Friday, January 16, 2015

The Paris Massacre - Part II

This past Sunday, 44 world leaders joined 1.5 million French citizens in a march through Paris in support of free speech and against the Islamic terrorists. Another 1.5 million French citizens were said to have marched in other cities throughout France. It was quite an impressive showing. But the leader of the free world? He could not make it.

We've heard all the excuses. It takes a lot of planning for the President to travel somewhere. There are security concerns, and so on. And I am sure he did not want to miss the NFL divisional playoffs. Democrat strategist Doug Schoen was so upset by Obama's absence, that he said that Obama "morally abdicated his place as the leader of the free world." So, really, why didn't Obama just go? Let's start at the very beginning - a very good place to start.

Recall Obama's father was a Muslim who hated the European colonial powers. Obama's first call from the White House in 2009 - to Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority. His first speech? To the Muslim world from Cairo, after inviting the then-banned Muslim Brotherhood to attend. Remember Obama bowing to the Saudi King?

Obama has banned the use of the words "radical Islam," "Islamic terror" and so on from use in his Administration. When a radical Islamic soldier murdered 13 people and wounded dozens of others at Fort Hood in 2009, remember what Obama called it? An act of "workplace violence." And one of my favorites among the many Obama lies: "ISIL (aka ISIS) is not Islamic." And notice he is full steam ahead in releasing the terrorists held at Guantanamo.

Still not convinced about where Obama has his allegiances? Here is what he said at the UN General Assembly in September, 2012: "The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam." And what did Charlie Hebdo do? Make fun of the prophet of Islam. Anyone think Obama would stand up and defend that? You think some notion of "free speech" is more important to him than his ideology? Then you are dreaming.

So, what's to be done about the threat of radical Islam? It is a two-pronged approach. One approach must come from within Islam, and was recently expressed by none other than Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. "It's inconceivable that the thinking that we hold most sacred should cause the entire umma (Muslim world) to be a source of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction for the rest of the world...Is it possible that 1.6 billion (Muslims) should want to kill the rest of the world's inhabitants - that is 7 billion - so that they themselves may live?" Obama is no fan of al-Sisi, as he overthrew the radical terror group that had been elected to lead Egypt - the Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Sisi went on to say that Islam needed a "religious revolution." Important words; and let's hope we hear more of the same from other Muslim leaders.

What else should be done? I think Retired Colonel Ralph Peters, a Fox News commentator, got this part right. He said that we need to kill radical Islamic extremists everywhere around the world. Of course, no such action will be taken by this President. Rather, this President has the US in retreat. Retreat from Iraq, retreat from Afghanistan, closing Guantanamo, reducing the size and strength of our military. The result is that ISIS, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and Boko Haram and the like, are taking over ever growing swaths of land. This is land from which they will train terrorists to be able to go to Western countries - including the US - and carry out further attacks.

Some of my liberal Jewish friends, having voted for Obama, are now sick of him. But how will they vote next time? Will gay marriage, abortion, immigration and the environment carry the day over self-survival? Because we need to be honest. While there is no guarantee that a Republican President will restore our military and do what is needed to go on the offensive and defeat radical Islam, we do know that no Democrat (Hillary or any other) is up to the task.

One last point. Is it time? Is it time for the Jews of France, in particular, and of Europe in general, to leave? This is a difficult subject. But at what point did some Jews in Germany see the proverbial handwriting on the wall - and leave to save their families. Yes, there are differences. No country is engaging in genocide as Germany did during the Holocaust. The Times of Israel reported that 45% of Jews in Britain fear they have no future in that country; and 58% are concerned there is no long-term future for the Jews anywhere in Europe. In a related poll, it was found that 45% of Britains held at least one anti-Semitic view. (Poll results from the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism.)

Was Netanyahu right in calling for Jews to come home to Israel? Please let me hear from you.

The Paris Massacre - Part I

On January 7, 2015, three Islamic terrorists murdered 17 people in Paris - at the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, at a kosher market and on the street where a French policewoman was killed. As outrageous as these attacks were, they were - sadly - not a new occurrence. However, much can be learned about others perceptions of what occurred and why.

Howard Dean, former head of the Democratic National Committee, had this to say: "I stopped calling these people Muslim terrorists. They're about as Muslim as I am." And: "I think ISIS is a cult. Not an Islamic Cult." The lengths to which liberals will go to avoid telling the truth is more than just sad and moronic. It is dangerous. The whole world knows about radical Islamic terror. But Dean and Obama will not say it. Were the Germans Nazis? Hitler said he was. Hmmm.

The USA Today recently had this headline: "Terror attack sparks fears among French Muslims." Once again, the liberal need to make victims out of the same group that gave us the perpetrators. The liberal media did the same thing after the 9/11 attacks here. The USA Today quoted a 31 year old Muslim who said he disagreed with what the terrorists did. But then he added this: "But I also feel that freedom of speech can't justify everything and I was hurt when Charlie Hebdo published drawings of the prophet Mohammed." You know what, I was more hurt by the brutal murders of fellow Jews and other fellow human beings. Hurt by drawings? Grow up, grow a pair, and learn to cope with it. That should be the worst that life throws your way.

It was both amusing and disturbing to watch Obama's spokesperson Josh Earnest discuss what occurred in Paris. He was tripping over words in a convoluted fashion given his boss's instructions to never say "Islamic terror" or "radical Islamic terrorists." Rather, he told the White House press corps that it was "individual extremists" who use Islam to justify their actions. If Josh Earnest had any personal integrity he would have quit before spewing such blatant nonsense. I will say, though, what a coincidence that tens - if not hundreds - of thousands of "individuals" all over the world have taken the same murderous path using the same ideology and terminology to describe their actions and words. The odds must be one in a trillion. Amazing.

The New York Times opined in an editorial: "Perhaps the greatest danger in the wake of the massacres is that more Europeans will come to the conclusion that all Muslim immigrants on the continent are carriers of a great and mortal threat." The greatest danger? How about the greatest morons? The greatest danger is that Europe again becomes/remains complacent in the face of an ever growing danger to its people from radical Islamists.

One Saudi cleric said this: "No sane person, regardless of doctrine, religion or faith, accepts his beliefs being ridiculed." Really? Try being a conservative/Republican in the USA and picking up almost any mainstream newspaper - if you really want to see ridicule. The cleric's words tell you all you need to know about the idea of "free speech" in the Muslim world.

And, once again we heard from the former worst President (now second worst thanks to Obama) Jimmy Carter. In speaking with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, Carter was asked what may have prompted the Paris massacre. "Well, one of the origins for it is the Palestinian problem. And this aggravates people who are affiliated in any way with the Arab people who live in the West Bank and Gaza, what they are doing now - what's being done to them. So I think that's a part of it."

So, Jimmy, first let's blame the Jews. Can't go wrong there, can you - you anti-Semitic bastard. Second, let's excuse these murders because, if the Islamic terrorists are in fact mad at the Israelis, that gives them every reason to kill Frenchmen and Jews in France who have absolutely nothing to do with Israeli policy.