WATCH THE CARNAGE

It’s been a tough week. While the Israelis have been literally bombarded, we’ve been bombarded with videos, many filmed by the terrorists themselves, of rape, murder by weapon and fire, and kidnapping of innocent men, women and children, and babies. The pictures are soul-numbing, and the last thing I wanted was to watch them. So I did. And so should you. Because the only way to affirm our humanity is to look evil in the face. Or we won’t face it at all.

We’re all aware of the great divide that has widened in our country over the past few decades and accelerated exponentially over the last 8 or so years. At least half the country has acknowledged the evils being perpetrated on a daily basis under the guise of the public good by the in-power Left. But nothing has highlighted our and the West’s cultural and spiritual decline as starkly as the reaction to the Hamas atrocities executed in Israel. One of the few bright spots in this ordeal has been the appropriate reaction to this war of the most radically progressive president in our history. While Biden’s pre-war policies may have contributed to the current debacle, his overt post-attack warnings to Iran and other potential bad actors, backed by the deployment of two US aircraft carriers to the region and materiel support, were welcome and necessary, both morally and to help deter a larger conflict. His unequivocal support of Israel’s right to defend itself and characterization of the offenders as brutal terrorists were also on-point. Frankly, with his history of lock-step obeisance to anything far left and extremely poor track record when it comes to both domestic or international policy, it surprised me. Unfortunately, on the left and to a smaller extent on the (predominantly far) right, there is a disturbing division in the country regarding an issue that, it would seem, should scream unity. The condemnation of Hamas’ actions has been met with a rallying by many behind the terrorist group not only internationally, as might be anticipated, but domestically as well. And anyone who isn’t alarmed by this needs to urgently reevaluate their moral compass.

In the seats of power, the usual suspects such as the Squad have made their lukewarm reaction to brutal terrorism clear. The Michigan State House legislators rejected a minute of silence for the Israelis killed and taken hostage! Even more troubling are the large protests in favor of the Palestinians and Hamas in places such as NYC and around the country. Large gatherings of radical, mostly ignorant, brainwashed students have proclaimed support of terrorism on multiple university campuses. All of this cannot be solely ascribed to ignorance, though. There clearly has been a resurgence in antisemitism, with Israel the sole nation denied an appropriate response for its own defense from an existential threat. Calls for cease-fire and drawing a moral equivalence between the brutal targeting of innocents of all ages and the unavoidable collateral damage in crowded Gaza by the IDF, a military force that routinely goes out of its way to promote civilian evacuation before attacking, is execrable. And collateral damage there will be: Hamas discourages its civilians from evacuating, while hiding themselves and their deadly materiel among them, precisely to increase collateral damage, knowing a complicit media will unfairly paint Israel in an anti-humanitarian light. Yet, given the opportunity to allow refugees from Gaza to escape via a corridor into Egypt, Egyptian authorities have refused. While 20% of “apartheid state” Israel’s citizens are Arab, no Muslim nation has accepted governance of the Palestinian people, and zero Jews are permitted to live in any of the Muslim nations.

The idea that the Israelis are “occupiers” is belied by history. The Palestinians don’t antedate Jewish residence in the land, and they are not interested in a 2-state solution. They have said as much, many times. Their goal is extermination of the Jews. In refusing the “land for peace” deal in 2000 granting land PLO leader Arafat demanded, President Clinton blamed the Palestinian leader for its failure. Gaza and the West Bank were ultimately ceded to Palestinian rule. Under Hamas, the people of Gaza became pawns for their Intifada against Israel and the West. They publicly admitted they feigned concern for governance of the Palestinian while planning the current attack to get the Israelis to let their guard down. Pipes donated by European nations for the sewer system were appropriated instead to make bombs, as a propaganda video that originated with Hamas itself demonstrates. Now pro-Palestinian voices are trying to blame Israel for turning off the power and water the Jewish state has supplied for free that the governing body of Hamas did not. This while Hamas uses its people as shields and propaganda tools because, as they’ve explicitly told us, they value death the way the Israelis and the West value life. Exposing their own children to injury and death, rather than protecting them, is viewed as “martyring” them. The supporters of Hamas either agree with this, or can’t wrap their minds around the fact that these terrorists don’t value their own children the way they do. Or they are engaging in willful ignorance. And hiding behind a shield of ignorance won’t justify or change the reality of terrorists hiding behind a shield of innocents.

The above self-deception in many of the supporters of Hamas and the Palestinian cause is fueled by the belief that no culture is superior to another. This is demonstrably untrue. (For example, Muslims, but not Jews, can worship freely at the Temple Mount. Muslims can travel without fear in Israel, but Israelis enter Muslim territory only at their great peril.) But ideology, as I’ve said many times, breeds stupidity, and stupidity makes you a useful idiot for evil.

Some will say, “But not all Palestinians and Muslims are evil.” Perhaps not. But that doesn’t prevent them from from being part of the problem. Putting aside the fact that the Palestinians themselves placed Hamas in power, where are the Muslims counter-protests in the streets against the terrorist barbarism? Where are even the rush of public statements dissociating themselves from the movement? The “good” Muslims are there, some may argue, afraid to speak out for fear of retribution. In the face of evil of this magnitude, the absence of courage is no longer an option. It seems the rise of Nazism is already forgotten. The bright side to all this, if there is one, is it is uncovering the magnitude of evil and the rise in antisemitism for all to see, and exposing the individuals engaging in it to the light of day.

So look at the videos. Sure, they’ll suck a lot of the joy out of your day. But they’ll recalibrate your humanity, rekindle appreciation and gratitude for what you have, and will support, in a small way, the millions of Jews now suffering much more tangibly and immeasurably from the loss of family, friends and countrymen. And pray for them. Let this time of tribulation strengthen your bond with those you love and your faith in God, in the end the true source of inner peace and joy.

IMAGINE

Forty-three years ago the words of John Lennon’s famous opus greeted us from the speakers of our transistor radios and turntables, vinyl discs spinning at 33 or 45 revolutions per minute, oblivious to their eventual reincarnation on little silver digital platters and magnetic discs whirling at 7200 rpms, or codified on tiny silicone chips. They were, and remain, a plea from a young, idealistic mind, and appeal today to the innocent child in all of us. And they should, like the movies Shrek and Toy Story. They only become dangerous if you believe them.

“Imagine” constructs a (supposed) utopia without heaven or hell, “nothing to kill or die for and no religion….” People living in peace. No possessions, greed or hunger—“a brotherhood of man.” The sentiment comes from a good place, but, like all fairy tales, has a dark side.

By inventing a mythical human nature, it creates a world that, if implemented literally, would destroy the very souls it wants to help. By denigrating religion, it fails to understand the fundamentals of what religion is—a human tool. Just as a gun can be used for good or evil intent, so can religion. In the Middle Ages, Christianity committed atrocities in God’s name, and today the Islamists have hijacked the religion of billions of Muslims and done the same. If the evil that coexists with the nobility in the human spirit just vanished (imagine—it’s easy if you try), then perhaps there would be no need for religion. (No need for faith in God is a larger, more complex issue, however.)

Nothing to kill for may be laudable, but nothing worth dying for … well, that might be a recipe for an empty existence. In Lennon’s utopia there’s no need for countries. In our world, nothing could be farther from the truth. I shudder to think what our planet would be like if the American experiment in freedom, starting to erode at the edges in my lifetime, had failed.

So continue to imagine an existence without greed, without evil, “a brotherhood of man.” But don’t for an instant let your fantasies convince you that we have no need of a strong country—one grounded in principles of human liberty with as fervent a belief in the God that teaches us to “do unto others” as those that want to destroy us believe in a power that tells them to kill anyone who deigns to choose freedom over subjugation.

Don’t be a dreamer.

SO SORRY…

About a week ago, U.S. forces burned a cache of desecrated Korans. As anyone with even a passing knowledge of world affairs knows, this would and did result in a deadly backlash, so qualifying this as a bonehead move understates the issue.

That being said, it’s unfortunate but predictable that the apologies that followed took the form they did. They traveled up the chain of command to the president himself. It did not stop the violence, and whether it even mitigated it is a debatable point. Why? Because we have chosen to willfully ignore some salient facts about the Muslim community.

First, it’s necessary to define terms. I choose to call violent jihadists Islamists rather than Muslims, because it affords clarity. By billing themselves as religious Muslims, these fanatics know they hamstring their Western enemies by cloaking themselves in the armor of religion. While Americans have become more secular and have little concern about tossing barbs in the direction of peaceful Christians (who may hunker down with their guns and bibles but rarely use the former in defense of the latter), a respect for freedom of worship still forms a cornerstone of our society. Islamists can cite a belief in Allah as the motivating force for their egregious behavior. For them, the Koran burning afforded them the opportunity to fan the flames of anti-Western sentiment and motivate their true believers into action. I suspect the leaders regarded our stupidity with glee rather than outrage. Our apology to the Muslim community was abject, and nonconfrontational. A more appropriate response from our generals and president might have been to apologize, explain the circumstances that led to the burning, promise to take appropriate action to assure no recurrence, and add in no uncertain terms that any violence on the part of radical fundamentalists would be unacceptable and dealt with in kind. However, because we expect their violent behavior even though we find it unacceptable,  and abhor senseless killing, it triggers the natural human reaction to appease. It might even be analogized to the Stockholm syndrome, where the kidnap victim begins to identify with the captor. Since the administration and much of society does not distinguish the Islamist from the Muslim, at least in the religious sense, we are, in essence, held captive.

Defining jihadists as Islamists allows us to see them clearly for what they are: a satanic cult. Allah in the context of Islamism is Satan, and all moral confusion evaporates. Islamists are Nazis using the cover of religion, and the confusion it breeds, to recruit fanatics and confound their enemies. With this distinction in place, those Muslims that don’t subscribe to Sharia law and this dark transformation of the Muslim religion can be addressed independently.

This approach has the added benefit of allowing us to more starkly define the state of the Muslim society. I stated above that we often fail to distinguish the Islamist from the Muslim in terms of their theology, and I lay this at the feet of the Muslims themselves. In my opinion, the backlash from that community has been relatively muted. There have been isolated voices of protest, but a concerted international effort on the part of Muslims has not materialized. In arguing this point with a Muslim colleague here in the U.S., the response I received was one of surprise that someone with my background could be so ill-informed and bigoted. This gentleman, who I believe to be free of anti-Semitism or anti-Christian sentiment, fears that the entire Muslim community will be whitewashed with the same negative brush and marginalized (at best) by bigotry. He was unreceptive to the argument that the outrage that would pour forth from the Christian or Jewish communities if similar acts of terrorism were committed in their names was sadly lacking from the international Muslim community. I’m proud that the incidence of violence against Muslim-Americans has been low, but I share his concerns that Muslim citizens of good character will face the specter of conscious or subconscious prejudice by association on the part of non-Muslims.

It’s exactly this association that is at the core of the problem. What remains unclear to me, and likely to many Americans, is to what extent the absence of a strident Muslim voice of protest is born of fear of reprisal or silent approbation of the jihadists’ efforts. Perhaps this uncertainty is what brands me as a bigot in my Muslim colleague’s eyes. He insists that those with radical beliefs comprise only a small percentage of the Muslim community. While I believe this to be true in this nation, I don’t know what the status is in the international community.

The bottom line is that we cannot win “the war on terror” without the active support of Muslims themselves against the Islamists. There are those that argue that the Koran sanctions the jihadists’ program of violence, and cite passages to prove their point. Although I’m not a religious scholar, in a tome as complex as the Koran with often opposing and contradictory entries, using this argument to assume we know the mind of the individual is fraught with hazard. Rather, we must judge the actions of the people.  Within the ranks of the Muslim community fear must be overcome and battle lines publicly drawn to marginalize and ultimately excise the threat, and prevent the Muslim religion from being hijacked in the service of their evil cause. Dark Islam cannot flourish in a soil poisoned to their beliefs.

Does this make me a bigot? I’ll leave you to decide. In the meantime, I’d like to say I’m sorry, but….