentle massage helps older people with low mobility improve in mind and body
January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
Shari Roan: Millions of atrial fibrillation sufferers at risk for devastating, but preventable, stroke
Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Nov. 25, 2003
/30 Mar-Cheshvan, 5764
Muslims have just as much to fear from militant Islam
By Barbara Amiel
Her point of reference may be British, but the message is universal. It's time to connect the dots about a global — and growing — problem that won't go away by merely wishing it. And, more importantly, it's time for some responsibility from "leadership."
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
LONDON The veins of living humans show a blue tinge,
characteristic of de-oxygenated blood coursing
towards the heart. In life, all humans spill red blood
and a lot is made out of this in literature. A lot less is
made out of the fact that, when incinerated, all
human beings turn into a grey-white ash,
indistinguishable from that of incinerated buildings.
That ash covered the pavements and the gardens -
so carefully cultivated by the wife of the dead British
Consul-General - around the British diplomatic
mission in Istanbul last Thursday.
The single most important lesson to be learnt from
the events in Turkey is the obvious one, and it is a
lesson for Muslims. Namely, that they have as much
to fear from militant Islam and its Islamist dictators
and strongmen as does the West - if not more.
Whether it is the depredations of the Taliban in
Afghanistan or the murderous militants in Algeria, it
is clear that the greatest enemy Muslim societies
have are the extremists in their midst: Ba'athists,
fundamentalists and the so-called "political
Islamists". This is a battle for the soul of Islam. The
Israeli-Palestinian conflict may be fruit on the tree of
hate, but it is not its trunk, nor its branches nor that
"root" so often invoked.
I think it was the great Islamic scholar Bernard
Lewis who first had the notion, but Daniel Pipes
coined the sentence: "If the problem is militant
Islam, the solution is moderate Islam." This plain
insight is a lesson often pointed out, but so far not
learnt. Even if the West does learn it, that alone
would not prevent what happened in Istanbul. It is
Muslim societies that have to learn and genuinely
understand that virtually all the suffering they have
endured over the past 30 years has come from the
home-grown extremists within. Western societies
can only protect themselves against militant Islam.
They cannot provide a remedy for it. The
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the poverty of Africa and
the scourge of Aids are not the reasons for the
bombings in Bali or the blowing up of churches by
militant Islamists in Pakistan. The sufferings of the
Middle East and Africa are not a flea in the ear of
militant Islam.
Militant Islam has a number of strands, but it has a
straightforward ideology. First, to turn all Muslim
societies into Islamic theocracies and then to
conquer the world. Blatantly wanting to conquer the
world has been out of fashion for a while - unless
you count the attempt of Karl Marx's followers to put
the proletariat (in reality, the party's cadres) in
charge of it. But for the Islamists, world domination
is a perfectly real goal.
The notion that the ills of the Muslim world can be
cured and the glory, dominance and power of the
early Muslim caliphates can be recaptured by
returning to Sharia law and some real or imagined
past, puts the fundamentalists squarely up against
Muslim reformists wanting to go forward. No doubt
the reformists are the majority of Muslims in the
West, but they seem intimidated or curiously
passive.
The Muslim organizations in Britain are an example
of this. Of the two main umbrella organizations, it is
the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) that is viewed as
the home of moderate leadership. The MCB hosted a
party attended by the Prime Minister and Cherie
Blair, at which Cherie famously wore her "shalwar
kameez". The British Board of Deputies, made up of
Jewish leaders, chose the MCB as an ecumenical
partner. And on September 29, 2001, the MCB
"convened a special meeting of imams [leaders] and
ulama [scholars] … to discuss the events of
September 11 in the United States of America and
their aftermath".
After the meeting, the MCB issued a statement
deploring the attacks of September 11. This was
widely greeted as a demonstration of domestic
Muslim moderation. That statement bears reading.
In fact, it condemns September 11 and the bombing
of al-Qa'eda and the Taliban in Afghanistan equally
and in the same terms - which translates into no
condemnation of September 11 at all.
Essentially, the statement was an example of the
verbal gymnastics of people trying to reconcile their
emotional support of militant Islam with their own
standing as respectable moderates.
Ultimately, the MCB is as ideological as the Muslim
Association of Britain, which gets its inspiration from
the radical Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim
Association of Britain co-sponsors the "Stop the
War" marches and equates George W. Bush with
Saddam Hussein. One never knows how
representative these sorts of organizations are and
I would hazard a totally unscientific guess that their
extreme views represent less than 20 per cent of
British Muslims, if that. But small comfort. I know of
no recognized Muslim leader or Muslim organization
in Britain speaking out publicly on behalf of Western
democracies or the war on terror - or, as
importantly, against militant Islam in all its
manifestations. Any statement has to be hedged
with moral equivalence.
Perhaps the MCB means well and simply lacks
courage or intelligence, or perhaps it has been
hijacked. But no matter. Without any organized
opposition to these views by moderate Muslims, the
danger is apparent. A radical minority can take over
a country or a faith. Minorities were more than
sufficient to turn entire societies into Communist or
Nazi tyrannies. The last free elections in eastern
Europe after the war gave the communist party only
between 10 and 20 per cent of the vote. Hitler took
power with the support of one out of three
Germans.
In Britain we have our own problems. We have
created all sorts of human rights laws and
regulators, busy making sure that racial jokes are
prohibited and that people who use unpleasant
adjectives that "poison" the workplace are hauled
up before tribunals. But we seem unable to jail or
deport people who incite terrorism - or who incite
British people to disregard existing British laws
when they conflict with Islamic law.
Compromising justice for even the best purpose is a
route to be avoided, but if the laws to rid ourselves
of radical Islamists such as Sheikh Bakri Muhammad
or Abu Hamza are insufficient, surely we could
amend them or promulgate new ones without
compromising anything?
Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane was roundly
censured last week by Muslim organizations when
he told them to choose between the "British way" of
political dialogue and Islamic terrorism. Some of that
outrage, I suppose, comes from those who have a
legitimate fear that, if you keep invoking a peril, such
as the clash of civilizations, you will make it a
self-fulfilling prophecy.
But there is a parallel fallacy and it is that of closing
one's eyes to the devil that has already been
invoked. The question can be legitimately asked:
how many British consuls need to be blown up in
Turkey before Britain decides to stop appeasing the
devil on its own doorstep?
Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Barbara Amiel is a columnist with London's Daily Telegraph, where this column
originated. Comment by clicking here.
© 2003, Barbara Amiel
|
