September 11: A Decade Later

by Dov S. Zakheim*

Everyday American images of the war on terror — the legacy of 9/11: Government buildings surrounded by ugly concrete blocks. Pennsylvania Avenue, the street that the White House — once known as the “people’s house” — faces, no longer open to traffic. ID cards required everywhere. Airline passengers waiting patiently in line to take off their shoes, belts, jewelry — and to have their bags searched and perhaps their bodies as well. Fans searched as they enter football stadiums. People on the watch for suspicious characters — including those who might take photos of bridges and tunnels. People fearing to retrieve lost bags in case they are booby trapped. Increased government surveillance of individual Americans, including their telephone calls overseas.

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By Gary Gerofsky

We heard crowds in Egypt chant, “allahu akbar.” We heard the crowds in Yemen chant allahu akbar. We heard crowds in Bahrain chant allahu akbar. We hear the crowds in Syria chant allahu akbar. We hear the crowds in Libya chant allahu akbar. The same chant can be heard all over the Muslim world from troubled people in countries that are themselves in deep trouble. Literally, allahu akbar means “God is great” in Arabic, in the context of the Islamic religion. I am certain that the God to whom they are referring and envisioning is a very harsh deity with a very Islamo-specific agenda in mind; a celestial leader who refuses to include or acknowledge those outside of Islam in his vision of the world order.

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by Ilan Berman*

Are sanctions capable of derailing Tehran’s nuclear drive? Some skeptics reject such measures altogether, preferring to deal with Tehran by either accommodation or containment.[1] Others point to the spotty historical record of sanctions in altering state behavior in arguing that they will similarly fall short of forcing the ayatollahs to rethink their long-standing nuclear ambitions.[2] For example, sanctions were found to be successful in only a third of the 105 instances in which they were applied between World War I and the end of the Cold War.[3] As the past year has shown, however, Tehran may well turn out to be the exception to the rule — but only if the Obama administration (and Western governments more generally) make swift and skillful use of the economic and strategic means at their disposal.

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by Phyllis Chesler

The civilizational war that Jean Raspail once envisioned in his brilliant, dystopian novel The Camp of the Saints is now fully underway. What Raspail once only imagined has come to pass. People of color from many formerly colonized countries have created “no go” zones all across Europe; ambulances and the police enter there at their own risk.

The “youth,” the opportunistic criminal elements, the proto-jihadists (all of whom survive on the European dole), are torching cars, looting stores, battling the police.

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British Prime Minister David Cameron has said what needs to be said regarding the hooligans in the UK population mindlessly wreaking havoc in their own streets. He called this riff-raff, “sick.” He’s right. Cameron’s words should remind all Western societies of the dangers of becoming over-tolerant welfare states:

There are pockets of our society that are not only broken, but frankly sick it is a complete lack of responsibility in parts of our society, people allowed to feel that the world owes them something. …

The sight of those young people running down streets smashing windows, taking property, looting, laughing as they go — the problem with that is a complete lack of responsibility, a lack of proper parenting, a lack of proper upbringing, a lack of proper ethics, a lack of proper morals. That is what we need to change.

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by Raymond Ibrahim*

In his manifesto, Anders Breivik, the perpetrator of the Norway massacre, in which 80 people were killed and many wounded, mentioned the Crusades and aspects of it as they had been an inspirational factor to him. Predictably, Western elites — especially through the mainstream media — have begun a new round of moral, cultural, and historical relativism, some even conflating the terrorist with former President Bush, who once used the word “crusade.”

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By Barry Rubin

“I do not understand Norway’s position, and I say that as a friend of Norway. If they shoot, if they fire rockets, why doesn’t Norway believe that they are terrorists? What else do they need to do? Let us not forget that Norway and the other Scandinavian countries called in Yasir Arafat and said: ‘If you want a deal, you must first renounce terrorism. You must recognize the state of Israel, and you must commit yourself to peace.’ Why is all this forgotten? What is the difference between the PLO at that time and Hamas today?”
– President Shimon Peres, May 2011

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by Daniel Pipes*

Scandinavia may look idyllic from a distance, what with royal families and prime ministers almost without security, but it has endured its fair share of violence, from the assassinations of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme and foreign minister Anna Lindh to two school massacres in one year in Finland, one killing eight, the other ten. Anders Behring Breivik’s rampage, in other words, was hardly unprecedented.

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By Gary Gerofsky

All forms of mass murder and terrorism are evil and repugnant, whatever the source, whether from Tim McVeigh, Anders Behring Breivik, a German Third Reich gone mad under Hitler or a huge representative group of Islamists who think that their holy books command them to commit violent jihad against the infidels. The Islamist situation dominates the terror scene today notwithstanding the exceptions such as this recent insane mass murder by Breivik in Norway. Yet the mainstream media (MSM) go out of their way to avoid using terms like “terrorism” (banned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation or “CBC” in Canada) and the Obama administration (specifically Janet Napolitano) has advised the government to use “man-caused disaster” so as not to offend Muslims by stating the truth about terrorism and calling it what it actually is. This manipulation of truth and language is a tactic to close debate and discussion about immigration, Islamic terrorism, misogyny, sharia, and jihad. In a similar way, debate is being closed down by labeling this tragedy a right-wing Christian conspiracy.

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By Fern Sidman

According to combined news sources, just two days before gunman Anders Behring Breivik opened fire on teenagers participating in Norway’s ruling party youth camp on the island of Utoya, the campers met with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and demanded he recognize the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

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by Phyllis Chesler

The author strongly condemns the murder, but challenges the grieving Norwegian government and intelligentsia to do something effective about their own failed multi-cultural policies.

I condemn mass murder and the slaughter of unarmed civilian innocents.

Therefore, I condemn the shocking Norwegian-on-Norwegian, infidel-on-infidel, mainly Caucasian-on-Caucasian massacres carried out by Anders Behring Breivik — just as I have condemned the mass murders of Jewish, Israeli, Hindu, European, and American civilians carried out by Muslim Islamist terrorists.

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by Phyllis Chesler

Israel continues to endure the fallout from the Mavi Marmara debacle; Israel gets blamed for defending herself even though Turkish hired assassins had come with the express purpose of assaulting and murdering Israeli soldiers.

In the teeth of this cruel public relations disaster, the indomitable Italian parliamentarian Fiamma Nirenstein, the chair of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians, asked me to write something that would be read at a massive pro-Israel rally that she, together with Giuliano Ferrara, the publisher of Il Foglio, helped organize.

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by Phyllis Chesler

Did you know that Jews and Muslims have a shared history in Europe? That Muslims have “deep roots” on the European continent and that Muslims are as imperiled by “Islamophobia” as Jews are by anti-Semitism?

Nothing could be further from the truth, and yet the first Gathering of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders issued a statement on May 9^th and just held a meeting in Brussels on May 30, 2011. Oddly enough, the meeting was organized by two American Jewish groups, Rabbi Marc Schneier’s Foundation For Ethnic Understanding and philanthropist Ronald Lauder’s World Jewish Congress, as well as by the European Jewish Congress.

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By Fern Sidman

On Sunday May 29th, “Project Witness” sponsored a unique symposium entitled “The Untold Story: Religious Faith and Practice during the Holocaust” held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage near Battery Park in lower Manhattan. As a non-profit Holocaust resource center, “Project Witness” merges lucid scholarship with cutting-edge media to provide thought-provoking Holocaust educational tools for schools, community centers, and lay readers. While remaining deeply committed to the exploration of the spiritual, ethical, and intellectual responses of Holocaust survivors and victims, “Project Witness” focuses on the character, identity, and faith of survivors and victims and serves to ensure that their legacy is transformed into an eternal guide toward a more hopeful future.

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by Steven J. Rosen*

Having sidelined Barack Obama’s peace initiative by refusing to return to the negotiations table without apriori Israeli concessions, the Palestinian leadership seeks to secure an international declaration of statehood at the next U.N. General Assembly session in September 2011. This “date certain” strategy, whereby its entitlement to a state will be fulfilled by the world powers, has long been preferred by the Palestinian leadership to any arduous, bilateral negotiation with Israel, which would require painful concessions. The Palestinians enjoy wide support in many European capitals, and they know that the Obama administration is close to their positions on many of the core issues. So forcing the statehood demand into a multilateral forum can entice governments into satisfying the Palestinian aspirations by a fixed date.

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