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Bob Westbrook is a Titusville, Florida based professional
photographer, writer, and consultant. He writes commentaries
from a Christian Zionist perspective, endeavoring to encourage Christian support for Israel. He is the Bible Prophecy moderator for the website and the author of .
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By Bob Westbrook
April 19, 2004
Once again, the world is confronted with a formidable threat of Jew-hatred by a powerful entity. The world Islamic community is exceptionally united in its extreme malice towards Jews and Israel. What can we learn from history regarding this threat?
Contemplation of the Holocaust elicits many perplexing questions about the behavior of seemingly "normal" people. It establishes proof of the capability of mankind to commit monstrous acts of evil on a mass scale. But it was not monsters who committed those unthinkable acts. It was ordinary people.
The incongruity of those who unflinchingly inflicted indescribable barbarity by day and came home to hug their children by night demonstrates the human trait of compartmentalizing evil. When evil ideologies lead to justification of atrocities, smiling, neighborly people can happily rationalize brutality.
It takes a grand scheme of superiority to justify mass killing. If the objective is glorious, any methods to get there are acceptable. Such schemes are not only historical oddities. A dangerous one exists today. Oddly enough, or perhaps not so, Jews are the primary (though not sole) target of this one as well.
Mass murder starts with mass hatred, and mass hatred starts with ideological justification. For the Nazis, it was the dream of Aryan rule the fueled the mass hatred. Today's primary threat is the dream of another kind of rule: Islamic world domination.
Once again, it is "ordinary people" who have bought into justification of mass hatred, this time based on radical Islam. I have recently become acquainted with some Muslims with whom I have conversed at length. They are genial, friendly, people.
Yet when the conversation has turned to the issue of terrorism, these ordinary people turn into malignant apologists of grand evil schemes. These likable folks tell me how they would also be happy to strap a bomb on themselves and blow up Israelis. These ordinary citizens explain how they aspire to demolish the democratic government in the nation where they reside and establish an Islamic theocracy in its place.
The very existence of Israel as a nation is their rallying point, a unifying factor, just as the existence of Jews in Europe was the same for the Nazis. In my discussion with a Muslim acquaintance, he said, "Muslims from all over the world are willing to go to Filistin (Palestine) and fight against the Jews. I myself would go and kill them. It is pleasing to Allah."
When our neighbors begin to sound like spokespersons for Hamas, we need to face reality. Moderate Islam is a myth. The goal of all Muslims, even those who would not now take up arms in jihad (though that distinction is more tactical and situational than real, according to the Koran), is world submission to their religion. That is what the word Islam means, submission.
I asked a close friend of mine, an ex-Muslim woman who is now a born-again Christian, what she thought about the theory that makes a distinction between moderate and radical Islam. My friend was born in Pakistan and has lived in Syria, Jordan, the United States and England. She said that theory is baseless, that there is no distinction, no matter how peaceful and friendly some Muslims may appear. Some may not be violent, but the objective of all Muslims is the same, because it is the central feature of the religion. The same dark impulses reside in the hearts of all followers of Mohammed, she asserted.
In these days when pluralism and tolerance are considered the highest ideals, criticizing a religion is taboo. This is a taboo we must break. If we do not objectively examine what Islam is about, refute its falsehoods, and denounce its dangers, we are allowing an insidious influence free reign in our midst.
"Moderate" Islam is as much a threat as radical Islam, perhaps more so, because it attempts to gain power surreptitiously. Jihad is a requirement to all Muslims, but in nations where they do not possess sufficient power to immediately attempt to take control, the approach is different. It is official Muslim doctrine that in those cases, power must be seized gradually, through conventional and accepted means, until such time that violent Jihad becomes a possibility.
The radical mosques and madrassas of the Eastern world have been extremely successful in exporting their product of hatred to the Western world. In countries such as the U.S. and UK, the typical Friday mosque sermon contains ranting ideological incitement against Jews and anyone who supports them.
It is in vogue for some who harbor anti-Israel prejudices to point to U.S. Middle East policies as a catalyst for the rantings. Certain segments of the journalistic community seem eager to point out that a great deal of the anger directed against the United States is due to the perception among Muslims that the U.S. supports Israel. Sure, and the Nazis were also resentful of anyone who supported the Jews. The problem is not the support, the problem is the hatred itself.
We all need to wake up and realize the seriousness of this Islamic threat. Their ideology of hatred and domination has spread like a virulent infection. They are patiently enacting a long-term strategy of world rule. Like the Nazis before them, a central feature of this strategy is demonization of Jews. Will we appease them, by backing down from our support of Israel?
Whether or not we will be able to effectively combat the Islamic contagion is uncertain. If a doctor sees the symptoms of infection but chooses to ignore them, how can he treat the disease? If we also see the symptoms, but choose to ignore them, will not the infection grow? How can we not speak out? We do not battle hatred with hatred, but with truth. The truth is that Islam has cruelly held millions in bondage to destructive ways of thinking. It is not a good religion, as some say, but a deceptive, detrimental trap.
If we cannot be certain that the infection will be checked, we can be certain of one thing: how we react to the Islamic assault on Jews. Just as brave individuals stood up for Jews during the Nazi threat, sometimes at great personal cost, we too must fearlessly stand against the Islamic threat. We cannot allow their clever maneuvering to weaken our resolve, thinking that appeasement will make them less of a menace. It will do the opposite. And if we do choose appeasement, we are violating every principle good and noble about standing against injustice.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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