Posted on 09/12/2001 12:41:10 AM PDT by American in Israel
On my daily bus ride to work today the bus was silent. Normally Israeli busses are loud with radios and conversations. But today is different. A somber mood has gripped everyone. The bus radio was off and there were no conversations going on. In the walk from the bus the feel in the streets is tense with sorrow. The only loud noises are TV's blaring the news with Israeli's clustered around them. Israel is in mourning. A call has gone out for blood donations to be shipped over seas. Type O has been requested, all blood donation stations and mobile trucks are out.
The difference between the Israeli reaction and the Palestinian reaction is shocking. The Palestinians I pass in the streets seem nervous, yet happy. How can they take this monstrous act as a victory? Oslama Bin Laudin has recently renewed ties with Arafat, perhaps they share in that as some sort of personal identity.
In our nations call to strike not just at the terrorists, but the nations that harbor them, let us not forget the 10 or more American citizens that have been butchered her in Israel in the last months, the deliberate targeting of Americans both in Israel and abroad by the Palestinian Authority, the 14 year old American kid tortured to death with knives by the PA 2 months ago, or the American Diplomats kidnapped and executed by Arafat's direct orders from Lebanon a few years ago. We do not have to search far and wide for terrorists. We know who they are now. America is at war with Terrorism, let us not forget our allies in this war, or just who our enemies are either. Any country that sponsors terrorism as a valid political statement should loose the right to exist as a country, wither they are a country yet or not.
Forgive my vanity, I am in shock and deep sorrow. My prayers are with you, and I am off to donate blood.
Blessings from Jerusalem
AnI
As for the United States, I would suggest that we deport all nonv U.S. citizen muslems (for their protection).
I suspect this is going to get ugly...
TO: Friends (and friends of friends) of Bridges for Peace FROM: Clarence H. Wagner, Jr., International Director - Jerusalem DATE: September 11, 2001 Special News Update
Notice: The Bridges for Peace newly designed website is located at www.bridgesforpeace.com. Tell your friends to check it out. We are your Israel Connection.
ISLAM UNMASKED
A horrific extent of the Islamic terrorism has finally found its way to the shores of the USA. Past Islamic attacks in America have either been uncovered before they occurred, or they were not as devastating as the terrorist had hoped. The Pentagon and the World Trade Center have been symbols for the Islamic militants and the World Trade Center was already attacked once. It was only a matter of time until another attack was attempted. Now, it has happened and the devastation and the loss of life are almost too shocking to comprehend.
I am in Italy, on a two-week holiday. I left Israel wondering if war would break out at any moment in Israel with her neighboring Arab Islamic countries. I left instructions with my staff that if such a war from the outside began, that I would immediately return to Israel. I felt pretty safe because there was a series of three meetings scheduled between Israel's Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, and Palestinian Authority Chairman, Yasser Arafat. Surely, it would take two weeks to hold the three meetings. I felt it was okay to leave.
You can imagine my shock when I saw the horrific pictures on television, in the sleepy resort town on the Amalfi coast of Italy where I am staying. What attracted my attention was a group of people staring at a television and spilling out onto the street. I thought it was the last play of the soccer match and peered inside at the TV expecting to see soccer players in action. What I saw, looked like a re-run of the movie, Towering Inferno, except it was not Chicago, but New York. What was happening?
Being from Israel, I immediately suspected terrorism, and I was not wrong in my assessment. One Italian man, who answered my cry for information in English, told me that planes crashed into the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon. I immediately knew that terrorism was the cause.
It is unkind to say to the USA, even as an American, that now you know what Israel faces on a daily basis. Not only Israel, but the Christian communities of Lebanon, Egypt and Sudan, who have been subjected to the daily attacks of the Islamic world for decades.
Despite the fact that Yasser Arafat held a press conference and expressed his words of shock, the Palestinian Islamic organizations have been perpetrating daily car bombs and suicide bombs against Israeli civilians. Just the day before this horrible attack in the USA, US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, gave a statement that no country could stand by under repeated suicide attacks. Sadly, but not out of character, the TV images of Palestinians celebrating the disaster in the USA, with one baker offering cake to the foreign camera crew filming the scene, only confirms, the deep hatred felt towards the west (seen as Christians) and Israel (as Jews) who are both infidel enemies of Islam. What kind of people could celebrate the loss of such innocent life? It is just sick.
It is time to wake up that this is a world-wide threat, far more menacing than communism ever was. Who committed this devastating act? Was it Osama bin-Laden, Sadaam Hussein, the Taliban, Islamic Jihad and the Palestinians, Muammar Gadaffi? Only time will tell.
Now, the US knows what Israel has been suffering for so long, and on a larger scale. Who knows how many tens of thousands of Americans are now dead and for what reason? The perceived justified retaliation of Islam against America for trying to curb Islamic expansionist activities in the Middle East and around the world, and friendship with Israel, is the reason given by the Islamic fundamentalist groups for their hatred of America. For decades, they have seen America as "the great Satan," because Islam sees the USA as a decadent society influencing the world against Islamic values, not just for her support and friendship of Israel.
If you look at the map of the major terror attacks around the world over the last decade, you will see that they have occurred on the whim of Islamic influence, as this militant religion is seeking to expand its territory around the world. Where have we seen such attacks? They have occurred in the Philippines, Indonesia, Chechnya, the Balkans, the Middle East, and against western embassies and businesses, as well as Jewish targets, in Kenya, South Africa, Argentina, Europe and the USA.
Islam is not a religion that expands by a heart conversion, like Judaism and Christianity. Rather, it expands by conquest, subjugating its conquered peoples to their religion. The borders of Islam continue to grow outwards as they seek worldwide domination.
Israel and the western world have been the targets of militant Islam for decades. Yet, most of these attacks have been in locations around the world. As an American, I know that most Americans do not have an international outlook because two oceans on their east and west protect them. Attacks, even against American targets in far off lands have not impressed the American public beyond a momentary sigh. Now, that militant Islam has made its way to the shores of the USA in an devastating attack which will go down as the worst act of terrorism in history, America can no longer stick its head in the sand and play like militant Islam is a problem somewhere else.
As a resident of Israel for the past 25 years, I hope that America and the rest of the world will wake up and realize that this is a world war that needs to be met head on. Israel and the Christians in the Middle East are in the clutches of this war. May the west now give support and sympathy to both Jews and Christians in this region of the world who face annihilation without its help. Just as US President Bush stated that the US will, "hunt down and punish those responsible," may they not tie the hands of Israel who also must hunt down and punish those responsible for the death of so many innocent Israelis.
Finally, my heart goes out to America as I watch the images on television. As an American, I am sick and outraged that such a well-planned and orchestrated attack could occur and so many innocent families suffer. I know the heart of every Israeli is with America and prayers are going forth for those who have felt the effects of this tragedy.
Shalom, shalom (which only God can bring)
Clarence H. Wagner, Jr.
International Director - Bridges for Peace
PS I know the hearts of the world are with America. I just ran down to the center of this town in Italy to get a carton of milk and saw that the restaurants, which are usually full at this time of night, are empty and the tables are not even set for dinner. Everyone is at home or in their hotels watching television - in shock over what has happened. May America be comforted by all our prayers.
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