by Raymond Ibrahim*

Why do some Muslims become suicide bombers or “martyrs”? In fact, these two near antithetic words — on the one hand, broken, desperate suicides, on the other, heroic martyrs — intrinsically demonstrate the radically different epistemologies the average Westerner and Muslim will articulate their answer through. In other words, that Westerners consider them suicides while Muslims consider them martyrs in and of itself speaks volumes on motivation.

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Please take the time to watch this short video from Aish.com — and make sure to sign the petition which calls, “…on the United States government to make its $300 million humanitarian aid pledge to the people of Gaza, conditional upon the Hamas leadership releasing Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held in captivity for over 1,000 days:”

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Symposium by MERIA Journal

The perceptions of Western elites and publics, and the policies of Western governments toward the Middle East have always been viewed as vital to events in the region. Perhaps such concepts are exaggerated, yet this subject is well worth examining. Thus, in the wake of the Gaza war, people from a number of European countries were asked to look at trends in the places where they live. Three levels are examined: the policies of governments, the attitudes of intellectual-media-cultural-journalistic elites, and public opinion. Several European countries were chosen to get some sense of whether these factors are changing and their current status.

Biographies of contributors can be found at the end of each section.

CONTENTS

1. Andrea Loquenzi Hlizer, “Italy“
2. Ilya Meyer, “Sweden and Norway“
3. Dave Rich, “United Kingdom“
4. Benjamin Gondro, “Germany“
5. Michel Gurfinkiel, “France“

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by Daniel Pipes*

With Binyamin Netanyahu, head of the Likud Party, about to become Israel’s next prime minister, one wonders whether he will stick to his more controversial campaign promises – not that of confronting the Iranian threat, which is widely backed, but such as ending Hamas control of Gaza or keeping the Golan Heights.

Two indicators suggest what may lie ahead: (1) the general pattern of the four Likud prime ministers since 1977 and (2) specifically, Netanyahu’s own record as one of those four.

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PHILADELPHIA — The Middle East Forum is proud to announce that Ruth Malhotra, Campus Watch Research Assistant at the Middle East Forum, is the 2009 co-recipient of the Ronald Reagan Award from the American Conservative Union, the highest award given by the ACU.

The award honors a conservative activist who best exemplifies the Reagan spirit of outstanding achievement and selfless contributions to the advancement of liberty. Presented on February 27, 2009 at the 36th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), it includes a $10,000 cash stipend.

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By Barry Rubin

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the Middle East and the sky didn’t cave in.

Two very large groups spun the story to the contrary: the purveyors of the conventional wisdom on the region (that is, academics, media, and other opinion-makers) who were speaking out of wishful thinking that the number-one item on the Obama Administration’s agenda is to bash Israel, and those opposed to that government who fears this outcome.

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Fox News interview with Daniel Pipes*

Eric Shawn: Are our children being taught a politically correct version of Islam? Well, this study from the American Textbook Council says some school textbooks portray Islam in the most favorable light, while downplaying Islamic extremism. One junior high school book described jihad this way: “jihad is defined as a struggle within each individual to overcome difficulties and strive to please God. Sometimes it may be a physical struggle for protection against enemies.” Muslim activists say the attention should not be on terrorism or extremists, but others say youngsters are not getting the full story.

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WASHINGTON (March 8, 2009) — The E-Verify program will shut down this week, unless it is reauthorized by Congress. The free, online system run by the Department of Homeland Security enables employers to check that new hires are indeed eligible to work in the United States, rather than relying only on easily forged paper documents.

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by Daniel Pipes*

For the past year, there’s been a concerted push within the U.S. government to ban frank talk about the nature of the Islamist enemy. It began with the Department of Homeland Security, then moved to the National Counter Terrorism Center and the departments of State and Defense. Already in May 2008, I heard an excellent analysis of the enemy by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Thomas Mahnken in which he bizarrely never once mentioned Islam or jihad.

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By Mark Krikorian

Richard Nadler complains that his critics didn’t address his main premise: that conservatives are advocating “mass deportation,” and that such a position is sure to alienate Hispanic voters. That’s because there are no serious advocates of “mass deportation.”

If conservatives were in fact supporting the mass roundup and deportation of 11–12 million people, losing the Hispanic vote would be the least of our problems. But, of course, mass deportation is not the only alternative to amnesty. Instead, the position that many conservatives (and others) actually favor is attrition through enforcement — a reduction over time in the illegal population through consistent, comprehensive application of the law, something we have never really attempted.

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by Gideon Spitzer*

On June 7, 2007, Syrian military intelligence arrested blogger Tariq Biasi on charges of “undermining national sentiment” and “publishing false information.”[1] Biasi, a 23-year-old computer technician from Banyas, Syria, who suffers from liver disease, is just the most recent in a slew of arrests targeting Syrian bloggers.

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By Barry Rubin

Why should Western money rebuild Gaza? This is an assumption made widely and hundreds of millions will be wasted, wasted through corruption, through falling into the hands of Hamas, through building things that will soon be destroyed due to Hamas’s war policy. Is this really so hard to understand?

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by Daniel Pipes*

Was I the only one rubbing my eyes in disbelief yesterday, as the Egyptian government hosted an “International Conference in Support of the Palestinian Economy for the Reconstruction of Gaza”?

It took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, attended by delegations from 71 states, plus 16 regional, international, and financial organizations. Its stated goal was to raise US$2.8 billion, of which $1.3 was for rebuilding what had been destroyed in the course of Israel’s recent war on Hamas (the rest would be sent to the Palestinian Authority to help improve its standing). The actual amount raised at the conference was $4.5 billion which, when added to previously committed funds, means the grand total for Gaza and the PA comes to $5.2 billion, to be disbursed over a two-year period. A delighted Egyptian foreign minister called the amount “beyond our expectations.” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it “a very productive conference.”

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By Andrew L. Jaffee

Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s President, has shown his brazen disrespect for his own people, calling them “filth,” and has evicted Black Africans off their own lands. He has also instituted very racist policies towards his country’s remaining whites by confiscating their lands. Mugabe’s economic “leadership” has led Zimbabwe to have, “the world’s highest official inflation rate, a hunger crisis and a cholera epidemic that has killed about 4000 people since August.”

Mugabe stuffs his face while millions starve: “The celebration, which reportedly cost $US250,000 ($A391,570), was held as Zimbabwe’s new unity government failed to secure financial aid to rescue the country’s collapsed economy.”

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by Asaf Romirowsky and Nicole Brackman*

There was a bit of head-scratching going on recently in the hallowed halls of the UN.

After weeks of rebuking Israel for preventing humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza, UN officials were forced to cancel deliveries of aid into the Hamas-controlled territory after terrorists broke into a UN Relief and Works Agency warehouse and made off with 800 tons of blankets, food and other basic commodities to sell them to the highest bidders.

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