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Radical Islam: The Monster in the Room
National Review ^ | 8/14/2014 | Lee Habeeb and Mike Leven

Posted on 08/14/2014 3:44:51 AM PDT by markomalley

It’s not the elephant in the room — it’s the monster in the room. Radical Islam is the monster, and it is on the march in the Middle East. And those who are suffering the most from radical Islam’s rise there are Muslims themselves, although Christians, Jews, and ethnic minorities of all kinds — gays too — don’t have it much better.

The pictures from Iraq are horrifying, as the world watches in real time radical Islam’s ruthless intentions; as we watch Muslims, Christians, and ethnic minorities stagger to safety under treacherous conditions near the Syrian border; as we watch ethnic cleansing in slow motion live on TV, the governments of the Western world beset by paralysis.

These bands of religious thugs have only one thing in mind: total domination. By whatever name they call themselves — Hamas, al-Qaeda, ISIS, Islamic Jihad, Muslim Brotherhood — these mobsters all want the same thing, and they play by a set of rules that even most mobsters abhor.

These religious Nazis know no moral boundaries, and understand only one language: absolute power. They want total control of every aspect of the human being, including whom to pray to. Especially whom to pray to.

Like rapists, the monster wants control not only of its victims’ bodies. It wants control of their minds and souls.

Only force will stop this monster. And the monster knows full well that the Western world has lost its appetite for battle — has lost its nerve. And by “the West,” of course, one can only mean America.

Because the rest of the civilized world lost its nerve nearly a century ago, and never got it back.

Everyone, that is, but Israel. But that’s because Israel doesn’t have a choice; it is surrounded by the monster. Israelis know it intimately. And Israelis know that to defeat the monster, one must confront it and kill it. Otherwise it will kill them.

In their neighborhood, the monster’s name is Hamas. This monster used to use women and children as human bombs. But leave it to Hamas to redefine depravity. In Gaza last month, Hamas practiced human sacrifice, using women and children as human shields while piling up the body count. Hamas booby-trapped hospitals and schools, and did so with the full knowledge that it would cause the deaths of countless innocents.

Regrettably, the rest of the world knows little about Hamas. There is a mention now and then in media reports of its being a terrorist organization, but this is always in passing. Then the cameras cut to the pictures of dead women and children.

What the world never gets is the full picture of Hamas. There is very little in the media about what Hamas is, what it has been, and what it wants to become. There is very little about its vision of the world — its vision of the future for the people of Gaza.

What we know is only that it doesn’t believe in a future for Israel.

If that context were provided, the world would know that the battle in Gaza is not a land dispute, or a battle of moral equivalents. The ongoing battle in Gaza is not a case of the Hatfields and the McCoys, a senseless blood feud over a patch of land that, over the years, just goes on for no good reason.

This is a battle between good and evil, the battle in Gaza — and the battle throughout the Middle East. It’s a battle between modernity and religious feudalism. Between freedom and totalitarianism. Between moderate Muslims and extremists hell-bent on imposing their will on the majority of peaceful followers of Allah.

Ask any Christian, woman, or gay person where he or she would choose to live — in Israel or anywhere else in the Middle East — and we know what the answer would be.

It’s the media’s fault that this context has not been adequately provided. It wouldn’t be a heavy lift to do it. But they don’t.

How did Hamas come into power in Gaza? Are the people of Gaza free to do as they please? Can they oppose Hamas without fear of retaliation? And what kind of life has Hamas provided for Gaza’s people since it has been in control? Has it invested in their future? Does it even care about their future?

These are important questions that deserve answers. But the media instead focus mostly on Israel, and the degree to which Israel is responsible for the disproportionate body count in Gaza. Last Sunday on ABC’s This Week, New Yorker editor David Remnick summarized the belief of many in the media and in academia in one sentence: “These cycles are not going to end until the occupation ends,” Remnick opined.

That’s right. Remnick actually believes Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is the cause of the problems in Gaza.

But if the occupation of the West Bank was the reason for the latest round of rocket launchings, why weren’t those rockets launched from the West Bank? Those rockets came from Gaza, which Israel relinquished almost a decade ago.

A lot of good that accommodation did.

The fact is that there is an occupying force in Gaza, and it’s Hamas. There is in increasingly larger swaths of the Middle East a real occupying force, and it is radical Islam in its various iterations. All of them are committed to ending not only Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, but Israel’s occupation of Israel.

Which brings us back to Hamas. The terrorist group has an interesting beginning. Its name is actually an acronym for the Arabic words for Islamic Resistance Movement. Its inaugural suicide bombing in Israel — one that Hamas acolytes celebrate — took place back in April 1993. Hamas hasn’t looked back since, recruiting record numbers of suicide bombers to strike its mortal enemy.

And make no mistake about it, that’s what Israel is: a mortal enemy. In one of Hamas’s earliest public pronouncements — Leaflet #65, issued in October 1990 — Hamas had this to say: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.”

The Hamas Charter is a sprawling document of hate. It’s what you’d expect from a writing partnership between Mullah Omar and Ted Kaczynski.

So how did Hamas gain control of Gaza? The same way the Nazis gained power in Germany: a combination of brute force and bribery.

Christians, gays, and secular Muslims are terrorized and tortured in Gaza, and worse. Hamas has not hesitated to murder innocent Palestinians who impede its agenda, though no one knows for sure how many. Gaza isn’t a haven for cutting-edge journalism. There is no Gaza equivalent to Woodward and Bernstein. And needless to say, there is no Justice Department in Gaza to inspect election results for voting irregularities.

Since it has gained control of Gaza, Hamas has spent the vast majority of its energy doing two things: plundering the aid intended for Gaza’s citizens, and keeping much of it for themselves. It spends the rest on the destruction of Israel.

If Hamas is so bad, how does it manage to recruit so many young men to join its ranks? For the same sorts of reasons the Bloods and Crips so successfully recruit in America’s inner cities. Those young men don’t joyfully join gangs. They do so for many reasons, none of them good. To be a part of something bigger than themselves. To be a part of a family, with what they think are strong paternal influences. And most often, young men join gangs to protect themselves from other gangs.

But if those young men had real choices — real options — they wouldn’t join gangs.

With Hamas, there is one big difference: It also injects religion into the mix. It is not simply an economic enterprise, seeking profit. It is seeking world domination, and the elimination of its enemies.

That is the real story of Hamas. The story you haven’t heard from the media. And that is the real occupation you won’t hear about from the media, either. The real story of Gaza — and its occupier, Hamas — writers like David Remnick will never acknowledge.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: fatah; hamas; isis; rop
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One little correction to the authors' assertions.

They state, Radical Islam is the monster, and it is on the march in the Middle East.

They SHOULD state, Radical Islam is the monster, and it is on the march in the Middle East.

1 posted on 08/14/2014 3:44:51 AM PDT by markomalley
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To: markomalley

Just as the Turks ravaged the Balkans to utter depravity and decimated the Armenian Christians to near-extinction, so do all other muslim communities that dominate the population.

It’s the muslim minorities which confuse us.


2 posted on 08/14/2014 3:49:37 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (Powerless? Not with the Liberty Amendments)
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To: thouworm

Muslim minorities always fool themselves into thinking that their cult has any value. “See? We get along with everyone.”

But when their population grows, then the radicals take over.

Same as leftists.


3 posted on 08/14/2014 3:51:39 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (Powerless? Not with the Liberty Amendments)
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To: markomalley

Would it be too bold to say that radical Islam must be destroyed - for the safety of humanity?


4 posted on 08/14/2014 3:57:05 AM PDT by ransacked
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To: markomalley
"Islam is a religion of peace." -- Barack Hussein Obama

Wait a minute ... something is wrong there, isn't it?

5 posted on 08/14/2014 3:57:17 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on here?")
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To: Alberta's Child

Yeah
that quote was from Bush43, just after 911
When imams participated in the national memorial service


6 posted on 08/14/2014 4:02:05 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: markomalley

I am sure there are plenty of people who practice islam who are not supportive of the islamists. But, like many Germans under Hitler, they stayed quiet for fear of arrest or worse.

So, I disagree that the problem is all of islam....it is the islamists.

But it makes no difference....the solution is the same we used for Hitler.....they must be broken completely until it is too painful to continue being islamists....and that includes killing some who may not be the biggest supporters.

Unfortunately, like Hitler, the world will do nothing until the threat is so powerful and threatening, that our very existence may hang in the balance....and this time, we may not win.


7 posted on 08/14/2014 4:02:28 AM PDT by Erik Latranyi
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To: markomalley

Thankfully the moderate muslims are all out demanding action to stop this slaughter, and offering to send troops to the mountains to save the nonmuslims from genocide

aren’t they?

(crickets)


8 posted on 08/14/2014 4:03:44 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: silverleaf
That's right. I'm sure there isn't a leader of a Muslim country who is brazen or delusional enough to utter that kind of idiocy.
9 posted on 08/14/2014 4:07:42 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("What in the wide, wide world of sports is goin' on here?")
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To: markomalley

Islam is indeed the monster.
If there were to be Christians, slaughtering in the name of Christianity, I and every Christan I know, would be the first to excise such a malignancy. It would be the greatest blasphemy possible.


10 posted on 08/14/2014 4:10:49 AM PDT by Ouchthatonehurt ("When you're going through hell, keep going." - Sir Winston Churchill)
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To: markomalley

“It’s the media’s fault that this context has not been adequately provided. It wouldn’t be a heavy lift to do it. But they don’t.”

Right-because you KNOW the ‘school system’ in this country will NEVER EVER present facts.


11 posted on 08/14/2014 4:12:18 AM PDT by SMARTY ("When you blame others, you give up your power to change." Robert Anthony)
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To: markomalley
Another correction is needed:

Between moderate Muslims and extremists hell-bent on imposing their will on the majority of peaceful followers of Allah.

Actually, up to 85 per cent of moderate Islam followers follow ISIL like we follow a sports team. They may not participate, but they agree with what they (the radicals) are doing.

For instance, when the WTC was destroyed, there was jubilation in the Arab world, with people, lots of people, celebrating in the street and passing out candy. A western worker in an Egyptian hospital reported the professional staff were sympathetic to the WTC terrorists.

"Moderate" muslims are cheerleaders, and become eager followers once the Islamic state is established. There is no moderate Islam.

12 posted on 08/14/2014 4:24:33 AM PDT by The_Media_never_lie (The media must be defeated any way it can be done.)
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To: markomalley

Islam is the problems


13 posted on 08/14/2014 4:29:38 AM PDT by bray (Palin/Bibi 2016)
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To: bray

Islam is the problem

...and the immediate solution is far less clear.


14 posted on 08/14/2014 4:42:25 AM PDT by wita
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To: Erik Latranyi
I am sure there are plenty of people who practice islam who are not supportive of the islamists.

Rather, they might be self-identifying as Muslim but are not practicing Islam. The actions of ISIS is the message of Islam. This was the message of Muhammad and the action of Islam whenever it has the military advantage. In ISIS we see Islam returning to its historical norms.

Nor should we fool ourselves into thinking that they do not have the tacit support of the majority of Muslims. When a Danish artist drew a cartoon the whole Muslim world rioted. With the present atrocities in the name of Islam we have silence. Even at the local level, have one Muslim accuse a non-Muslim neighbor of insulting Islam and the whole village riots calling for the death of the non-Muslim. They will even commit "honor killings" of members of their own families for dishonoring Islam. So-called "radical Islam" is Islam.

15 posted on 08/14/2014 4:45:47 AM PDT by Petrosius
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To: The_Media_never_lie

The “moderate” muslims are the audience. Whether it be a football stadium, concert, or whatever. They may not be participating in the action, but they are cheering it on and supporting it.


16 posted on 08/14/2014 4:46:18 AM PDT by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: markomalley
Everyone, that is, but Israel. But that’s because Israel doesn’t have a choice; it is surrounded by the monster. Israelis know it intimately. And Israelis know that to defeat the monster, one must confront it and kill it. Otherwise it will kill them.

I disagree with the last part of that statement.

The Jews in Israel have always, and still operate as though they can talk their way into a peaceful solution with Muslims.
That peaceful solution will not happen unless the Muslims give up their religion, and there are no signs of that happening.

The Muslims are not going to turn their back on Allah and Muhammed to accommodate Infidels. - Tom

17 posted on 08/14/2014 4:50:30 AM PDT by Capt. Tom (Don't confuse U.S. citizens and Americans. They are not necessarily the same. -tom)
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To: markomalley

Islam is the BEAST of revelation. From it will come the ultimate anti-Christ and his spokesman.


18 posted on 08/14/2014 4:54:38 AM PDT by ThomasMore (Islam is the Whore of Babylon!)
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To: markomalley

Just like the 30s in Germany, the only thing that was tree to stop them was appeasement and isolationism. Won’t work, never has. History is about to repeat itself.


19 posted on 08/14/2014 5:18:01 AM PDT by DownInFlames
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To: markomalley


When they run out of Christian children to bury alive?
20 posted on 08/14/2014 5:34:13 AM PDT by greedo
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