BARBARIC JERUSALEM VIOLENCE: SYMPTOMATIC OF ISLAMIST TERROR PLAGUING THE MIDDLE EAST

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Contents:

The Quiet Holiness of a Synagogue Shattered by Unholy Terror: David Brinn, Jerusalem Post, Nov. 18, 2014 — All of the other terror attacks of the last few months led up to this one – the triumphant operation Hamas has labeled a "high-quality" attack.

Paving the Way for Islamic State in Israel: Ruthie Blum, Israel Hayom, Nov. 18, 2014— During morning prayers at a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday, two Arabs with massacre on their minds entered the premises armed with guns and axes. 

What Makes Islamic State so Attractive?: Dr. Mordechai Kedar, Arutz Sheva, Nov. 6, 2014 — The fact that Islamic State (formerly Daesh or ISIS/ISIL) is highly popular in the Islamic world cannot be ignored.

The Ancestors of ISIS: David Motadel, New York Times, Sept. 23, 2014— In the last few years, there has been a dramatic rise of a seemingly new type of polity: the Islamic rebel state.

On Topic Links

Global Terrorism Index Report: Institute for Economics and Peace, Nov. 16, 2014 

The Silence of Prayer, Shattered in a Synagogue Bloodbath: Mitch Ginsburg, Times of Israel, Nov. 18, 2014

Israel's Arabs Need Better Leaders: Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, Nov. 18, 2014

Yes, Mahmoud Abbas IS to Blame: Ari Soffer, Arutz Sheva, Nov. 18, 2014

The Pentagon’s ‘Nine-Brigade Gamble’ on Iraq: Robert H. Scales, Washington Post, Nov. 10, 2014

Quebec Voters at the Heart of NDP, Liberal Positions on Iraq: J.L. Granatstein, Globe & Mail, Oct. 8, 2014

THE QUIET HOLINESS OF A SYNAGOGUE

SHATTERED BY UNHOLY TERROR                                         

David Brinn                                                                                                                       Jerusalem Post, Nov. 18, 2014

All of the other terror attacks of the last few months led up to this one – the triumphant operation Hamas has labeled a "high-quality" attack. The months of Palestinian incitement over the Israeli "takeover" of al-Aksa mosque did its job in making an impression on young Palestinians and turning them into fanatical terrorists who executed Tuesday's bloodbath in Har Nof. It was a palpable sense of shock and revulsion that overtook the nation on Tuesday when the sanctity of a synagogue was violated and Jewish worshipers were struck down in a scene that summoned images of pogroms and Nazi atrocities – images that we thought were part of our past, not our present. No amount of mea culpas about the "occupation" dehumanizing them or Israel's policies pushing them into a corner where they're forced to lash out can rationalize the depravity of  Palestinian society that not only enables acts like this but then praises them and justifies continued "resistance." And now, as a result, their lives are going to get a lot harder.  Israel surely knows how to make peace, but it can just as effectively make war – whatever path it needs to take to protect its people. If the people of Jabel Mukaber  – instead of gathering en masse in a rally of condemnation of the acts of their sons  – react as they did by engaging security forces with rocks and violence,  it's clear that the intifada era is not going to pass quietly.

Who will be the next young Palestinian driven by the incitement of their political and religious leaders to pick up an axe or a knife and betray their humanity? That fear has spread throughout Israel – and while it's disconcerting for  us, it's worse news for the Palestinians we share the city with – Palestinians like the cleaning staff at Jerusalem Capital Studios that houses The Jerusalem Post. They too are young Jerusalem Palestinians with similar backgrounds to the perpetrators of Tuesday's terror. I see them every day, exchange pleasantries, just like the worshipers in Har Nof likely did with the two terrorists who reportedly worked in the neighborhood. When two of the regular staffers entered my office in the afternoon to empty the trash bin and replace it with a new nylon bag, I found myself for the first time tensing up and watching their every move out of the corner of my eye. It's a sad, unfortunate reality that results in shadowy suspicions like that, but from now on, no excuses will be made.  The quiet holiness of a Har Nof synagogue being shattered by unholy death made sure of that.             

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PAVING THE WAY FOR ISLAMIC STATE IN ISRAEL                               

Ruthie Blum       

Israel Hayom, Nov. 18, 2014

During morning prayers at a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday, two Arabs with massacre on their minds entered the premises armed with guns and axes. They managed to kill four worshippers and wound several others before being shot down by police. Immediately this was reported in the media as a revenge attack for the death of an Arab bus driver (employed by the Israeli company, Egged) on Sunday night. A forensic examination, conducted on Monday in the presence of an Arab coroner, showed that the deceased had hanged himself. But his parents insisted he was murdered by Jews. Riots ensued. But then, mass protests against perceived Israeli crimes have been going on for months. Each is given a specific label, but they are all part of what I would call the "Temple Mount Intifada."

This latest war of attrition against Israel was ostensibly caused by a movement of Jews who wish to alter the status quo and be allowed to pray at the Temple Mount. But Muslims, who have free rein to worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque, consider this an assault. They rationalize their rejection of religious coexistence by denying a Jewish connection to the site. "Temple denial" is a term coined by Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs head Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the U.N. and current foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In his 2007 book, "The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City," Gold called the attempt on the part of Palestinian Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat to delegitimize Israel by rejecting Jewish claims to the holy city.

Since then, Gold has shown how Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has picked up where Arafat left off, continuing the campaign to cast aspersions on Israel's connection to Jerusalem in general and to the Temple Mount in particular. Indeed, Abbas and other PA figures have taken many opportunities to assert that if there was a Jewish Temple 2,000 years ago, it was located in Nablus. When Gold first began to warn about Temple denial as a dangerous propaganda tool with a contagious message, some pundits shrugged it off. After all, there is not only a religious connection on the part of the Jews to the holiest site in Judaism; there is also abundant archaeological evidence on and around the site to prove it. Furthermore, as Gold wrote in these pages ("Abbas' Temple denial," March 2, 2012), "The great irony of this new Palestinian version of Jerusalem's history is that it contradicts the original Islamic tradition. Abu Ja'far Muhammad bin Jarir al-Tabari (839-923 C.E.) was a leading commentator on the Quran and is known as one of Islam's greatest historians. In his account of the conquest of Jerusalem by the second caliph, Umar bin al-Khattab, al-Tabari describes him heading toward 'the area where the Romans buried the Temple [bayt al-maqdis] at the time of the sons of Israel.'"

Gold's analysis and admonitions were prescient. The current wave of Palestinian terrorism is the culmination of decades of revisionist history, raised by Arafat at the end of the Camp David summit in 2000, and relentlessly promoted since then by his successors in the PA and by radical Muslims elsewhere.It is this, too, that is enabling Islamic State to gain a foothold in Jerusalem. According to the online news site Vocativ, a campaign called "Recruitment for Al-Aqsa" has been circulating on Islamic State social media sites. "The goal of this holy campaign is to prepare suicide and jihadi attacks against the Jews … in order to implement the law of Allah and liberate the captive Al-Aqsa mosque from the hands of the filthy Jews," says the group behind it. This mission statement is accompanied by Skype, Twitter, phone and e-mail contacts, as well as calls for volunteers and a fund-raising pitch that reads as follows: "Our Muslim brother, if you can't be a mujahid by yourself, then you should know that your brothers in Palestine promised to Allah to go in the path of jihad. Don't be cheap with your money." When Vocativ called the number listed on the posting, a man answered and said that the aim is to recruit 50 fighters and pay each one a $2,500 stipend in cash, to cover the cost of a Kalashnikov rifle, magazines and bullets.

So here we have it. The Temple Mount is even being used by Islamic State supporters to attract recruits. The United States and Europe have wasted precious energy and resources on myopic "solutions" to what has become an almost uncontainable global phenomenon. Blaming Israel for any of it not only reeks of anti-Semitism; it is also utterly counter-productive. The Temple Mount is not the cause of the "controversy." Nor are Jews who insist on the right to pray there "provocateurs." It is this fact that must be recognized and reckoned with. Otherwise, it won't be long before decapitation videos start going viral from Jerusalem.

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WHAT MAKES ISLAMIC STATE SO ATTRACTIVE?                                          

Dr. Mordechai Kedar                                                                                                     

Arutz Sheva, Nov. 6, 2014

The fact that Islamic State (formerly Daesh or ISIS/ISIL) is highly popular in the Islamic world cannot be ignored. Not a day goes by without reading about large numbers of people from all parts of the globe – both Muslims, would-be Muslims and converts – arriving in droves at the Jihad centers of Syria and Iraq  prepared to give up their lives for Islamic State. A number of groups have sworn allegiance to the "State's" leader, Caliph Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. The most recent of these is Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a terror group based in Sinai that poses a threat to Egypt. In addition, the fact that we have not heard of one protest or demonstration against Islamic State anywhere in the Islamic world, not even against its treatment of minorities, women and children, cannot be ignored.  The thunderous quiet is in sharp contrast to the violent demonstrations that enveloped that very same world over caricatures, films and military actions of which it disapproved. Does the Islamic world agree with beheadings, mass murder of minorities and the sale of women in the slave market? And another question that needs answering is why Al Qaeda was not as attractive as Islamic State during the years in which it operated.

The most meaningful answer to these questions is that to many Muslims, Islamic State appears to be the real thing – pure, holy, original and unadulterated Islam. To them, it is the Islam that Mohammed brought to the world and that guided his cohorts and those who ruled after him. Many Muslims have read or heard about books on Islamic history, where the way Islamic forces conquered most of the 7th century world, butchering infidels, looting churches and monasteries, selling infidels on the market and forcing those who were vanquished to convert, is described with great pride – and without an iota of shame. Islamic historians have never felt the need to apologize for the way in which they conquered the world, to the point where they constantly describe Islam as a religion of peace. Islamic State today is doing the same: it conquers areas, beheads  some, crucifies others, sells men and women into slavery just the way the first Muslims did in the seventh century, and it also cuts off the hands of thieves, stones adulterers, whips criminals, all in accordance with Sharia law. Can any Muslim believer protest against Sharia? Can he protest the return of Muslim practices to the glorious days of the Prophet and his followers? Can a Muslim criticize Mohammed's behavior when the Islamic faith declares him infallible?

In contrast to al Qaeda, which never took over territory in order to establish an Islamic state, IS is the modern territorial expression of what seems to be the exact replica of what Mohammed created in the seventh century. The writing on the IS flag is taken from the seventh century and followers believe that it includes Mohammed's seal. A good many IS fighters wear black, as did the early fighters for Islam. At the head of IS today is a Caliph, the title given to those rulers who took over after Mohammed. This is a crucial point, because the institution of the Caliphate was dissolved in 1924 by Attaturk (Mustafa Kamal), who has now been declared an enemy of Islam by the faithful. He stopped Sharia, set fire to mosques, closed madrassas, switched from Arabic to Latin letters and tried to uproot Islam from Turkey by every means at his disposal.  IS, however, has arrived to renew the Caliphate, a subject that plays on a sensitive string in the Islamic heart.

Another issue is that IS does not hesitate to threaten the infidel Western powers, and has no problem butchering American and British citizens– the symbols of heretic Christian Western hegemony. These murders are carried out confidently and unashamedly in front of the camera, while the murderers read a scornful English message meant for those countries' leaders, considered the strongest men in the world, leading the strongest countries in the world The sheer audacity of IS makes Moslems all over the world proud and makes them feel that this is the way a true Moslem should act and speak when faced with heretics. This issue is most important to the young Muslims living in the Europe and the USA, who have not been absorbed into Western society and have developed feelings of rage against the countries in which they were raised. Their mass exodus to the Jihad centers of Iraq and Syria stems from their desire to take revenge on the West for pushing them, the children of  immigrants, to the periphery of society and for discriminating against them although they were born, raised and educated in the West. Of late, several videos video clips have surfaced whose subject is the young Yazidi women handed over to the fighters of IS to serve as slaves. The clips portray the lighthearted bantering of the fighters prior to the young women's being divided up among them. In traditional Islamic societies, where men are not allowed to have any contact with women other than their wives, this relaxation of prohibitions acts as a strong drawing factor.

Islamic State arrived in a world where social media – youtube, facebook, twitter – are within everyone's reach, mainly through the use of mobile phones. The intensive utilization of these methods of communication by IS activists on internet sites set up for that purpose, facilitates recording their ideas, propagating them and recruiting volunteers. Islamic State is a wealthy organization: it has wrested control over oil fields, and countries – most likely Turkey – buy oil from it, some directly and some indirectly. IS fighters rob banks, kidnap people for ransoms in the millions, receive massive funding from countries such as Qatar, levy taxes on the populations forced to live under IS control in the areas it has conquered.  All this enables IS to purchase arms, weapons, means of communication and transportation that create the image of success – and in attracting people, nothing succeeds like success. Islamic State has gained possession of arsenals of American weapons and arms that belonged to the Iraqi army. These are now in the hands of the Jihadists. Some of the weapons airlifted to the Kurds fighting in Kobane in northern Syria, fell into the hands of IS as, literally, gifts from heaven. Many Muslims believe that American weaponry that serves Jihad fighters battling America is a sign from heaven proving that Allah is helping the Jihad fighters win against their enemies by means of the enemies' own weapons.

Just for the sake of comparison: al Qaeda does not control any territory, does not collect taxes, does not force Sharia law on local populations, has no Caliph at its head, and even its Jihad against infidels has waned over the years. Al Qaeda's image is that of a tired, old, decrepit organization that has lost its way, while Islamic State – at this point – seems a young and vibrant one, whose actions are in true accordance with Islamic precepts and which does not give any consideration to the heretical, materialistic and permissive cultural mores with which Western culture tries to inculcate Muslims all over the world. As things stand, IS will probably grow larger over the next few months – or years – and become more dangerous and influential in the Middle East and possibly the world. This organization can be made to disappear in one of two ways: the first, a battle to the death that the world declares against it, putting "boots on the ground" to destroy or imprison the Jihadists, down to the last man. The problem with this scenario is the high price in human life and resources the world will have to pay in order to bring it about.

The second scenario is what has always happened in Islamic history: once a group begins to rule, internal feuds appear based on ideology, religion, funds, personal differences, tribal and organizational animosities – leading to eventual disintegration and its fall from power. The problem with this scenario is that it takes a long time and can span decades during which the organization continues shedding blood and turning its subjects' lives into hell.  Meanwhile, the world does nothing of any consequence against IS, which is advancing, gaining control over more territory and threatening other nations in its immediate environs. Organizations and volunteers are eagerly joining it and there is no end in sight. Islamic State is undoubtedly more attractive than al Qaeda, making it stronger and turning it into a clear and present danger to the Middle East and the entire world. The real problem in the West today is that too many European politicians depend on the votes of large, ever growing Muslim populations, meaning that there is very little chance that these politicians will take a stand against anything Islamic, including Islamic State and how it must be addressed.

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THE ANCESTORS OF ISIS                                                                             

David Motadel                                                                                                                  

New York Times, Sept. 23, 2014

In the last few years, there has been a dramatic rise of a seemingly new type of polity: the Islamic rebel state. Boko Haram in West Africa, the Shabab in East Africa, the Islamic Emirate in the Caucasus and, of course, the Islamic State in the Middle East, known as ISIS, or ISIL — these movements not only call for holy war against the West, but also use their resources to build theocracies. Though in some respects unprecedented, these groups also have much in common with the Islamic revivalist movements of the 18th century, such as the Wahhabis on the Arabian Peninsula and the great jihadist states of the 19th century. They waged jihad against non-Muslim powers, and at the same time sought to radically transform their own societies. One of the first groups to engage in anticolonial jihad and state-building was the fighters led by Abd al-Qadir, who challenged the French imperial invasion of North Africa in the 1830s and 1840s. Qadir declared himself “commander of the faithful” — the title of a caliph — and founded an Islamic state in western Algeria, with a capital in Mascara, a regular army and an administration that enforced Shariah law and provided some public services. The state was never stable, nor did it ever encompass a clearly defined territory; it was eventually destroyed by the French…

The most sophisticated 19th-century Islamic rebel state was the Caucasian imamate. Its imams rallied the Muslims of Chechnya and Dagestan into a 30-year holy war against the Russian empire, which sought to subdue the region. During the struggle, the rebels forced the mountain communities into a militant imamate, executing internal opponents and imposing Shariah law, segregation of the sexes, bans on alcohol and tobacco, restriction on music, and the enforcement of strict dress codes — all hugely unpopular measures. Czarist troops confronted the imamate with extreme brutality, eventually shattering it. In all of these cases, there were two distinct, though intertwined, conflicts, one against non-European empires and one against internal enemies, and both struggles were combined with state-building. This pattern is in fact not unique to the emergence of Islamic rebel states. The sociologist Charles Tilly once identified war as one of the most crucial forces in the formation of states: The foundation of a centralized government becomes necessary to organize and finance the armed forces. At the same time, Islam was at the center of these movements. Their leaders were religious authorities, most of them assuming the title “commander of the faithful”; their states were theocratically organized. Islam helped unite fractured tribal societies and served as a source of absolute, divine authority to enhance social discipline and political order, and to legitimize war. They all preached militant Islamic revivalism, calling for the purification of their faith, while denouncing traditional Islamic society, with its more heterodox forms of Islam, as superstitious, corrupt and backward.

Today’s jihadist states share many of these features. They emerged at a time of crisis, and ruthlessly confront internal and external enemies. They oppress women. Despite the groups’ ferocity, they have all succeeded in using Islam to build broad coalitions with local tribes and communities. They provide social services and run strict Shariah courts; they use advanced propaganda methods.If anything, they differ from the 19th-century states in that they are more radical and sophisticated. The Islamic State is perhaps the most elaborate and militant jihad polity in modern history. It uses modern state structures, including a hierarchically organized bureaucracy, a judicial system, madrasas, a vast propaganda apparatus and a financial network that allows it to sell oil on the black market. It uses violence — mass executions, kidnapping and looting, following a rationale of suppression and wealth accumulation — to an extent unknown in previous Islamic polities. And unlike its antecedents, its leaders have global aspirations, fantasizing about overrunning St. Peter’s in Rome. And yet those differences are a matter of degree, rather than kind. Islamic rebel states are overall strikingly similar. They should be seen as one phenomenon; and this phenomenon has a history. Created under wartime conditions, and operating in a constant atmosphere of internal and external pressure, these states have been unstable and never fully functional. Forming a state makes Islamists vulnerable: While jihadist networks or guerrilla groups are difficult to fight, a state, which can be invaded, is far easier to confront. And once there is a theocratic state, it often becomes clear that its rulers are incapable of providing sufficient social and political solutions, gradually alienating its subjects.

In this light, the international community should continue to check the expansion of groups like the Islamic State, and intervene to prevent widespread human rights abuses. But given that the United States and its allies are unlikely to commit the massive military resources necessary to defeat the Islamic State — let alone other jihadist states — the best policy might be one of containment, support of local opponents and then management of the groups’ possible collapse. We need to recognize what these groups really are. Referring to them as a “cancer,” as President Obama has, is understandable from an emotional standpoint, but simplifies and obscures the phenomenon. Jihadist states are complex polities and must be understood in the context of Islamic history.

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On Topic

The Silence of Prayer, Shattered in a Synagogue Bloodbath: Mitch Ginsburg, Times of Israel, Nov. 18, 2014 —Yaakov Amos had just finished calling silently on God to “grant peace everywhere, goodness and blessing; grace, loving kindness and mercy to us and unto all Israel, Your people,” when two terrorists stormed into Har Nof’s largest synagogue at 7:01 a.m. on Tuesday.

Israel's Arabs Need Better Leaders: Khaled Abu Toameh, Gatestone Institute, Nov. 18, 2014 —Some representatives of the Arab community in Israel are continuing to cause tremendous damage both to their constituents and coexistence between Jews and Arabs.

Yes, Mahmoud Abbas IS to Blame: Ari Soffer, Arutz Sheva, Nov. 18, 2014 —The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades – the "armed wing" of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist group – has officially taken credit for this morning's brutal terrorist attack at a synagogue in Jerusalem.

The Pentagon’s ‘Nine-Brigade Gamble’ on Iraq: Robert H. Scales, Washington Post, Nov. 10, 2014—Last Friday, on a dead news night and three days after the election, the White House announced another surge of U.S. troops to Iraq. Why now? Why so many? And are these enough to defeat the Islamic State?

Quebec Voters at the Heart of NDP, Liberal Positions on Iraq: J.L. Granatstein, Globe & Mail, Oct. 8, 2014 —The position taken by the New Democratic Party on Canadian airstrikes against Islamic State on Oct. 6 and 7 is surely no surprise.

Rob Coles, Publications Chairman, Canadian Institute for Jewish Research/ L'institut Canadien de recherches sur le Judaïsme, www.isranet.org

Tel: (514) 486-5544 – Fax:(514) 486-8284 ; ber@isranet.wpsitie.com