Sunday, November 15, 2015

Paris, France, Pays The Terrible Price of Europe's Inability To Recognize The Real Enemy: Radical Islamism

By Noam A. Rotem 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his statement on the Paris attacks tonight said:
On behalf of the people and Government of Israel, I extend our deepest sympathies to the people of France and to the families of those who were brutally murdered in Paris last night. We also extend our wishes for a speedy recovery to the wounded.
It would be nice if France and the EU, could show the same solidarity with Israel, when innocent Israeli civilians are massacred by Palestinian terrorists, who share the same barbaric and murderous Jihadist ideology, with those of the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the other related and affiliated, radical Islamic terrorist groups around the world. Sadly though, France and the EU instead of recognizing the real enemy and threat to western democracy, have been spending their time, singling out Israel, and labeling Jewish produce, made by Jews, in their ancestral homeland.

What happened in Paris on the horrifying night of Friday November 13 2015, is Europe's chickens coming home to roost. For decades Europe turned a blind eye to virulent humans rights violations of despot radical Islamic regimes across the mideast. Within Europe, and across western intelligentsia, a politically correct ideology took hold. Backed by an omnipotent politically correct mainstream media-- violent, misogynist, antisemitic, and anti-democratic rhetoric and behavior, by radical muslims at home and abroad was either given a free pass, or got little to no media coverage, while Israel was singled out for biased, hypocritical and immoral condemnation. And thus by ignoring, what is the real threat to western civilization and democracy, Leonardo Da Vinci's immortal words turned into a devastating reality: "he who does not punish evil, commands it to be done".

France, Europe, and the West will be making yet another terrible miscalculation, in the aftermath of this horrendous attack, if they interpret these attacks, as only emanating from the Islamic State. The issue is much broader than that, and is a clash of civilizations (as the term was coined by Prof. Samuel Huntington), between democratic modernism and theocratic medieval barbarism. The west needs to recognize and acknowledge the enemy, namely radical Islamism. Sadly this is not a fringe movement, as PC ideologues would like to believe, and enjoys widespread and popular support.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ended his statement tonight with the following poignant words:
Terrorism is the deliberate and systematic targeting of civilians. It can never be justified. Terrorism must always be condemned. It must always be fought. Innocent people in Paris, like those in London, Madrid, Mumbai, Buenos Aires and Jerusalem, are the victims of militant Islamic terrorism, not its cause. As I've said for many years, militant Islamic terrorism attacks our societies because it wants to destroy our civilization and our values.

I call on the entire civilized world to unite to defeat the plague of worldwide terrorism. An attack on any one of us should be seen as an attack on all of us. All terrorism must be condemned and fought equally with unwavering determination. It's only with this moral clarity that the forces of civilization will defeat the savagery of terrorism.
Photo from World Jewish Congress FB page: Israelis gathers in solidarity with France, in front of Tel Aviv city hall which is lit up in the Tricolors of the French flag. 

Article was also published on the Op-Ed page of Arutz Sheva:
Op-Ed: Paris pays the price of Europe's inability to recognize the real enemy