Bin Laden, Columbus, and the Jews
By Reuven Koret October 12, 2001
"Let the whole world know that we shall never accept that the tragedy of Andalusia be repeated in Palestine," Osama bin Laden said in his taped cave-side address. "We cannot accept that Palestine will become Jewish."
The allusion to Andalusia evidently refers to the Christian re-conquest of Spain from Muslims in 1492, when Ferdinand and Isabella led the Spanish forces in seizing control of the glorious Moorish palace of Alhambra, a turning point in the drive to expel the Moors from the European continent.
It was not a good year for the Jews either, as it marked the royal edict expelling them from Spain. It was in this year, too, that Christopher Columbus departed Europe, bound to find what would come to be called America.
In bin Laden's remark we see the extent to which historical humiliations inform his thinking. He seeks to avenge the defeat of the Muslims at Granada by the Catholics, and the defeat of the Muslims by the Jews in Palestine. We see, too, how he thinks in symbols: Andalusia 1492 is being repeated in modern-day Israel.
Columbus Day, October 12, commemorates the European "discovery" of America in 1492, and 1492 represents the year in which Islam began to be pushed out of Spain. In bin Laden's mind, these two events are inextricably linked.
On October 12, 2000, the USS Cole was attacked at sea by two suicide bombers on a speedboat.
Exactly one year earlier, on October 12, 1999, a covert operation to send 60 Pakistani commandos to Afghanistan to capture or kill bin Laden was aborted when a military coup overthrew Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Exactly one year before that, on October 12, 1998, the late Eqbal Ahmad, a follower of bin Laden and a Professor at Hampshire College, gave a presentation at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He said: "History unfortunately recognizes and accords visibility to power and not to weakness. Therefore, visibility has been accorded historically to dominant groups. In our time, the time that began with this day, Columbus Day."
Professor Ahmad explained: "The time that begins with Columbus Day is a time of extraordinary unrecorded holocausts. Great civilizations have been wiped out. The Mayas, the Incas, the Aztecs, the American Indians, the Canadian Indians were all wiped out. Their voices have not been heard, even to this day fully. Now they are beginning to be heard, but not fully. They are heard, yes, but only when the dominant power suffers, only when resistance has a semblance of costing, of exacting a price. When a Custer is killed… that's when you know that there were Indians fighting."
I have no clue whether the FBI warning that a major attack by bin Laden's al-Qaeda this weekend has anything to do with the historical significance of October 12. But for him and his followers, this is considered a holy day of revolution, when the weak communicate through terror to the strong, when the tribes strive to overturn the colonial powers. The fact that an assassination attempt against him was thwarted on that very day by virtue of a revolution must have appeared to him as a divine validation.
Columbus Day, October 12, is a dangerous day for the enemies of bin Laden, and I pray that it passes without serious event. But even if the present FBI alert proves to a false alarm, the legacy of the war against Columbus and what he stands for, will continue to animate bin Laden and his allies.
http://www.israelinsider.com/views/articles/views_0162.htm
Great article. Thanks for the reminder about the Oct 12th relevance.
IMO, definitely relevant.
http://www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/005129.html
October 06, 2005
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