The "Middle East and Terrorism" Blog was created in order to supply information about the implication of Arab countries and Iran in terrorism all over the world. Most of the articles in the blog are the result of objective scientific research or articles written by senior journalists.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: "He [Rabbi Tarfon] used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it."
Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror explained that Hezbollah probably understands that if Israel is given the opportunity to destroy it again, it will.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khameini seen over an AI image of the Iranian octopus (illustrative)(photo credit: GROK/X/ Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS)
“Hamas is fighting for its life,” Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror told The Jerusalem Post Sunday.
Israel is “pushing it to the edge, it can’t function,” he added.
He explained that Iran is the power
that built Hamas to what it is today, but that Hamas must understand
that Iran’s generosity can only extend so far, especially now.
“If Iran is destroyed” in the realm of regional power, of having the ability to pull all the strings, “Hamas might shift its stance - either to continue on its suicidal stated mission, or surrender.
To the North, Amidror explained that Iran completely lost its abilities when it came to Syria, and that Hezbollah probably understands that if Israel is given the opportunity to destroy it again, it will.
Yaakov Amidror speaks at a conference of the Israeli newspaper ''Makor
Rishon'', in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, March 19, 2024.
(credit: Liron Moldovan/Flash90)“They will be careful,” he explained, “they don’t have a long-term plan at all, especially since the land passage from Iran to Lebanon,
through Syria, was destroyed; they are alone and there is no way for
Iran to help them,” so the terrorist group will think twice about its
capabilities to enter the conflict.
Iran's influence in the West Bank
In the West Bank, Amidror explained, “Iran has sent technical help, but doesn’t have a say in the decision-making process.”
Saudi Arabia is also working behind the scenes to promote a ceasefire framework, a source told The Jerusalem Post.
Fire of Israeli attack on Shahran Oil depot is seen following the Israeli strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2025. (photo credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY) VIA REUTERS)
Iran has reached out to Oman and Qatar,
requesting that they mediate with Washington in an effort to halt the
ongoing Israeli strikes and restart nuclear talks, a source familiar
with the matter told The Jerusalem Post.
At
the same time, Saudi Arabia is also working behind the scenes to
promote a ceasefire framework aimed at resuming talks, the source added.
These
Iranian efforts come amid clear messages from Washington: only full
Iranian acceptance of the American proposal, which includes a complete
halt to uranium enrichment, will lead to an end to Israeli military
operations.
“We could easily reach an agreement between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!” US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday.
A senior US administration official told the Post on Saturday, “We remain committed to negotiations and hope the Iranians will come to the table soon.”
Iranian
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks during a meeting with
ambassadors in Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2025 (credit: IRANIAN FOREIGN
MINISTRY/WANA (WEST ASIA NEWS AGENCY)/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
Israel hopes Iranian rejection of nuclear deal will lead to US involvement
Meanwhile,
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said overnight: “As
long as the Zionist regime continues its attacks on the Iranian nation,
participating in talks with its biggest supporter and partner (the
United States) is meaningless.”
June 14 brought flags, parades, protests, a fake senator scuffle, a political shooting, and Iran’s unraveling—all under the shadow of Trump’s birthday.
I write on June 14, a full-docket news day.
You’ll have heard some of the news. For one thing, June 14 is Flag Day
in the United States, an opportunity to rally ’round and ponder the
significance of its history and iconography. After all, “the Stars and
Stripes” is not merely a heraldic description: it is also a distillation
or epitome of a sentiment, a world view, and a political achievement.
June 14 is also the birthday of Donald Trump, the President of the
United States. Given his celebration of an “America First” MAGA
political program, it seems more than coincidental that he should share
his birthday with a national holiday called “Flag Day.”
Ditto the fact that June 14 was the date of Trump’s big military
parade in Washington. The date was chosen to commemorate the 250th
anniversary of the establishment of the United States Army. Sclerotic
legacy outlets like The Atlantic (“The Shame of Trump’s Parade”) and The New York Times
are throwing one of their signature snits about the parade. It’s just
like military displays in the Soviet Union and other authoritarian
states, they say.
I take the opposite view.
I think the parade is both a salutary celebration of the army and a
condign expression of American national pride. As the commentator Irving
Kristol put it in the 1990s, “There is nothing like a parade to elicit
the proper respect for the military from the populace.” I agree.
Moving from the sublime to the ridiculous, I note that June 14 was
also the day on which some 2000 protests were scheduled to unfold across
the nation. What were they protesting? The official title was “No Kings.”
The protesters, you see, were claiming that Donald Trump was acting
like a king by deploying the police power of the state to deport illegal
aliens and to protect the immigration officials tasked with the job.
Were the organizers harkening back to the origins of the Roman Republic
in 509 BC when Brutus, avenging the death of Lucretia, declared that
never again would Rome be ruled by a king? Maybe. It’s possible.
Probably not. In the event, the protests seem to have attracted a
motley crew of aging boomers, paid professional protesters, disaffected
academics, and confused teenagers. Several of the protests in Florida
and elsewhere have been cancelled because of lack of interest.
But one clever observer, noting that the ex-Hillary Clinton aide Huma
Abedin, she of Anthony Weiner, and Alex Soros, spawn of George, were married today at a fancy mansion in the Hamptons, had the appropriate response to this shameless exhibition of our secular royalty: “No Kings.”
We may now move briefly from the ridiculous to the pathetic. I mean
the little melodrama involving Alex Padilla, the grandstanding Democrat
senator from California, who thrilled the left-wing media when he
managed to get himself tackled and handcuffed by the Secret Service when
he disrupted a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary
Kristi Noem. “Oh my God, Trump’s thugs tackled a U.S. senator who was
‘just trying to ask a question,” they said.
The episode happened on June 12, but it continues to resonate on the
14. The Irrelevant Media Complex and every Democrat politician in Alpha
Centauri are trying to make hay out of the episode. They won’t succeed.
My own suspicion is that the event was carefully orchestrated by the
left. We do know that the original video was curated by Padilla staff
and fed to the media. Subsequently, other, longer clips
emerged that clearly showed Padilla acting in a belligerent,
street-thuggish sort of way, roughly attempting to push his way through
security to get to the podium from which Noem spoke. As Eddie Scarry,
writing in The Federalist, noted, Padilla
was not just “asking a question”; he was interrupting a
cabinet secretary’s formal event. That Padilla is a senator makes no
difference. When he’s on the Senate floor or hosting his own press
conference, it would be just as inappropriate for Noem or anyone else in
the executive branch to disrupt it by aggressively advancing toward
Padilla and shouting over his remarks.
“But, but he said he was a senator,” the libs have been wailing in
unison. “So what?” as Scarry asked. “The public parks of L.A. are
crawling with people who think they’re royalty.” Moreover, as Carter
Evans, a reporter for CBS, noted,
Padilla did not identify himself until he was grabbed by the Secret
Service. “Only then,” Evans reported, “after he was being dragged out
the room, that he identified himself as a US Senator.”
One thing you would have heard a lot about if only the principal
actor had been a Trump supporter was the shooting murder of Minnesota
State Rep. Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband, Mark, as well
as the wounding of State Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his
wife, Yvette. It took the police several hours to apprehend the suspect.
During that time, the Irrelevant MC began working itself up into a
frenzy. The killings were “politically motivated.” The victims were
Democrats. Ergo, the culprit must be a right-winger.
That, anyway, is what Brian Stelter’s fevered brain concluded.
In the last week, Marines were deployed in an American
city, the president has called for a gov to be arrested &the speaker
of the House has called for that gov to be tarred & feathered, a
senator has been pinned & handcuffed, and 2 state legislators have
been shot in their homes.
“It all,” Stelter said, “points in the same direction,” i.e., to the bad orange man, DJT.
Alas for the narrative, it turns out that the apprehended suspect is
one Vance Boelter, a Democrat, an appointee of Governor Tim Walz, and
someone whose car was full of “No Kings”
flyers. He apparently gained entry to his victims’ houses because he
was impersonating a police officer. Had he been at a press conference
where a Cabinet member he didn’t like was speaking, maybe he would have
shouted that he was a U.S. senator.
On the international front, June 14 marked the second day of Israel’s amazingly successful dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program
and the elimination of the scientists who made it possible, and the
terrorist bureaucrats who have been itching to destroy Israel as soon as
they were able to. Iran has made a feeble effort to respond, but the
regime is close to being overwhelmed by the very country they are trying
to destroy.
All commercial air traffic has been halted in Iran, but dozens of
people identified as government officials and their families have been videoed fleeing the country.
Many are predicting the end of the insane Shia regime, whose constant
refrains are “Death to America” and “Death to the Zionist Entity.”
I suspect the people predicting the end of the regime are right.
There are widespread anti-regime demonstrations. The Israelis have
seriously hampered the government’s ability to respond. I would not be
surprised if, within a few days of reading this, it was announced that
the Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had gone to meet his 72
virgins in the sky. If that happens, it will be curtains for that
barbaric Islamist regime.
The Homeland Security Department decried the violence, vowing to bring every single perpetrator to justice.
Rioters late Saturday stormed an
Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, Oregon,
unleashing smoke bombs and firecrackers and injuring several federal
officers before order was restored.
The Homeland Security Department decried the violence, vowing to bring every single perpetrator to justice.
"We will NOT be deterred by rioters’ intimidation and threats. ICE
immigration enforcement will only ramp up," the department wrote on its X
account. "The violent targeting of law enforcement in Portland, OR by
lawless rioters is despicable and its leaders must call for it to end."
Meanwhile, protesters in Los Angeles caused hours of damage and
mayhem before police called an unlawful assembly and imposed a curfew.
Tricia Mclaughlin, the chief spokesperson for Homeland, told Fox News
that four officers were injured in Portland in the most serious and
intense of the breaches on Saturday.
"Portland rioters are violently targeting federal law enforcement,
and we won’t sit idly by and watch these cowards," McLaughlin said. "Our
officers are facing a 413% increase in assaults against them as they
put their lives on the line to arrest murderers, rapists, and gang
members.
She added: "If you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
Israel’s hammer crushes the Islamic Republic’s chains.
For decades, the Islamic Republic has crushed the soul of Iran under
its iron fist, a tyrannical regime that has bled its people dry, sowing
terror, poverty, and despair. This monstrous machine, built on
fanaticism and oppression, has choked the life from a proud nation,
silencing voices with brutality, imprisoning dreamers, and executing
dissenters.
But now, the ground shakes with the fury of a people awakening. The
Iranian masses are rising, their rage a wildfire, fueled by years of
suffering and ignited by a blazing truth: Israel, led by the indomitable
Benjamin Netanyahu, has become their liberator, striking the regime’s
heart with unrelenting force. This is no time for whispers or
hesitation—this is the hour of thunder, the moment for Iran to seize its
freedom and for Israel to repay an ancient debt forged by Cyrus the
Great 2,500 years ago.
Image created using ChatGPT.
The Islamic Republic is a cancer, devouring Iran’s spirit and
spreading its poison across the Middle East. It has turned a
once-vibrant civilization into a prison, where women are beaten for
showing their hair, where youth are tortured for daring to dream, and
where entire communities are starved to fund the regime’s proxy wars.
The ayatollahs, cloaked in false piety, have looted Iran’s wealth to
build missiles and militias, leaving millions in poverty while their
Revolutionary Guards crush skulls and break spirits. This is not
governance—it is slavery. The regime’s nuclear ambitions, a dagger aimed
at the world, have only tightened the noose around Iran’s neck,
chaining its people to a future of isolation and fear.
But the chains are breaking. Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, a relentless storm
of precision strikes, has smashed the regime’s nuclear facilities,
obliterated its military command, and gutted its ballistic missile
arsenal. Over 200 targets— command centers, enrichment sites, fuel
depots—lie in ruins, their ashes a testament to Israel’s resolve.
Netanyahu, a warrior-king in the mold of ancient heroes, has not merely attacked; he has unleashed a reckoning.
“We will hit every site, every target of the ayatollah regime,” he
declared, his words a clarion call to a people yearning for liberation.
The regime’s leaders, from Khamenei to his bloodthirsty generals, are
not just shaken; they are packing their bags, their grip on power
crumbling as Israel’s jets roar over Tehran.
This is no coincidence but destiny. Over 2,500 years ago, Cyrus the
Great, Persia’s enlightened ruler, freed the Jews from Babylonian
captivity, restoring their dignity and homeland. Now, Benjamin Netanyahu
repays that ancient debt, not with words but fire and steel.
Israel’s strikes are not just military—they are a beacon, a call to
arms for every Iranian who has suffered under the regime’s boot. “The
time has come for the Iranian people to unite around your flag and its
historic legacy,” Netanyahu thundered, echoing the cry of “Woman, Life,
Freedom - Zan, Zendegi, Azadi.” This is not Israel against Iran; this is
Israel and Iran’s true sons and daughters against a common enemy—the
murderous Islamic Republic that has oppressed both nations.
Iranian people
hear this call. The streets pulse with defiance across cities and
villages, from Tehran to Tabriz. Social media burns with voices
proclaiming what the regime fears most: “The vast majority of us
Iranians, 90% or more, support Israel,” one post declares, capturing the
sentiment of millions. The 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising showed
the world Iran’s courage, as women burned their hijabs and men faced
bullets for liberty.
Now, with the regime’s defenses shattered and its commanders dead,
the moment is ripe. This is not a protest—it is a revolution. The
Iranian people are not begging for scraps; they are ready to tear down
the ayatollahs’ empire and reclaim their nation.
The regime’s retaliation—missiles raining on Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and
Haifa—only exposes its desperation. These are the death throes of a
beast cornered, lashing out as its power collapses. Over 100 missiles
and drones, launched in their so-called “True Promise 3,” have killed
innocents, including children, in Israel.
But Israel stands unbroken, intercepting threats with iron resolve,
its people united, its military unmatched. The regime’s boasts of
“strategic targets” are hollow; their strikes are reckless, their
defenses porous. Netanyahu’s warning—“More is on the way”—is no idle
threat. Israel’s campaign will not stop until the ayatollahs’ regime is
ash, its nuclear dreams buried, and its terror machine dismantled.
This war is Iran’s chance, its only chance, to rise. The regime’s
weakness is laid bare: its commanders dead, its nuclear sites in ruins,
its economy crippled. The Iranian people must seize this moment,
flooding the streets in millions, tearing down the symbols of
oppression, and driving the mullahs from power. The opposition, though
fragmented, pulses with potential. Exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi, heir to
Iran’s proud monarchy, is the only chance for a free Iran. Israel’s
strikes have cleared the path; now the Iranian people must charge
through it, armed with courage and the dream of a nation reborn.
Israel’s fight is Iran’s fight. Netanyahu’s vision is not just the
destruction of a nuclear threat but the liberation of a people. The
ayatollahs have brought Iran to its knees, but Israel has given it a
sword. “Your light will defeat the darkness,” Netanyahu told Iranians,
and they are answering. The regime’s days are numbered, its lies
unraveling, its terror crumbling. This is the hour of reckoning, when
Iran’s ancient glory will rise again, hand in hand with Israel, as
brothers in freedom. The thunder of rebellion rolls; the Islamic
Republic will fall.
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or location. It includes incidents that take place during, or are reported on, any given month.
In the opening days of April,
Muslim Fulani terrorists slaughtered more than 60 Christians in Plateau
State, in what Plateau Gov. Caleb Mutfwang termed an ongoing
"genocide." According to a local source, "More than 1,000 Christians
were displaced during the attacks, and 383 three houses were destroyed
by these bandits." — Morning Star News, April 8, 2025, Nigeria.
"Eyewitnesses said the attack lasted more than an hour, leaving
103 households destroyed and the entire village displaced. Frustration
mounted as residents reported a delayed military response and accused
security forces of bias, disarming local Christian youth but not Fulani
attackers." — Morning Star News, April 14, 2025, Nigeria.
On Good Friday, Apr. 18, a Muslim judge sentenced a Christian to
death for "blasphemy".... Among these critics was the Rev. Ghazala
Shafique, a Karachi-based rights activist: "The court has
convicted a Christian for allegedly carrying out the alleged blasphemous
act, but what about those people who burned our churches and homes and
are now roaming freely on bail? Why didn't the police and prosecution
investigate those cases with the same zeal that they have shown in
Masih's case?" — Morning Star News, April 22, 2025, Pakistan.
On Apr. 30, a Muslim judge sentenced Sabry Kamel, a 79-year-old
Christian man to life in prison on the charge that he molested a
five-year-old Muslim child at the school where the accused volunteered.
He did so, critics allege, on very little evidence and merely to placate
an angry Muslim mob that was growing outside the court house and
calling for the instant execution of the elderly Christian.... Essam
Mehanna, the complainant's lawyer... stated: 'The case was flimsy and
would have collapsed were it not for the mob shouting outside the
courthouse.' Several legal experts and independent attorneys—both Copts
and Muslims—who reviewed the case files expressed shock at what they
described as a wholly unjustified ruling." — Coptic Solidarity, April
30, 2025, Egypt.
According to an April 6 report, Zimnako Salah, a 45-year-old
Muslim man, "planted fake bombs across four churches in Arizona,
California, and Colorado and worked separately to construct a real one:"
Michele Beckwith, US Attorney for the Eastern District of California,
said, "Planting a hoax bomb at the Roseville church was not an isolated
incident or a prank for this defendant... His actions were designed to
threaten and intimidate the congregation because he disagreed with their
religious beliefs." Pictured: Saint Clare Catholic Church, in Roseville
California. (Image source: Always dreamin/Wikimedia Commons)
The following are among the abuses and murders inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of April 2025.
The Muslim Slaughter of Christians
Nigeria: In the opening days of April, Muslim Fulani terrorists slaughtered more than 60 Christians in Plateau State, in what Plateau Gov. Caleb Mutfwang termed an ongoing "genocide." According to a local source:
"More than 1,000 Christians were displaced during the
attacks, and 383 three houses were destroyed by these bandits. These
attacks began on Wednesday, April 2, at about 3 p.m., when these armed
Muslim Fulani herdsmen invaded our communities in large numbers; they
came on motorcycles and attacked us."
On Apr. 7, Muslim Fulani slaughtered another three Christians in
Central Nigeria, where 19 had been slaughtered the previous month. According to Joseph Chudu Yonkpa, a youth leader from the area,
"This incident is part of a disturbing trend of attacks
that have claimed the lives of Christians in the last four weeks,"
including one man who on Apr. 2 "was stabbed to death by Fulani
militias...The atrocities committed by Fulani militias against
Christians here extends beyond ambushes and attacks, as their cattle
have been grazing on our farms with impunity, rendering countless
families jobless and hungry as their only source of livelihood is
destroyed. The continued killings and destruction of our Christians'
means of livelihood are deliberate attempts to turn our Christian
communities into a lawless one."
Between Apr. 8 and Apr. 11, the Fulani herdsmen killed another five Christians.
Then, hours after Easter Sunday, in the early dawn of Apr. 14, the Muslims slaughtered 54 Christians
in the village of Zikke in Jos, Plateau state (different from the 60
murdered in the same state between Apr. 2-3). According to one report:
"Eyewitnesses said the attack lasted more than an hour,
leaving 103 households destroyed and the entire village displaced.
Frustration mounted as residents reported a delayed military response
and accused security forces of bias, disarming local Christian youth but
not Fulani attackers."
"What exactly do the Fulanis want?" asked local resident David Yakubu:
"They are everywhere launching attacks on our Christian
communities. We had barely finished weeping for Christians killed in
Bokkos Local Government Area, now it's Christians in Bassa Local Council
Area who have also been attacked and many killed."
Joseph Chudu Yonkpa, a community leader, said:
"We are deeply concerned about the silence of state
actors, the lack of condemnation, and the absence of intervention or
visitation to our people. We are particularly worried about the lack of
action taken to arrest the perpetrators of these heinous crimes as they
continue to kill our people on daily basis."
On Apr. 21, a Muslim man rammed his truck
into an Easter procession, killing six Christians and hospitalizing
more than 30. Although Muslim officials tried to spin the terror attack
as an accident, according to eyewitnesses:
"As soon as the Muslim driver saw the crowd of Christians
ahead of him, he increased his speed and ran into the group from behind
them without ever honking his horn. He mowed several Christians... Some
of these Christians are permanently maimed, and their lives will not
remain the same."
On Apr. 28, Boko Haram terrorists attacked another Christian community in Borno state, "killing seven Christians and setting homes and church buildings ablaze."
Uganda: On Apr. 3, Muslims stabbed
a Christian evangelist to death for leading Muslims to Christ. David
Washume, 38, was making his way home after a preaching for three days at
an open air event. According to fellow evangelist, Fred Wepuhulu:
"[Around 10 pm], as we were nearing our village, we met
three masked men dressed in Muslim attire, with knives, while speaking
the Arabic language. They stopped us and told us to surrender our bags."
When they found Bibles and a Koran in their bags:
"One shouted in our local language, 'They are the ones,
they are the ones... Kill, kill them!' I realized that we were in the
midst of militant Muslims. I wrestled with one of them who was holding
me tightly, but I managed to escape. My friend who was held by two men
could not. Lastly I arrived at my home, but very fearful."
In the morning, David's body, with stab wounds to his neck and chest,
was discovered lying in a pool of blood. According to a relative:
"The knife which the assailants used to kill him was
found at the scene of crime, including a written note saying, 'You,
infidel, will meet Allah in judgment,' and other Arabic words which
could not be understood."
Pakistan: On Apr. 14, someone (in the 97% Muslim nation) gave
the children of a small Christian community in the Hafizabad district of
Punjab poisoned candy. Three young children died, and at least five
others were hospitalized in critical condition. In the words of a hospital official:
"This is a deeply tragic and heartbreaking incident
involving eight innocent children of the Christian community, three of
whom have lost their lives."
Separately, on Apr. 30, a group of Muslims ambushed a Christian employee as he was walking home and savagely beat him to death.
Two days earlier an argument broke out between Muhammad Imran, a farm
owner, and Asif Masih, the Christian who would soon be murdered.
Muhammad accused Asif, who worked at an adjacent farm (owned by one
Muhammad Ahmad) of intentionally letting Ahmad's cows graze on his,
Imran's, land. Asif denied the allegation and tensions were eased on the
intervention of local elders. However, two days later, Muhammad Imran
and four other men ambushed and, while shouting anti-Christian slogans,
beat Asif to death with bricks. According to the slain's brother:
"The culprits ruthlessly beat my brother to death. Not a
single part of his body was spared. They placed bricks under his hands
and crushed them with other bricks. I cannot begin to comprehend the
pain my brother must have suffered in those final moments."
His elder sister adds, "My brother was innocent, and they beat him
like he was nothing just something to be hated. We want justice for
him."
Discussing this case, Juliet Chowdhry, of the British Asian Christian Association, said:
"The sheer brutality of this attack is beyond
comprehension. That these men shouted vile insults at
Christianity—calling Asif a 'Churah' as they mercilessly beat him to
death—exposes a deep, hateful malice towards an innocent man whose only
'crime' was his faith and social status. The family is traumatised, not
only by the loss of their beloved brother, but by the horrific condition
of his corpse, which reveals the full extent of the evil inflicted on
him. This was not just murder—it was a message of contempt towards
Pakistan's Christian minority."
Egypt: Muslims stabbed a Christian man to death after he tried to defend his sisters' honor. According an Apr. 15 report:
"Bishoy Samir, a 34-year-old young man, was out with his
sisters to buy clothes for Easter celebrations. As they were walking, a
group of five young men verbally harassed one of his sisters. Bishoy
stood up and told them, 'This is not right.' In response, one of them
pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the heart in front of his sisters.
He died instantly."
Instead of celebrating Easter together, the traumatized family was left "in a state of extreme shock."
Muslims Attacks on Christian Churches
United States: According to an Apr. 6 report,
Zimnako Salah, a 45-year-old Muslim man, "planted fake bombs across
four churches in Arizona, California, and Colorado and worked separately
to construct a real one:"
"Salah planted the fake bombs from September to November
of 2023, after watching extremist content online... This content,
including ISIS videos, featured 'infidels dying.' At two of the
churches, Saleh was confronted by security before he was able to plant
the fake bombs. However, in two instances, he was able to strap the
items to bathrooms and call in a fake bomb threat to incite panic. The
jury found that Salah's motivation had been 'to obstruct the free
exercise of religion of the congregants who worshipped there,' according
to the department, which saw the charges escalated to include a hate
crime charge."
"This Department of Justice has no tolerance for anyone who targets
religious Americans for their faith," said Attorney General Pamela
Bondi. "The perpetrator of this abhorrent hate crime against Christians
will face severe punishment." According to the report, his intentions
extended beyond terrorizing American Christians:
"Salah had been constructing an IED [improvised explosive
device] capable of fitting in a backpack, the department said. An FBI
Bomb Technician seized items from a storage locker belonging to Salah
that an FBI Bomb Expert testified at trial served as component parts of
an improvised explosive device."
Discussing this case, acting US Attorney Michele Beckwith for the Eastern District of California said,
"Planting a hoax bomb at the Roseville church was not an
isolated incident or a prank for this defendant... His actions were
designed to threaten and intimidate the congregation because he
disagreed with their religious beliefs."
Wales: On Apr. 24, police arrested two Muslim migrants for setting a church aflame in Port Talbot (pictures).
It took several hours, into the following morning, for firefighters to
extinguish the flames of the Methodist church, which was left severely
damaged. The Muslim arsonists are aged 14 and 15 and are of Pakistani
origin.
Italy: A 22-year-old Muslim man of Pakistani origin defaced
the outside wall of the church of Sant'Antonio Abate in Priverno. With a
red spray can he wrote "Pakst" — apparently as a way of saying a
"Pakistani was here"? Surveillance cameras identified him.
Pakistan: Late in the evening of Apr. 5, two Muslim men tried to set fire to a church. They inadvertently awakened Pastor Tanveer Boota of the Pentecostal church:
"I saw two men who had covered their faces, and one of
them was setting fire to a curtain on the window. I shouted at them and
ran to stop them, but they escaped from the main entrance."
The pastor's younger brother, Usman, also awakening from the
commotion, rushed to the site and doused the fire engulfing the curtain
while the pastor called police. According to the pastor,
"Soon after a police team headed by senior officers
reached there, and during investigation recovered a bottle containing
kerosene and a stick with a cloth tied to its end that was used to start
the fire."
In their First Information Report, however, police wrote—without the
pastor's consent—that he had supposed the incident was a burglary
attempt: "In fact," continues Pastor Tanveer, "it was the police which
scattered the books and papers on the carpet to give an impression that
the incident was a failed burglary attempt."
Indonesia: On Apr. 17, a group of Muslims disrupted Maundy Thursday Mass at a church. According to one report:
"The protestors disrupted the Holy Thursday worship with
loudspeakers, banners, and blaring music.... Congregation members still
arriving were forced to find a route around the blockade. The protesters
demanded that the Arcamanik Multipurpose Building not be used for a
place of worship... Several demonstrators shortly before 5 p.m. tried to
break through a line of security officers, pushing a few meters closer
to [the church], but police stopped their progress."
Discussing this incident, Ardi Manto Adiputra, director of Impartial, an Indonesian human rights watchdog, said:
"The rejection of the Mass in Arcamanik by a group of
people reflects an intolerant attitude that is contrary to the
principles of diversity and freedom of religion .... Article 28E
paragraph (1) and Article 29 paragraph (2) of the 1945 Constitution of
the Republic of Indonesia, holds that 'Mass is a sacred ritual for
Catholics. Rejection of it is not only a form of intolerance but also a
violation of the basic principles of the rule of law.'"
Muslims had protested against this church before, including at least twice in March, in one instance:
"Shouting jihadist slogans about the greatness of Allah,
the demonstrators demanded the dismissal of the Ash Wednesday Mass... In
front of police officers, the demonstrators shouted that Ramadan was
also a month of jihad, and that therefore they would not move from the
site until the church attendees were dismissed."
Video footage showed a Muslim speaker declaring that "Ramadhan is the
month of jihad. We are not afraid; we will never leave this place until
they [Christians] are dismissed," even as the crowd chanted "the
jihadist slogan, 'Allahu Akbar [Allah is greatest].'"
Two days later, on Apr. 19—one day before Easter—Muslim officials sealed off a separate prayer hall,
preventing a Christian congregation from celebrating Resurrection
Sunday. Authorities cited "lack of permit" for their actions—without
acknowledging that they, the authorities, had refused to respond to the
church's application for a permit, submitted two years earlier. "We used
to celebrate Easter together – all of us, the children. Joking around,"
Nirmala, a church member, said, before breaking into tears:
"Now we don't get that anymore. [Now] there is constant
fear, constant fear. Especially now that our prayer house has been given
a 'yellow' [sign] again."
According to the congregation's pastor, Michael Siahaan:
"[L]ocal officials had offered district hall space for
worship last year–contingent on obtaining permission–after a group of
Muslims demanded the complete shutdown of the church site on March 30,
2024."
Officials also offered them a district hall to use, however,
"The hall is dirty and shabby and lies directly opposite
the mosque. The distance is only about eight meters with the door facing
the mosque. You can imagine the situation."
The pastor added that, legally speaking, no permission was even
required for the congregation to use the prayer hall that was sealed: "A
prayer house can be equated with a prayer room in Islam, and therefore
does not require a building permit."
General Muslim Abuse of Christians
Mauritania: On Apr. 7, an angry Muslim mob exhumed the corpse
of a Muslim convert to Christianity and hurled it out of the Muslim
cemetery. Souleymane, the deceased, had died a day earlier in a
motorcycle accident. He had earlier converted to Christianity, though
without the Muslim community's knowledge. Right before the funeral,
another underground Christian braved telling the imam that Souleymane
had converted to Christianity and that he should therefore receive
Christian burial rites. On learning this, Muslims were outraged.
According to one report:
"Imams and dignitaries expressed their anger, demanding a
punishment that would serve as an example to renegades. They called for
the removal from the Muslim cemetery of the body of the Malian man
considered an apostate, given that he had not repented before his death.
In 2018, the Mauritanian parliament passed a law that provides for the
death penalty for anyone who converts from Islam to another religion, if
they do not repent within three days of their apostasy. After two days
of protests in the city, dozens of angry youths descended on the
cemetery to destroy the tomb and dig up Souleymane's body, which they
then dragged and threw out."
Iraq: On Apr. 1, an axe swinging Muslim man
went on a rampage at a Christian festival wounding several people. The
annual parade, which is always held on Apr. 1, drew thousands of
Assyrian Christians, waving flags and wearing colorful traditional
clothes. Before long, an unidentified man wielding an axe
"[W]itnesses of Wednesday's horror said an attacker, who
has not been officially identified, ran towards towards the crowd
chanting Islamic slogans before carrying out his stabbing spree.
"He brutally struck three people with the axe before being overpowered by participants and security forces.
"Videos circulating online show him pinned to the ground by a brave
member of public, as he repeatedly shouted: 'Islamic State, the Islamic
State remains!'
"A 17-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman suffered skull fractures following the viscous attack at the annual parade."
According to Janet Aprem Odisho, whose 75-year-old mother Yoniyah Khoshaba was injured:
"He was running at us with an axe. All I remember is that
he hit my mother, and I ran away when she fell. He had already attacked
a young man who was bleeding in the street, then he tried to attack
more people."
Belgium: Citing an embedded video interview, an Apr. 20 post on X summarizes the discussion as follows:
"In Belgium, a town organized a parade of a Saint
Nicholas who threw candy. One day, he received stones in return. The
town decided to abandon this celebration so as not to offend Muslims any
longer."
Pakistan: On Good Friday, Apr. 18, a Muslim judge sentenced a Christian to death for "blasphemy." According to one report:
"Pervaiz Masih had been arrested and charged under
Pakistan's widely condemned blasphemy statutes, including 295-A against
inciting religious sentiments under various sections; 295-B against
desecrating the Quran; 295-C against insulting Islam's prophet...
Anti-Terrorism Judge Javed Iqbal Sheikh convicted Masih, alias Kodu, and
sentenced him to the death penalty under Section 295-C [insulting the
prophet of Islam, Muhammad]."
The report adds:
"Christians on social media criticized the verdict as too
harsh, with many questioning lack of justice for Christians hurt in the
violence led by Islamists in Jaranwala, which burned multiple church
buildings and ransacked more than 80 homes and businesses of
Christians."
Among these critics was the Rev. Ghazala Shafique, a Karachi-based rights activist:
"The court has convicted a Christian for allegedly
carrying out the alleged blasphemous act, but what about those people
who burned our churches and homes and are now roaming freely on bail?
Why didn't the police and prosecution investigate those cases with the
same zeal that they have shown in Masih's case? [The verdict is meant as
an] Easter gift to the Christians from the Punjab government."
Egypt: On Apr. 30, a Muslim judge sentenced Sabry Kamel, a 79-year-old Christian man to life in prison
on the charge that he molested a five-year-old Muslim child at the
school where the accused volunteered. He did so, critics allege, on very
little evidence and merely to placate an angry Muslim mob that was
growing outside the court house and calling for the instant execution of
the elderly Christian. According to the report:
"Kamel, who served as the volunteer part-time accountant
of Al-Karma Christian School—a nonprofit affiliated with the Coptic
Orthodox Diocese in Al-Behaira Governorate—was tried and convicted
despite the absence of supporting evidence typically required under
Egyptian law as part of the Notice of Application.
"Kamel's legal counsel, Mr. Maher Naeim, criticized the proceedings
for failing to conduct a physical or forensic examination of the
accused, especially given that the medical report on the child did not
confirm a sexual assault. The report listed multiple preexisting health
conditions that could explain the symptoms. The court also ignored
medical records documenting Kamel's severe heart condition, including a
recent open-heart surgery.
"As the trial began, a crowd of Salafist and Muslim Brotherhood
sympathizers gathered outside the courthouse, chanting for Kamel's
execution. (It's worth noting that Damanhour, which is situated some 70
km to the south-east of Alexandria, is a bastion of such extremist
groups.) Inside, the judge readily accepted the claimant's defense to
escalate the charge from 'molestation of a minor without the use of
force' to 'molestation with the use of force'—a significant procedural
change that, under normal legal standards, would require adjournment.
Instead, the court proceeded to issue the maximum sentence—life
imprisonment—on the same day.
"In a post-trial interview, Essam Mehanna, the complainant's lawyer (who later abruptly resigned from the case), stated: 'The case was flimsy and would have collapsed were it not for the mob shouting outside the courthouse.'
Several legal experts and independent attorneys—both Copts and
Muslims—who reviewed the case files expressed shock at what they
described as a wholly unjustified ruling."
Separately in Egypt, on Apr. 14, Christine Mina became the latest
young Christian woman to "disappear" off the streets of Egypt. According
to the report:
"Christine, a student at Ain Shams University, left
campus on the 14th, and no one has been able to reach her since. When
her family members tried to contact her, they received no response, as
her phone was completely switched off."
Along with immediately reporting her missing status to police, her
distraught family posted the following message on social media:
"We ask you to stand by us and help us, as we have only
God and your support. Christine is the eldest daughter and has two
younger brothers, and her father is deceased. If anyone has information
or has seen anything that could lead us to her, please contact us
immediately. Share this post... a word or a photo may lead to her
whereabouts... We ask God to return her safely."
This scenario has played out several times in Egypt: a Christian girl
or woman goes somewhere, disappears, and then her phone is turned off.
Less than a month earlier, on March 24, another Christian woman, Damiana
Farah Ishaq, 28, disappeared
"under mysterious circumstances," off the streets of Cairo. A married
mother of a two-year-old child, she had left home to purchase some
cooking supplies but never returned. When her family tried calling her
cell phone, it was turned off. Her distraught husband and parents have
appealed to the minister of interior to help find their daughter.
A month before that, on Feb. 28, 17-year-old Irene Emil, also "vanished"
off the streets of Cairo. According to her distraught parents, the
girl, still in high school, was on her way to church but never reached
it. When they tried calling her cell phone, it had been turned off.
In August 2024, Christina Karim Aziz, a 20-year-old Christian girl, also disappeared
off the streets of Asyut, where she had gone to apply for a job. Also
in Asyut in 2024, another Irene (Ibrahim Shehata), a 21-year-old
Christian, "disappeared." (For more on this topic, see Coptic Solidarity's report, "Jihad of the Womb: Trafficking of Coptic Women & Girls in Egypt.")
"Coptic [Christian] students experience a tragedy every
year because some universities insist on ignoring their right to
celebrate their most important holy days, scheduling exams on Christian
occasions that are tantamount to holidays. Copts are entitled to
official state-sanctioned holidays such as Maundy Thursday and Palm
Sunday, but some universities flout the principles of citizenship and
insist on depriving students and their families of these celebrations."
The report offers several more examples before adding:
"The university ignored Coptic pleas to amend the dates
to reflect their right to practice their religious rituals and celebrate
Coptic holidays, unlike how the other side [Islam] is accommodated. The
same scenario is being implemented by a number of other universities,
scheduling exams the day after Sham al-Nessim and the day after Easter.
This prevents Coptic students from celebrating the holiday, as they are
busy studying in preparation for exams. This has become a common
occurrence, and Copts suffer from it every year."
As another example, the Faculty of Archaeology at Cairo University
changed the dates of midterm exams for its Critical Thinking course from
April 7 to Sunday, April 13—Palm Sunday. According to the report:
"Copts demanded that the exams be postponed to a date
that would allow them the opportunity to celebrate their holidays,
within the framework of equality and the consolidation of citizenship.
The Ministry of Education and Technical Education stated that it had
instructed education directorates in the governorates not to hold exams
during Coptic holidays, but the Ministry of Higher Education has yet to
take any consideration of Copts' right to celebrate their holidays."
By comparison, all Egyptian universities observe all Islamic holy
days. To celebrate the end of Ramadan, universities grant all students a
full week off school.
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of
Christians by extremists is growing. The report posits that such
persecution is not random but rather systematic, and takes place
irrespective of language, ethnicity, or location. It includes incidents
that take place during, or are reported on, any given month.
This is what it really means to wave a Mexican flag on American soil.
Many of the Americans who are warning us about the rising tide of a dangerous Christian nationalism are the same ones who delight in chiding supporters of Trump’s immigration enforcement on the basis of biblical principles. “Love thy neighbor,”
they say to those who welcome the deportations, even as they act as
though it would be a terrible thing if public policy were guided by
Christian principles. “Care for the stranger within thy gates,” they
implore, quoting the Old Testament,
as though 40 million people who broke our laws by entering the nation
are indistinguishable from a single lonesome traveler in need of a bed
for the night.
Leave aside that these moralizers are cynically leveraging scripture from religious traditions that they deplore. The
riots in Los Angeles have starkly defined the ridiculous premise that
defines the resistance to deportation. No serious person disputes that
existing law makes it a crime for a foreigner to enter the country
without permission. No serious person disputes that millions of people
are in the country illegally because they crossed the border without
permission. No serious person disputes that the federal government
rightfully has the power to enforce federal law.
This shows that the core of the “debate” on illegal immigration is the absurd contention that the law should not
be enforced. This flies in the face of the purpose of laws (which are
created to be enforced). But there are greater ironies. The people who insist that we don’t enforce the law were also the ones who smirked at us for years through a refrain of “No one is above the law!”
The L.A. riots have powerfully illustrated the glaring contradictions
that define the opposition to Trump’s border agenda. But perhaps no
image from the riots distills the contradictions of open borders
ideology better than the one that shows a masked man riding a dirt bike around a burning car while waving a Mexican flag.
Many have commented on the madness inherent in the scene. This man —
presumably a Mexican in the United States illegally — wears a mask to
keep his identity private as he exploits and corrupts the American right to peaceful and public
protest. He is the embodiment of the people the left insist are just
coming here “in search of a better life.” But he still flies the flag
of the place that he left, the place where his quality of life was
presumably inferior. Yes, he waves the flag of the nation that he now insists he will not return to.
It’s important to consider what that flag represents. The display of
the Mexican flag in Mexico means something different from the display
of the Mexican flag in the United States. Obviously, immigrants flying
the Mexican flag in America recognize that life is better here and that
America is superior to Mexico. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be here. And
the Mexican flag doesn’t represent a “set of ideas or principles” in the
way that the American flag does.
The truth is that flying the Mexican flag in the United States is essentially an expression of ethno-nationalism. It announces one’s affinity and allegiance to the Mexican people, not the nation-state that they abandoned. And make no mistake: This idea of the nation as a people is defined by ethnic concerns. It is no coincidence that Mexican-American activists enthusiastically refer to their people as “la raza” — Spanish for “the race.” Chicano, Tejano, and Mestiza politics is largely defined by concern for ethnic and racial identity.
Understood as a statement of ethno-nationalist sentiment,
the man waving the flag from the dirt bike calls for closer
consideration. What he’s really saying is that “his people” are those
who share his ethnicity and nationality, and that those people
constitute a sovereign nation within a nation. This is the purest demonstration of where multiculturalism
leads: a million tiny sovereign nations masquerading as one, but
segregated and unbound, without any allegiance to the larger nation they
inhabit. There will be no assimilation, and there will certainly be no
gratitude. Make no mistake: This is the society that the left celebrates when it insists that “our diversity is our strength.”
This exposes the greatest irony of all. The Biden administration made clear that its top priority for four years was fighting ethno-nationalist sentiment in America. When Americans — especially
white Americans — center their politics on national, religious, or (God
forbid) ethnic identity, they will be surveilled, censored, demonized,
arrested, doxxed, debanked, or otherwise humiliated.
But when foreign ethno-nationalists enter the country illegally, burn cars, loot businesses, and openly announce their ethno-nationalism...well, our hands are tied. Not only do the left recoil at deporting them to their home nations, but they celebrate their ethno-nationalist activism and call for sympathetic Americans to join the cause.
An Associated Press radio broadcast played a clip of a protester
imploring observers to join her in defying the enforcement of federal
law. The woman said, “Don’t be afraid to stand up for our
people.” “Our people.” Which people is that? That is the “nation
within the nation,” premised explicitly on ethnic and nationalist
sentiment, the nation that refuses to assimilate to the values and laws
of its host, and the nation that the left insist must be defended, and
indeed celebrated.
Like many Americans, I sympathize with and accept the guidance of the Jewish and Christian tradition. We should provide for the stranger within our gates. We should
love our neighbors. But to suggest that we’re falling short of those
ideals in deporting people is preposterous. In this case, the
“stranger” or “neighbor” in question is one who snuck into the house,
and who openly denies that the house is, in fact, ours. Thus,
the stranger or neighbor who barged in should not be surprised that upon
spitting in his host’s face, he finds that his welcome runs out.
Jesus implicitly affirms the legitimacy of nations in the Great Commission: “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations.” We
can debate the matter of what, exactly, Christ meant by “nations.” But
at this juncture, that question is peripheral. The more pressing query
is, “Why can’t we have one?”
The American system is designed to slow down decision-making to avoid both tyranny and anarchy. The ideal government in that model is one that doesn't do anything, thus allowing individuals who make up the society to shape their lives in a framework of laws that guarantees freedom.
What became the United States
was the fruit of a rebellion against a system in which concentration of
power contained the threat of tyranny.
George Shultz, one of the wisest American politicians of the last
century, noted that no political battle in the US is ever won or lost
forever.
The American system is designed to slow down decision-making to
avoid both tyranny and anarchy. The ideal government in that model is
one that doesn't do anything, thus allowing individuals who make up the
society to shape their lives in a framework of laws that guarantees
freedom.
[O]nce the revolutionary mood ebbs, reality strikes back with
people who wish to light the chimney without setting their home on fire.
While President Donald Trump prepares for G7 and NATO
summits this month, political circles and media in Europe are busy
trying to cut him down to size before the two events. Pictured: Trump
and other heads of state deliberate at the G7 summit on June 9, 2018 in
Charlevoix, Canada. (Photo by Jesco Denzel /Bundesregierung via Getty
Images)
While President Donald Trump prepares for G7 and NATO summits this
month, political circles and media in Europe are busy trying to cut him
down to size before the two events.
"Trump will come empty-handed," says one commentator. "None of the things he announced with fanfare has been achieved."
Other commentators use such phrases as "deflated balloon" and "bogged down in the mess he created."
At first sight, it looks certain that he has not scored big on any of the dramatic goals he announced.
His tariff campaign is stalled in a maze of zigzags.
His peace-making gambit in Ukraine has led to him humiliating
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and labelling Russian President
Vladimir Putin as "quite mad".
Worse still, scores of US judges have lined up to block some of his
dramatic measures, including the crackdown on illegal immigration.
His purge of bureaucracy has also been stalled, and the federal
government is desperately rehiring many of the staff that Elon Musk
fired as "do-nothing parasites."
In another register, the Gaza tragedy continues, and the ceasefire promised seems as remote as ever.
The cherry on the top of all that is the riot triggered by illegal
immigrants in Los Angeles, leading to the deployment of the National
Guard and the US Marines, a rare move in American history.
Even on the personal side of things, his success in securing business
contracts for Trump holdings plus a 747 jet is counterbalanced by the
acrimonious split with his most ardent backer, Elon Musk.
With such a tableau, Trump's favorite words "amazing" and
"wonderful," used to describe his first 100 days in office, sound
hollow.
Well, what can one make of all that?
At the start of Trump's second term, I suggested that the sky hasn't
fallen and advised those who saw the events as an end-of-time
catastrophe to take a deep breath and not judge Trump by what he says he
might do, but wait and see what he does.
At the time many Trump critics overestimated his power, indeed the
power of any president of the United States, and assumed he could do
what he likes by fiat or ukase. This time they may be underestimating
the United States as the indispensable world power.
That misunderstanding is due to the fact that the American model
doesn't easily fit into concepts such as democracy and republic.
What became the United States was the fruit of a rebellion against a
system in which concentration of power contained the threat of tyranny.
For the Founding Fathers, therefore, the priority was to set up a
system of checks and balances, learned from Xenophon in his "Cyropaedia"
and Montesquieu in "The Spirit of Laws," in order to prevent any one
person or institution of the state to monopolize power.
Thus, the US couldn't become a state modeled on Athenian democracy,
in which the "people", which in fact meant a small minority of free male
citizens, could do whatever they liked with the power won through
elections.
Nor could the US become a republic modeled on the Roman Republic or
the more recent Venetian version, where power was wielded by narrow
patrician elites.
To complicate matters further, the system the founding fathers designed included elements both of democracy and republic.
It is a democracy because almost all public positions are filled
through elections. However, those elected face a series of constraints
both in having their election confirmed and when exercising the power
delegated to them. Worse still, the art of winning an election isn't the
same as the craft of governing. In other words, a genius in winning
elections may turn out to be a dunce in governing.
In that system the Leviathan, Hobbes' symbol of state power, is
heavily chained down. The aim of those who designed it was to make sure
it did as little as possible. In what could be a constitutional
republic, democracy is more of a point of moral reference than a blank
cheque to exercise power.
This is why President Barack Obama, a closet collectivist, was unable
to implement his agenda and inject a heavy dose of socialism into the
American economy and foreign policy.
George Shultz, one of the wisest American politicians of the last
century, noted that no political battle in the US is ever won or lost
forever. The US is a giant cruiser set on its course by mystical
elements and couldn't be suddenly put on another course wished by the
captain of the moment and his crew.
Politicians, therefore, are either swimming with the tide or, as L.H. Mencken charged, "brothers in pillage."
According to Shultz, the American system doesn't allow radical
changes; its reform could only be incremental. A passing revolutionary
mood may help you win an election. Soon, however, you shall find out
that you are in office but not in power to implement your promised
revolutionary agenda.
The American system is designed to slow down decision-making to avoid
both tyranny and anarchy. The ideal government in that model is one
that doesn't do anything, thus allowing individuals who make up the
society to shape their lives in a framework of laws that guarantees
freedom.
The key concept in the American system is consent which, if and when
achieved, could allow changes of course, innovations and what is branded
as reform.
The political set-up against which Trump led his "revolution" was the
fruit of a consent that started with President Lyndon Johnson's "Great
Society" reforms and took almost half a century to shape the status quo
that Trump challenged.
The Trump "revolution" was also the fruit of a new consent that took
decades to shape as a challenge to the status quo created by the
previous consent in its many forms including positive discrimination,
political correctness, globalism and, more recently, wokism.
But, once the revolutionary mood ebbs, reality strikes back with
people who wish to light the chimney without setting their home on fire.
Though the fruit of a rebellion dressed as a revolution, American
society has always been deeply conservative in politics.
In some cases, political power comes with a heavy dose of personal attributes.
Nero wasn't satisfied with just being Roman Emperor, and fancied
himself as a great musician and poet. Although he had a squeaking voice,
he was convinced he was the best singer in the empire. Commodus
believed he was a descendant of Hercules and showed his strength by
strangling savage beasts in the forum.
More recently, Obama saw himself as a magician to conjure a new
American rabbit out of his top hat while reforming the Islamic world.
The Caesar may be able to tame the whole world, but is unable to rule
his own inner self. That task is always performed by reality, which
obeys no Caesar.
Thus, the best option is to wait until that golden rule of history is
applied to Trump, who continues to represent a desire by many
Americans, perhaps still a majority, to put the giant cruiser on a new
course. Reality will teach them that the American system allows only
incremental changes of course.
The Trump-Musk falling out may not be a mere lovers' tiff, but is
also unlikely to be as final as it seems. Love cools, friends fall away,
brothers divide; this belongs to theater. In politics, a Cato cannot
re-script his role as a Brutus.
The Trump-Musk duel may turn out to be a palatial version of the
professional wrestling popular in the US, in which adversaries seem to
be killing each other with incredibly violent attacks, but which turn
out to be harmless show-off gestures. These are known as "kayfabe" in
wrestling circles and regarded as an art form.
Let us return to George Shultz.
He believed that a US president could regard himself as immensely
successful if he manages to implement 10 percent of his agenda. Mencken,
for his part, noted that all US presidential terms end either with a
scandal or a sense of dissatisfaction. Well, who knows, maybe the system
is so designed to produce only such outcomes.
Gatestone Institute would like to thank the author for his kind
permission to reprint this article in slightly different form from Asharq Al-Awsat. He graciously serves as Chairman of Gatestone Europe.
Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan
in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable
publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat since 1987.
