by Dror Eydar
Hat tip: Jean-Charles Bensoussan
The West will not be able to defeat terrorism until we call the source of this insanity by name: jihadist Islam • Over the past 70 years, we seem to have forgotten that the majority has rights, too. Most importantly, the right to live.
Muslim women on London's
Oxford Street
|
Photo credit: Ami Shooman  |
Seventy years of perplexity. At the end of
that terrible war, in 1945, the West was in ruins and afraid of itself.
Since then, the pendulum has swung to the other end, shifting the focus
away from the whole and on to the individual -- the minority, the
persecuted, the refugee, anyone who is different, anyone trampled under
twisted, bloodthirsty nationalism.
The profound regret over the atrocity, and the
terrible rage over the destruction wrought by nationalist sentiments
prompted universities to focus their efforts on combating nationalist
ideas. The status of the individual became elevated to that of a god.
Everyone wanted to be an individualist. Everyone. But history has a
funny way of teaching us irony. The Communist empire took advantage of
the feelings of remorse and spurred the national deterioration of the
West. The Soviets had many agents of thought control: Some of them did
it willingly, others unwittingly and the rest, useful idiots, undermined
the fortitude of their own society under the guise of idealistic
socialism.
The individuals quickly lost their elevated
status to the foreigner, the complete other, the one who serves no
social, economic or national interest. In a show of pure altruism -- the
polar opposite of the attitude before the war -- nations changed their
laws and their feelings in favor of minorities completely different from
their own cultures. This was especially palpable in the gradual but
massive absorption of Muslims into the veteran Christian continent. For
some in the Western elite, this act was a way of clearing their
conscience after hundreds of years of colonialism in Africa and in Asia.
As strange as it may sound, the Muslims took the place vacated by Jews
in Europe. It wasn't too difficult after the Nazis and their
collaborators effectively purged almost all the Jews.
2. In the way of all revolutions, this
intellectual revolution also turned into a tyranny of thought. I have
met countless people whose mouths talk about pluralism, but in their
hands they wield a sword, ready to cut out anyone who thinks
differently.
In the 2000s, I taught poetry at the Bezalel
Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. In the teachers' lounge, I was
by myself most of the time because everyone there knew exactly who I was
and what my beliefs are. During one of my Theory and History Department
meetings, the head of the department spoke to the lecturers about
"pluralism" and that we must be open to other voices from the Right. It
was obvious that she was talking about me. Then, one of the lecturers
asked for the floor and said that he views the State of Israel as
"Planet Auschwitz" and asked, "Would we allow an SS officer to teach
poetry on Planet Auschwitz?"
There was something appalling and yet amusing
about this remark, because it did not represent an island in a sea of
pluralism. In his idiocy, he served as a sounding board for those in his
camp who are smart enough not to spew this pile of garbage at us.
Beyond the interesting sociological aspect of this anecdote, this
lecturer's remarks prompted me to take some inventory and examine the
nature of the conceptual and political dispute between the Left and the
Right in Israel. With his words, this lecturer defined precisely what it
means to be on the Left: "unquestioning support for the weak." Without
dictating their views. Unquestioning!
Take this approach and marry it with tyranny
of thought -- the kind of tyranny that would not hesitate to
indoctrinate, or at the very least to silence opponents by way of
political correctness or just brutish silencing tactics -- and you will
get the reason why Europe is currently collapsing under the weight of
tens of millions of Muslim immigrants over the last 50 years. Jewish
tradition, later adopted by the Christians, tells us that there is no
forgiveness without confession. The confession needs to be detailed, as
Maimonides said: "It is necessary to mention particularly one's sins as
evidenced by [Moses' confession, Exodus 32:31]: "I appeal to You. The
people have committed a terrible sin by making a golden idol." It is not
sufficient to talk about the "terrible sin." It is necessary to spell
out that they made a golden idol.
3. If we refrain from calling by name the
source of the violent madness that is eating away at us -- jihadist
Islam -- no degree of anti-terrorist operations will help. The free
world needs to say loud and clear that it will not tolerate this insane
version of Islam. The State of Israel took a step in the right direction
when it outlawed the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel
this week. The Muslim Brotherhood, disguised as various other groups, is
trying to disassemble the nation states in the region.
But above all, their ultimate goal is to annihilate the "occupying
Zionist entity." Islamist terrorism knows very well how to disguise
itself.
If 1.5 billion Muslims want to claim that
extremists hijacked their religion, let them go out and demonstrate,
intervene in their education systems and ask themselves a number of
hard-hitting questions: Why, of all the religions, have the peoples of
Islam been left behind? Why is the vast majority of terrorism committed
by Muslims?
The West needs a clear, unwavering voice
within the political, educational and communications arenas to come out
and say that the party is over. From now on, we will adopt a
zero-tolerance policy toward these kinds of phenomena. This declaration
needs to be directed not only at the 1.5 billion Muslims of the world
but also at the confused intellectuals in the West, who jeopardize all
of our lives with their juvenile idealism. After 70 years, the West
needs to emerge from the exile of the mind and return to Zion, to the
decent and moral lifestyle that doesn't give itself over completely to
others at the expense of the life of the community itself.
4. The Jewish people bestowed upon the world
the eternal commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus
19:18). This is the universal foundation for caring about others who are
different than you. At the beginning of the second century C.E. Rabbi
Akiva, one of our most revered sages, stated that this was not just any
commandment but a "major tenet of the Torah." So much so that 200 years
earlier, Hillel the Elder predicated the entire Torah on this principle.
In the Talmud (Bava Metzia 62a), our sages
talk about two men walking a path, one of whom has only enough water to
sustain one of them. If they both drink, they will both perish. However,
if one of them drinks, he will live and the other will die. What are
they to do? The rabbinic sage Ben Petura argues that it is best that
they both drink and perish, to spare one of them from having to watch
the other one die. But then, Rabbi Akiva came along and taught us "that
your brother may live with you [Leviticus 25:36] -- your life takes
precedence over your friend's life."
One can assume that our sages posed the
question in the first place to highlight the fact that the same Akiva
who emphasized the importance of loving your neighbor also concluded
that when it comes down to saving your life or someone else's, your life
comes first. The crux of this idea is that your moral attitude toward
others is inherently tied to your moral attitude toward yourself. You
cannot be responsible for others unless you first take responsibility
for yourself.
This ancient truth should guide us and the entire West:
It is important and desirable to help others -- the foreigners, the
refugees, the downtrodden -- but not at the expense of the general
public's life. Over the last 70 years, we seem to have forgotten that
the majority has rights, too. Particularly, the right to live.
Dror Eydar
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=29839&hp=1
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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