To Clean Out the Stables and Prepare for War
Moshe Sharon
O believers, what is amiss with you, that when it
is said to you: ‘Go forth in the way of Allah,’ you sink down heavily to the
ground? Are you so content with this present life, rather than the world to
come? Yet the enjoyment of this present life, compared with the world to come,
is a little thing.
Qur`an, Sura 9 Verse 38)
Go forth light and heavy! Struggle in Allah’s way
with your possessions and your selves; that is better for you, if you know.
(Qur`an Sura 9 Verse 41)
Based on Arberry,
The Koran interpreted.
London 1955.
Syria delenda est
as in “Carthago delenda est” – Carthage must be destroyed –
The statement with which
Cato the Elder
would conclude his speeches in the Senate.
From a New Middle East to the Second Lebanon War
The second Lebanon War (the
“Three Weeks of Mourning War”) of the summer of 2006 has not yet come to an end.
As this is being written, one round of the war has concluded in an intermission.
It is only an introduction to the prologue. Even now our enemies are aligning
for another war and another one after that, for many years to come. Over the
last decade and a half, ever since the foolishness of the Oslo Accords,
everything has been done to erode the nation’s resolve, its strength, and its
belief in the justness of its path. Contributing to this phenomenon has been a
media mobilized to the insane idea of “peace” and a “new Middle East,” various
intellectuals who depicted peace as being just around the corner and prevented
by the “occupation,” which, if it were only to end, the End of Days would arrive
immediately and Islam would lovingly accept the Jewish state. Orientalists and
Islamists swept under the rug all of the truths crying out to them from every
document that they researched, from the pages of every Arab newspaper that they
read. They told the nation just how peace-loving the Syrians and the
Palestinians were, how their only desire was that the occupation cease and a
small state be established alongside Israel; things which do not appear in any
authorized or semi-authorized Arab-Islamic document. They did not report about
that which was openly stated nor did they relate to what anyone could read on
the MEMRI website: That the demand to end the occupation is just a pretext to
separate Israel from the few strategic assets still under its control and hold
it hostage to the kassams of Hamas and the katyushas of Hizbullah. They
repressed the fact, which they knew better than anyone else, that since 1979,
when the 15th century of Islam (according to the Muslim calendar)
began, the majority of the Muslim world has been engulfed in the fire of
messianic expectations. From that point on, the molten lava of jihad,
shot forth, poured into the Middle East and the world in general, and began to
flow through the pathways and tunnels of fanatical Islamic fundamentalism,
kindling half-dormant hopes and arousing the fire of hatred for everything
non-Muslim everywhere. Over the course of an entire generation it has been
boiling and blistering and amassing power daily. In its wake lie the Twin Towers
from September 11 along with thousands of dead in Europe, the United States and
in the Arab countries themselves, especially in Iraq.
Today it is clear to everyone who
is prepared to confront unadorned reality, and they are the majority of people
in Israeli society with the wish to live, that we have to take advantage of the
short period of time left to us to prepare the army for the inevitable next war.
It is already on the way.
The UN
Resolution – A Worthless Piece of Paper
Hizbullah is the immediate enemy.
No one will disarm it because it has no intention of disarming and there is no
one to coerce it to do so. The UN resolution on the issue was filed away long
ago. The UN is collaborating with Hizbullah and none of its member nations has
any interest in dealing with it. Why make life easier for Israel? Kofi Annan has
already gone to Hizbullah’s Canossa and shaken the hand of the murderer from
South Beirut. As Hizbullah has no one to fear – and now not even Israel – it has
no reason in the world to relinquish the power that renders it master of
Lebanon.
After many years, during which
the Shiites were the most wretched, backward and destitute segment of their
country’s population, they have now become the masters who can do whatever they
please in Lebanon. They are supported by two countries that arm them to the
teeth, provide them with massive economic support, and enable them to emerge as
the spearhead in Islam’s war against Israel. Thus, there is no reason for them
to lay down their weapons willingly. In the world in which we live, arms are
strength and that is all the more true in the Middle East. It is absolutely
clear, therefore, that the Hizbullah will not emerge weakened from this stage of
the battle but, instead, will become much more powerful. This interlude will
enable it to learn the lessons of the campaign. The Iranians and Syrians have
learned something as well. They will provide Hizbullah with anti-aircraft
missiles and a significant quantity of anti-tank missiles as well as more
accurate medium and long-range missiles.
A War That Accomplished Nothing
The Hizbullah army will not
abandon even one position in the south. We will soon see how they upgrade
positions and dig bunkers before the eyes and cameras of the IDF and the Israeli
Government; the legions of journalists, intellectuals and peace-seekers will
relate how quiet and good and beautiful it is in the flourishing, prosperous
north; and the bed and breakfasts, yes, we mustn’t forget the bed and
breakfasts! That which transpired from mid-July to mid-August 2006, will be
repressed in a collection of memories that ruin the picture and are best left
forgotten. Let’s say it clearly: Nothing was achieved in this war except for a
ridiculous UN document and an interlude during which the enemy will have the
opportunity to better entrench itself 700 or 70 meters from the border, in and
under villages that were virtually undamaged. In the wadis surrounding them
thousand of rockets and other tools of destruction are stockpiled. If the
organization lost some fighters (not many more than the IDF losses) that has not
weaken it at all, as it has the ability to recruit thousands from within Lebanon
and abroad in a short time: Shi`ites craving martyrdom are always available.
They will come from Iran, Iraq and other Shi`ite communities. However, even
without them, the pool of Shi`ites in Lebanon is huge, and several hundred of
these Shi`ites have been undergoing guerilla warfare training in Iran for some
time already. The Hizbullah army does not need to be large in terms of manpower.
Hizbullah does not require divisions. It functions in small, fast units, which
can easily hide in the houses, and the natural surroundings that they know
better than anyone else. They are equipped with excellent anti-tank missiles and
operate cheap missile launchers against civilian populations in order to spread
death and devastation with no pangs of conscience. Conscience is not a commodity
with which Hizbullah is equipped vis-à-vis the Lebanese citizens and certainly
not vis-à-vis Israel. Therefore, the homes of the fellow Lebanese are its
shelters and their babies are its human shield, and it has learned that it is
dealing with Israeli fools for whom the lives of their enemies very often take
precedence over the lives of their soldiers and civilians.
The Shi`ah of Hizbullah took
control of Lebanon with the generous help of Iran and Syria and it will not
relinquish it even if this means bringing about its total destruction. Lebanon
will gradually be emptied of its remaining Christian population and zealous
Islam will have achieved an important objective: One of the only two non-Muslim
countries in the Middle East will just disappear.
Preparations for the next war
must begin immediately in every sense: Both the forces at the front and the
defense of the rear. The national list of priorities must be reordered, and
defense must be elevated form fifth to first place in the existing distorted
list of priorities, as without a country there is also no one to whom to
distribute benefits; for a welfare state there must first be a state. At the
same time it is imperative to shatter the myth which the State of Israel has
been force fed by the guardians of morality, bleeding heart liberals, various
peace camps and proponents of the new Middle East: There is no peace. There is
no new Middle East. On the contrary, the old Middle East of the Middle Ages is
still alive and well, a Middle East inundated by, zealous, combative, messianic
and apocalyptic Islam, led by clerics filled with hatred for anything
non-Muslim, and by their servants who have emblazoned on their banner the
restoration of the caliphate and world domination. Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad is not
the only one who is giving public expression to this Islam; and he, despite the
monstrosity of his turn of phrase, is not the most outspoken among them. It is
worth listening to Yusuf Qardawi, the oracle of Muslim intellectuals,
anti-Semitic from head to toe and the beloved of Ken Livingstone, mayor of
London.
Ahmadinezhad expresses just a
small part of the Islamic political and military doctrine and not a particularly
zealous brand of Islam, but rather an accepted, traditional Islam. However,
modern Islamic zealotry has taken this tradition and singled out the doctrine of
war and the hatred of the non-Muslim world, particularly the Jews. This Islamic
zealotry encompasses large communities and speaks to the masses in a language
that they like to hear. There is no point in engaging in armchair psychological
analysis of the reasons for this. The facts speak for themselves. This is the
Islam that sees bloodshed as a supreme value.
To Murder, Slaughter and
Decapitate
A clear example of this was the
demonstration held in London a few months ago in protest against the publication
of several caricatures criticizing Islamic terrorism, employing the image of
Mohammed (about a year after they were published!). This was a massive
demonstration of Muslims. The banners brandished by the demonstrators included
just the words: “Kill,” “Slaughter,” “Decapitate,” “Prepare for the next
holocaust” and other linguistic flourishes of this kind. In every demonstration
held in Lebanon, Gaza, Nabulus, Ramallah, Iraq and many other places in the
Muslim world, the demonstrators brandish any weapon on which they can lay their
hands: rifles, missile launchers, hand grenades. The unfortunate among them can
only brandish pistols. All this is accompanied by cries of hatred, the burning
of flags and effigies and by promises of murder and destruction, especially for
the Jews: “Slaughter the Jews!” is the oldest slogan.
Islam – The Imperial Fighting Religion
Islam came into being as a
fighting religion. Mohammed, the prophet of Islam, imposed his authority, first
and foremost, by means of his military strength. He understood that even when
speaking in the name of Allah, this must be accompanied by tens of thousands of
fighters with drawn swords. Islam established an empire even before it
crystallized as a systematic religion. It established its institutions,
developed its theories, built its culture, and created its theological and legal
systems only after it had established an empire. The imperial and religious
aspects of Islam are interconnected. Without an empire – without a massive
political framework, loose though it may be – Islam feels that it lacks a home.
The empire expressed Islamic
power, prominence and virility. Islam was born in order to rule, to be great, as
is only fitting for the religion of Allah which is one and exclusive. Allah’s
words in the Qur`an have guided the Muslims throughout the generations.
They engraved them on their coins and repeated them at every opportunity: “It is
He (Allah) who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the religion of
truth, that he may uplift it above every religion…” (Sura 9 verse 33). Mohammed
is the last prophet and the greatest of all the chosen Messengers of God. Never
before did a prophet of his caliber arise and never again will one arise. There
is no prophetic mission greater than his and there is no validity to theories
that preceded him if he did not validate them. The Jews and Christians, some of
whose prophets’ names appear in the Qur`an, cannot claim that they
possess true, holy scriptures as all of the holy scriptures must be identical to
the Qur`an. If in the Bible and the New Testament there are things that
differ or are opposed to what is written in the Qur`an, the only possible
conclusion is that the Jews and Christians are in possession of forged books.
They, “the People of the Book,” “changed and replaced” in their iniquity, that
which is in their holy scriptures. There remains only one true prophecy and one
true book and one universal legal system: The prophecy of Mohammed and the book
of Allah – the Qur`an and the legal system of Islam which obligates the
entire world forever.
Jews, Christians and the Islamic World Order
It is possible that Jews and
Christians may be allowed to exist until Judgment Day, when their fate will be
ultimately determined: The Muslims will then kill all the Jews, because without
this, all the conditions for Judgment Day will not have been fulfilled and the
great “Hour” will not arrive. Those Christians who still remain, will certainly
be sent to burn in Hell. Until that moment, Jews and Christians may only live in
the shadow of Islam and only in accordance with the Islamic legal system. They
will always have the status of dhimmis, that is they will live under the
patronage of Islam, which will implement the canonical rule established by the
Prophet: “Islam is supreme and nothing is superior to it.”
This is the Muslim world order
and it is alive and well and still functioning to this moment. It guides the
Muslim outlook on life, the way in which they view the Islamic mission and the
role of Islam in history, and it guides the attitude of the Muslims to the world
beyond them. If two generations ago, these concepts were limited to the scholars
and students in Muslim seminaries, today they are a political program, a means
of action, a basis for political thought, a guide for fighters and a guide for
government. One must look at the constitution of Hamas, which guides the
Palestinian Authority in its war against Israel, in order to understand that
these are not archaic religious theories, but rather the supreme ideas of
conduct mandated by Islam and Muslims in the modern era.
Muslims are obligated to preserve
and implement the Islamic world order and defend it against anyone who attempts
to violate it. This is the natural order determined by Allah: One God, one
religion, one prophet and one law, the law of God, the law that guides the
community of Muslim believers – it and it alone is the community of Allah.
Anyone challenging this Muslim law of nature rebels against Allah and should not
be allowed to exist. Jews can live under Muslim rule, subservient to this law,
but woe unto them if they try to emerge from the status of dhimmi, which
the Islamic law destined for them. Therefore, the establishment of the State of
Israel in which the Jews not only are not under Muslim patronage but they even
rule over Muslims, has created a situation which is in contravention of the laws
of nature. This is a distortion of history and there is no possibility that
Islam will agree to accept it and certainly not to grant even its implicit
approval. The establishment of a Jewish state on Islamic land is an open
rebellion against Islamic law, insolence towards its prophet and impudence
towards Allah.
Longings for the Caliphate
At the beginning of the twentieth
century, a great tragedy befell the world of Islam, the critical nature of
which, it has only revealed in recent years. It is not “imperialism and
colonialism” (the two words so beloved by those seeking the causes for the
backwardness of society in others rather than in themselves), but rather the
abrogation of the caliphate by Kemal Ata Turk, the father of modern, secular,
westernized Turkey. All at once the Muslim Empire was beheaded and it matters
not that by then it has already been only a virtual empire. At least on paper,
there exists a massive Muslim world populated by a billion and a quarter
believers, awaiting reunification under the leadership of a Commander of the
Faithful, Amir al-Mu`minin, as in the days of its glory. The Commander of
the Faithful is a symbol of Islamic authority, a hint of its greatness, the head
of the sleeping giant of the Empire that is slowly awakening. The caliphate is
the great dream of contemporary Muslim leaders and of every Muslim. It is a
dream of the past, veiled in a romantic aura. One only need enter the Khilafah
(caliphate) websites on the Internet in order to understand how alive and
vibrant the dream is: To renew the great momentum of the days of the Prophet and
his successors, and arrive at a situation where the entire world will be ruled
by the Islamic legal system according to which one Muslim government will be
established with Commander of the Faithful at its head. However, in order to
realize this, the Muslim world must be prepared to make sacrifices. Every Muslim
is called upon to sacrifice, and first and foremost to want to sacrifice his
life for the sake of this holy objective.
This is not merely romantic
enthusiasm, but rather a political and military program. Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad,
President of Iran, recently gave a speech before a group of Iranian scholars on
the subject of Islamic art. The President declared that true art is martyrdom.
The death of the martyr, he said, is the most sublime expression of true art,
and added in his flowery language, which sounds so good in Persian, that with
the help of Allah, Islam will soon be raised to the highest peaks from which it
will rule the entire world. Inshallah. (may it be the will of Allah).
Terrorism
In the last generation, this
zealous and combative Islam, which directly influences the lives and the
thoughts of many millions of people, has discovered the way to fight the enemies
of Islam around the world. It discovered that through the combination of
education to hatred, zealotry, and martyrdom, with cheap, unsophisticated
weapons and a few kilograms of explosives, it was possible to undermine the
security of western societies, to damage the framework of their lives and to
expose the helplessness of the large empires. We call acts of horror that
indiscriminately strike at innocent people, terrorism. However the Muslims, who
engage in those acts, call them jihad, holy war, which Islam declared
against the whole world from its very inception.
Terrorism is not a new Islamic
discovery. It appeared as quite an effective tool among the early Muslims a
short while after they established their imperial institutions and it has
accompanied their history in various degrees of intensity. At times it is the
terrorism of a small group or terrorism at the initiative of individuals and at
times it is organized terrorism, relying on education and indoctrination.
Political and military objectives, primarily designed to undermine the security
of their opponents, were always the motivation for terrorism in Islamic history
– unless it was a matter of a private vendetta. The Kharijites and the
Hashishiyun, in medieval times, were conspicuous examples of blatant, impudent,
horrific terrorism; in other words every terrorist attack sent out shockwaves
that continued to influence their surroundings long after it had been
perpetrated.
The Shi`ite Hashíshiyún,
between the 11th and the 13th century, gave their name to
Europeans who pronounced it “assassin” (following the colloquial: Hashsáshín)
and used it in order to describe an ambush killer, hired killer or a killer in
cold blood. Today, the world is filled with Muslim assassins, who, like the Hashíshiyún
of the Middle Ages, undergo a long process of indoctrination and are happy to be
martyrs and reach the next world quickly. During the Middle Ages only the
suicide martyrs themselves were indoctrinated; in the modern Islamic world, an
entire public is being indoctrinated. This indoctrination is carried out in
every possible manner: Directly by preachers in mosques and in religious study
groups; in all the electronic and print media; by the Muslim intellectual elites
– writers and artists, filmmakers and playwrights, actors and singers; in
schoolbooks, in schools, in and out of class. Most of the public in Israel and
abroad does not read or understand Arabic and is certainly unaware of the power
of the incessantly published material promoting terrorism and disseminating
hatred of the enemies of Islam and especially the Jews. In the Arabic and
Persian material, they no longer use the code word “Zionism” as a cover up for
anti-Semitism.
The thrust of Muslim propaganda
is directed against the Jews. From European anti-Semitic sources the Muslim
authors collect everything that describes the Jews as the filth of humanity fit
only for destruction. And to what they gather from Europe’s rich anti-Semitic
literature they add much more of their own. Arabic and Persian anti-Semitic
literature long ago surpassed its more experienced French, German and English
progenitors. The topics are similar and repeat themselves: The Jews control the
world, ruin its economy, incite wars, poison wells, spread disease, and cause
men to be sterile. All these are negligible when compared to the Moslem
versatility at fabrication. In Egypt, a book called “The Bomb” was
recently published. What is the bomb? It is a sensational “revelation” by the
author, containing “scientific” proof, that the Jews are descendants of apes and
swine. He produces pictures of skeletons with tails as the ultimate evidence for
his great discovery and the indisputable proof for what was written in the
Qur`an: That the Jews were transformed into monkeys and pigs. Thus, since
proof has been found for the Jews being no more than impure animals, not even
human beings; there is nothing to stand in the way of their annihilation.
Much has already been written
about the anti-Semitic best-sellers in the Arab and Islamic world: Hitler’s
Mein Kampf is a best seller, and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
is not only a best seller, but also a source of inspiration for Muslim scholars
artists and writers. The talented Egyptian author, Abbás Mahmúd
al-‘Aqqád, whom orientalists love to describe as a “modernist,” wrote an
introduction to the Protocols. He refers to the book once as a “wonderful
book” and again as a “satanic book.” Even if it is a forgery, he says, its
contents are true, because it describes the Jews as they are. Egypt (“peace!”)
is at the vanguard of the publication of the Protocols as well as a huge
volume of other anti-Semitic literature. At a book fair in Alexandria, the
Protocols were placed next to a Torah scroll, indicating that they both
represented true Judaism. On Egyptian television, a series based on the
Protocols was broadcast over a period of several weeks. It enjoyed enormous
ratings throughout the Arab world. Many Arab scholars, who deal with Jewish
history, cite the Protocols as an authentic source of Jewish history even
though many of them certainly know that it was already proved to have been a
forgery by the beginning of the previous century.
Blood Libel
The blood libel is also alive and
well in the world of Islam. Thus, for example, in a film which has been shown in
the Hizbullah television al-Manár (“The Lighthouse”) on a regular basis, a group
of Jews is seen slaughtering a Muslim child and using his blood to prepare
unleavened bread. The Jews in the film are portrayed in the best Nazi Der
Stürmer tradition: Long-bearded, hook-nosed, black-clad with wide-brimmed
hats. This film and other similar ones are distributed on Islamic internet sites
and are also sent, with translation, to many sites in the West and the Far East.
Thousands of caricatures have been and continue to be published in all the Arab
media, in which Jews are portrayed as horned goats, with tails, jumping around
on rats’ legs or dining on a meal of Palestinian corpses. The blood libel and
the graphic material accompanying it seep into Muslim public consciousness and
reinforce the certainty that for the good of the world in general, and not only
the good of Islam, the Jews should be wiped off the face of the earth.
In Syria, Mustafa Tlas, who was
the Syrian Minister of War (the Arabs don’t have “Defense Ministers”), wrote his
doctorate on the Jewish use of blood for ritual purposes and called it “The
Unleavened Bread of Zion.” The topic that he “researched” was the famous 1840
blood libel known as the “Damascus Affair,” in which the French ambassador in
Damascus played a central role in its augmentation and incitement. The thesis
was immediately published as a book in which Tlas “proves” that the Jews indeed
use blood in unleavened bread and that the Damascus libel was completely true.
The cover of the book tells its story: A band of ugly Jews slaughtering a person
and pouring his blood into a bowl. Tlas’ book was published in several editions
and it too is one of the best sellers in the Arab world.
Mahmoud Abbas, the person that
the Israeli press likes so much to refer to by his revolutionary name,
Abu-Mazen, wrote a doctorate for the Soviet Lumumba University, in which he
sought to prove the close cooperation between the Zionist movement and the Nazi
regime. Not only does the book contain a denial of the Holocaust, based on the
works of European Holocaust deniers; it also provides “proof” that those
responsible for the deaths of a certain number of Jews among the millions who
died in the war – were the Jews themselves. In other places in the world he
would be put on trial; in Israel he is portrayed as a man of peace.
Educating the Masses
This indoctrination of the
masses, which has infiltrated every aspect of public life, intellectual,
educational, religious and political, can be seen everywhere: In the press,
schoolbooks, bulletin boards, graffiti on the walls, speeches of preachers and
endless hate letters. It contributes to the creation of the regular army as well
as the reserves of suicide bombers craving to reach the special paradise that
Allah has prepared for the soldiers fighting in his army. Paradise provides
everything a person might lack in this world – and in quantities: Food and
drink, shade, streams of water and black-eyed women stretched out on their beds.
What is there for a person to seek in this world if these and more are the
pleasures awaiting him in the world to come if he is a martyr? Traditionalists,
authors and preachers, schoolteachers and artists depict paradise in great
detail and martyrdom accompanies the Muslim from the day he is born.
Is it any wonder that films are
being disseminated that portray a three year old(!) girl whose mother is
teaching her to recite anti-Semitic slogans saying that the Jews are pigs and
monkeys and speaking about the beauty of martyrdom? Two Palestinian girls, aged
11 and 12 are interviewed on official Palestinian television (of the “Authority”
that Israel initiated and established in the name of peace as part of the new
Middle East) and say in fluent Arabic that there is nothing that they want more
than martyrdom. The interviewer asks if they would want martyrdom even if all of
the Palestinian rights were to be realized. They answer: Martyrdom has nothing
to do with “rights.” Martyrdom will continue to be their aspiration and is not
connected with the fulfillment of the Palestinian demands. “Is there anything
more wonderful than paradise?” one of them said and the other agrees with her.
When a Muslim, unceasingly
exposed to this volume of hatred, looks at the map of the Middle East and sees a
tiny patch stuck in the heart of the Arab-Islamic world like a dagger, and he
knows that the patch is controlled by Jews, in refutation of the entire Muslim
doctrine, he inevitably sees it as shocking violation of all he believes in.
With its independent existence and all the trappings of sovereignty, the Jew is
challenging the truth of Islam; this cannot be permitted!
Thus, the time has come for the
Jews in that little patch, who live in the bubble that they have created for
themselves and inside of which they play peace games, to internalize the simple,
clearly manifest truth: there is no peace nor will there be peace in the Middle
East as long as an independent Jewish state exists in which Jews and Muslims
enjoy equal rights. There is not and there will not be peace as long as such
challenge to Allah and his believers exists. There is not and there will not be
peace in the Middle East unless it is in accordance with Islam: the total
destruction of the Jewish state, the destruction of most of its Jewish residents
and the transformation of Palestine into an integral part of the Muslim world.
If after the destruction, the expulsion and the mass slaughter some Jews remain
in Palestine, they might be allowed to receive second-class citizen status,
living in the shadow of Islam and according to its laws. That is the only
Islamic plan! It is not a secret plan. It is publicized, advertised, preached,
taught but on the whole, unfortunately ignored, minimized, and in many western
circles “explained,” tolerated and even excused.
The concept of peace in the
spirit of the prophets of Israel, which the Israeli leaders have entertained for
more than three generations, does not exist in the Islamic perception. Peace
exists solely in an Islamic world ruled by Muslims. (Civil wars in Islam are an
internal matter; misunderstandings that occur in every good family). Everything
outside the Islamic world is defined as the “house of war” meaning the area
against which Islam is obligated to wage war until its annexation to the Islamic
world. Therefore, any territory that was ever Muslim becomes sacred to Islam and
no man has the right to relinquish it. If the territory is conquered by enemies
of Islam, like Spain, Palestine or parts of Europe, it does not lose its Islamic
status and it is incumbent upon Islam to do everything to restore it to Islamic
rule. This obligation can never be diminished and will never cease, as the
Islamic status of these territories will never be annulled.
There is No Peace in the “House of War”
The Muslims consider the State of
Israel to be an advance position of the “house of war” established on Islamic
territory conquered from Islam. This territory is nothing less than a sacred
Islamic endowment, a Muslim waqf, that was expropriated from Muslim hands
in a momentary tragedy and therefore must be returned to Islamic hands. Israel
therefore must first disappear. All paths to that end are legitimate. Sometimes
various sophisticated political tools have to be employed. It is possible and
permissible, according to Islamic law, to reach a cessation of combat, a
temporary postponement of the jihad, as Mohammed did with his enemies.
(Recently the Hamas following exactly Muhammad precedence suggested 10 years
armistice – hudnah – with Israel). Ceasing combat for a fixed period of
time is sometimes necessary for the purpose of regaining strength, rearming,
revitalization and in order to lull the enemy to sleep. Cessation of combat can
even have the characteristics of a “peace agreement” as then the enemy is
willing to sacrifice vital interests and, without paying attention, expose
itself to the Muslim attack that will eventually come. What the Jews, for
example, call “peace agreements” are nothing more than a tactic in the jihad
– Holy War, which is the ideal situation, not peace.
The holy war is the strategy and
therefore the agreements (“peace”) with Egypt and Jordan are a sort of interlude
in the war. They are agreements between governments, in which the Arab side
fulfills only a bare minimum of its clauses. It is not peace between the
nations. Egypt, which committed itself to stopping the atrocious propaganda
against Israel and to normalizing relations, is the leader of anti-Semitic
activity in the Arab world. The Egyptian authorities, turn a blind eye, or
worse, allow the unimpeded flow of arms, above and below ground, to terrorist
organizations in Gaza. Egypt acts enthusiastically against Israel in
international bodies and the Islamic zealots there assume the leading parts in
the orchestra of all the Jew-haters in the Islamic world. Along with the blatant
and overt education of the masses to hatred of the Jews in every mass media
outlet, Egypt has been preparing an enormous military infrastructure for years,
with the courteous assistance of the United States and the European countries.
Is it necessary to ask, to fight against whom did Egypt create an army of close
to a million soldiers?
The Shi`ah
To this point we have addressed
Islam in general, however it is necessary to pay special attention to Shi`ite
Islam against which the State of Israel just fought and will have to fight under
more difficult conditions in the future. Shi`ite Islam is the more messianic
branch of Islam. It has built itself up as a religio-political body,
concentrating its hopes, beliefs and aspirations around the image of the “hidden
imám,” the Mahdi whose imminent appearance from his hiding place is anticipated
at any moment. The Shi`ite messianic concept is unlike the Sunnis and Jewish
ones. In contrast to these, according to which the identity of the Messiah is
not precisely determined, the Mahdi of the Shi`ah is a living Messiah. His
personal identity is known, he is a direct descendent of Muhammad; he has a name
(also Muhammad), his father and his ancestors are known; he is alive and well in
his hiding place in this world and awaiting the opportunity to appear. It
will be an impressive appearance with a drawn sword and blood and fire. He will
go to war against the whole world (including Sunni Islam). The Mahdi will win;
and finally, a descendant of the Prophet will rule over Islam in its entirety –
the one, true Amir al-Mu`minin – Commander of the Faithful.
The Shiites have always been and
remain a minority. Throughout their history they bear on their foreheads the
mark of Cain for the murder (in 680CE) of the third imam, Imam Hussein. True,
they did not murder him; it was the representatives of the Sunni government who
did it; however they feel that they were accomplices to the crime, and that, in
their eyes, was a terrible sin against God. The sin of standing idly by when
Hussein was murdered rests on every Shi`ite wherever he may be and cannot be
expiated. It is a bloody stain that cannot be erased. All the Shi`ites can do is
to remember the murder every moment of their lives and attempt to feel some of
the pain that Hussein felt on the day he died. Therefore, the Shi`ites perform
their “ ‘Ashurá” ceremonies (called ta‘ziyah) in public. They cut
themselves with knives, daggers and swords, spill each other’s blood and even
spill the blood of babies in their cradles in an outburst of mass ecstasy, and
they aspire to die at that moment as an act of identification with the death of
the Prophet’s grandson. These horrific acts are displayed publicly in the media
in the entire world and no one draws the conclusions concerning the nature of a
religion that sanctifies bloodshed even of its own members. This one day, the 10th
of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic year, expresses, perhaps more than
anything else, the death wish, the desire for martyrdom and the thirst for
suffering, pain and blood.
Throughout their history, the
Shi`ites have sought to achieve some sort of legitimacy for themselves in the
Sunni world, in whose eyes they are considered “dissenters.” Now they believe
that they have found the way to accomplish that: The destruction of Israel will
provide the desired legitimacy. Over the course of more than 50 years, the
Islamic Sunni world – headed by the huge Arab world, surrounding Israel like a
ring – has been unsuccessful in getting rid of the Jewish state. Now Iran, the
only Shi`ite country in the world, is sure that it can do it. Under its
leadership the Shi`ites will assume leadership of the jihad, the holy war
against the entire world and they will start it from Israel. The aspiration to
acquire nuclear weapons is part of the plan. Iran plans to use it and if in the
process millions of Muslims die, all the better – paradise has room for all the
martyrs. Perhaps that is what the Mahdi is waiting for, that the entire world be
drawn into a colossal Armageddon. Surely he cannot remain indifferent when such
mega-war takes place. The apocalypse is the appropriate backdrop for his
appearance. He will certainly choose to appear surfing on waves of blood,
blazing fire, and the billows of smoke of a radioactive world, and bring an end
to the humiliation of Islam by the infidels and salvation to the world – a
Muslim world free of Jews ruled by the laws of the Mahdi. Ahmadinezhad truly
believes that he is destined to hasten his coming.
Great Satan, Little Satan
Hizbullah is a Shi`ite
organization whose name means “Party of Allah.” This name incorporates a
patently Islamic idea – Hizbullah is actually the entire Islamic world, as all
Muslims are Allah’s party, all Muslims are his nation, all Muslims are his army;
and they are obligated, as the Qur`an states explicitly, to fight for him
in order to impose his law on the entire world. The Hizbullah of Lebanon is
avant-garde, the front line camp of Allah’s army and as such it fulfills the
role of fighting against the front line of the Satan – Israel. This explains the
demonological imagery that we see and hear on a daily basis in the Arab media
outlets: Israel is the devil’s son, the “little Satan”; America, England and the
Western world in general are the great Satan: that is to say, the ultimate
negative force confronting Allah and the entire Muslim nation. The great Satan
confronts the Great Hizbullah – the Islamic nation in its entirety. Dealing with
the great Satan is an-all Islamic duty, and this is the responsibility of the
all-Muslim great fighting organization: al-Qa‘ida spreading far its octopus-like
arms, and supported as it is by the massive economic wealth of the Muslims. The
little Lebanese Hizbullah confronts the little Satan.
All that was written above should
have been known to the Israeli governments and its leaders, as it is known to
every orientalist who isn’t deluding himself and does not allow his political
inclinations take precedence over the professional truth. However, the truth
most of them have deluded themselves, and it is doubtful if, when the facts are
thrown in their faces, they will admit it and disavow their previous positions.
The End of the “Era of Peace”
Therefore here is the reality as
it truly is:
The end of the era of
make-believe “peace” has arrived. There never was any such thing. There is only
the era of war – past, present and future – and that alone must be dealt with
and preparations must be made only for its difficult developments. The Jewish
public does not go to war happily. It prefers even a spark of calm over war. It
prefers to go to sleep with “A Star Is Born” TV program or similar nonsense, and
is willing to fall asleep to the cooing of Shimon Peres’ doves of peace.
Therefore it is surprised when it is awakened by the sound of the explosions of
missiles.
By establishing war as the only
existing alternative in this part of the world (“agreements” are also part of
it), the public justifiably asks: How long? And the answer is: Until the Muslims
lose all hope of liquidating us, and that means forever. The Arabs and Islam in
general will never be able to come to terms with the reality expressed in the
simple question posed on a daily basis by one or another Muslim leader: How is
it possible that a billion and a half Muslims, who control massive resources,
cannot wipe out (another) six million Jews ensnared in a fifty-kilometer-wide
death trap. This reality offends the honor of the Muslims, angers them, and
unceasingly incites feelings of revenge within them.
Anyone unwilling to understand
that this is the genuine reality with which we must live and anyone unwilling to
deal with it, does not belong in the Middle East – the old, cruel Middle East.
It is possible that he doesn’t belong in Europe either because it has already
surrendered; it has lost.
Back to Classical Wars
We must, therefore, return to
classical warfare. Not a “small, smart army,” like the one suggested by Ehud
Barak, the Prime Minister who brought the Party of God down on our heads, but a
big, strong army. We need all the power: A large regular army, emergency
warehouses filled to capacity and beyond, a reserve-force trained and skilled to
the utmost capability. An end to all the various exemptions and an end to
draft-dodging for reasons of conscience or for any other reason. Every healthy
young man to the army, to combat units! A fundamental change of values, a
reordering of national priorities: Everything for an offensive force, not a
defensive one; a well-trained military force standing ready to attack with
maximum power with maximum force. No longer the Israel Defense Force but the
Israel Offense Force: A Jewish jihad in our time of need. Our enemy is
already standing at our doorstep.
The War’s Objective: Syria Must Be Destroyed
Ceterum censeo Syriam esse
delendam (“In addition, I believe that Syria must be destroyed”
following Cato the Elder who ended every speech before the Roman Senate:
Ceterum censeo Cartaginem esse delendam “In addition, I believe
that Carthage must be destroyed.”)
In the recent war we were not far
from being routed; and to a great extent, in the eyes of the enemy it was in
fact a rout. As I write these lines, I hear the Syrian President announce our
defeat. He is probably correct as he is still alive and able to speak.
It is not against Lebanon that we
should have fought this war, but rather against Syria, Hizbullah’s patron and
the link connecting Iran and Hizbullah. Syria should have been totally
destroyed. No infrastructure, economic or otherwise should exist today – the
airports, the fuel storage facilities, the dams on the Euphrates, the army
headquarters, the missile systems and the presidential palaces all should have
become heaps of ruins and the Israeli army should have been on the outskirts of
Damascus. That was the result of the war that the entire enlightened world
anticipated. Instead, it was astounded to see the lack of decisiveness, the
vacillation over “a limited action” and “a little here a little there” while
Hizbullah fire blanketed the country, reaching its center. This fire would have
ended eventually and all of the war’s objectives would have been achieved the
moment that Syria was reduced to rubble. That could have been accomplished if
Israel had a bold leadership, which understood precisely the significance of the
comprehensive battle for survival against which Israel is standing. Iran, too,
would certainly have begun thinking differently.
Strategic Depth
And another classical concept of
warfare – strategic depth. This is a commodity that Israel requires above all
else with its back to the sea. Before 1967, Israel lacked strategic depth and it
literally fought from within its capital city. The Six Day War provided it with
limited strategic depth, until the Oslo fools came along and relinquished it to
our worst enemies; Arafat’s gangs, whose declared aim is the destruction of
Israel. However, the army retains control of the “killing area” of the Jordan
Valley, and backed by the Jewish settlements it can control the mountain region.
The withdrawal fools relinquished territories of the highest strategic
importance in Gaza and exposed the country to missile terrorism, and other
withdrawal fools seek to cede the last remaining strategic depths in Judea and
Samaria. If that, God forbid, were to happen, Israel would become a narrow
coastal country, like the post-1187 Crusader state, which will eternally tempt
its enemies to destroy it. What a disaster it will be if the Palestinian holy
warriors acquire even a fraction of the Hizbullah’s power. The residents of the
north fled to the center of the country. Where will the residents of the Tel
Aviv bubble flee when not Katyushas, but merely primitive kassams and mortars
are fired upon it from Samaria? Into the sea to fulfill the Arabs’ great dream?
A substitute for the strategic
depth that we lost in Lebanon has not and will not be found. The result of that
loss is the destruction of the Galilee and the helpless stance in the face of
the barrage of missiles. When the IDF fled Lebanon in 2000 under orders from the
blind Israeli government, the adherents of the flight said that there would be
no more fatalities in Lebanon. The price, they said, was steep: 25 dead per
year. In the present war, we are mourning our dead – we have paid exorbitant
interest in dead, wounded, disabled, and destruction for each of those six
years.
The Palestinians
And regarding the Palestinians.
Here we must sharply and decisively do away with that nonsense called the
Palestinian state. Not because of a “messianic” vision as the opponents of
Jewish settlement in the mountains say, but rather because a Palestinian state
which will be a member of the Arab League and which will control the coastal
plain from the mountains, is a surefire recipe for destruction. Therefore in the
framework of reordering the national priorities, the settlement in the mountains
should be established as a fundamental component in the new order right after
rehabilitation of the military force. This is also an excellent way to combat
terrorism. For every casualty of terrorism, Israel should announce the
establishment of a new settlement. There is no doubt that the enemy would
quickly understand the implications. Had we acted this way in the past, there
would be dense Jewish population in the mountains providing support for the army
(just as it did in Gush Katif before it was ruined) and the various terrorists
would have to think hard whether it is worthwhile to kill Jews. The Jewish state
needs every inch in the east in order to defend the residents of the bubble and
the heart of the state. This is an existential need, not ambitions of
occupation, as there is no occupation here. A nation cannot occupy its own
country.
Therefore, the nonsense of
building a “security fence” should be halted and the billions saved should be
earmarked first for the army and for investment in other vital needs. A fighting
nation does not hide behind a joke of cement and barbed wire fence. Even the
Great Wall of China did not halt invaders.
Is there leadership in the State
of Israel capable of facing this truth without fear, a far-sighted leadership,
leadership that will develop Israeli might to an extent that its enemies will be
forced to postpone the jihad against it indefinitely?
Is there leadership that will
begin to establish fundamental values in the state that are based on truth and
not on empty fantasies that have humiliated it and placed its very existence in
danger?
Perhaps such leadership can be
found after the stables are cleaned.