And when the forbidden months have passed, kill the idolaters wherever you find them and take them prisoners, and beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent and observe Prayer and pay the Zakat, then leave their way free. Surely, Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful
Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Islamic extremism and terrorism has been increasing throughout the western world for decades. It’s amazing that after terrorist attacks in Europe, Israel, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the U.S., the media still can’t call it what it is. Islamic extremists are against Western society - whether they live within those societies or not. Their ideology tells them to commit Jihad, to murder the infidels. Those who embody these beliefs must be put on watchlists and the Imams who perpetuate these ideologies and who live in western Four days to admit this was an attack by an Islamic extremist and in Israel after Oct 7th - the worst terrorist attack in a democratic nation since 9/11 - the bodies of those murdered hadn’t all been counted on Oct 8th and
I almost never hear about any of the peaceful followers of Islam saying or doing anything to counter the murderous acts of those who do so in the name of Islam. As far as I can see there is little or nothing that this group of a billion or more people do to discourage or prevent the narrative, beliefs and views which lead to this violence, generation after generation. I wonder if they think it matters.
You don't hear from them because a large portion of Muslims (>10% according to Pew research) support Islamic jihad. A much larger portion are not against jihad. The Muslims who do publicly criticize jihad do so at their own peril, often facing execution or worse (you read that correctly), depending on the country. Many of the most important critics of Islam are former Muslims, apostates now with fatwas against them.
These are among the bravest, most heroic people, and include Ayaan Hersi Ali, Majid Nawaz, Masih Alinejad etc. These three have all survived murder attempts carried out in democratic countries. Many others have not.
Furthermore, so called 'liberals' in the West - lefties with the luxury belief that any criticism of Islam is Islamophobic (a term coined and distributed by Iranian fundamentalists in the '70s) - make criticism of Islam by anyone yet more difficult and risky. They provide shelter for jihadists.
The negligence of news outlets including the NYT, NPR, the Post etc in refusing to even use the term Islamic jidhad to describe terrorist attacks involving individuals shouting 'Allahu Akbar' as they commit mass murder has resulted in the miseducation of the American public. In most cases they don't even report these terrorist attacks - they occur multiple times a week on average - mostly against other Muslims who are the wrong type of Muslim. This has paved the way for a successful soft jihad campaign in the West to garner support (or at least shelter) for fundamentalist Islam by (strangely illiberal) left leaning westerners.
Well stated Nick. Yes, I understand these and other dynamics involved here.
I guess I'm still calling them out, (the "peaceful", loving and scripture following Islamic millions) as a challenge to live their true doctrines. I am not super-familiar with all of what Islam holds as doctrine. But I believe that it is about living a virtuous life and that it is not all that different from the core doctrines of Christianity or other similar religions.
I believe that Islamic Jihad stems from interpretations and pronouncements which have been layered on centuries after the founding of the religion. And I believe that for most rational people, Muslim or not, the intentions (not isolated comments taken literally and out of context) behind the core doctrines of the Islamic faith are at odds with the intentions of Jihad.
I'm calling them out for this---to search their souls and discover if this is true, en masse.
They sorted this out in Ireland somehow, stopped killing each other, and the positive results are many.
It might be that governments, law enforcement, etc. are not ever going to be able to arrest the perpetuation of this thread of evil. I think that another, better hope comes from the training of children being influenced in virtuous home environments by people who do not, secretly, somewhat agree with the necessity of the violent ones and what they do in order to justify their allegiance to their own faith.
The islamic terrorist invaders of Europe were welcomed with open arms for decades. Now, probably a bit too late, the residents of Brusselandia are waking up.
There is a valid point in recognizing the evil of conflating the followers of a religion with a violent, criminal subculture who proclaim themselves to be the representatives of that religion. That being said, we must not overlook the plain fact that this subculture engages in violent, organized crime. When we look at it in that way, we know how to address violent, organized crime. It is also important for the people in that community, aware of these folks, their beliefs and activities, that lying to hide or protect them is itself a very serious criminal offense and doing so makes you one of them just as if you held the knife yourself. Law enforcement is about evidence and facts presented to a jury. Let the defense argue racism and bigotry, the jury will decide as they always have. You can't choose not to let the jury decide by ignoring the crime. If you've been placed in a position where you enforce the law and you refuse to do so, then the voters need to replace you with someone that will do the job. So start rounding up the people planning these crimes and round up the people that knew about it and didn't report it as well. Put them in prison for years or decades. Make that choice to hide this evil in the community a much harder choice to make.
I'm reminded of one response to the Charlie Hebdo attack. The American Freedom Defense Initiative held a "Draw Mohammed" contest in Garland, Texas. Two "Islamists" showed up, heavily armed. Both died, as I recall, within a few feet of their car.
The media was clearly tied up in knots over this. On the one hand, I think most journalists were genuinely outraged by what had happened in France and were more than a little happy that someone had responded. On the other, the party line in 2015 was very much about accepting Islam as a religion of peace and rejecting anyone with "nationalist" views. So they pointed out that The American Freedom Defense Initiative was classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Its founder, Pamela Geller, was depicted as a racist Islamophobe (and to be fair she was that, but as the context shows, not without reason). The undercurrent to the coverage was that these young men had no choice but to enter a trap that had been set for them by murderous thugs. The message from the media was mixed.
The message from The American Freedom Defense Initiative was very clear. We will say what we want. If you have a problem with that, we will be glad to discuss it with you on whatever terms you choose. A pure and unadulterated synopsis of everything America, and every liberal society, should stand for. Every nation in the West needs to remember that, and return to upholding that ideal, whether it's in opposition to Islam or DEI or any other illiberal force.
I live in the DFW area and well remember that incident in Garland. The organizers of the contest were aware enough to have armed guards outside the venue, and sure enough the zealots showed up. I used to work at a free market think tank in DC. Groups that are considered "hate" groups by the SPLC consider that designation a badge of honor. (I don't know anything about Geller, whether she is/was a racist Islamophobe.) You pretty much have to be Far Left not to be designated a hate group by that awful group.
They, like others of their ilk, once free thinkers trying to prevent violence have sacrificed their reputations to become political actors. They have no credibility anymore. While they may be right about some groups, you have to doubt anything they say because you know the bias they have with others. They've lost millions to lawsuits for falsely naming groups as hate groups.
Seems the all of western Europe is a powder keg. It’s similar to what’s going on in the USA with the southern border. There’s know way of knowing who’s invading us yes it is an invasion. This DEI nonsense can find you dead. The biggest difference between us is the 2nd Amendment. Conceal carry of weapons can be a deterrent, admittedly not guaranteed. Law enforcement officers should be fully equipped, including firearms, to protect themselves and others from these vermin. Show them NO mercy. Better to be judged by 12 than buried by 6
The authorities are unaware that knives can kill too. They cannot let go of guns kill people.
Some say that people with guns, knives, sticks and stones kill people. But those folk have nothing useful to tell the authorities. Or their friends in the MSM.
In contrast to 9/11, which spurred a huge American debate over Islam and Islamism, jihad, and related concepts, conversations around the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7 as well as over recent Hezbollah, Houthi, and Iranian aggressions are nearly void of these topics. What caused this change? How is the Islamist threat evolving? Does Europe take a different view than America? What are MEF and other counter-Islamist organizations doing, given a general lack of interest and the scale of the threat?
In the years since 9/11, public discourse around Islamism has significantly diminished, even as Islamist groups continue to pose a serious threat. This panel will explore the reasons behind this shift in attention and discuss the evolving nature of the Islamist threat. Panelists will share insights from their research and experiences countering Islamist extremism in politics, media, academia, and religious communities to examine the current state of Islamism and the work being done by the Middle East Forum to address this critical issue in the face of public apathy and the scale of the threat.
Ryan Mauro is an investigative researcher at the Capital Research Center with a focus on extremist groups and foreign influence operations. He is a counter-extremism and international security analyst with a history of involvement in intelligence, counterterrorism, human rights, academia, activism, law enforcement training, and engagement with policymakers. He is the creator and former director of the Clarion Intelligence Network, a group that tracks extremist activity throughout the world.
Sam Westrop has headed IW since March 2017, when MEF absorbed the counter-extremism unit of Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT), where he was the research director. Before that, he ran Stand for Peace, a London-based counter-extremism organization monitoring Islamists throughout the U.K.
Dexter Van Zile is managing editor of the Middle East Forum publication Focus on Western Islamism. His articles have appeared in the Jerusalem Post, the Boston Globe, Jewish Political Studies Review, the Algemeiner and the Jewish News Syndicate. He has authored numerous academic studies and book chapters about Christian anti-Zionism.
1. Things like this NEVER make The News. Including many of those making decisions.
2. I subscribe to Middle East Forum, That's the only reason I saw it.
3. We are (for better or worse) in a new world. That little silicon chip is changing Everything. A mere 30 years ago Panels/Forums like this were going on all the time. But `unless you were there you didn't know. Because 97+% never made the news, and those that did were on page 7 of your paper.
You’re exactly right. Before I worked at the think tank, I was a broadcast journalist. My husband spent his entire career as one. It’s disgraceful how slanted the profession has become. It was bad back then and far worse today.
One of the things Donald Trump did was tear The Mask Off.
Looking back it was always bad. Example: In *Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
He Talks about when Batty Goldwater won the GOP nomination (1964) CBS reported he flew to Germany and met with Neo-Nazis to recharge his batteries and plan the campaign with them. Just one small problem. Other than Goldwater winning the GOP nomination Everything was a lie.
*BTW VERY Good Book! This was before he came down with TDS.
According to the “Progressive” Left ( a moronic oxymoron), we deserve it.
If pre-Obama, anybody had ever suggested Jew-hating Islamist Jihadists would be celebrated in America, I’d have thought they were tripping. If anybody suggested “ intersectional” self-proclaimed group of persecuted victims would join the Jihadists”Queers For Palestine”,”Fatties For Palestine”,”Jews for Infitada”,”Death To America”,”Hitler Should Have Finished the Job”…I’d have thought I was tripping.
Now I wish I was tripping. Because even a bad trip wears off in a few days at most.
If Saturday Night Live was still outrageously funny, pertinent satire in a normal world, the skits would be writing themselves. But SNL is no longer funny, the world is not normal and I’m not tripping.
Huxley predicted this horror show. The Red/Green Axis as a means to usher in the Great Reset. Shah Pahlavi was ringing the alarm bell in the early/mid-seventies,warning of a very strange and dangerous alignment of cultural Marxism with fundamentalist Islam.
He was met with eyerolls and consternation. Two interviews that stand out were with Christine Amanpour of the BBC and his last interview prior to the Khomeini Revolution on 60 Minutes. The scorn was palpable. As the once relevant quote succinctly stated, “ History repeats itself”. “Never Again!”, not so much.
Two of my oldest and dearest friends retired to Sweden 18 years ago. They are both retired school teachers from las Angeles. She was born there and is a Swedish citizen. My grandmother immigrated to America from Sweden so my image and feelings toward Sweden have always been held in high esteem. Slowly I will say, they began to see the cracks in the mirror. Their hope and images began to force their acceptance of change and a country that was not meeting their expectations and hopes. I will get to my point regarding Muslim immigration but first they found out harshly that the so well thought of and revered health care system is not what they hoped and thought it was going to be. Sweden, absolutely beautiful, small homogeneous but open society. With generous open arms and massive empathy in their hearts they welcomed more Muslim immigrants than any other European country per capita. The gave them food, housing, education and jobs along with language and job training for all members of the family that wished them. Move ahead now a few years and the last report I read was that Sweden had the worst crime problem capita than all the other European countries. My friends told me and it is now proven true that there are parts of cities that the police basically will no go anymore. My fiends put it well and correctly. Sweden wanted to help, Sweden wanted to welcome people into their home and expected them to be grateful, thankful, and blessed. And also that they would become new Swedes and join and merge and meld into their society. Not by completely abandoning their culture and traditions but peacefully and with a sense perhaps of joy that they have been offered an opportunity that was not possible before. This is where the harsh reality of human nature and unfortunately where good intentions, humanistic and kind empathetic ideas are never well thought out. The science says lets propose a theory, lets come up with a plan and then we will measure the outcome to see how it did or did not work. Then we can alter our plan. Sad to say but looking at my own USA which I love, our government leaders have come up with a multitude of nice sounding, empathetic altruistic plans. I am old enough to ask the questions. Going back to Lyndon Johnsons nice sounding "The War On Poverty" I might ask the question how many plans, how many TRILLIONS of dollars have been paid for by hardworking sincere Americans. The plans keep coming >>> my comment is when do we get the results????
If our elected leaders don't begin doing their primary job of preserving our liberty by defending our society and enforcing law and order then, soon, probably sooner then anybody realizes, people are going to start taking things into their own hands and defend themselves and their communities from this death cult onslaught...it will not be pretty...
Elected leaders...get a backbone...get busy...stop this insanity...g.
It's too late for the leftist states. The free states, especially given the election lawfare and rigging we see now, may have to secede to defend themselves.
This is a really important piece that is just scratching the surface of a difficult problem. Governments must do something to tide the violence. Without urgent caution I'm afraid the West will descend into the Troubles as in N. Ireland.
Many here speak about aspects of violence and extremism that are inherent in Islam. Or the difficulty that some have in adjusting to democratic freedoms from countries that had none, or where norms (and especially religious dictates) were enforced to a much greater degree. Before reading on, I completely agree with that insight.
However, extremism is on the rise in the West as well - it is basically the reason the Free Press exists. Progressive extremism. It is a movement that does not respect the idea that "everyone is entitled to an opinion," for example. There are people on the right who somewhat unthinkingly say similar things - people who are overprotective of patriotism, and the flag, and what should or shouldn't be said, for example. But they are usually NOT the elites. The extreme progressives - those in the highest echelons of society - are found in government, running most NGOs and charities, are nearly universal in the university, of course in the media, and now, even the corporate world.
Belief in Western ideals is under attack, but it has long been so. The Western Civilization curriculum has been under attack for decades, and is now hard to find outside of schools specifically dedicated to its survival.
Think about recent efforts to "establish democracy" and "nation-build" that have largely failed - it seems proof-positive that just giving people a right to vote and establishing the infrastructure of representative government isn't enough. We perhaps don't see the issue clearly, because, like fish in water, we grew up in the environment of a liberal republic.
We are blessed to have had the Founding Fathers we had - many of whom had read NEARLY EVERYTHING to be said on the topic. They read Locke, Hobbes, and Montesquieu. They read Cicero and Livy and Plutarch. I can't say that I've read more than 30-40 pages altogether by any of those authors, but at least I grew up in the "Western Civilization Curriculum." Those values are repeated throughout our founding documents and institutions. People in much of the world don't have these ingrained liberal ideals. And now, perhaps, neither do we. Western Civ has been abandoned, and indeed, derided, and what is left in its wake
WOW! Very well said. Thanks for taking the time to post this. Like you, I have read only snippets of the authors you list, but I know of their contributions to Western thought and philosophy.
Islam is a religion of pieces. Piece of a Jew here, piece of a Christian there, piece of a Muslim over there
And when the forbidden months have passed, kill the idolaters wherever you find them and take them prisoners, and beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent and observe Prayer and pay the Zakat, then leave their way free. Surely, Allah is Most Forgiving, Merciful
Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Islamic extremism and terrorism has been increasing throughout the western world for decades. It’s amazing that after terrorist attacks in Europe, Israel, Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the U.S., the media still can’t call it what it is. Islamic extremists are against Western society - whether they live within those societies or not. Their ideology tells them to commit Jihad, to murder the infidels. Those who embody these beliefs must be put on watchlists and the Imams who perpetuate these ideologies and who live in western Four days to admit this was an attack by an Islamic extremist and in Israel after Oct 7th - the worst terrorist attack in a democratic nation since 9/11 - the bodies of those murdered hadn’t all been counted on Oct 8th and
I almost never hear about any of the peaceful followers of Islam saying or doing anything to counter the murderous acts of those who do so in the name of Islam. As far as I can see there is little or nothing that this group of a billion or more people do to discourage or prevent the narrative, beliefs and views which lead to this violence, generation after generation. I wonder if they think it matters.
You don't hear from them because a large portion of Muslims (>10% according to Pew research) support Islamic jihad. A much larger portion are not against jihad. The Muslims who do publicly criticize jihad do so at their own peril, often facing execution or worse (you read that correctly), depending on the country. Many of the most important critics of Islam are former Muslims, apostates now with fatwas against them.
These are among the bravest, most heroic people, and include Ayaan Hersi Ali, Majid Nawaz, Masih Alinejad etc. These three have all survived murder attempts carried out in democratic countries. Many others have not.
Furthermore, so called 'liberals' in the West - lefties with the luxury belief that any criticism of Islam is Islamophobic (a term coined and distributed by Iranian fundamentalists in the '70s) - make criticism of Islam by anyone yet more difficult and risky. They provide shelter for jihadists.
The negligence of news outlets including the NYT, NPR, the Post etc in refusing to even use the term Islamic jidhad to describe terrorist attacks involving individuals shouting 'Allahu Akbar' as they commit mass murder has resulted in the miseducation of the American public. In most cases they don't even report these terrorist attacks - they occur multiple times a week on average - mostly against other Muslims who are the wrong type of Muslim. This has paved the way for a successful soft jihad campaign in the West to garner support (or at least shelter) for fundamentalist Islam by (strangely illiberal) left leaning westerners.
The story goes on but doesn't get any better ...
Well stated Nick. Yes, I understand these and other dynamics involved here.
I guess I'm still calling them out, (the "peaceful", loving and scripture following Islamic millions) as a challenge to live their true doctrines. I am not super-familiar with all of what Islam holds as doctrine. But I believe that it is about living a virtuous life and that it is not all that different from the core doctrines of Christianity or other similar religions.
I believe that Islamic Jihad stems from interpretations and pronouncements which have been layered on centuries after the founding of the religion. And I believe that for most rational people, Muslim or not, the intentions (not isolated comments taken literally and out of context) behind the core doctrines of the Islamic faith are at odds with the intentions of Jihad.
I'm calling them out for this---to search their souls and discover if this is true, en masse.
They sorted this out in Ireland somehow, stopped killing each other, and the positive results are many.
It might be that governments, law enforcement, etc. are not ever going to be able to arrest the perpetuation of this thread of evil. I think that another, better hope comes from the training of children being influenced in virtuous home environments by people who do not, secretly, somewhat agree with the necessity of the violent ones and what they do in order to justify their allegiance to their own faith.
The islamic terrorist invaders of Europe were welcomed with open arms for decades. Now, probably a bit too late, the residents of Brusselandia are waking up.
There is a valid point in recognizing the evil of conflating the followers of a religion with a violent, criminal subculture who proclaim themselves to be the representatives of that religion. That being said, we must not overlook the plain fact that this subculture engages in violent, organized crime. When we look at it in that way, we know how to address violent, organized crime. It is also important for the people in that community, aware of these folks, their beliefs and activities, that lying to hide or protect them is itself a very serious criminal offense and doing so makes you one of them just as if you held the knife yourself. Law enforcement is about evidence and facts presented to a jury. Let the defense argue racism and bigotry, the jury will decide as they always have. You can't choose not to let the jury decide by ignoring the crime. If you've been placed in a position where you enforce the law and you refuse to do so, then the voters need to replace you with someone that will do the job. So start rounding up the people planning these crimes and round up the people that knew about it and didn't report it as well. Put them in prison for years or decades. Make that choice to hide this evil in the community a much harder choice to make.
Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi Al-Azhar Univesity Jan 01, 2015
https://www.memri.org/tv/egyptian-president-al-sisi-al-azhar-we-must-revolutionize-our-religion
Cliff Notes Version. "We have A problem. And Its All Your Fault!."
The reason the leftist-dominated media doesn't talk about it is because the Islamists are their allies, with whom they share two goals:
1) Eradication of not only Israel, but all Jews.
2) Destruction of traditional Western civilization.
And their importance is in the order I listed them.
I'm reminded of one response to the Charlie Hebdo attack. The American Freedom Defense Initiative held a "Draw Mohammed" contest in Garland, Texas. Two "Islamists" showed up, heavily armed. Both died, as I recall, within a few feet of their car.
The media was clearly tied up in knots over this. On the one hand, I think most journalists were genuinely outraged by what had happened in France and were more than a little happy that someone had responded. On the other, the party line in 2015 was very much about accepting Islam as a religion of peace and rejecting anyone with "nationalist" views. So they pointed out that The American Freedom Defense Initiative was classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Its founder, Pamela Geller, was depicted as a racist Islamophobe (and to be fair she was that, but as the context shows, not without reason). The undercurrent to the coverage was that these young men had no choice but to enter a trap that had been set for them by murderous thugs. The message from the media was mixed.
The message from The American Freedom Defense Initiative was very clear. We will say what we want. If you have a problem with that, we will be glad to discuss it with you on whatever terms you choose. A pure and unadulterated synopsis of everything America, and every liberal society, should stand for. Every nation in the West needs to remember that, and return to upholding that ideal, whether it's in opposition to Islam or DEI or any other illiberal force.
I live in the DFW area and well remember that incident in Garland. The organizers of the contest were aware enough to have armed guards outside the venue, and sure enough the zealots showed up. I used to work at a free market think tank in DC. Groups that are considered "hate" groups by the SPLC consider that designation a badge of honor. (I don't know anything about Geller, whether she is/was a racist Islamophobe.) You pretty much have to be Far Left not to be designated a hate group by that awful group.
Kind of a clever trap. Sorta like trapping hogs
They, like others of their ilk, once free thinkers trying to prevent violence have sacrificed their reputations to become political actors. They have no credibility anymore. While they may be right about some groups, you have to doubt anything they say because you know the bias they have with others. They've lost millions to lawsuits for falsely naming groups as hate groups.
Seems the all of western Europe is a powder keg. It’s similar to what’s going on in the USA with the southern border. There’s know way of knowing who’s invading us yes it is an invasion. This DEI nonsense can find you dead. The biggest difference between us is the 2nd Amendment. Conceal carry of weapons can be a deterrent, admittedly not guaranteed. Law enforcement officers should be fully equipped, including firearms, to protect themselves and others from these vermin. Show them NO mercy. Better to be judged by 12 than buried by 6
Law enforcement in the U.S. is armed to the teeth compared to any Western countries.
The authorities are unaware that knives can kill too. They cannot let go of guns kill people.
Some say that people with guns, knives, sticks and stones kill people. But those folk have nothing useful to tell the authorities. Or their friends in the MSM.
There's a push in the UK to ban knives. They even take the scary name tactic of gun control advocates by calling them 'Zombie Knives'. It's hilarious.
Unlike guns, anyone can make a knife. They will also have to outlaw leaf springs, kitchen knives and any flat pieces of metal.
Dear God
Islamism's Changing Trends and Ideological Divisions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCWF19aI_bc
Jun 7, 2024 WASHINGTON
In contrast to 9/11, which spurred a huge American debate over Islam and Islamism, jihad, and related concepts, conversations around the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7 as well as over recent Hezbollah, Houthi, and Iranian aggressions are nearly void of these topics. What caused this change? How is the Islamist threat evolving? Does Europe take a different view than America? What are MEF and other counter-Islamist organizations doing, given a general lack of interest and the scale of the threat?
In the years since 9/11, public discourse around Islamism has significantly diminished, even as Islamist groups continue to pose a serious threat. This panel will explore the reasons behind this shift in attention and discuss the evolving nature of the Islamist threat. Panelists will share insights from their research and experiences countering Islamist extremism in politics, media, academia, and religious communities to examine the current state of Islamism and the work being done by the Middle East Forum to address this critical issue in the face of public apathy and the scale of the threat.
Ryan Mauro is an investigative researcher at the Capital Research Center with a focus on extremist groups and foreign influence operations. He is a counter-extremism and international security analyst with a history of involvement in intelligence, counterterrorism, human rights, academia, activism, law enforcement training, and engagement with policymakers. He is the creator and former director of the Clarion Intelligence Network, a group that tracks extremist activity throughout the world.
Sam Westrop has headed IW since March 2017, when MEF absorbed the counter-extremism unit of Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT), where he was the research director. Before that, he ran Stand for Peace, a London-based counter-extremism organization monitoring Islamists throughout the U.K.
Dexter Van Zile is managing editor of the Middle East Forum publication Focus on Western Islamism. His articles have appeared in the Jerusalem Post, the Boston Globe, Jewish Political Studies Review, the Algemeiner and the Jewish News Syndicate. He has authored numerous academic studies and book chapters about Christian anti-Zionism.
Presented on May 14, 2024 in Washington, D.C
Thanks for sharing this!
GWOT/The Long War is an obsession of mine. And has been ever since That Day (9-11-01)
I'm very familiar with CRC. I used to work at a free market think tank in DC and have known several people who worked at CRC.
1. Things like this NEVER make The News. Including many of those making decisions.
2. I subscribe to Middle East Forum, That's the only reason I saw it.
3. We are (for better or worse) in a new world. That little silicon chip is changing Everything. A mere 30 years ago Panels/Forums like this were going on all the time. But `unless you were there you didn't know. Because 97+% never made the news, and those that did were on page 7 of your paper.
You’re exactly right. Before I worked at the think tank, I was a broadcast journalist. My husband spent his entire career as one. It’s disgraceful how slanted the profession has become. It was bad back then and far worse today.
One of the things Donald Trump did was tear The Mask Off.
Looking back it was always bad. Example: In *Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning
He Talks about when Batty Goldwater won the GOP nomination (1964) CBS reported he flew to Germany and met with Neo-Nazis to recharge his batteries and plan the campaign with them. Just one small problem. Other than Goldwater winning the GOP nomination Everything was a lie.
*BTW VERY Good Book! This was before he came down with TDS.
According to the “Progressive” Left ( a moronic oxymoron), we deserve it.
If pre-Obama, anybody had ever suggested Jew-hating Islamist Jihadists would be celebrated in America, I’d have thought they were tripping. If anybody suggested “ intersectional” self-proclaimed group of persecuted victims would join the Jihadists”Queers For Palestine”,”Fatties For Palestine”,”Jews for Infitada”,”Death To America”,”Hitler Should Have Finished the Job”…I’d have thought I was tripping.
Now I wish I was tripping. Because even a bad trip wears off in a few days at most.
If Saturday Night Live was still outrageously funny, pertinent satire in a normal world, the skits would be writing themselves. But SNL is no longer funny, the world is not normal and I’m not tripping.
Huxley predicted this horror show. The Red/Green Axis as a means to usher in the Great Reset. Shah Pahlavi was ringing the alarm bell in the early/mid-seventies,warning of a very strange and dangerous alignment of cultural Marxism with fundamentalist Islam.
He was met with eyerolls and consternation. Two interviews that stand out were with Christine Amanpour of the BBC and his last interview prior to the Khomeini Revolution on 60 Minutes. The scorn was palpable. As the once relevant quote succinctly stated, “ History repeats itself”. “Never Again!”, not so much.
Two of my oldest and dearest friends retired to Sweden 18 years ago. They are both retired school teachers from las Angeles. She was born there and is a Swedish citizen. My grandmother immigrated to America from Sweden so my image and feelings toward Sweden have always been held in high esteem. Slowly I will say, they began to see the cracks in the mirror. Their hope and images began to force their acceptance of change and a country that was not meeting their expectations and hopes. I will get to my point regarding Muslim immigration but first they found out harshly that the so well thought of and revered health care system is not what they hoped and thought it was going to be. Sweden, absolutely beautiful, small homogeneous but open society. With generous open arms and massive empathy in their hearts they welcomed more Muslim immigrants than any other European country per capita. The gave them food, housing, education and jobs along with language and job training for all members of the family that wished them. Move ahead now a few years and the last report I read was that Sweden had the worst crime problem capita than all the other European countries. My friends told me and it is now proven true that there are parts of cities that the police basically will no go anymore. My fiends put it well and correctly. Sweden wanted to help, Sweden wanted to welcome people into their home and expected them to be grateful, thankful, and blessed. And also that they would become new Swedes and join and merge and meld into their society. Not by completely abandoning their culture and traditions but peacefully and with a sense perhaps of joy that they have been offered an opportunity that was not possible before. This is where the harsh reality of human nature and unfortunately where good intentions, humanistic and kind empathetic ideas are never well thought out. The science says lets propose a theory, lets come up with a plan and then we will measure the outcome to see how it did or did not work. Then we can alter our plan. Sad to say but looking at my own USA which I love, our government leaders have come up with a multitude of nice sounding, empathetic altruistic plans. I am old enough to ask the questions. Going back to Lyndon Johnsons nice sounding "The War On Poverty" I might ask the question how many plans, how many TRILLIONS of dollars have been paid for by hardworking sincere Americans. The plans keep coming >>> my comment is when do we get the results????
Interesting thing about Sweden is that it defied the leftist wisdom on Covid and proved to be right. (pun intended).
The Swedes can break out of the center-left orthodoxy if they really want to.
If our elected leaders don't begin doing their primary job of preserving our liberty by defending our society and enforcing law and order then, soon, probably sooner then anybody realizes, people are going to start taking things into their own hands and defend themselves and their communities from this death cult onslaught...it will not be pretty...
Elected leaders...get a backbone...get busy...stop this insanity...g.
It's too late for the leftist states. The free states, especially given the election lawfare and rigging we see now, may have to secede to defend themselves.
This is a really important piece that is just scratching the surface of a difficult problem. Governments must do something to tide the violence. Without urgent caution I'm afraid the West will descend into the Troubles as in N. Ireland.
I have thought the same thing. Ireland found a way forward. I wonder if the people who claim Islam as their faith can do the same.
Many here speak about aspects of violence and extremism that are inherent in Islam. Or the difficulty that some have in adjusting to democratic freedoms from countries that had none, or where norms (and especially religious dictates) were enforced to a much greater degree. Before reading on, I completely agree with that insight.
However, extremism is on the rise in the West as well - it is basically the reason the Free Press exists. Progressive extremism. It is a movement that does not respect the idea that "everyone is entitled to an opinion," for example. There are people on the right who somewhat unthinkingly say similar things - people who are overprotective of patriotism, and the flag, and what should or shouldn't be said, for example. But they are usually NOT the elites. The extreme progressives - those in the highest echelons of society - are found in government, running most NGOs and charities, are nearly universal in the university, of course in the media, and now, even the corporate world.
Belief in Western ideals is under attack, but it has long been so. The Western Civilization curriculum has been under attack for decades, and is now hard to find outside of schools specifically dedicated to its survival.
Think about recent efforts to "establish democracy" and "nation-build" that have largely failed - it seems proof-positive that just giving people a right to vote and establishing the infrastructure of representative government isn't enough. We perhaps don't see the issue clearly, because, like fish in water, we grew up in the environment of a liberal republic.
We are blessed to have had the Founding Fathers we had - many of whom had read NEARLY EVERYTHING to be said on the topic. They read Locke, Hobbes, and Montesquieu. They read Cicero and Livy and Plutarch. I can't say that I've read more than 30-40 pages altogether by any of those authors, but at least I grew up in the "Western Civilization Curriculum." Those values are repeated throughout our founding documents and institutions. People in much of the world don't have these ingrained liberal ideals. And now, perhaps, neither do we. Western Civ has been abandoned, and indeed, derided, and what is left in its wake
WOW! Very well said. Thanks for taking the time to post this. Like you, I have read only snippets of the authors you list, but I know of their contributions to Western thought and philosophy.