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Monday, February 4, 2008

[Please join me in welcoming our newest contributor, Stephanie Gutmann. Author of two must-read and important books, The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians and the Struggle for Media Supremacy and The Kinder, Gentler Military: How Political Correctness Affects Our Ability to Win Wars, Stephanie has recently set up shop in Israel and will be posting from time to time with her thoughts and observations.]

My first post in what I would like (with Martin's help) to be an American-in-Israel diary (yes, another one) was going to be breezy, filled with trilling about how central Israel has essentially become Southern California -- except with smart, interesting people.

I was going to tell you about the growth of a car culture, about Israel's urgent need for a good mass transit system, about the ballooning Silicone Wadi and the huge, hulking boxes of steel and glass emblazoned with names like Microsoft, HP, AmDocs, and Intel along the stretch of highway leading to Haifa that seem to have popped up overnight like mushrooms on a forest floor after a rain.

But the news that a suicide bomber detonated in the town of Dimona this morning and killed at least one and injured at least ten people has changed all that. Any suicide bombing is a nightmare but this carries special toxicity and it reminds me of how the feel of life in Israel can turn on a dime. One minute all Israel's problems are very much "out there", but in a flash they can become much more concrete:

The news outlets are starting their stories about this by saying that Israel hasn't "had a suicide attack in over a year." As with most of their news from the area this is only half right and missing essential context. There has not been a "successful" attack but there have been many, many attempts that have been thwarted. They are rattled off matter-of-factly down the left column of an inside page in the Jerusalem Post, like a Crime Blotter column in an American paper...a belt found in a car trunk here, a youth arrested at a checkpoint there.

As a result the mood in Israel has been noticeably euphoric.From the bus conductor, to the Bezeq operator, to your neighbor, Israelis have just been in such a freaking good mood. It's been like a town that just won the SuperBowl except 24/7/365.

Will this change that mood? I hope not. But I expect the mood today around town will be a little more subdued. This was in Dimona, alleged site of Israel's nuclear reactor and in the south where, a few days ago, Hamas blew open the wall separating them and the beleaguered civilians under their control from Egypt. (Yes, surprise, surprise it turns out that "the big prison", the description of choice for mawkish newspaper feature writers, has all along been controlled by Egyptian prison warders as well as Israel!)

Optimist that I am, I immediately thought of the upsides: maybe Egypt would deign to take back Gaza; maybe Egypt, now that it is more actively threatened by Hamas, would begin to take a more active role in putting Hamas down. At the very least there was a PR victory, the sight of Egyptian police forcibly pushing Gazans civilians back into their "prison" could only illustrate to the world that this is a far more complex situation than the ridiculously simple Israel-is-jailer-to-starving-Palestinian-children narrative.

Then those darn crepe-hanger pundits descended with phrases like "Hamas' aggression can only spread", "influx of weapons", "rearming,", "an Islamic terror state on Israel's southern border unchecked by an intimidated Egypt." The usual apocalyptic talk or so I thought.

But maybe not. I hate to end this post with something as lame as "time will tell", but it will, won't it?

Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Stephanie's Letter from Israel: Terror in Dimona.

TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.solomonia.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-renamedtb.cgi/14121

The saga of the identity of the Dimona suicide bombers continues (see here, here, here, here and here). According to YNet, Egypt says they have the two guys that were dispatched from Gaza in jail: 'Dead terrorists' resurface in Egypt... Read More

5 Comments

Welcome Stephanie.

I am deeply sorry that your first post has to be about a terrorist attack.

Will the people of this earth never learn to live in peace? Or will all our efforts to learn, study, create, be shadowed by violence and pain?

There are days when it's truly difficult to keep going but somehow we must, and try also to maintain our hope and our ideals, and also to reach out to our enemies.

It's difficult when you see pictures of people celebrating death and injury of innocent human beings.

Very nice post, Stephanie. Look forward to many more.

The WHY??? of Terrorism in Islam – And WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT!
I am an American living in Asia. I am not Moslem, but I am a writer and historian. I would like to share some information with you: information concerning Moslem violence and terrorism, and why the United States and its military allies throughout Europe and Asia must continue to be vigilant, and when appropriate, respond to individual acts of violent Islamic terrorism with relentless, overwhelming, and deadly force.

This information may help you understand what is going on not only in India, Pakistan, and China, as well as other parts of Asia, but also the Middle East, as well as Africa, Europe, and even the United States. In the not too distant future, Moslem extremists hope to involve you and your loved ones, as well as a vast number of other innocent victims in a man-made catastrophe: an organized and violent calamity of biblical proportions that is based on teachings that were added to the Koran, decades after the faith was founded.

Disregarding the social, economic, and political factors that serve as underpinnings for Islamic terrorism, I will address the more fundamental issue: the religious teachings that sanction violence against non-Moslems and AGAINST ALL WOMEN. Here are seven verses from the Koran. These scriptures have been translated into modern English.

…murder, crucify, or cut off the hands and feet of non-Moslems…Chapter 5 Verse 33 - The Koran
…create terror in the hearts of non-Moslems …cut off their heads…Chapter 8 Verse 12 - The Koran
…and fight non-Moslems until Allah’s religion is the only one…Chapter 8 Verse 39 - The Koran
…of all the loot you plunder from non-Moslems, 20% belongs to Allah and to Mohammed. Chapter 8 Verse 41- The Koran (Author’s note: Loot included kidnapped female sex-slaves.)
…Take as many as four wives from the women you are sexually attracted to … Chapter 4 Verse 3 - The Koran
…God has made men superior to women… Virtuous women are obedient. If a woman becomes disobedient, beat her. Chapter 4 Verse 34 - The Koran
…When it comes to marriage, Allah makes it legal for you to take as wives, women whom your right hand possesses. Chapter 33 Verse 50 - The Koran (Author’s note: This verse talks about the “loot” non-Moslems call… kidnapped female sex-slaves.)

Most people in the western world have never heard of these astonishing scriptures, but they are in the Koran … along with a relatively short list of others, just like them. This is important because not all Moslems are the same; there are two very different types. Militant Moslems view these verses as commandments from their god – a primitive desert god, from an ancient land of heat, sand, scorpions, and death. Militant Moslems think these teachings apply to life in the Twenty-first Century and they try to use them, regardless of the suffering and mayhem they create, whereas moderate Moslems ignore such verses because they were uttered a long time ago, when the Arabian peninsula, from whence Islam came, was a wild and savage place.

Historians tell us these terrorist teachings are part of a cluster of ferocious beliefs that were deliberately added to one specific part of the formerly peaceful and tolerant Koran. These startling changes were made, decades after Islam was first founded in the Arabian city of Mecca. By the time of these changes, the original (and real) prophet of Islam was dead. Thereafter the religious headquarters was uprooted and moved to the city of Medina. Islam began changing; under new leadership it turned cruel and predatory.

In fact, historians also tell us Islam didn’t simply fall from the sky as a full-blown religion, but rather evolved from a persecuted sect of Jewish-Christians. The first Moslems in the city of Mecca were actually part of a larger group of Jesus’ followers called the Ebionites.

Ebionites were peace-loving disciples of Christ, who shared their wealth with fellow believers, and taught that a man should marry only one wife.

In fact, women were much more independent in the Ebionite Jewish-Christian days of Islam. They were more influential too. I say this because my research has determined that the first prophet of Islam may have been someone other than Mohammed: I believe the first prophet was a very special Arabian princess named Khadija the Pure. Khadija was Mohammed’s first and only wife for twenty-four years. Khadija was fifteen years older than Mohammed. She was considered to be fabulously wealthy, and she was Mohammed’s employer, before she became his wife.

Mohammed on the other hand, before he became Khadija’s employee, was an impoverished youth who had been raised as an orphan. Ultimately Mohammed worked his way up to a position as Khadija’s business manager. With time, Khadija grew fond of Mohammed. She even married him. However, Khadija was a liberated woman. In fact, Khadija was the one who initiated the marriage proposal to Mohammed! And after their wedding, she never allowed Mohammed to have other women in her house.

Throughout her lifetime, even though Khadija had already converted to Christianity, Mohammed’s first and only wife for twenty-four years remained an influential Arabian princess in the ruling family that controlled worship in the Kabba Temple, with it’s pantheon of more than three hundred pagan gods and goddesses. Clearly, in the early days of Islam, Khadija was a person of great influence in Arabian society: and clearly Mohammed, her husband… was not. www.TheMoslemInstitute.com

After Khadija’s untimely death from a terrible illness, Islam was hijacked by a cartel of corrupt men, headed by Mohammed himself. The faith was abruptly relocated to the city of Medina and new beliefs were added to the Koran; at the same time, old beliefs were deleted or relegated to unimportance, and the religion was changed beyond recognition. In the end, Islam abandoned many of its Ebionite Jewish-Christian teachings. Women suffered the most: they became the focus of repression, scorn, and violence.

Today, although moderate Moslems are loath to admit these ideas, and many of them are terrified to voice criticism of their militant Islamic brothers, because of fear that violence will come to them and their families, the fact remains that these added teachings are not the original beliefs of Islam; they are amendments: They are the terrorist teachings of Islam.

In the near future, militant Moslems hope to unleash a Jihad: a Moslem holy war upon the non-Moslem world; not only the United States and Western Europe, but also throughout parts of Asia, including India and maybe even China, and Japan. Because the terrorist teachings of Islam sanction treaty breaking, deception, and war, as well as looting, murder, kidnapping, terrorism, and human slavery (including sexual slavery), so long as these crimes are directed against non-Moslems, there is no limit to the things these fanatics can do. But the scariest part: Militant Moslems will do everything… in the name of their primitive desert god.

Once victory is attained in this violent holy war, these fanatics believe Allah will bless them with harems of kidnapped sex slaves taken from destroyed cities and nations, as well as enormous fortunes of loot plundered from the non-Moslem world. They believe this because of the terrorist teachings that were added to the Koran. These terrorist teachings even say ransoms paid to Moslem terrorists, to redeem stolen property (like hijacked oil tankers and cargo ships) as well as kidnapped men, women, and children, are part of the Islamic loot these vicious criminals are entitled to receive.

These same terrorist teachings even allow Moslem men to force their kidnapped female sex slaves to marry them in Moslem wedding ceremonies, and bear children for them: whether the women want to or not. Terrorist Moslem teachings mandate only two requirements: The women must come from Christian or Jewish backgrounds, and secondly, if the unfortunate women resist, these same terrorist teachings say the Moslem husbands must beat them, and imprison them in their own homes.

As an eternal reward for their cruel deeds, if the Moslem fanatics die while committing these crimes against humanity, Islamic extremists believe their fierce desert god will admit them to paradise and bless them with luxurious palaces filled with riches and populated by seventy-two virgin brides, who are exquisitely beautiful, yet modest enough to struggle to control their unbridled lust to have sexual intercourse with a dead Moslem terrorist.

With these stinging indictments against terrorist Islamic doctrines entered into the record, it is important to remember that the majority of Moslems are moderate, decent people, who love God and practice acts of charity and kindness to their neighbors, both Moslem and non-Moslem. Such moderate Moslems recognize these violent teachings as obsolete and out of place in the Twenty-first Century. In the author’s opinion, in spite of enormous cultural and ideological differences that exist between the non-Moslem world and the followers of Islam, it is with this moderate Moslem majority that any long-term resolution to the Islamic terrorism issue will ultimately be negotiated.

However, given the massive population increases taking place in the Moslem world, at a time when poverty, chaos, criminality, and religious fanaticism are burgeoning, the numbers of Moslems worldwide who declare themselves militant is increasing; the influence their growing networks of terror cells exert on Islamic governments throughout the world has reached crisis levels. Because of the terrorist teachings of Islam, modern civilization faces a nightmarish future; the attacks on Mumbai, India, the World Trade Center in New York, and the subway bombings in Spain and London are simply previews of things to come. In this ferocious Jihad, nuclear and biological weapons are almost certain to come into play.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill: The road before us will be long and dangerous and terrifying; the United States and Europe and Asia must be resolute… and take courage. We must work together to neutralize militant Islamic movements… and if necessary… wage war against the governments that sustain them. At the same time, the non-Moslem world must also nurture moderate Islamic states and establish strong alliances with them. The very survival of our civilization, and even mankind itself, depends on it.

Are you are interested in learning more about an array of Islamic topics including:
1. Who are The Seventy-two Virgins of Islam and how did they become part of Moslem dogma?
2. What role did the Ebionites and Khadija the Pure play, in founding the original religion of Islam?
3. What role does militant Islam play in modern human slavery?

Visit The Moslem Institute website: www.TheMoslemInstitute.com

Regards,
Dane Dahl
Author and Historian

I've got numerous car projects that I'm doing, and I do believe my cousin wants to get me a brand-new beld sander on my birthday too.

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