Radical Islam, not ALLAH, is the root of evil

Radical Islam, not ALLAH, is the root of evil 

This revised article is adapted from an Article by Dr. Azriel Carlebach which was published in the Israeli newspaper "Ma'ariv" on 7 October 1955.  

Translated from Hebrew with Google translator, edited, modified and completely             re-written in English

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"The source of the conflict between Israel and the Arabs is not borders, but the Islamic ideology. Arabs are members of Islam, and with it, according to the world views, you can not converse with it. With Islam you do not, and cannot, live side by side as neighbors in peace."

The clear and simple truth is, that between the Islamic world and the culture of the Western world, there is not one common word, thus, there is not, will not, and cannot be any understanding.

This intention is not religion, because all religions can be good or bad. Rather, it depends what their believers will implement or neglect in its moral principles. The intention of Islam is its influence on social life and social services, on the sentiment of the world and the relationship with other human beings.

For fifty or sixty consecutive generations the Muslims have been educated and brought up in Islam to rape human nature: not to use the power of reason; and not wanting to utilize individual rights.  In fact, Islam, when exposed, will actually dim, darken, and further an undefined Allah. Leadership is strict and capricious, hidden, and sick. This is the essence of Islamic religions, demanding their followers not to question. A person who undertakes Islamic belief says: "Allah il Allah", not because he is convinced of the idea, but because he has entrusted himself to a tyrant.

Such faith by its very nature may not be distributed with intellectual persuasion or guided by a moral beacon, which would require the work of mind and body. Rather, it demands to be distributed only by knuckle and physical force. Thus, there is a requirement of constant holy war against the un-believers in order to "bring them to the bosom of the true faith by force with the sword of al-Islam Allah the lover of blood". The danger is largely never manifest by itself, but with a finger stuck to the trigger and a small bomb carried by the crazy individual that can destroy an entire physical and ideological sect. 

The danger for the West against Islam is far greater than that of communism. The Communist ideology has a multiple rationalistic nuclei lacking in the Muslim religion. With Communism one can have dialogue based on the foundations of give and take because they take into account the harsh reality of measured forces, formulating demands, weighing and considering proposals by its benefits.

All these particulars do not exist in Islam. Muslims have never agreed on anything - will be whatever will be - even among themselves.  They can not bring anything to fruition - not just in matters of Israel.  The whole mighty Muslim world could not come to an agreement on one common postage stamp. Their responses to anything has no relevance to common sense. Their responses are calculated on emotion, transient and baseless.  You can talk about "business" with anyone, even with the devil, but not with Allah.

We created - and continue to create - inexcusable foolishness that cannot be forgiven.  We are not helping the world depicting Arabs that do not exist at all, and are only the fruits of our wishful imagination. Thus we are adding insult to injury when we distort the image and narrow the conflict as only a border dispute between Israel and its neighbors.  Above all, it does not correspond to reality. The issue of borders is not the real source of conflict; rather, the true source is the Islamic ideology. 

If our neighbors were Westerners, for example Protestants, we would have for a long time been living in peace with them, just like the Norwegians and Swedes. Even if they were Catholics our relationship would be settled and we would get along like the French and English in Canada, and like many South American countries among themselves. However, here in Israel we have been trying for over fifty years in any and all ways possible to reach some kind of an agreement with the followers of Islam.  Yet, a solution has never even appeared on the horizon with even a shadow of hope because the essence of the problem does not lie with actions, facts and fears.  Rather, the problem lies only in the fact that Arabs are members of Islam. Thus, because they are Radical Muslims, as the world now knows, you cannot converse with them. It does not matter who the other party is and with what rightful claim; with Radical and extremist Islam you cannot live side by side in peace.

Consequently, presenting the dispute as a conflict between two similar people equips the Arabs-Muslim arsenal of an argument that is not theirs. If the argument with them is really political, then there are aspects to either side. Then we appear as if we came to a land that was completely Arabic, thus we conquered, occupied and put ourselves as a wedge between them and  through them, and we burdened them with refugees, and our army is a danger to them, etc. etc.  Is it possible that one can justify this or that party. For instance, in this presentation of a rational and political problem, it becomes understandable to the European minds to our detriment.

The Arabs-Muslims claim certain complaints that are accepted by World opinion under normal legal fight. However, even though reality proves no substance to such claims, it is the source of the hostile Worldly stance. All true political and social concepts are not in the real world of the Arabs-Muslims .

Conquest by the power of the sword, in their eyes, and the eyes of Radical Islam, is not at all an injustice. On the contrary, they believe it is a right and a crushing proof of eternal ownership. 

The care for refugees and dispossessed brothers is not in the Islamic train of thought; Allah expelled them, Allah will take care of them. A Muslim politician has never been bothered or excited on aspects like this (unless calamity risked his personal status). Therefore, even without the occupation or the refugee problem, the Arabs would have opposed Israel with the same force and vengeance. Based on the criteria we are negotiating with Arab-Muslims, it seems to the World we are the savages who cloak ourselves in the gown of European justice. Thus, instead of alerting the people of the world, we anesthetize them.

This is the basis of our mistake, and in my humble opinion, the secret of our isolation and our failures:

that we, - though not crying about the sting of the stabbing into our flesh - teeter on the open mouth of the abyss in an effort for the peace of the world. We ask for bandages to bind the wounds from where we were bitten, and we do not warn: Here circling between all your feet, is a mad dog!!

Consider this, what if when Hitler came to power, we recognize and would say he was indeed an anti-Semite?  However, because he is the founder of a supposed wise and respected religion that we should not be concerned about him.  Rather, we should extend our hand to him for peace, and dare to resolve among ourselves any small private disagreements.  Then afterwards enter into a covenant of peace with him, and thus, help him in developing and promoting his teachings and to spread his influence.

We would be committing sin not only to our struggle for the existence of our country and the lives of our sons and daughters, we would also be sinners to the world as a whole if we ignore and hide the simple truth which resides in the heart of all of us, - including government officials when they announce and declare peace - which is: the enemy is the perverse ideology of Radical Islam.

The Radical Arab-Muslim is not only our enemy because we are residing here in Israel. He is our enemy even if we were sitting at the North Pole because the Radical Arab-Muslims and the ideology of Radical Islam is the enemy of all the free world. It is the enemy of all fertile minds, any kind of initiative, and any creative ideas. The Radical Arab-Muslim is the enemy of life for every Jew, every Christian, every non-muslim, and every Muslim. Whatever is given in his hand, whether a sword of wood or a tank of steel, he will use to become a threat to all human beings.  

The Radical Arab-Muslim has never contributed, and if history holds true, will never contribute anything which is good to this world.  He has not brought forth even one person who has led the world forward in any area of human existence. Without a doubt he is darkness; Radical Islam is the catalyst to all which is negative; he is the prison to 900 million people who are being tortured; he is the root, the essence and the obstacle to peace in the world. Therefore, as long as we do not make the effort to succeed to impart to the free world this knowledge, we will always be as the first victims for the lack of knowledge.

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And that our sages said, "All that adds - subtracts"

Mention that the original unmodified article was written in 1955.

Submitted, translated, edited and modified by: YJ Draiman

It is time to factually clarify the legal status of Judea and Samaria under international law.

It is time to factually clarify the legal status of Judea and Samaria under international law - adopted in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres

It is time to factually clarify the legal status of Judea and Samaria under international law.

"When the occupant is not the one you want to believe in" 

In 1967 Israel liberated occupied Jewish Palestinian territories.   

For the enemies of Israel and many of Its’ friends, and for a majority of Israelis, this is a basic axiom. During the Six Day War, it is stated that Israel liberated and captured the Jewish Palestinian territories, resettled and installed there Its’ “settlers” with impunity and in obvious violation of international law.  Is this axiom a lie? If international law asserts the exact opposite, for obvious political and diplomatic reasons, then the facts have been ignored and have instead embraced the current unfounded and false Arab propaganda. This understanding is a misconception and false.  

It is time to clarify and illustrate the Jewish legal status ofJudea and Samaria under international law.    

One only has to read the documents.  However, the Media has without a doubt, immersed itself in hearsay and untruths, twisting facts and ignoring the truth.  It is time to examine the real truth and facts as supported by documents and history. 

We hardly talk about it, yet, when looking at historical documents on the legal status of Judea and Samaria, one finds powerful arguments against all critics who accuse Israel of occupation of the territories. It must be noted it doesn't matter if these critics are Arabs, Americans, Europeans or even members of the Israeli extreme left. 
The San Remo Treaty of 1920, written almost a century ago, forms the foundation of truth. Yet, it seems hardly anyone in the Prime Minister's office, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, or Hasbara has taken the time to build a strategy based on said Treaty and other documents which followed that prove clearly that Israel is far from the colonial power it is being accused of being since 1967. 
When considering the media archives that preceded the Oslo Accords, we realize that the official Israeli narrative concerning the Israeli presence in the West Bank was much less ''worried'' then today. Until 1993, Israel gave the impression of not requiring justification for rebuilding Jewish settlements beyond the Green Line. Until that time, Israel did not seem to plead for the international community and the Arab world in particular to give It the acquiescence of keeping the famous "settlement blocs."
According to Prof. Eliav Cho'hatman, lawyer and lecturer at the Graduate Institute of Law "Shaare Mishpat," there is no doubt that the Oslo Accords marked the starting point of this attitude it deems "catastrophic": "Until then, our leaders did not hesitate to brag our rights over all the land of Israel from the point of view of international law but since the agreements were signed, only security patterns are referred to plead that part of these territories we are entitled to remain in our hands."  Prof. Cho'hatman says he sent to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during his first term (1996-1999), his work on the above, but regrets that the head of government has not availed itself: "When I heard of two states for two peoples, I understood why."  
To understand this issue, we must examine Balfour Declaration and San Remo Treaty, a little less than a century ago, November 2, 1917, to be precise. At that time, Lord Balfour, Foreign Minister of Great Britain, in writing, and in agreement with Chaim Weitzman, then president of the World Zionist Organization, wrote in an official letter to Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild, honorary president of the Zionist Organization of England, the following. In this letter, the UK is in favor of the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. This is the famous "Balfour Declaration" which raises unbridled hope in the Jewish world. In the aftermath of World War I, the League of Nations entrusted to Britain a Mandate over Palestineas trustee for the Jewish people.
Three years after the Balfour Declaration in 1920, the conference was held in San Remo,Italy during which the great powers decided how to split the territories conquered during the war. At this conference, it was decided to incorporate the 1917 Balfour Declaration into The San Remo Treaty of 1920 (its terms are in effect in perpetuity), and the British Mandate forPalestine as trustee for the Jewish people. This decision confirms the international recognition of the Jewish right to self-determination in Palestine and the mandate for Britainto "work towards the realization of this statement to reconstitute a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine" (Balfour Declaration).  It must be noted, the San Remo Treaty did not grant any other nation or people land in any part of Palestine, only the Jewish people.  Including the incorporation of the Balfour Declaration into the Palestine Mandate by the United Kingdom, this text is the same international resolution supported by the 52 member countries of the League of Nations, and later by the United States, which would become a member of the international organization a few years later. 
The San Remo Treaty of 1920 and its terms to reconstitute the Jewish people in its ancestral land was reconfirmed in the treaty of Sevres 1920 and the treaty of Lausanne.

British Mandate for Palestine

The three principles of the British Balfour Declaration regarding Palestine as a reconstituted Jewish country were adopted in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres:

ARTICLE 95.

The High Contracting Parties agree to entrust, by application of the provisions of Article 22, the administration of Palestine, within such boundaries as may be determined by the Principal Allied Powers, to a Mandatory to be selected by the said Powers. The Mandatory will be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2, 1917, by the British Government, and adopted by the other Allied Powers in the San Remo Conference, in favor of the re-establishment in all of Palestine a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country and granting the Jewish people exclusive political rights in Palestine.

Palestine officially fell under the British Mandate as trustee for the Jewish people.

French Mandate of Lebanon

The French Mandate was settled at the San Remo Conference. Comprising the region between the Euphrates River and the Syrian Desert on the east, and the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and extending from the Alma Dagh Mountains on the south to Egypt on the south; Area of territory about 60,000 sq mi (160,000 km²) with a population of about 3,000,000.Lebanon and an enlarged Syria, which were later assigned again under League of Nations Mandate. The region was divided under the French into four governments as follows: Government of Aleppo from the Euphrates region to the Mediterranean; Great Lebanon extending from Tripoli to Palestine;Damascus, including Damascus, Hama, Hems, and the Hauran; and the country of Mount Arisarieh.

French Mandate of Syria

Faisal ibn Husayn, who had been proclaimed king of Syria by a Syrian national congress in Damascus in March 1920, was ejected by the French in July of the same year.

The San Remo Treaty of 1920  - some relevant terms
In paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 of the Protocol of San Remo, we read: "No territory ofPalestine will be sold or leased or held in any way under the control of the government of any foreign power." Or: "The Administration of Palestine, while ensuring that the rights of other parts of the population are not altered, shall facilitate Jewish immigration under suitable conditions and encourage, in cooperation with the Jewish Agency; The dense settlement of Jews on the land, including State lands and waste lands not required for public purposes. " 
Finally, the Palestine Mandate states: "the Administration of Palestine is responsible for the adoption of a law on nationality. Included in this law must be provisions framed so as to facilitate the acquisition of Palestinian citizenship by Jews who acquire permanent residence in Palestine."  At that time, it must be remembered, Palestine is not just the west bank of theJordan. Rather, it also includes, most importantly the majority (approx. 70%) of the territory which is the east bank of the Jordan River, where today is located the new State of Jordan.
Britain reneged on its promises   
What happens next is related to internal political changes in Britain and the election of a government hostile to the creation of a Jewish homeland throughout the territory of Palestine. Thus Britain, having clearly supported the conclusions of the San Remo Conference of 1920, changes its mind in violation of the treaty and weaves very tenuous diplomatic ties with the Arab countries surrounding the area of Palestine and with several Arab leaders (to control natural resources, such as oil).
The creation of Transjordan on Jewish and                                            It was after this diplomatic rapprochement that Transjordan was created in 1922. Transjordan is a semi-autonomous state like Britain led by Abdullah Hussein, son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca Ibn Ali, and great-grandfather Abdullah, the current king of Jordan. However, in regard to the West bank of the Jordan river, and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) nothing has changed. Per San Remo Treaty and all subsequent agreed to documents, these regions are still part of the territories over which the Jewish national home has to be re-established.

According to many lawyers, including Prof. Dr. Cho'hatman with Talya Einhoren, and American lawyer Eugene Rostov, one of the drafters of the famous U.N. Resolution 242 which is the partition plan of November 29, 1947, does not change the situation either. Indeed, having been adopted by the U.N. General Assembly and not by the Security Council, it cannot be considered legally binding. Legally, it is only a recommendation that obtains legal validity in case of endorsement by the parties in question: the Jews and the Arabs. This plan was rejected by the Arab powers, thus, its status remains protocol.  For other lawyers, the partition plan has transformed the status of the Judea and Samaria territories into one of dispute.  On one hand, the Territories are not part of the state of Israel created in 1948.  On the other hand they do not belong to Jordan which occupied those lands from 1948 to 1967. The War of 1967 liberated said Territories returning them to the rightful owners the Jewish state of Israel.
The Jordanian occupation
Did the Jewish people temporarily lose the rights to Judea and Samaria with the Jordanian occupation between 1948 and 1967? For many lawyers, the answer is no. Jordan proclaimed Itself sovereign of the territories after the war of independence with the support of only two countries, Britain and Pakistan. Moreover, the same Jordan decided in 1988 to abandon its sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. Incidentally, the term West Bank formally is no longer needed. It should also be known that many Arabs in the West Bank also known asJudea and Samaria are citizens of Jordan.
The dissolution of the League of Nations
Does the dissolution of the League of Nations which was replaced by the UN, and the end of the British Mandate for Palestine cause any change in the rights of the Jewish people to their land? Again, the answer is no because, under section 80 of the UN Charter, "nothing in this Chapter shall be construed as affecting directly or indirectly in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or any peoples or the terms of existing international instruments to which Members of the Organization may be parties." Clearly, this means that the UN  committed in 1945 to protect the legitimacy of the Jewish land rights established by theLeague of Nations.
For Professor Eugene Rostov, mentioned above, this means that "the right of the Jewish people to settle in the land of Israel has never been interrupted on all the territory west of theJordan River, and since a peace agreement has not and will not be signed between Israeland its neighbors the status has not changed."  He later wrote that under all international treaties and agreements, "Israel has an undeniable right to establish settlements in the West Bank."
No unilateral approaches 
Did the Oslo agreements affect the status of Judea and Samaria under international law? Again, the answer is to be found in the texts themselves. Indeed, it is stated in the preliminary agreement in 1993 that the final peace agreement will be signed by both parties "through negotiations." The agreement, called Oslo II and ratified in 1995, provides for its part that neither side "does not initiate or commence proceedings which can change the status of theWest Bank and the Gaza Strip to the end of negotiations on the final peace agreement." Any unilateral approach - such as the announcement in September by the Palestinians of an independent state - will therefore be in stark contrast not only with the Oslo agreements (which may be null and void) but also with resolution 242 of the UN that supports the right of each party to "live in peace within secure and recognized borders." The borders of a proclaimed Palestinian state are of course far from being "secure and recognized" in the view point Israel. Incidentally, Resolution 242 does not speak of, thus, does not apply to any suchPalestine, rather, only to existing states, that is to say, Jordan, Egypt and Syria.
Do not just be right, but also know 
There are other arguments for the legitimacy of the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria. For example, the fact that these territories cannot be considered ''busy'' since they do not belong, de facto, to an enemy state. Or inconsistency of the term ''1967 borders" which are not borders but the cease-fire line between Israeli and Jordanian armies at the end of the 1967 and 1948 War of Independence. Legally, Israel is therefore in a rather comfortable and sound position.

Yet these arguments are not raised. The reasons? There are many: Israel and the Israelis became convinced themselves that they were a colonial power and archives in the world will not be able to release this distorted image. Also in Jerusalem, it probably feels that right or not right, the world has already chosen sides. In the corridors of the Foreign Ministry, it is even said that under international law, "it is 99% perception, and 1% enactment of factual law." But in Israel, there is another expression that says it is not enough to be right, but you must also be smart. And now for the good of the State of Israel, "be smart" is to make the world know what is right. 
The Jewish and Arab Refugee resolution     
Since the late 1940's the Arab States have expelled over a million Jewish people. They confiscated their assets, businesses, homes and Real Estate which is 120,000 Sq, Km. (46,000 sq. miles, about 5-6 times the size of Israel) and is valued in the trillions of dollars. The State of Israel has resettled the majority of the million Jews expelled from the Arab countries in Greater Israel. The Arabs claim that about 600,000 Arabs were displaced from their homes during the 1948 war. Most of the Arab population abandoned their homes at the request of the 5 Arab Armies who were sure to defeat the newly reconstituted Jewish State. About 300,000 Arabs out of the 600,000 stayed. Now the Arab and Jewish population has increased dramatically. Many new Arabs have moved into the area, and many new Jews from the Holocaust and other areas have emigrated to Israel. It is about time that the Arab countries that expelled over a million Jews should resettle the Arab refugees in their vast lands. Utilize the funding which is given to the Arab refugees (instead of using it for weapons and war) to relocate, build housing, schools, commerce and industry and resolve this tragedy once and for all. This will bring peace and tranquility to the region. 

YJ Draiman

In every generation enemies of society have arisen. The threat is real - 2014

In every generation enemies of society have arisen. The threat is real

Ehr Daw 2014

I thought that maybe I'd start with a rendition of Paul McCartney's plaintive masterpiece "Yesterday"... "Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.  Now it looks as though they're here to stay, oh I believe in yesterday" - but then I thought too romantic.

       And then I thought, how about the favorite classic we all learned as children - "Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques, Dormez-vous, Dormez-vous, Sonnez les matines, sonnez les matines, Ding Daing Dong, ding daing dong.  Are you sleeping, are you sleeping, Brother John, Brother John" but then I said to myself...too French. 

       Perhaps the story of Chicken Little - "The sky is falling.  The sky is falling" and I thought getting closer but too childish.  What about Santayana's "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  Maybe, but too philosophical.  And then I remembered Joseph Conrad's sadly, cynical observation - - "The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary.  Men alone are quite capable of every wickedness," and sadly it felt right.  And so, here were are in a place of unimagined chaos and cowardice, paralysis and brutality.  The beast roams the earth; we are stymied, stunned and continue to fiddle. 

       My friends, "Ehr Kumpt.  Part 2, the Sequel."

       This is not a time for delicacy.  For tiptoeing.  It is not a time to parse words nor worry about offending someone with unfiltered vocabulary.  Time is no longer a luxury we possess.  Distance, no longer provides protection.  We are being threatened like no time before, by an enemy obsessed with an apocalyptic end game that will bring only disaster.  An enemy that worships savagery.  An enemy that celebrates depravity.  An enemy that glorifies the death of the young. 

       There has been a seismic shift in our world.  We feel it.  We see it.  We know it.  We dare not deny it.  Pick up any newspaper on any day, the first page, the second page, the third page, the fourth page and beyond - - most of the articles are about radical Muslims, not just ISIS, immersed in a vicious culture of blood and slaughter.  Skip to the sports page or the crossword puzzle if you wish but that doesn't make the uncomfortable news go away. 

       In fact, it brings joy to the jihadists who hope for our indifference.  If we deny evil then we need not fight it.  It doesn't exist - just a few lunatics, thousands of miles away, pounding sand, blowing each other up and occasionally beheading an unlucky journalist.  Not so bad. 

       For years we have been mercifully spared the ugliness and intimacy of war.  The Battle of the Bulge and Iwo Jima were a black and white movie tone newsreel after Tom & Jerry and before the Pride of the Yankees.  We planted victory gardens, rolled up tin foil, bought Liberty Bonds, said goodbye to fathers, sons and brothers.  But the trenches were on the other side of the Atlantic and Pacific.  So too, every other subsequent conflict.  The Yanks were coming but the shooting was "over there."  We suffered little.  But today, war has been redefined and relocated.  Geneva is finished.  We are all combatants in the cross hairs.  We are all on the front lines, like it or not.  The battlefield has no boundaries and the war, no rules.  The enemy targets deliberately, fiendishly, any place of innocence.  All are vulnerable and so we must recalculate our strategy, re-examine our tolerance, re-energize our resolve and unequivocally identify the evil doers.  Let us not be silenced by fear, by feckless goodwill, by reckless hope, by meaningless rhetoric.

       There are one billion Muslims in the world and authorities agree that 5% are committed Islamists who embrace terror and wish to see, by any means possible, the Muslim flag fly over every capital, on every continent.  I was relieved when I heard only 5%.  Thank God it's only 5%.  Now I could sleep soundly.  But wait, let me figure this out, 5% of a billion is… 50 million Koran waving, Allah Akbar howling Muslim murderers out there planning to slit our throats, blow us up or forcibly convert us. 

       It only took 19 of Osama bin Laden’s disciples to bring down the Twin Towers, plow into the Pentagon and crash a plane into Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  Over 3,000 dead.  Over $10 billion in damages on that sad day.  19 Al Qaeda.  50 million Islamists.  Do the math. 

       But what disturbs me is where are the other 950 million Muslims who are not terrorists?    Who are not bomb blasting, acid throwing, zealots?  Where are the other 950 million Muslims who tuck their children in at night with a lullaby, who are okay with Christians and Jews, crave a peaceful world and wish nothing more than a tasty bowl of hummus and a friendly game of Shesh Besh with a neighbor?  

       I want to believe they are out there for their sake and for ours.  I want to believe they weep in pain over the desecration of their faith.  I want to believe that we have partners who dream the dreams we do and wish upon the same star.

       I want to believe - - but where are they?

       A silent partnership is no partnership.  Sin is not just in the act of commission - it is also in the act of omission.  Most Germans were not Nazis - but it did not matter.

Most Russians were not Stalinists - but it did not matter.

Most Muslims are not terrorists - but it does not matter.

       Stand up righteously or get out of the way.  Perhaps in every mosque, in every midrassah, in every Muslim neighborhood, Edmund Burke's powerful warning should be chiseled on a wall in Arabic, in Farsi, in Pashto, in Urdu, for all to read and heed.  “All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.”

       A couple of months ago, 3 young Israelis were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists and killed.  And so began Operation Protective Edge.  But the Gaza war was much more than shooting down rockets and blowing up tunnels - it was the preview, the soft opening, for a much more serious war - a genuine world war.  It was a test of resolve, of fortitude.  It was a test watched carefully by the indecent forces of a rising Islamist world.  Israel is only the beginning.  The first prize sought in what promises to be a protracted, multi-generational Kulterkampf.  Israel made the headlines but the front lines are all over the map - we just don't know it yet.  The whole world was watching and our performance was pathetic.  We, the good guys, stumbled at the gate; tripped clumsily in an embarrassing display of moral confusion and ineptitude.  It was amateur hour and the bad guys were licking their chops.

       I say the following unapologetically and with a heavy heart.  When the war began, the President of the United States, the leader of the Free World, should have immediately, instinctively invited to the Oval Office, the leading Democrats and Republicans of the Senate and the House, his cabinet and all significant Washington political players.  Every domestic and international news organization should have been notified and the following talk broadcast across the planet.

       "Fellow Americans - a crisis has erupted once again in the Middle East and I have been told that the war between Israel and Hamas is complex and nuanced.  I have been told that our great nation must be evenhanded- but I am here to say with no equivocation, with no hesitation, this war is not complex.  This war is not nuanced and we will not be evenhanded in this confrontation of good and evil, of right and wrong, of civilization and savagery.  We Democrats and Republicans, Liberals and Conservatives from sea to shining sea, stand together in unshakable support of Israel against foul, corrupt, murderers who sacrifice the lives of children in their pursuit of power.  To Israel we say - do whatever you must.  To Israel we say, take whatever time you need to crush this vile enemy and whatever you require, you can count on us.  To the world we say, Israel is fighting for all of us - for our values, for our principles, for our civilization.  Support her efforts, as we do, in every way possible.  I will not tolerate any words of disparagement against our greatest ally and friend in the Middle East.  God bless Israel and God bless the United States of America."

       But these words did not ring forth from the White House, the capital of the free world.  What we did hear was "No victor, no vanquished."  This statement was our President's strategic plan.  No call for triumph over terrorism, but a weak kneed, stalemate with butchers - a tie between good and evil.  Right and wrong.  Civilization and savagery. 

       This did not go unnoticed. 

       Media coverage during the war was biased and shameful with a few notable exceptions.  To permit Hamas spokesmen and Hamas sympathizers to speak and to defend their monstrous deeds to millions of viewers is morally shocking.  To promote equivalency between Israel and Hamas is morally appalling.  With my remote, I would channel surf, go from station to station and I could not believe what I was hearing on CNN, CBS, BBC, ABC, MSNBC, and all the rest.  The grotesque propaganda, the repulsive distortions - the tolerance of the wicked. 

       And this did not go unnoticed.

       As I sat through these numbing broadsides, I wondered if our mainstream media during WWII would have invited the Germans and the Japanese to share their perspectives on the hostilities in Europe and in the Pacific.  As they moaned about Dresden and the Doolittle Raid, would the anchors have nodded in sympathy?  When the Germans and Japanese explained the need for the V1 and V2 bombardment of London and the necessity for the Bataan Death March, would the anchors have expressed understanding? 

       The obscenities and outright lies given airtime and legitimacy should be sickening to any person of conscience. 

       Words distinguish us from the beast.  In a powerful Holocaust tale, Eli Wiesel painfully writes that when words lose their meaning, disaster follows.  In today's Middle East, lexicon; restraint means suicide.  Terrorists have become militants. Self-defense is a war crime.  Democracy is apartheid.  Israelis and Jews have become Nazis.  Warning civilians to get out of harm's way has become genocide.  38 Muslim countries - 22 Arab countries and Israel, the only Jewish nation, must constantly defend her right to exist. 

       Russia invades.  Nigeria enslaves.  China oppresses.  Pakistan rapes.  Iraq slaughters.  North Korea starves.  Iran nuclearizes.  Syria massacres.  Venezuela plunders.  Afghanistan tortures.  Sudan annihilates.  ISIS beheads and Israel is the pariah state, put under the microscope by the morally noxious. 

       And this did not go unnoticed. 

       Eric Hoffer, the longshoreman philosopher, wrote the following in 1968 - 46 years ago.  His words have not grown stale with the passage of time.  To the contrary, they are every bit as relevant and meaningful today, nearly 1/2 a century later. 

       I quote:  “The Jews are a peculiar people:  things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews.  Other nations drive out 1,000’s, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem.  Russia did it.  Poland and Czechoslovakia did it.  Turkey drove out a million Greeks and Algeria a million Frenchman.  Indonesia threw out, heaven knows how many Chinese and no one says a word about refugees.  But, in the case of Israel, the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees.  Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab.  Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis.  Other nations when victorious on the battlefield, dictate peace terms.  But when Israel is victorious on the battlefield, it must sue for peace.  Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in the world…Other nations when they are defeated, survive and recover, but should Israel be defeated, it would be destroyed…”  Hoffers’ final words are chilling and prophetic.  “I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us.  Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us.”  To those who are morally obtuse I say shame on you– from university professors to the useful idiots of the media, from liberal churches to Hollywood, from the United Nations to the clueless left – let me remind all the ‘misguided do-gooders” – your deeds do not go unnoticed.”

       The world does not like a righteous Goliath especially if Goliath speaks Hebrew. 

Let’s leave the Middle East and head to Europe.  For those who have not been recently, it has changed.  It has changed dramatically.  The sights.  The sounds.  The crowds.  The streets are much different than when we backpacked with our Eurorail passes – strolling down the Champs-Elysees, chasing pigeons at Trafalgar Square, wandering the backstreets of Amsterdam after dark.  The continent that gave birth to Western civilization, the continent that defined high culture is crumbling before our very eyes.  Because of well-intentioned tolerance and an undisciplined pluralism, Europe is returning to the dark ages.  By most estimates, Europe will be unrecognizable by the middle of this century – crushed by a demographic tsunami.  The birthrate of the Brits, the French, the Dutch and the rest of the EU is well below ZPG.  The Muslim community’s birthrate is prolific.  The danger, however, is that Europe has not been a melting pot, assimilating new Muslims.  And these new Muslims, for the most part, are not interested in respecting the great democracies of Europe.  They want Sharia law and Islamic culture to be ascendant and with their birthrate, the ballot box and their disdain for the West, in time, they will get it. 

       The element that is surging and redefining Europe are not the democracy respecting Muslims but those who are rampaging in nearly every capital.  They are preaching hate for Jews, for Christians, for Israel, for America, for the entire Western world.  It is not our grandfather’s Europe and it will not be a Europe our grandchildren will recognize. 

       For the record, Europe is being flooded not by freedom loving, tolerant, assimilating Muslims who wish to share in Western freedom, in Western tolerance, in Western culture but rather by violent Islamists, extremists who reject every value we treasure.  We love ethnic communities – they are vibrant, exciting, magical faraway places only a walk away.  Chinatown, Little Odessa, Greek town, Little Havana, Lower Eastside, Little Italy, but what is spreading across Europe are not charming, quaint neighborhoods enjoyed by locals and camera toting tourists in search of a charming restaurant.  These are beachheads for invasion.

Want to stare down a guard at Buckingham Palace?  Do it soon. 

Want to see the Follies-Bergere dance the Can Can?  Do it soon.

Want to sip wine at the vineyards of Tuscany?  Do it soon.

Want to sunbathe on the beaches of San Trope?  Do it soon.

The sun never set on the British Empire but now there is a cold darkness settling on Europe.  A Nihilism.  A corruption.  A perversion in the name of Allah.  A Kristallnacht of European and Western culture is coming that will destroy a millennia of creative genius.  Don’t listen to me.  Listen to what the Islamists preach.  Don’t listen to me.  Look at what the Islamists do.  It is not a leap into fantasy to perceive a dystopian future that is irretrievably ugly and inconceivably vile.

·        The Sistine Chapel demolished for portraying God’s image.

·        The Pieta, Venus de Milo, David smashed.  Idolatry.

·        Botticelli’s and Goya’s and Renoirs and Rubens torched – paintings of women not wearing a hijab and chador.

·        The Guttenberg Bible.  The Magna Carta.  Tossed into a bonfire.  Profane literature.

·        Museums all across Europe vandalized by marauding Islamist fanatics.

Even the Nazis saved the masterpieces.

·        Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart silenced.

·        The end of opera.  Rossini, Verdi, Puccini gone.

·        For Shakespeare, Cervantes, Moliere.   The Final curtain, a dark stage.

Even the Nazis enjoyed the classics.

I must assume there are skeptics out there – folks who disbelieve my warnings and might label me an alarmist – a Paul Revere wannabe – galloping across the Pyrenees through the European heartland in the shadow of the Alps crying out “The Muslims are coming.  The Muslims are coming.”  I weighed each and every word carefully.  Repeatedly.  Was I treading into bigotry? … into melodrama? 

       Speak with the ‘canaries in the mine’, the Jews of Europe, fleeing in record numbers.  Synagogues fire bombed.  Jewish businesses vandalized.  Children threatened on their way to school.  Kippot buried in their pockets.  Mezuzot.  Hamsas.  Magen Davids dangling on chains tucked under shirts and under blouses to hide Jewish identity.   Israeli products pulled off store shelves.  This is not the 1930’s nor the 1940’s and yet it is.  68 years since the Nazis defeat but their descendants are making Hitler proud picking up where he left off. 

       “I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us.  Should Israel perish, the Holocaust will be upon us.”  Slip in the word “Jew” for Israel and we see the future of Europe. 

       This ever-growing tragedy doesn’t end neatly in Europe, in the Middle East, in Mumbai or the Philippines.  Most of us have never tasted the bitterness of war.  Witnessed its horror.  Clawed our way out from beneath tons of rubble.  But we dare not be complacent and cry out confidently – “we have 2 oceans and the TSA to protect us.”  We live in a shrunken world.  In a porous country.  In an open society.  We have become perilously naïve.  Recklessly evenhanded.  Unacceptably tolerant.  Dangerously comfortable.  The greatest generation has spawned the clueless generation.  I say it again loudly, slowly and clearly – we are at war, here in America as well, with radical Islamists.  We have been attacked repeatedly and yet we continue to turn away.  We euphemize the enemy.  Disguising his identity and his intent.  There will not be armadas chanting “Allah Akbar” landing on the beaches of Malibu and Boca.  No vast battalions chanting “Allah Akbar” while crossing the Rio Grande or the 45^th Parallel – but make no mistake – we are at war, right now, this very minute.  The tactics have changed.  The battlefield is different.  The rules of engagement have been redefined but we dare not make the mistake that all is well and that Islamic terrorists are simply violent criminals.  That Islamic terrorists are just a bunch of unemployed losers, no part of a vast network hell bent on destroying our country.  Their disunity in numbers but their unity in purpose is their power.  The Lone Wolf is deadly and we are the prey.

       Ask the man or woman on the street when did this all start and most would reply:  “On 9/11.”  That was a catastrophic day, but not the start.  For us here in America, the war began in Teheran in 1979 when our embassy was taken over.  It has continued ruthlessly and without pause ever since.  Lockerbie and Scotland, TWA Flight 840, the USS Cole, embassies and American interests bombed and Americans killed in Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Spain, Kenya, Germany, Egypt, Kuwait, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.

       Connect the dots.

       Here on American soil, before 9/11, the Twin Towers were attacked in 1993.  The Times Square bomber.  The Tsarnev brothers in the Boston Marathon bombing.  The Fort Hood massacre was not work place violence but the calculated, cold blooded murder of 13 American soldiers by a Muslim Jihadist yelling “Allah Akbar.”  The shooting up in Little Rock, Arkansas of an army recruiting station.  The murder of 2 CIA agents outside Langley by a Pakistani whose final words before meeting his maker were “There is no God but Allah.”  The indignant, impious, arrogant claim By CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic relations-that anyone who commits an act of violence is by definition, not a Muslim.  Therefore, a Muslim terrorist, a Muslim killer, a Muslim suicide bomber, is a misleading term of bigotry and Islamophobia.  The slick, masterful ISIS recruitment in Minneapolis.  New York.  Colorado.  On Facebook.  On Twitter and across the country. 

       Connect the dots.

       Let’s get Jewish-personal.  A Zim Line cargo ship was prevented from offloading it’s cargo for 3 days because of pro-Palestinian mobs in Oakland, California.  A young man from our shul on his 1^st day of university was taught by his PhD, tenured professor that Israel committed ethnic cleansing in 1948… In Dade County a synagogue was defaced with swastikas and the words Hamas scrawled on its walls.  A JCC in Seattle was attacked.  A pro-Palestinian rally in Miami called for “the massacre of the Jews.”  University campuses across the country, hot beds of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish hostility.  A local merchant in Roswell told one of our members (not realizing she was Jewish and vocal) that she was fed up with Israel’s brutal treatment of the children of Gaza. 

We are not Europe but connect the dots.

       I am concerned, as we all should be, of the alarming surge in Islamist rhetoric, violence and influence.  I am equally concerned, as we all should be, of the alarming silence and inaction of mainstream Muslims.

       I fear political correctness run amuck.  I fear the worship of multiculturalism.  I fear progressive voices of repression.  I fear a distorted media tolerant of intolerance. I fear politicians who prefer the easy, still of the night to the noble, necessary struggle of the day.  I fear we are not so far away from where we thought we would never be. 

Three thoughts to ponder.  This past year many of us saw the Book of Mormon at the Fox.  An irreverent, vulgar, hysterically entertaining musical about the Mormons.  We parked our car at the Georgian Terrace and crossed Peachtree Street.  In front of the theater were a half dozen, well dressed, mannerly Mormons handing out literature.  “Sir, if you would like to know more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” a young woman said to me as I took her brochure, “Please go to our website.”  I thanked her.  She smiled, wished me a pleasant evening and turned to speak with another ticket holder.  I thought, “God bless these folks.  This is how we disagree in America.”  At the same moment I had another thought.  What if Trey Parker and Matt Stone came out with a tasteless, bawdy musical that was hysterically entertaining entitled “The Quran, Allah’s Holy Book.”  What would happen?  It doesn’t take much imagination to answer that question.  Jeff Foxworthy correctly wrote, “Have you ever wondered why it’s okay to make jokes about Catholics, the Pope, Jews, Christians, the Irish, the Italians, the Polish, the Chinese, the French (including French Canadians)…but it’s insensitive to make jokes about Muslims?” 

       A few years back, a Danish newspaper “Jyllanns-Posten” printed 12 cartoons of the prophet Muhammad to illustrate an article.  If the photos published were of Moses or Buddha or of the Apostle Paul, the event would have been met with a yawn.  But not so with our Islamist friends.  The reaction?  Not a letter to the editor.  Not a request to submit an op-ed.  Not a friendly visit to the publisher - - but worldwide rage.  Riots.  Boycotts.  Embassies burned.  Ambassadors recalled.  Attacks on Christians and on churches.  200 killed. 

Soon after, a professor from Brandeis wrote a book on this outrageous event entitled, “12 Cartoons That Shook the World.”  It was published by Yale University Press located at 302 Temple Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, United States of America.  But what was missing in the book?  What Yale University refused to print were the 12 cartoons and images of Muhammad.  This self-censorship was shameful, cowardly, un-American and a sniveling submission to Islamic narcissism and intimidation.

       Where is a great university’s courage?  Where is Freedom of the Press?  This happened in America.  In the land of the free and in the home of, I hope, still the brave.

       I recall, as we all do, the good old days when air travel was a pleasure.  When I flew here to Etz Chaim in my commuting, student days, I’d catch a cab outside my apartment on the upper West side and be at LaGuardia in about 20 minutes.  I’d check my bags in 2 minutes and be at the gate in 4 minutes, just in time to board my flight.  I even got a meal.

       In those days, flying was an adventure, even in coach.  Today it is irritating and exhausting.  What happened?  What changed?  Who’s to blame?  Who has created the need for a multibillion dollar security industry?  Who has created a tedious need for us to remove our shoes and belts, empty our pockets, pack only 3-1/2 ounces of Listerine, go through metal detectors and x-ray machines, submit to frisks and wand searches?  Arrive hours before departure?  Who is responsible?  Let’s see - - not the Italian Mob, not skin heads, not neo Nazis, not Columbian drug cartels, not the Russian mafia, not the Crips nor the Bloods nor the Aryan Brotherhood, not the Ku Klux Klan.  So who is it that has irretrievably ruined worldwide air travel?        

So, think of a Muslim play on Broadway. 

       Think of a scholarly text on Muhammad.

       Think of flying Delta or United or AirTran.

       Think about it and connect the dots. 

       For us, WWII lasted 4 years.  It has been 13 years since 9/11.  35 years since the invasion of our Iranian embassy and like it or not, we are still at war with radical Islam.  Declaring we are not at war with radical Islam does not make it so.  Roosevelt and Churchill got it and understood that the stakes were not just the Sudetenland and a few islands in the South Pacific.  From the White House and 10 Downing Street, they understood it was planet earth.  Today, the radical Islamists seek the same prize – not just Bagdad or Benghazi – but planet earth.

       This is not dramatic fiction but the real thing.  A handful of us, here today experienced the real thing about 11 weeks ago in Israel.  We didn’t see the real thing on the nightly news nor read about it in the evening paper or hear about it in a long distance phone call from uncle Moshe in Tel Aviv.  We were there as Kassam rockets rained down on Israel, on us, targeting, not military bases, not Merkava tanks, not IDF divisions, but children at play, families enjoying dinner, friends laughing over a beer, lovers strolling through a park, teenagers playing volleyball on the beach.  The world watched and preached and judged and only now has begun to stir from their slumber of hypocrisy and inaction. Hamas is ISIS.  ISIS is Hamas.  They are all the same.  Hezbollah.  Islamic Jihad.  Al Shabab.  Muslim Brotherhood.  Boko Haram.  Al Qaeda.  Taliban.  Iran.  The only difference, is the length of the knife they use in their butchery.

       Israeli blood bleeds the same red as the blood of James Foley, of Steven Satloff, of David Hawthorne Haines of Christians and Yazidis.

       Let’s reason some suggest.  One last Hail Mary negotiation.  Maybe we can figure out what’s bothering these troubled Muslims and perhaps they’ll tell us what we can do to resolve the friction.  I am all for dialogue, but we are dealing with a moral species that eats its own, kills it’s young and celebrates innocent death as homage to God. 

       Osama bin Laden eluded capture for 10 years.  Ever wonder why?  There was a $25 million bounty on his head.  That’s a lot of money.  $25 million can by a lot of plastic surgery.  A new identity.  Rosetta Stone tapes.  Elocution lesson.  A suburban home.  A Brooks Brothers wardrobe.  New partners.  New friends.  Surf and turf every night and a round of golf every day.  

       In 10 years, there was not one betrayal of Osama bin Laden - - not one.  And I asked myself, “why not?” - $25 million is a great amount of money and can easily facilitate a luxurious disappearance.  The answer is simple.  These Islamist criminals are unlike us in the most basic of ways and we have yet to accept and understand their total immersion in moral debauchery. 

       The enemy has eyes and ears.  Fingers and toes.  Speaks with lips.  Runs with legs.  Eats.  Drinks.  Has the face of a human being – but, has a much different heart and a much different soul. 

       Three years ago on this bima, on this very same day, standing at this podium, I cried out, “Ehr Kumpt – they are coming.”  3 years later on this bima, on this very same day, standing at this podium, I cry out not “Ehr Kumpt – they are coming,” I cry out, “Ehr daw – they are here.”

       The fury of ultimate evil is upon us and we must act – not to contain it.  Not to degrade it.  Not to manage it.  Not to tolerate it, but to exterminate it utterly and absolutely. 

       If we fail in this holy crusade, we will live in a world bereft of color.  Empty of music, of art, of romance, of laughter, of freedom, of invention.  A world barren of all beauty.  Depleted of all virtue.   

       We are divided today not by faith nor holy book.  We are divided today by decency and indecency.  By right and wrong.  By moral and corrupt.  By courage and cowardice.  By righteousness and evil.

       The good citizens of earth must rise up.  Gather on the mountain top and proclaim in thundering unison the words of Isaiah:

       “Hoy ha’omrim lera tov v’la’tov rah – woe to them that call evil, good and good, evil.  Who present darkness as light and light as darkness.  Who call bitter, sweet and sweet, bitter.

       We must turn back the evil.

       We must turn back the darkness.

       We must turn back the bitter.

       My friends – Ehr daw – they are here.