I grew up playing all kinds of harmless board games like Monopoly® or Clue®. Another one of my favorites was RISK®, where players competed against one another to conquer the world one region at a time, one continent at a time. One of the winning strategies was to slowly increase your army strength all across the globe without much fighting until you had enough in a few places to “connect the dots” and then descend on your enemy, decimate them and take over their territories without much harm to your army.
ISIS: The Exponential Growth of a Pandemic Threat!
by Olivier J. Melnick
ISIS soldiers on the street (The Associated Press) |
By now, there are not that many places in the world where the acronym ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) or ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) remain unknown. ISIS also known as IS (Islamic State) has acquired quite a ruthless, bloody reputation in just a few months. When it was first announced that they were a splinter group from Al-Qaeda, we witnessed an almost “tongue-in-cheek” yet blasé reaction from most people. Little did we all know about the rapes, crucifixions and beheading that were about to take place. Now we know and yet, very little is being done to nip ISIS in the bud. The bold Caliphate declaration by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on June 29, 2014 ( the first day of Ramadan) was a surprise to most, but it remained unchallenged. It is a long shot to expect the rebirth and growth of an Islamic caliphate, but we must remember that even if the Third Reich was short lived, it decimated millions in its destructive path.
To be sure, Islamo-fascism wasn’t born yesterday. It has plagued much of the Middle East for decades and has even spread beyond on many occasions. Much of modern terrorism has been Islamo-fascist terrorism. By this I do not mean that all Muslims are terrorists, absolutely not! Yet, if we were to tally up the terrorism of the last fifty years, almost every terrorist WAS a Muslim.
But is ISIS a terrorist group or is it even much more than that? While it is clear that their actions totally fall in line with terrorism, we must also understand that as a declared caliphate–albeit not officially accepted–they are not acting as a terrorist organization within a state or country. ISIS is not like Hamas, Hezbollah, Boko Haram or even Al-Qaeda. By their own admission, they are a state and because of that, they qualify for a response proportionate to their barbaric, brutal attack on Western civilization. They qualify for a full-blown retaliation. No sanctions, not boycott, no talks… RETALIATION! Let me clarify what I mean, I mean war! ISIS IS ACTING AS A TERRORIST STATE and not a terrorist organization! An all out war against ISIS on the ground might be the best use of resources and the only way to put an end to this slaughter.
ISIS is very impressive and attractive to a myriad of radical Islam aficionados (Muslims or not). ISIS has managed to attract followers from various corners of the planet with their supremacist ideology “hell bent” on beheading the infidels. We shouldn’t underestimate the danger posed by this new group’s ability to attract previously uninterested people to Islam. They have an uncanny ability to draw people to their evil ideology that is what makes them a real but very unpredictable danger.
Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas and many other terrorist groups always had a following, but because of their lack of organization, lack of funding and lack of “proper” exposure, they always were partially successful at best. ISIS has mastered all three. They are organized. As a matter of fact they have a structure that is more akin to a government with a military wing than that of a terrorist group.
They have a pretty steady cash flow that now comes from some of the oil fields they have seized recently. Some statistics say that they might be generating between $1M and $4M daily. No matter how we look at it, they generate much more than any of the other terrorist organizations including Al-Qaeda.
As for their exposure, they get it from videos and brochures distributed as if they were running an advertising campaign, and in a sense they are! They also have an extremely strong presence on the social networks.
ISIS has been planting cells all around the world and continues to do so. Additionally, in countries like the Netherlands, Belgium and the UK, they have been recruiting on the streets through a process known as Da’wah meaning “invitation”. People are invited to inquire about Islam and even convert through dialogues on street corners. As a result, almost every country in Europe has seen people join Islamic training in Syria and/or Iraq.
ISIS has declared jihad against the whole world. But how did they get so far, so fast? It can be argued that the vacuum created by the removal of dictatorial leaders in the Middle East is what made room for groups like ISIS. The Saddam Hussein, Qaddafi and Mubarak of the region might have been ruthless dictators within their own restrictive police states, but they also managed to keep a lid on Islamic extremism. Now ISIS is quickly filling the void.
ISIS’ exponential growth continues both territorially and demographically. They are not only expanding their borders in the Middle East, but they are also establishing their following globally. From their standpoint of a global caliphate, they are successfully establishing a network while the world is watching like a deer in headlights.
While ISIS poses a threat to all, including Israel, they currently are focusing on “purging” Islam of all the Shi’ite Muslims who stand in the way of their establishing their hegemonic caliphate. This, of course, doesn’t mean that Israel is currently unaffected by ISIS, but simply that they, as a target, might be on the back burner. There is no doubt in my mind that if ISIS gets too close to Israel and puts the Jewish state at risk, Mr. Netanyahu will respond swiftly and appropriately.
So, as the Ebola virus continues to spread in Africa and is even starting to affect other continents, the ISIS virus appears to also be spreading in and beyond the Middle East. From isolated to epidemic to pandemic, the ISIS virus could do a lot more damage before it is contained, but it will never be contained with band aids or compresses. Major surgery is needed and fast.
It is time for civilized people to unite against the Islamic State. It is also time for the more liberal among us to realize that ISIS is the new Nazis of the Middle East, not Israel!
In the meantime, all of us who believe in the power of prayer know what to do. We must:
• Pray for the United States to quickly and powerfully go after ISIS and incapacitate them
• Pray for the safety of those within the destructive path of ISIS
• Pray for ISIS members to be released from the bondage of Islamism
The Lord is far from the wicked but He hears the prayers of the righteous (Proverbs 15:29)
2014 UN General Assembly: Deceptive Chutzpah versus Righteous Chutzpah!
Yesterday ended the week-long yearly gathering at the United Nation known as the 69th General Assembly where numerous countries of the world come to share their concerns, pleas and/or demands.
It all started with a four-minutes Climate Summit opening act by “newly appointed United-Nations messenger of peace” Leonardo DiCaprio. I found it less that convincing because as a private jet and mega yacht owner, DiCaprio cannot possibly expect to be taken seriously by the representatives of the global community. Has the UN lost all discernment or are they another victim of postmodern relativism? Have we entered a new chapter in mankind’s history when truth doesn’t really matter any longer?
I think we could get a good answer to this question if we were to take a closer look at both speeches by Palestinian Authority’s leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.
One was characterized by deceptive chutzpah and the other by righteous chutzpah!
Being Jewish, I might be accused by some of being biased and blindly pro-Israel. But like I have said before, being pro-Israel doesn’t mean that one is anti-Palestinian, sadly, the opposite is seldom true!
Frankly, I am not biased, I am just interested in factual truth–something most of the world and as it appears, the UN, are not so attracted to. But don’t take my word for it, instead, why don’t we look at both sides, compare and assess?
Mahmoud Abbas delivered a speech, laced with lies, accusations and hatred albeit protected by a thick veneer of victimhood. Amazingly, it garnered a rather long final applause from the gallery, generated I suppose, by all the UN representatives in favor of the “State of Palestine”. from Abbas’ transcript, we can glean statements on Israel and the recent Gaza War such as: “the scale of this genocidal crime is larger, and that the list of martyrs, especially children, is longer.” or another quote that could be taken verbatim and put in the mouth of Mr. Netanyahu and become truth about Hamas and Gaza, yet it came out of Abbas’ mouth: “This last war against Gaza was a series of absolute war crimes carried out before the eyes and ears of the entire world, moment by moment, in a manner that makes it inconceivable that anyone today can claim that they did not realize the magnitude and horror of the crime.”
Abbas had the audacity to accuse Israel of genocide! Excuse me Mr Abbas, but you might need a history lesson or two in order to understand what a true genocide is. Then again, we must not forget that Mr. Abbas’s doctoral dissertation titled: “The Other Side: The secret relationship between Nazism and Zionism” states that the Holocaust had far less victims than claimed and that Zionists collaborated with Nazis, ludicrous at best!
Genocide is defined as the deliberate and systematic killing of a particular ethnic group. If anything, Hamas could be accused of having a genocidal agenda on their own people after we witnessed how they didn’t hesitate to put civilians (including children) in danger. We know that they have genocidal tendencies when it comes to Israel, but to their own people…seriously?
But wait, it gets worse when he dares to say that:” At the same time, I affirm that our grief, trauma and anger will not for one moment make us abandon our humanity, our values and our ethics; we will always maintain our respect and commitment to international law, international humanitarian law and the international consensus.”
How can he possibly keep a straight face while making such a statement? Humanity, values and ethics are the last thing that Hamas and by proxy Fatah and Mr. Abbas were interested in. It is well worth noticing that Mr. Abbas cared to mention the Palestinian teenager deplorably killed by Jewish teenagers. This was an unacceptable act of retaliation for the three abducted and murdered Jewish teens, who of course were not even mentioned by Mr. Abbas. Was this a case of selective memory?
Mr. Abbas also talked quite a bit about the settlements. Even though I don’t agree with the labeling of the land as “occupied territories”, the issue of the settlements is a very difficult one to handle. Yet, any honest, truth-seeking observer in the region knows that the keeping or relinquishing of land has no bearing on the issues at hand and/or on peace. A development here or a kibbutz there will not change the fact that Mr. Abbas refuses to recognize the existence of Israel.
Hitler and his Nazi cohorts refused to recognize the Jewish people’s right to exist. This made it very easy for them to justify their annihilation. Mr. Abbas is no different in his ideology and makes the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people a necessary and unavoidable step in the establishment of the State of Palestine. For this, he gets a lot of support from many Muslim states such as Iran and several terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas and others. This and so much more of his caustic tirade was deceptive chutzpah.
Then came Mr. Netanyahu’s speech, just two days later. In his presentation, The Jewish Prime Minister jumped right in by denouncing radical Islam and stating truthfully that Israel was just a starting point in their destructive agendas:” everywhere we look, militant Islam is on the march. It’s not militants. It’s not Islam. It’s militant Islam. Typically, its first victims are other Muslims, but it spares no one. Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Kurds – no creed, no faith, no ethnic group is beyond its sights. And it’s rapidly spreading in every part of the world.
Responding to Mr. Abbas’ accusations of genocide, He proceeded in explaining all the steps taken by the IDF to prevent the unnecessary death of civilians in Gaza. Mr. Netanyahu compared both sides stating: Israel was doing everything to minimize Palestinian civilian casualties. Hamas was doing everything to maximize Israeli civilian casualties and Palestinian civilian casualties. Israel dropped flyers, made phone calls, sent text messages, broadcast warnings in Arabic on Palestinian television, always to enable Palestinian civilians to evacuate targeted areas. No other country and no other army in history have gone to greater lengths to avoid casualties among the civilian population of their enemies.
Hamas embedded its missile batteries in residential areas and told Palestinians to ignore Israel’s warnings to leave. And just in case people didn’t get the message, they executed Palestinian civilians in Gaza who dared to protest. No less reprehensible, Hamas deliberately placed its rockets where Palestinian children live and play.
He also impressed upon the UN delegates that the Islamic State of Iran was possibly the biggest threat to Israel and to the West. Especially if it soon becomes the Nuclear Islamic State of Iran.
Mr. Netanyahu’s speech was in many ways a response to Mr. Abbas’ one. As such, and based on factual truth and not relative truth, He delivered a passionate message of righteous chutzpah that should be taken very seriously.
What will come out of the 69th UN General Assembly has yet to be seen. But I have lost confidence in an institution that was once a beacon of hope and peace in a developing world. The United Nations have become so politically correct that they are blinded and even wooed by speeches like the one delivered by Mr. Abbas. Of course it doesn’t help when the vast majority of the delegates are anti-Israel to start with.
I applaud Mr. Netanyahu for his boldness and like him, I will quote Isaiah 62, but not just verse 1 , I would like to also add verse 2, because I do believe that God Has a glorious future for Yisrael:
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep quiet,
Until her righteousness goes forth like brightness,
And her salvation like a torch that is burning.
The nations will see your righteousness,
And all kings your glory;
And you will be called by a new name
Which the mouth of the Lord will designate.
If the few remaining friends of Israel like you and I do not speak on her behalf and support the only democracy in the Middle East, the next speech we hear might be her eulogy, God forbid! (Well, He actually does forbid it in Jeremiah 31:35-37).
Will the Real Islam Please Stand-Up?
I have been researching, studying, teaching and writing about anti-semitism, Islam, sharia, Israel and the Jewish people for about 15 years. What I am about to say could easily get me pegged as a right-wing-bigoted-racist but I certainly hope that my readers would not give-up until they have read my entire article.
Those verses are real and they mean exactly what they say. Let us also consider the fact that most of the verses in question are normative and not historical. In other words, they are more open-ended than historically linked, and thus still very much apply to the “infidels” to this very day. Consider just a few of those verses below:
Sura 47.4 – “When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads and, when you have latid then low, bind your captives firmly. Then grant them their freedom or take a ransom for them, until the war shall lay down her burdens.”
Can Kristallnacht 2.0 Be Averted?
On November 7, 1938, teenage Jewish boy Herschel Grynszpan, while in Paris heard of his family’s expulsion. He decided to assassinate the German Ambassador to France, but not able to locate him, settled for another official by the name of Ernst Vom Rath who died two days later on the 9th of November. While I never am one to condone revenge of any kind, I empathize with Gryszpan sense of desperation.
Grynszpan provided Joseph Goebbels with the perfect excuse to launch a series of pogroms that became known as Kristallnacht or “the Night of Broken Glass”.
These pogroms (organized riots) took place during the night of November 9-10, 1938 throughout parts of Germany and Austria. They were solely against Jewish property and Jewish people. 91 Jewish people were killed, 30,000 were arrested and sent to camps, 1,000 synagogues set on fire and over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed. Kristallnacht was a combination of pogrom and boycott.
In her superb work on the Holocaust titled “The War Against the Jews: 1933-1935″ Lucy Dawidowicz writes:
On Kristallnacht, the Jewish community of Germany went up in flames…. All Jewish institutions were burned down or banned by order of the Gestapo. The Jewish press was suppressed… Tasks of emigration, welfare and education assigned by the Gestapo. Its real function was to preside over the final liquidation of German Jewry1.
Lucy Dawidowicz and the vast majority of Holocaust scholars see Kristallnacht as the starting point of the implementation of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”. The question that we need to ask ourselves now is: “Is another Kristallnacht on the way and can it be averted?”
In the last few days I posited that the Third Intifada could be global and happening now in from of our very eyes. I still believe it, but we might be seeing something bigger on the horizon, like another Kristallnacht. Kristallnacht 2.0 so to speak!
The main difference between and intifada (uprising) and another Kristallnacht, is the fact that the first one is mostly reactive and somewhat disorganized, while the later is pro-active AND very organized. These are some of the signs that indicate that things are heating-up towards Kristallnacht 2.0 in Europe. Events like these all took place in the last few weeks and they are just a few out of many and the escalation of violence is unprecedented, at least since the Holocaust:
• Saint-Nicolas, Belgium: A café owner displayed a sign in his window saying: ” Dogs are welcome inside but Zionists are not!”
• Antwerp, Belgium: About 500 people demonstrated on the streets, screaming: “slaughter the Jews”
• London, England: During a street protest, people were brandishing signs saying :” Hitler you were right” or even “f*** the Zionists”. A Jewish boy on his bicycle was hit by a rock thrown at him by a woman wearing a niqab.
• Spain: A letter signed by 100 Spanish celebrities such as Penelope Cruz called Israel to “stop the Genocide“.
• The Hague, Holland: an ISIS ( the new self proclaimed Caliphate of the Islamic State) street gathering has been calling for the killing of “dirty Jews from the sewers”.
• Berlin, Germany: Street protesters are calling for Jews to be gassed.
• Paris, France: 4,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators defy a ban on the streets of Paris as they burn the Israeli flag, many of them shouting “Allah Akbar“
• French Facebook site: For a short time, the French Facebook site hosted a page from Young French Revolutionaries that displayed photos and names of 32 Jewish people for the sole purpose of finding them and physically assaulting them. They found one of them at his home and descended on him violently. The site has since been closed by Facebook under pressure. Incidentally, a new site came up that Facebook titled “Death to Israel and Zionists” and according to Facebook it also doesn’t violate their community standards! They must be reported.
• Paris, France: A synagogue and several Jewish stores were firebombed in Paris and suburb.
• Nice, France: In the south of France, people on the streets were shouting “we are all Mohammed Merahs“, comparing themselves to the 2012 Toulouse Muslim murder of a rabbi, three Jewish school children and three soldiers.
For some reason–and it might be related to the fact that the largest community of European Muslim lives in France– the temperature is the hottest there. This only helps us to measure the gravity of the situation and plan ahead for other areas to be hit.
Some call it urban guerrilla warfare, some call it street protest and some –like I did last week– even call it an French Intifada. I think we are well beyond that and that at the very least, we are witnessing the birth of a new Kristallnacht, no longer localized but soon to be global. With the help of the social networks and the media, the “global Jews” is responsible for everything in Israel, Gaza and anywhere else they look for a scapegoat. People are not attacked because they are vocal Zionists showing bold support for Israel. All Jews are at risk even as they go about their day saying nothing, simply for being Jewish, and this my friends is anti-Semitism at its worst!
I think that the very fact that many of the perpetrators show some signs of being better organized is very ominous. Jews are scared to go outside now. Forget going outside wearing a star of David necklace or a yarmulke, they are just afraid to go out. Applications for Aliyah are multiplying. The attacks are coming from all fronts: Schools, streets, social networks, publications, radio, Internet and to an extent also some levels of government.
So really, Can Kristallnacht 2.0 Be Averted? I am not certain that it can, especially if the current French government continues to watch as if their hands were tied–maybe they are tied by fear of reprisals and terrorism on their own soil, or worse…by choice! But anytime in history that abuse, destruction of property and killings were minimized if not stopped, was when people who cared for people did something.
Albert Einstein already knew that in the 1940s when he said: The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”
The sad part about France that might also be a reflection on the vast majority of the Western world, is that many are thinking that they are not anti-Semites, yet they are happy to see the “Jews” leave. “Good riddance” they probably think, “let them move to Israel”. They are missing an important aspect of this crisis, and that is the fact that those going after my people have a much larger agenda. For the most part, the animosity is between Muslims and the Jewish community for now, and the Muslim perpetrators (yet it is important to note that not all perpetrators are Muslim) are not fearful of the authorities. They are defiant, appearing as if they were in a judeophobic trance. But their jihad is anti-West not just anti-Jew.
Kristallnacht was the spark that started the Holocaust. Excuses were made, momentum was picked-up and blood… a lot of blood, was shed. So is there no hope for the Jews of France and the rest of Europe? What will happen if we allow Kristallnacht 2.0 to take place in Europe?
Call me naive or mistaken but I think that I might have the solution to this mess. I found my answer 31 years ago in the person of Sar Shalom (Isaiah 9:6-7), Maschiah ben David (2 Samuel 7:12-13). Some will agree with me and some will fight me for my beliefs in a Mashiach who came to die as a kippur for His people (Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Psalm 22). I also believe that this Mashiach who first cams as Maschiah ben Yoseph is about to return on the Mount of Olives soon as Maschiah ben David.
If you disagree with me, and before you accuse me of “not being Jewish anymore” I would ask you to consider that even if I am wrong–and I don’t believe I am– in siding with those that follow Yeshua the Messiah, I am making every effort to let them know that THEY have NO CHOICE BUT TO LOVE ISRAEL AND THE JEWSIH PEOPLE (Psalm 83:5).
Israel and the Diaspora Jews have the assurance that true disciples of Yeshua have their back. It doesn’t matter if you embrace me or reject me, Israel. I have your back as well. Kristallnacht 2.0 might not be fully averted but you will not fight alone!
1. Dawidowicz, Lucy S. : The War Against the Jews: 1933-1935″ (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, NY, 1975) page 196.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- …
- 20
- Next Page »