Israel’s jihad is mine
As Israel considers building a new fence to
contain the Syrian conflict to the north, which fences can keep out
Hamas’s even more lethal ideologies? While Gaza and the Muslim Arab
world continue to claim victory in the recent Israel-Hamas conflict, for
the sane observers among us, there is only ever defeat – the defeat of
morality in the desecration of a great religion. While most Muslims laud
Hamas and scorn Israel, for me, an observing Muslim, Israel’s war
against Hamas remains my struggle – my jihad.
Israel’s eight-day operation “Pillar of
Defense” sought to dismantle the Hamas apparatus from within Gaza. The
predictably seamless alignment of the Muslim world against Israel was
even more breathtaking than usual in the face of Syria’s 22 months of
systematic genocide, one which has consistently failed to trigger
unanimous Muslim protest. What does this say about us as Muslims?
We are hypocrites.
While Muslims define Israel as the enemy, we
ignore Assad, and diabolically laud Hamas. Hamas is never sated – each
year it devours ever more Palestinians, regardless of age or gender. If
Israelis lose fewer citizens than the Palestinians in these conflicts it
is for the same reason Israel exchanges more prisoners for each captive
soldier: quite simply Israel values human life more than does Hamas,
which relishes ground operations taking place among densely populate civilian areas.
Explaining this to Muslims in the
Twitterverse, I get sharply reminded that Hamas does not have the
“luxury of launch sites” that Israel enjoys. Have we lost our minds,
Muslims? How can we speak of ‘launch sites’ as ‘luxuries’ while
disregarding the culling taking place in Syria? Perhaps we have not lost
our minds, but we have most certainly lost our religion.
As I am not one to speak for others, allow me
to let Hamas speak for themselves. They are bald-faced about their
mission, seeking glory through death, annunciation through annihilation:
We are ready to offer 1,000, 2,000 or even
10,000 martyrs every year. We are ready to keep offering martyrs for
twenty years because we are sure we are moving in the right direction
and that we will prevail in the end” (Hamas leader Khalid Al Mish’al in
Gaza”
To Hamas, a Palestinian life is worth more
when “martyred,” a dead child more of a blessing than one living. “The
children of the kindergarten are the shaheeds [martyrs] of tomorrow,”
reads a sign displayed at a Hamas-run kindergarten. The martyrdom mantra
is their anthem.
While observers speculate Hamas will shortly
usurp the crumbling Fatah leadership and ideologically annex the West
Bank, we must remember Hamas’ raison d’etre: Islamist nihilism, a
totalitarian ideology, jet-fueled on the language and images stolen from
mighty Islam. Israeli negotiators who must engage with this opponent
are walking on the sharp-edged sword of Damocles and unlike Muslims, the
Israelis certainly know it.
Coloring their fascism with Islam, Hamas
claims religious legitimacy to openly seek destruction of the Jewish
state and eradication of the Jewish people. By grafting themselves onto
Into Islamic ideals – the vertebral column of that which is most sacred
to Muslims – they render Islam itself heinous, representing their true
ruthlessness: theirs is a willingness to sacrifice anything –including
Islam – to portray Israel as evil.
This ethos was captured in a single
unprecedented obscenity: Hamas’ morbid motorcade. Cocksure thugs,
defiantly cruising on motorcycles trailed exposed cadavers of
Palestinians – Muslim men – trousers pooled at dead ankles. To chants of
‘Allah-hu-Akbar’ as dozens of Palestinian onlookers silently watched,
Hamas took its ghoulish victory lap explicitly to show Gazans how they
execute ‘suspected informers to Israel’. This is the Islam of Hamas.
This is why Hamas does not represent me, or
other believing Muslims. This is why Israel’s battle is mine. This is
why Israel’s struggle – Israel’s jihad – is mine. These are the
‘Muslims’ that Israelis must confront and these are the “Muslims” who
intimidate innocent Palestinians into subjugation to their monstrous
political Islamism.
But we Muslims in particular, more
than conflict-hardened Israelis, should hardly be surprised, for it was
Muslims who were once forewarned of scourges such as Hamas.
The Prophet Mohammed (SAW) was once asked what
he most feared for his followers. Centuries later, his response,
recorded in the hadith, haunts, stating he feared those who:
…Interpret verses of the
Qur’an out of context…A people that recite Qur’an….but it will not go
past their throats, a people with excellent words and vile deeds. They
will pass through the religion (of Islam) like the arrow passes through
its quarry. They will no more come back to the religion than the arrow
will come back to its course. They are the worst of human beings and the
worst of all creation. They summon to the book of Allah, but they have
nothing to do with it. Whoever kills them is closer to Allah than they.
This is the true nature of Hamas, which
recites the Quran yet doesn’t hold it in their hearts, that “summon to
the book of Allah but have nothing to do with it.” By the above, it
would seem the IDF (that eliminates Hamas) is surely closer to Allah
than Hamas.
Yet instead of condemning Hamas, and
recognizing them as imposters among us, the Muslim world celebrates
them, even as Hamas violates the most profound Islamic principle: the
sanctity of life, a right man must protect even in preference to any
rights God claims from man.
When Muslims support Hamas, we support no less
than the signatories to Islam’s collective extinction. Muslim support
renders Hamas legitimate, their methods acceptable, their ideals valid.
Our support as Muslims is their lifeblood. In supporting them, we
hemorrhage our only currency, our only asset – our great monotheism.
Two years into the Arab Awakening, the freshly
turned soil is ripe for the seeding. Hamas operatives everywhere are
already celebrated as ‘liberators’ of Gazans, when they have actually
long been their jailers, ‘victors’ over Israel, when Hamas is the
personal death knell of all pluralism in the region. Gazans so recently
celebrating in the street are no more than hostages afflicted with the
worst Stockholm Syndrome imaginable, heading to their own death through
their misplaced hope in their virulently Islamist leadership.
During Operation Pillar of Defense, Jewish
friends said “this must be such a difficult time for you, but I am glad
of our friendship” implying that because I am Muslim, my loyalty must
surely be to Gaza, my enmity automatically aligned with Israel.
Not so. As a Muslim, I am clear: my loyalty is
with Islam, and therefore explicitly with justice, justice for all
humanity, a humanity that must include Jews. Hamas is obscenely unjust,
so how can my loyalty be with them? To be loyal to Hamas is no less than
to abandon Islam. To be loyal to Hamas is the ultimate blasphemy.
While I understand the need for Israeli
negotiators to engage with Hamas first to secure the current ceasefire
and then for some sort of functional peace, the reality is their
militant ideology must be suffocated out of existence or else the
détente is little more than an illusion. For this, unlike for suicide
bombers or Syrian rockets, there are no Israeli fences or walls, no Iron
Domes, only Muslim barriers – robust barriers of counter-ideology.
It is Muslims who must take the first steps to
excoriate Hamas, to expose them as the ruthless nihilists they
explicitly announce themselves to be. We must scorn Hamas for
masquerading among the poor as their savior when they are instead their
executioner. Muslims must hold all media accountable for telling the
truth: Palestinians are the Muslims orphaned not by Israel but by the
entire Muslim world itself. Land-grabs and permanent refugee camps are
testament to such.
We must ask ourselves the difficult questions.
Does Hamas, who prostitute their progeny in the service of terror,
represent Islam? Is Hamas emulating our Prophet as they rain rockets on
unarmed, civilian, non-combatants? Do their Fajr missiles, named after
Muslim prayers no less, encompass the spirit of Islam as was revealed to
its followers? Do Hamas’ stated goals – including elimination of Israel
– represent coexistence with the People of the Book, who are cherished
in the Quran as dear to God and their Messenger, Moses, particularly
admired by our Maker for his courage in the face of fear?
Don’t be fooled by Hamas’ words Muslims; we have a duty to judge them on their vile deeds.
If Islam is to truly thrive, it will only do
so when more and more anti-Islamist Muslims confront and extinguish
radical Islamist ideologues. Otherwise, we stand to lose both Israel and
Islam in one fell swoop of the Islamist axe. Whether rescuing
Palestinians and Israelis captive to the whim of Hamas, or rescuing
Islam from Islamist Hamas, this is truly our jihad and no one else’s, which is why Israel’s jihad is also mine.
By Cynthia Yacowar-Sweeney, American Thinker – “Calls to summon Muslims to prayer were broadcast over loudspeakers for the first time ever in Sweden this past Friday on April 26th at the Fittja Mosque in the Stockholm municipality of Botkyrka. The Islamic call to prayer (adhan), resonating from the towering 104-foot (32-meter) minaret, began with the ear-shattering ‘Allahu Akbar’ (Allah is Great) and was followed by the Shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith: ‘There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah’. Every Friday, people from as far as two kilometers away will be subjected to hear what U.S. President Obama called ‘one of the prettiest sounds on earth’.
Barack Obama’s relationship with Islam has long been one of the most radioactive questions surrounding his presidency. Before the 2008 election, it was considered impolite in the extreme even to mention publicly Obama’s middle name, “Hussein,” a name given only to Muslim babies. And despite repeated polls showing a significant percentage of voters – one in three conservative Republicans and almost one in five of all voters – believe the president is currently a Muslim, those who dare bring up the issue are mercilessly scorned as ignoramuses and bigots.
