Israel Has NOTHING to do with it, Stupid!

In the Trenches: Is it really all about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

by David Harris

I’m just back from another trip to Europe for meetings on Middle East issues. If I had a dollar (even better, given the exchange rate, a euro) for every time I heard in one capital or another that Israel must solve the conflict with the Palestinians so as to defuse the worldwide rage of jihadists, I’d be a wealthy person today.

Do such otherwise intelligent people really believe what they say, or by now is this simply a reflexive rhetorical device, parroting the conventional wisdom that has firmly taken hold?

It goes without saying that a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be most welcome.

But for the jihadists, that won’t change much. After all, they’re not interested in peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Their denial of Israel’s right to exist, and their hatred of those in the international community who support the Jewish state, whatever its final borders, would not magically disappear.

But even if, say, Israel weren’t on the map, the jihadists’ demands – Western troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan; U.S. military bases out of the Persian Gulf; India out of Kashmir; Armenia out of Nagorno-Karabakh; pro-Western regimes out of Islamabad, Riyadh, Amman and Cairo; a restoration of the caliphate; and the imposition of shari’a law, you name it – would continue without missing a beat.

The “grievance” list is unending, providing countless justifications for anger. It is nourished by the global infrastructure and substantial resources of the Muslim Brotherhood, Saudi-backed Wahhabi institutions and Iranian-supported Shiite groups, among others.

To state the obvious, the various exponents of radical Islam have theologically driven agendas. Yes, they can draw support by claiming that Muslims are targeted here and there, whether true or not. But no one should be under any illusions.

It may be comforting to believe that if only “pesky” Israel would make peace with the Palestinians (as if this had not been Israel’s aim for years), then all would be hunky-dory.

Yet pressuring Israel to satisfy the appetite of these determined forces won’t help; in fact, it would only increase their hunger and lead to the conclusion that a “Supreme Being” is looking down with favor on earthly developments.

As it is, the defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan by the mujahideen in the 1980s, and the severe difficulties now encountered by American troops and their allies in Iraq and once again in Afghanistan, have persuaded radical forces that they are unstoppable, that “God” is on their side.

Israel, by dint of its geography, is on the front line of the struggle, in this case represented by Hamas, Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, and their state sponsors Iran and Syria. Its ability to remain unbent – as a strong democratic, pluralistic, and peace-seeking state – deserves widespread support and admiration.

As a former European foreign minister privately told an AJC group, “I have come to understand that Israel is no longer a Jewish question alone. It is of the utmost importance to Europe. Should Israel fall at the hands of the jihadists like Hamas and Hezbollah, backed by Iran, Europe will be the next target. I am now convinced of this, whereas I once had my doubts. Through intimidation, coercion, the threat of violence and terrorism, Europe will be challenged. That Israel remains strong should be a vital European interest.”

In point of fact, of course, Europe will be challenged irrespective of what happens to Israel. Recent events have made that all too clear. But the comment of this left-of-center politician nonetheless is a refreshing admission of a reality that too many others still fail to acknowledge.

These politicians—as well as intellectuals, trade unionists, and human rights activists—ought to have a required reading list. It might begin with Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Infidel.

In this remarkable autobiographical account, the Somali-born Hirsi Ali reveals how radical Islamists view the world. Having been part of that world in the Horn of Africa, Kenya, and Saudi Arabia, she knows whereof she speaks.

As a whistleblower, she alerts us to the deeply imbedded repression of women, pervasive anti-Semitism, distrust of the “infidel,” and goal of global Islamic domination that she saw up close.

She paraphrases one Islamic preacher: “Islam was under threat and its enemies—the Jews and the Americans—would burn forever. Those Muslim families who sent their children to universities in the United States, Britain, and other lands of the infidel would burn…. If you did not break off your friendships with non-Muslims, you would burn.”

And her religion teacher at a Muslim school in Nairobi believed that “the Jews controlled the world, and that was why we had to be pure: to resist this evil influence. Islam was under attack, and we should step forward and fight the Jews, for only if all Jews were destroyed would peace come for Muslims.”

Another required book should be Magdi Allam’s Viva Israele (in Italian for now but, hopefully, soon to be available in other languages).

Egyptian-born Allam, a Muslim, is one of Italy’s most prominent newspaper columnists—and he doesn’t mince words.

As he wrote in his powerful defense of Israel, “In these pages, I wanted to tell you about my slow, anguished existential journey from the lie, from dictatorship, from hatred, from violence and from death, to the civilization of the truth, of liberty, of love, of peace and of life. To the point where I have reached the firm conviction that, today more than ever, the defense of the value of the sanctity of human life converges with the defense of Israel’s right to exist.”

Both Hirsi Ali and Allam warn about dangers that aren’t easily seen by outsiders, because the complexities of the Islamic world won’t be unraveled by jaunts to fancy hotels in Marrakesh or well-heeled visits to the pyramids, much less by intuition, projection of one’s values on others, or fragmentary information.

And occasionally, there’s a penetrating visual glimpse that’s equally revealing, like the powerful film Osama, about the unimaginably harsh life of women during Taliban-run Afghanistan, or the recent hour-long CNN International documentary on Pakistan as the central address of global Islamist terror.

This should by no means be described as a struggle between Islam and the rest of the world – far from it. Rather, it is with those who hold the view that Islam is in permanent and divinely-ordained conflict with the rest of the world—glomming on to any political situation, be it Israel or Kashmir, to convince an often gullible world that the conflict is about something much more concrete and, therefore, less cosmic.

Unquestionably, there are political conflicts in dire need of solutions. But choosing to believe that those solutions might satisfy the demands of radical Islam – or even necessarily take the wind out of its sails – is another matter entirely.

Sometimes, the hardest thing for us to see is what’s right in front of our faces. src