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SUMMARIES
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The Strategy
of Islamic Conquest, Then and Now
Mordechai Nisan
The flow of Islamic domination over non-Muslim countries evolved,
not only from military conquest, but from social penetration of
Middle Eastern lands and beyond. Muslim settlement, Arabic
linguistic colonization and Islamization of native populations
launched a thorough transformation of society, as history records in
Syria and Persia, Anatolia and Bulgaria, and elsewhere. Old
established communities were overwhelmed and their cultural
identities eradicated.
In
Israel, the Arabs/Muslims are dedicated to transform the country
into a Muslim-dominated and governed state. The Arab population
within the Green Line, increasing demographically while adopting an
extremist Palestinian/Muslim ethos, disdains Israel’s Jewish
character. The ineluctable goal is to cause the diminution of the
Jewish population, by instilling fear leading to flight among Jews,
just as Muslim peoples caused the diminution of Christian and Jewish
communities in the region throughout history. Palestinian demands
from Israel for national rights and democratic freedoms are parallel
non-violent methods of Muslim conquest.
Israel must cultivate conviction in its national right to the Land
of Israel, freeze the “policy of peace” which is a prescription for
territorial withdrawal, invalidate the Oslo Process, and engage in a
dynamic settlement enterprise throughout the country.
Jerusalem is a microcosm of the Arab threat to Israel, and if Israel
were to concede sovereignty to the Palestinians in the eastern part
of the city, that would lead to unraveling the cohesiveness and
safety of Jewish neighborhoods in the western part of Jerusalem as
well.
The sinister and persistent strategy of Islamic conquest must be
understood in order for Israel to survive this grave internal
threat. The true theatre of confrontation is not at negotiation
sessions in Washington or Sharm e-Sheikh, but in the mountains of
the Galilee, the Negev desert, and the hills of Judea and Samaria.
Whoever controls the public space and geographic terrain will win
the war over the Land of Israel.
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The Assassins:
The First Islamic Suicide Bombers and
Their Effect on the Modern Islamic Terror Organizations
Ronen Yitzchak
“Assassins” was the name
for the members of a secret order of the Isma`ili sect of Islam;
which were known as Nizaris. This name was given to them based on
the belief that they used drugs (Hashish) before they killed their
enemies. The murders were by dagger, but Assassins wanted to commit
suicide after the act because they believed that after the murders,
each assassin would be a “Shahid” (Martyr) and would go directly to
Paradise. Therefore, they were the first suicide organization in the
Islamic world.
The order was founded by
Hasan al-Sabbah when he gained control of the mountain fortress of
Alamut in 1090. The order spread over Persia and Syria, gaining
control of many strongholds, and wielded great political power by
terror until the coming of the Mongols who destroyed their
fortresses in 1258. The Assassins in Syria were killed by Baybars,
the Mamluk sultan of Egypt.
The modern Islamic terror
organizations and Islamic suicide bombers drew great inspiration
from the Assassins' activities. They used the same methods that
Assassins used in medieval times. Mobilization of new believers was
accomplished by preaching and convincing these believers to perform
acts of terror because it is God's will and through His promises,
these murderers would go to Paradise.
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Terrorism
at Sea –
A New Threat to International Security
Krzysztof Kubiak
Despite the relatively
high number of criminal acts, which took place at sea after World
War II, violence in that realm is marginal and can be paralleled to
piracy. Conventional wisdom has it that this phenomenon is tied to
impoverished countries, torn by internal conflict, backward and
incapable of effectively controlling their coastal areas. Illegal
activities at sea have had very little effect on international
security, on world naval commerce and on the economic status of the
world’s leading nations. Even the recurrent information regarding
the acquisition of advanced technical capabilities by organizations
tied to this illegal activity has done nothing to affect that
conventional wisdom. Only the suicide bombing against the American
naval destroyer Cole, while refueling at the port of Aden and
the events of September 11, 2001 were able to bring about a
reassessment of the complacent evaluations mentioned above, which
are out of touch with reality.
In the wake of the
terrorist offensive against the United States, research centers
began putting together the pieces of the international “naval
puzzle” that had been scattered until now. The attack on the naval
destroyer Cole was tied to the maritime terrorism of the
Tamil separatists and to attacks perpetrated by various Palestinian
groups. Attention was also directed towards South American drug
cartels, which employ remote control speedboats steered by means of
cables. The analysis focused on reports of attempts by extremist
groups and crime organizations to build miniature submarines. These
efforts led to new and frightening assessments and predictions
regarding security at sea throughout the world. Especially, the
realization has dawned that despite the increasing efforts to
improve security of key facilities, land structures and civilian air
travel, the terrorists are liable to focus on attacking the “soft
underbelly” of the world’s wealthiest countries, that is, naval
trade and shipping.
The transformation which
terrorism has undergone, from a means of exerting pressure and
drawing attention, to an instrument of total destruction, is
completely consistent with potential acts of maritime terrorism,
whose perpetrators enjoy complete freedom in terms of place, time
and method of carrying out the mission. Their only limitations are
organizational ability, availability of personnel and funding.
Therefore, it is impossible to make predictions regarding areas of
severe danger of naval terrorism. That type of activity was and will
continue to be worldwide and will harm both ships and shipping
infrastructure (lanes, loading docks, etc.).
An analysis of terrorist
actions directed against shipping over the last fifty years enables
one to envisage the possible modus operandi which will be adopted by
the perpetrators of similar acts in the future, i.e.: Attacks on
ports or at sea, hijacking merchant ships, shooting at merchant
ships sailing in coastal areas or in domestic arteries, attacks
using boats loaded with explosives steered by remote control or by
suicide bombers, attacks by means of underwater commandos, attacks
using mines.
The fact that a
significant portion of the equipment required in order to perpetrate
terrorist acts can be purchased through regular business channels,
with no restrictions, also works in favor of the perpetrators of
naval terrorism. In developed countries, speedboats and motorboats,
jet-skis, scuba equipment and the like are considered sporting goods
and leisure activities. On the other hand, every speedboat and piece
of scuba equipment is an article with dual uses, liable to serve
terrorists planning attacks at sea without any need for extensive
organization. The same is true regarding the training of navigators
and divers.
An additional factor
easing the perpetration of marine terrorism is the relative ease in
which one can purchase a large ship (with the objective of using it
as a base ship for maritime sabotage: as a platform for weapons in
order to stage a short attack against choice objectives or to plant
mines) due to the liberal laws in effect in the shipping market
(especially regarding the matter of “flag as you like it” or
countries which sell their flag cheap) and the secondhand ship
business. The upshot is that legally purchasing and registering a
ship is merely a matter of money.
The threat against
maritime security takes on a new dimension in light of the
opportunity to purchase naval mines through regular commercial
channels outside the control of the country’s security services.
International laws and
charters preserve the traditional principles of the countries’
sovereignty over their “territorial waters” as well as “open seas
and free sailing”. They thereby place obstacles in the way of
achieving success in the battle against maritime terrorism. Despite
this, one cannot assume that they will be amended in the foreseeable
future. Thus, those conducting counterterrorist operations will be
forced to come to terms with the fact that the effectiveness of
those operations will be undermined. This situation functions in
favor of those perpetrating the terrorist attacks and is liable to
deleteriously influence the manner in which naval counterterrorism
activities are perceived by the public around the world.
The article points to the
possibilities of carrying out vigorous terrorist attacks on a large
scale, both in areas within the jurisdiction of the countries and
out at sea. The international community is not yet prepared to
confront this threat. We must not wait until the next politically
motivated, flamboyant terrorist activity. Effective countermeasures
and preventive measures must be undertaken against the threat
already facing us today.
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The
Noam Chomsky File:
Portrait of a Jewish Anti-Semite
Rachel Neuwirth
Noam Chomsky is among the
leading lights of the political far left in America, having written
extensively and lectured widely, especially on college campuses. He
is a Professor of Linguistics at MIT and has been introduced as
“arguably one of America’s greatest intellectuals”.
He is held in high esteem
by his many followers who enthusiastically, if uncritically, accept
his views on global politics. This gives weight to what he propounds
thereby making him a factor on the political scene. Among his
primary targets are the leadership and policies of both America and
Israel. His influence is strongest on campus where tomorrow’s
leaders and thinkers are being educated.
Many people feel
uncomfortable at what Chomsky is saying, feeling deep down that he
is neither objective nor constructive. But Chomsky has developed a
powerful political technique by cleverly combining selective truths
and half-truths that many people find difficult to refute. This
article examines the man and his record and exposes the unsavory
substance behind his public image. The thinking public should be
armed with this background to avoid being misled by this master
propagandist.
Chomsky spreads his
extremist views by calculated indirection while piously denying
personal anti-Semitism. He thus endorses the views of others who
preach anti-Semitism or he claims to only be defending their
“freedom of speech”. Also captured are Chomsky’s own words, uttered
in an unguarded moment, that reveal his deep hatred towards
everything Jewish. Chomsky also plays the game of “blame the victim”
whereby he condemns efforts at combating anti-Semitism as a sinister
right-wing Jewish conspiracy designed to undermine the “progressive”
agenda of the political left.
The public should be
alert to the actions of this radical professor and to the danger he
represents.
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On The New York
Times and Jews in Danger
Yonatan Silverman
“On The New York Times
and Jews in Danger” addresses the relationship of one of the world’s
most important daily newspapers to three issues of existential
interest to the Jewish people in the 20th century. The first and
most important issue is the Shoah. During the Second World
War, The New York Times published reports about the Nazi
annihilation of European Jewry, but buried these reports in the
paper’s back pages, and almost never reported explicitly that the
victims of Nazi atrocities were Jewish. The figure ultimately
responsible for the glaring neglect in The New York Times’
reporting on the Shoah was the paper’s Jewish publisher,
Arthur Sulzberger. On account of his adherence to Reform Jewish
ideas, Sulzberger was philosophically opposed to showing favoritism
to Jews as a unique people. He believed that Judaism was just a
religion and nothing more. Although many years later the newspaper
published an unusual apology for its failure to report adequately on
the Shoah, it is a whitewash.
An example from the 1990s
illustrating that The New York Times is not favorably
disposed towards Jews is the paper’s reporting on the Crown Heights
riots. In contradiction to the facts, the paper falsely reported
that the Jewish community in Crown Heights and the Afro-American
community there were rioting against each other, when in fact, it
was the Afro-American community that was rioting against the Jews.
The false reporting had consequences in terms of the delayed and
insufficient police reaction, and the riots ultimately caused the
murder of Talmudic scholar, Yankel Rosenbaum.
The third issue the
article addresses is the persistent negative editorial bias of
The New York Times with regard to the State of Israel.
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Assimilation, Normalcy and Jewish Self-Hatred
Shlomo Sharan
Assimilation of
Jews into the Gentile environment is often accompanied by a sense
that the Jews are abnormal. In its more advanced form, assimilation
entails both cultural and national dimensions, the sense of the Jews
being deviant, and a rejection of Jewish historical heritage or of
Israel as a nation. This latter phenomenon is called self-hatred or
Jewish anti-Semitism. Jewish self-hatred, while not a new
phenomenon, has moved from being a peripheral to being a central
manifestation in Jewish life today, along with the advance of
assimilation.
Jewish “olim”
do not simply discard their cultural background when they come to
Israel, so that the problems of assimilation, a sense of Jewish
abnormality and even self-hatred, are found in Israel society as in
Jewish societies elsewhere. Emigration from Israel is one example of
the inroads of assimilation in Israel, in addition to the absence of
Jewish consciousness among many Jews in Israel, native-born and
others. Jews as individuals are as normal as members of other
groups, but the Jewish group thus far does not assimilate completely
into Gentile societies and retains its distinctiveness in varying
degrees, which can be construed as not being normal. Israel as a
nation has also manifested many signs of not being a normal nation
by reaching agreements with the PLO, a terrorist organization, when
these agreements contradict the basic rule of nations to protect the
safety and integrity of their populations, and to secure their
historical survival. Jewish self-hatred has challenged the
legitimacy of Israel as a nation, asserting that Israel should cease
to exist as a Jewish political entity. Israel’s survival depends
upon the success of its struggle against many external threats as
well as against the internal struggle with self-hating Jews.
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Jews Against Israel
Manfred Gerstenfeld
Attacks on
Israel by Israelis and Jews are frequently indistinguishable from
those by Gentiles. Among the specific aspects in the anti-Israel
writings of a number of Jews are the use of their family’s Holocaust
experiences, their references to being Jewish, or their mentioning
an association of some kind with Israel.
One can analyze
texts for their classic and new anti-Semitic elements without
knowing who their authors are. This method enables identification of
Jewish and Israeli anti-Semites, some of which are extreme ones.
Occasionally, even Jewish journals print essays of authors using
anti-Semitic arguments. There have been many rewards with
correspondingly limited penalties for some Jews who attack Israel.
Gentile
assaults often use statements from Israeli or Diaspora Jewish
defamers as a way of legitimizing their attacks on Israel or Jews.
Furthermore, a small number of anti-Israel Jews enable the media to
present a Jewish community divided on key Israeli policy.
Anti-Semitic Jews have also become an important tool in the
anti-Israeli campaigns of Western media.
Academic
initiatives to discriminate against Israeli universities and
scholars are an important aspect of the new anti-Semitism. Among the
signatories and initiators of the various appeals shows Jews and
Israelis played an important role.
The question of
what drives Jewish and Israeli anti-Semites has only been partly
answered. Probably a variety of motives play a role in Jewish
self-hate. The phenomenon, known as the Stockholm Syndrome, is
however, not specifically Jewish or Israeli.
There remains a
substantial gap between the importance of the problem and the
attention given to it in the Jewish world. A more profound analysis
is required to assess the political, cultural, psychological, and
social aspects of the phenomenon.
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Notes on the Foreign Service of
Israel
Moshe Yegar
In recent months, there
has been much public discussion in the Israeli media and in some
academic institutions, on its Foreign Office: its function (or
malfunction) and its role in the shaping of Israel’s national policy
in general and its foreign policy in particular.
M. Yegar, a veteran of 40
years in Israel’s diplomatic service, addresses these issues in his
above-mentioned study.
It starts with a brief
historical background describing the development of the diplomatic
profession and the qualities that were traditionally considered
desirable for a diplomat. A discussion of the changes brought upon
the diplomatic practice since World War II by the development of
modern technologies follows. The role of diplomats in all countries
has undergone a most drastic change. Diplomats today deal with a
variety of issues that were not dealt with by former generations.
Most important – conducting negotiations, which was the major
occupation of diplomats in the past, is done today, directly and
mostly, by heads of states, prime ministers and foreign ministers
(“Summit Diplomacy”), and not by ambassadors, as was done
previously.
The development of
Israel’s diplomatic service is described and analyzed in this
theoretical background.
Subsequent chapters deal
with the specific issues and problems of Israel’s Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Israel’s diplomatic service: its achievements
and faults; its stand in the eyes of public opinion; its
relationship (and difficulties) with the Prime Minister’s Office and
with the Ministry of Defense; deterioration in its own practices
caused by some inept ministers and directors-general in the area of
nominations and appointments and other spheres of activity; the
serious problem of leakages; the perennial unsolved issue of
Hasbara; the relationship with Jewish communities; the
particular way of life that is a part of the diplomatic practice;
and some other problems typical of Israel’s foreign service. The
author makes recommendations for improvements and reforms needed in
the diplomatic service in order to bring it to the level needed by a
small and besieged country like Israel, which needs effective
diplomats and a good foreign office more than many other countries.
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