For publication 6/29/01 The Struggle beyond Israel By Jim Shipley 6/29/01 New Zealand is beefing up its naval forces. They have even contracted to build a battle ship – a very costly enterprise for such a small nation. When asked why, a senior government official spread a map on the table. He showed how close New Zealand is to Indonesia. How close to a bloody power struggle wherein Islamists are massacring Christians and Hindus. Lucky for us there are no Jews there. Strategists in the New Zealand government are taking no chances. They see a pattern in Iran, Afghanistan, Israel, Indonesia, the Muslim satellites of the old Soviet Union, in the Sudan and elsewhere. Little fires are being lit, big bonfires will follow. Islam is not a religion. It is a culture. A political culture. There have been Muslim leaders who have exhibited incredible compassion, a respect for other religions and cultures. Saladin for one, when his armies drove the Christian Crusaders out of Jerusalem allowed the synagogues and churches to flourish. Saladin for one. One of very few. Even then, Islam represented conversion by the sword and a plan for world domination under Islamic law. Fundamentalism in any religion is dangerous. Its followers believe only they understand whatever deity it is they believe to be the Supreme Being had in mind for the world. But Fundamentalist Muslims go beyond the pale. They believe that it is their right, nay, their duty to slaughter the non-believer. That they attain heaven by killing you. How do you negotiate with someone of that mentality? According to all and sundry, Yassir Arafat is not a religious man. While a Muslim, he declares himself secular. First of all, that keeps him alive when all of the Page One of Three -2- Dictators of the surrounding Arab States are secular. Secondly, he knows how to use the fanatics. Once in a while they may go too far even for him. Not that he cares one whit or tittle that over twenty Israeli teen agers were killed in Tel Aviv a few weeks ago. But it hurts his image in the international press and angers the U.S. whom he desperately needs in his corner. By sheer godly coincidence, the Foreign Minister of Germany was in Israel at the time of this most heinous of massacres. Not only that, but his hotel was directly across the street from the Dolphinarium where the carnage took place. Joschka Fischer is an old environmentalist crusader turned establishment politician. Shortly after the blast awakened him, he went to the street and walked among the dead and the dying. Imagine what the site of dead young Jews must do to a German with a liberal background like Fischers’. The following day, Fischer met with Arafat. Reportedly he told the bearded terrorist “you have 24 hours.” 24 hours to stop the violence. Of course it has not happened. It cannot. Arafat has let the Genie out of the bottle. The Fundamentalists among his followers care not for his protests. They are meaningless. He does not arrest them; he dares not challenge them. He is useless, no matter what Colin Powell or Kofi Annan or Shimon Peres say. The game is bigger and beyond him. Fischer should reflect on what he saw and what it means. The European Union is not safely under an umbrella of immunity. Across the narrow straits from France, the passion is growing. In the Sudan, in Nigeria, Christians are being slaughtered and the militant grip of Islam is being felt strongly. It still threatens Ethiopia. It is stronger and more dangerous and more tightly knit than Fascism ever was. Page Two of Three -3- The dude who killed over one hundred employees of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi was spared from the death penalty because the jury felt he did it out of true religious conviction. Absolutely. And, if allowed out he will do it again. As would any of them, including those arrested in India who were on their way to Bangladesh with the same mission. We gassed Timothy McVeigh because he pulled off his coup in Oklahoma City. The next time a federal building comes down, if it is in the U.S., it could well be a “Religious Mission”. I would just bet the jury at that one would come to different conclusion. Always do when it is in your backyard and the dead people look like your family. Once you clearly define your enemy, you had better prepare to fight him on his terms because that is the way he will fight you. The focal point right now is Israel. If the world can shake its endemic Anti-Semitism for a while and face the facts on the ground, Israel will gain a whole new set of allies. But that is not how the world works. The media is sloppy, uneducated and in itself basically Anti-Semitic. They do not connect the dots. Perhaps Joschka Fischer can describe what he saw with his own eyes. Germany is taking the diplomatic lead in the EU as they have the monetary lead. Who would have believed that Germany of all countries, would end up as the best chance Israel has of the European Continent understanding the situation as it really exists? The problem simmers. The Osama Ben Ladens and the Yassir Arafats are just the tip of the iceberg. When Gengis Khan and his hordes rushed down from the north, the known world disappeared under his sword. In 1977 Iraq was very close to an atomic bomb until Israel blew up his reactor. The fire next time will be much more widespread. It has hit us in New York, Nairobi, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Next? |
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