Learning to Talk

The summit and similar current efforts have renewed debate among Jewish seekers of dialogue over which Muslim groups are appropriate partners – and whether dialogue is even worthwhile right now. The issue is whether Jewish organizations can expect Muslim leaders to denounce all terrorism and voice support for a Mideast peace process that recognizes the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish state. “We’re not looking … Go to this link at the Jerusalem Report to purchase the full article

Neo-Nazis applaud Islamofascists

Neo-Nazis applaud Islamofascists Mar. 11, 2005 01:00 PM NOT-SO-STRANGE BEDFELLOWS M. Zuhdi Jasser Phoenix physician; Chairman, American Islamic Forum for Democracy Sometimes you learn the most about a product, or an ideology, not by who is trying to sell it, but rather by the type of consumers who enjoy its consumption. advertisement Earlier this week, Jeremy Reynolds, known for his exposure of multiple radical Islamist websites, revealed a “White supremacist groups extension of friendship and support to terrorist groups on their websites. He quotes the Aryan Nations “national director” saying, “We as an organization will also endeavor to aid all those who subvert, disrupt and are (sic) malignant in nature to our enemies. Therefore I offer my most sincere best wishes to those who wage holy Jihad against the infrastructure of the decadent, weak and Judaic-influenced societal infrastructure of the West. I send a message of thanks and well-wishes to the methods and works of groups on the Islamic front against the Jew such as Al-Qaeda and Sheik Osama Bin Laden, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and to all Jihadis worldwide who fight for the glory of the Khilafah and the downfall of the anti-life and anti-freedom System prevalent on this earth today.” This praise and joint cause of radical Islamists by White supremacists speaks volumes about the hate-filled ideology of radical Islamism. The appeal of militant Islamism’s ideology to white supremacists who know nothing about Islam, Islamism, or the Khilafah for that matter is not a great surprise. Groups like Aryan Nations are sure to gravitate toward like-minded hate-mongering Islamist groups threatening American security and American liberty and pluralism regardless of their own profound racial antagonism for Arabs or Muslims. No sane human could even imagine the result of a bizarre co-mingling of militant Islamists and White supremacists. But it stands to reason that as anti-social consumers they enjoy each others products. Their sermons of hate sing the same refrains. Their bombs of intolerance declare a common war on pluralism. When trying to understand the ideology of radical Islam look no further than these praises from the Aryan Nations. These cockroaches of humanity feed off the same vitriol of hate. Whether White supremacist fascism or militant Islamist theocracy, hate is hate. Its appeal draws from the same trough of anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories. They feed their followers the same deep-seeded arrogance and false sick sense of superiority despite years and years of abject failure. This column originally appeared online in the Arizona Republic at this link.

Killers stage a rally: A farce written in blood

Hezbollah, the so-called Party of God, the terrorist Shiite Muslim Lebanese political party organized a sickening demonstration on Tuesday in Beirut. Hundreds of thousands of Hezbullah supporters gathered March 8 in the middle of Beirut cheering, “thank you Syria” and “no foreign interference.” This demonstration was clearly bolstered by the Syrian puppet Lebanese government, which comically advertised that 1.5 million of the 3.7 million Lebanese attended. Of the few hundred thousand who actually attended, many were Baathists of Syria and thousands of others bused in under Hezbullah and Syrian coercion. Finally, the world witnessed and paid attention to how the Baath, the Hezbullah and their despotic ilk have for decades run so-called demonstrations that are actually pure stage productions to wield a false sense of influence and emotion. While Assad speaks of withdrawal, this demonstration was a show of force in order to maintain control of Lebanon in Syrian absentia vis a vis Hezbullah even if his Baathist thugs retreat from Lebanon with their tail between their legs. “Sheikh” Hassan Nasrallah, the chief fascist Islamist barbarian of the Hezbullah terrorist hate group took the opportunity to spew his hate of Israel and America during the demonstration. Just a few weeks earlier, he gave a sermon to his fellow hate-mongers and followers which would make Bin Laden proud. Where is the Arab revulsion at the psychopathic hypocrisy of Hezbullah and Nasrallah’s pronouncement of gratitude to Syria? Droves of Middle Easterners have been cheering blind nauseating support for Hezbullah’s supposed influence on Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon while they now sit in complete hypocritical silence at the withdrawal of the incomparable Syrian despotism. Which part of Syrian oppression was Nassrallah thanking? Was it the robbery of billions it stole from the Lebanese people over 30 years? Was it the dictatorial suffocation of free markets and free trade in northern Lebanon and in Syria. Was it for Syria’s importation of militant Islamism and fascistic hate for non-Muslims from Iran into Lebanon? Was it for the militaristic and chaotic climate Syria’s Baathist instilled in Lebanon and thrived on maintaining? Was it the absence of elections or true Lebanese representation and imposition of a Syrian government in Lebanon he was thanking? Their demonstration spewed the tired hatred against America and Israel. Make no mistake, the masses gathered were basically glorifying all of the evil of the Syrian Baathist and Alawite war crimes committed over decades. Yesterday’s demonstration was medieval cheering for the mass murders committed by the Assad regime like that against the people of Hama in 1982. They were cheering for the Alawite Stalinist-like murder of over tens of thousands from Tadmur to Hama on and on at the hands of the Alawites. Every one of the millions of Syrians and Lebanese who have felt the pain of the decades of oppression by Assad’s thuggish regime will look upon the demonstration as an identifier of accomplices and facilitators of Alawite oppression and status quo. The status quo the demonstrators love is one of despotism, medieval autocracy, deep-seated fear, persecution, and suffocation politically, religiously, and economically. In Syria and in Lebanon, the Assad regime of the father and now the son have violated the rights of every Syrian man, woman, and child and have extended for 30 years that violation into northern Lebanon with impunity. The Lebanese have finally moved with the world at their side to get Assad’s regime out of Lebanon. But, Hezbullah wants the continuation of this history of corruption and the malignant iron hand on the Lebanese and Syrian people. This speaks volumes about Hezbullah’s pathetic so-called freedom fighting that is really veiled Islamo-fascism. It is beyond reason that in 2005 a demonstration with this much underlying illness goes on with little recoil from the world, especially the Arab and Muslim world. It is about time for parties of freedom and liberty to join with media attention at labelling Hezbullah for the farce which it is – a false representative of Lebanese freedom and in reality a representative of Islamist theocratic despotism, hate, and racism. The Lebanese people showed their true will a few days ago with rally after rally against the Syrian occupation and against true foreign intervention over the Lebanese people. We are not fooled by this stage show. Now more than ever it is obvious that these militant Islamists never cared about Lebanese independence from Israel. Someone needs to break it to them that Israel left for many reasons, none of which were related to his so-called resistance from the evil of their terrorism. The Hezbullah leadership are in fact the grandparents of suicide bombing among radical Muslims. In fact, their Al-Manar “Jihad (TV) network,” until reason prevailed and it disappeared from the airways in the U.S., regularly glorified suicide bombing and leaned on religious radicals who feed this ideology of hate. In fact, some could say one of the reasons Israel may have stayed longer than it actually desired in Lebanon was to avoid being perceived as acting in response to Hezbullah’s terror. Now in some kind of twisted logic, Nasrallah expects us to believe that he cares about the Lebanese and thus desires continued occupation from the fascists of Syria’s Baath? In the end, Nasrallah knows that his pathetic survival is dependent upon Assad, and that even if he pulls out, Assad remains his lifeline. Iran recently declared that it would stand behind Syria as an axis. The axis of Iran-Syria-Hezbullah are now well delineated. We can place them in the cross-hairs of our collective political pressure of isolation or we can watch their reign of terror continue in Lebanon. Syria appears to be leaving, however begrudgingly. Lebanon may soon be sovereign again, but this will need a concerted effort against Hezbullah by moderate Muslims and the Lebanese majority. The next step must be the marginalization of Nasrallah and the exposure of his criminality. His facilitation must cease and his fascism must be exposed by all freedom-loving Arabs and Muslims alike. Hezbullah, the Iranian government, and Syria’s Baath care only about their fascist Islamist theocratic dreams in Lebanon and around the globe. For those interested, find Nassrallah’s writings and read them. His virtual “Mein Kampf” about an “Islamic state based upon Hezbullah’s sharia in Lebanon” is well-described. His website is thankfully no longer readily available, but his writings and sermons certainly are. This column originally appeared at the Arizona Republic at this link.

Struggle for the soul of Islam

What a time in history for the Middle East! Each nation is now slowly experiencing only a prelude to their new chapters in history unfolding before all of our very eyes. The exact details yet to be revealed; no one can deny that change is afoot and President Bush’s axiom of “freedom being on the march” is right on the money. Iraq held its elections. The Palestinians and Egyptians held their own. The Lebanese puppet cabinet of Syria resigned en masse this week. Only to be followed by comments from Syria’s despot, Bashar Assad, that he may in fact be withdrawing his troops from their 15-year occupation of Northern Lebanon in the next few months. With this Big Mo, the unfortunate reality is that it is but only a humble beginning to a wholesale transformation among Arab and ‘Islamic’ nations which will need years and generations to fortify. This change is volatile and without prudence especially early on can yield to only an exchange for radical theocracies which the Arab despots have conveniently fomented in their midst. We must keep our eye on those who are against theocracy. However, the era of denial is over for many in the media and naysayers on the Iraq war. It’s about time to start focusing on those Arab groups who are moving towards freedom, those Muslim groups in the Middle East who are moderate and pluralistic, and those who have a chance at moving the majority beyond tolerance toward true pluralism. Rather than the occasional sound bite of freedom, it’s time to genuinely turn the collective media attention on the future Vaclav Havels of the nations emerging from the glasnost of the Middle East. Now is the time to fertilize the future of a moderate, secular, and pluralistic Middle East and spray the ideological pesticide on theocracy. Progress can be ahead. The media can play a vital role in turning up the heat on the despots of the Middle East. This tide of change is not a coincidence. Never underestimate the influence of seeds of genuine change within a culture. Not only is this the beginning of the possible liberation of the Arab and Muslim world, but it will be a grand step to improving our security from the scourge of terrorism. It will not be a short road, and change may not lead to toward moderation. That is the precipice over which we stand – either these nations will fall toward pluralism and openness or they will be turned over to doomed theocracies. Lebanon has a bright future with one can hope enough pluralism in faith to inoculate it from the stranglehold of religious zealots such as Hezbollah and their ilk. Egypt must foster true reforms beyond the ballot box, liberate Al Azhar from radical clerics and Mubarak’s government while rendering the Muslim Brotherhood impotent. Iran is a clinic for failed theocracy posing hope for secular liberation, but currently far from it. And Syria has been sealed so tight over the last decades that its liberation will need time and the mobilization of such networks as that generated by the Reform Party of Syria (www.reformsyria.org) or the Syrian Human Rights Committee (www.shrc.org). In the end, the greatest impact upon reform in the Middle East will come when we begin to hear and see a genuine and potent movement of moderate Muslims in America and the west openly declaring a frontal ideological war on al-Qaida and all associated militant Islamist organizations and their theological incubators. When the soul of Islam is wrested away from theocracy and toward the separation of religion and state, terrorist networks will dissolve and pluralistic democracies will grow exponentially. This column originally appeared online at the Arizona Republic at this link.