by Isi Leibler
If the authorities are serious in their efforts to curtail terrorist attacks, then there is no choice but to restore surveillance of Islamic societies, which was curtailed in the U.S. in recent months when the government was accused of discriminatory behavior and Islamophobia.
The painful lesson of
the Orlando massacre is that no place in the world is immune to
fanatical religious extremists willing to kill themselves to achieve
heavenly salvation.
The Western world is
floundering in its pathetic efforts to confront the demonic global
forces threatening to plunge it back into the Dark Ages. Its failure is
largely due to the inability of democratic countries to face reality and
devise a united strategy to vanquish these Islamic fundamentalist
terrorists.
Instead, Western
leaders bury their heads in the sand and cravenly resort to policies of
appeasement, even though there is not a single recorded historical
instance in which a millennial terrorist force has modified its behavior
in response to such approaches.
Europe, where major
cities are suffering suicidal attacks from crazed imported or homegrown
Muslim terrorists, is now perversely absorbing millions of additional
migrants from the Middle East killing fields -- ironically rejected by
Islamic countries as security risks. The demography of Europe is being
permanently altered, but any rational discussion of the subject is
immediately condemned as Islamophobic.
Contrary to all
evidence, most West European governments continue to blame the
Israeli-Palestinian impasse as the principal factor inflaming Islamic
terror. Currently, the French government -- whose Muslim population is
estimated to be over 15% and expanding dramatically -- chooses to ignore
the ongoing mayhem in the region and instead seeks to force Israel to
retreat territorially to the indefensible 1949 armistice lines.
Much of the current
breakdown can be attributed to the influence of U.S. President Barack
Obama and the policies he initiated. His overriding objective was to
build a bridge between the United States and global Islam, and to this
end, he has fawned on leaders of rogue Islamic states and humiliated
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a low-level adversary rather than
treating him as an ally.
Obama groveled toward
the leaders of Iran, the world's most intransigent terrorist entity,
while they continued baying for the downfall of the U.S., the "Great
Satan," and succeeded in transforming Iran into a threshold nuclear
state, which further emboldened the ayatollahs and outraged America's
traditional moderate supporters.
Obama's indecisiveness
is much to blame for the ongoing horrendous civil war in Syria, and
enabled Russia to assume a position of critical leverage in the region.
He displayed hostility to the Egyptian government which, backed by
popular support, replaced the Muslim Brotherhood regime and is fiercely
engaged in battling Islamic fundamentalists.
In his obsession to
appease Muslims, Obama rejects all criticism of Islamic fundamentalism
as Islamophobia. Even more bizarre, despite the fact that the vast
majority of terrorist incidents throughout the globe were either
orchestrated or inspired by Islamic fanatics, any reference to the link
of terrorism to radical Islam is banned from the White House and State
Department lexicon.
The perpetrator of the
Orlando massacre was claimed by Islamic State as "one of our soldiers in
America." During the course of the killings, he shouted "Allahu akbar"
and even proclaimed his allegiance to Islamic State.
Yet Obama remained in
denial, adamantly refusing to label the massacre as Islamic terror and
misleadingly defining it as a "homegrown" anti-gay "hate crime"
influenced by "extremist information disseminated over the internet."
Unfortunately, there is no guarantee of what policy Obama's successor will adopt.
If elected, Donald
Trump could make changes, but his raucous zigzagging statements and his
call to ban entry to all Muslims -- as distinct from limiting and
enforcing tougher security entry screening -- are populist demagoguery
and hardly reassuring. Trump supporters claim that he would surround
himself with good advisers and come down to earth. But many, including
prominent conservatives, regard him as an unguided missile and remain
deeply skeptical as to his presidential ability.
Hillary Clinton is also
a fearful prospect. Setting aside the hostility to Israel that she
displayed as secretary of state, the influence of the Bernie Sanders
elements on the ongoing radicalization of the Democratic Party is deeply
troublesome.
It is significant that
even in the wake of the Orlando massacre, Clinton still played down
Islamic extremism and blamed the failure on a lack of gun control. While
there is every reason to prohibit the sale of automatic weapons to the
public, blaming "gun violence" obscures the real source of the problem,
which is global jihad. Indeed, in Israel, since the wave of "spontaneous
lone wolf killings," Israeli citizens licensed to use weapons have
actually been encouraged to carry them and have succeeded in foiling
many attacks.
How can governments confront global terror when they refuse to objectively assess and identify the source of the threat?
It is indisputable that
the bulk of global terrorism emanates from Muslims. Thus, to protect
lives, immigration and entry visas should be reviewed rationally. Let us
assume that of the 1.6 billion Muslims throughout the world, 95% are
law-abiding citizens. Yet all opinion polls indicate that the majority
harbor sympathies for the terrorists and yearn for Muslim global
domination. A worldwide Rand Corporation study three years ago estimated
that 100,000 Muslims were potential terrorists. Today the number would
be far greater due to the substantial increase in jihadists in the wake
of the Islamic State caliphate.
Additional security
procedures must be adopted. There is an urgent need to expand and share
global intelligence. Civil liberties should not be understated, but
political correctness must be overridden by the duty to protect the
lives and limbs of innocent civilians.
Yet even after Orlando, the media was enjoined to understate the Islamic factor as it would "distress" the Muslim community.
Law-abiding Muslims
cannot be permitted to stand aside or merely condemn terrorist acts.
They must understand that it is their obligation to identify to law
enforcement officials all clerics and mosques that engage in promoting
radicalism and jihad, such as the mosque attended by the Orlando
terrorist, Omer Mateen. If the authorities are serious in their efforts
to curtail terrorist attacks, then there is no choice but to restore
surveillance of Islamic societies, which was curtailed in the U.S. in
recent months when the government was accused of discriminatory behavior
and Islamophobia.
The ongoing threat of
terror attacks is affecting political attitudes. With the Islamic
extremists boasting of sleepers embedded in Western society and poised
to inflict further attacks, much of the population has lost confidence
in its leaders. A genuine revolt against the established order is
reflected in the radical disillusionment emerging across the entire
spectrum. In Western Europe, there is a dramatic rise in populist
right-wing support, which is clearly a response to fears from Islamic
terror, and in the U.S., the populist appeal of Trump on the Right and
Sanders on the Left signify a revolt against all establishments.
In this constellation,
despite all the challenges facing it, Israel is in a remarkably strong
position. The U.S., the Europeans and the U.N. will undoubtedly continue
pressuring and passing discriminatory resolutions demanding further
unilateral territorial concessions that would undermine our security.
Netanyahu noted that
the strength of shared values and popular support outweighs the
tensions, and that the U.S. remains our closest ally. But we have also
made extraordinary progress extending relations with countries beyond
North America and Western Europe, such as India and China. The warmth
exuded toward Israel and the Jewish people by Russia has been
remarkable. The Algemeiner newspaper even suggested that Putin may use
Russia's veto at the U.N. to protect Israel should the U.S. abandon it. I
would not hold my breath for this.
Israel is better
positioned today than at any time to resist those willing to sacrifice
it in order to appease the jihadists. The reality is that in an
increasingly tough world in which no city is immune from terrorism,
Israel can provide an example of security that other countries could
well emulate, and that may ultimately assume an important role in the
effort to strategize and neutralize the global jihad.
Isi Leibler's website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com. He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com.
Isi Leibler
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=16469
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