Jack Cohen. PM Netanyahu’s speech at the UN did two good things, he told the truth about the conflict with Hamas and he spoke truth to power about IS and Iran. Most of the Arab and Muslim delegations walked out as usual because the Israeli PM was speaking, and if this doesn’t show the state of the world we live in, what does. They do this reflexively, as an Israeli Jew he has no right to be heard by them. By contrast, Pres. Abbas of “Palestine” who spoke lies and vilified Israel received a standing ovation. Such is the state of the UN and the world.
Here is a full transcript of Bibi’s speech: http://www.algemeiner.com/
ISIS and Hamas share a fanatical creed, which they both seek to impose well beyond the territory under their control. Listen to ISIS’ self-declared caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This is what he said two months ago: “A day will soon come when the Muslim will walk everywhere as a master. The Muslims will cause the world to hear and understand the meaning of terrorism and destroy the idol of democracy.” Now listen to Khaled Mashal, the leader of Hamas. He proclaims a similar vision of the future: “We say this to the West — by Allah you will be defeated. Tomorrow our nation will sit on the throne of the world.”
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Ladies and gentlemen, militant Islam’s ambition to dominate the world seems mad, but so too did the global ambitions of another fanatic ideology that swept into power eight decades ago. The Nazis believed in a master race. The militant Islamists believe in a master faith.
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Ladies and gentlemen, would you let ISIS enrich uranium? Would you let ISIS build a heavy water reactor? Would you let ISIS develop intercontinental ballistic missiles? Of course you wouldn’t. Then you mustn’t let the Islamic state of Iran do those things either, because here’s what will happen. Once Iran produces atomic bombs, all the charms and all the smiles will suddenly disappear. They’ll just vanish. And it’s then that the ayatollahs will show their true face and unleash their aggressive fanaticism on the entire world.
There’s only one responsible course of action to address this threat. Iran’s nuclear military capabilities must be fully dismantled. (Applause.) Make no mistake: ISIS must be defeated. But to defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear power is to win the battle and lose the war. (Applause.) To defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear power is to win the battle and lose the war.”To give appropriate background to Netanyahu’s speech, I refer readers to the interview with Jonathan Spyer, my favorite expert on the region of Syria-Iraq, recently carried out by Voice of Israel (see
ISIS and Hamas share a fanatical creed, which they both seek to impose well beyond the territory under their control. Listen to ISIS’ self-declared caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This is what he said two months ago: “A day will soon come when the Muslim will walk everywhere as a master. The Muslims will cause the world to hear and understand the meaning of terrorism and destroy the idol of democracy.” Now listen to Khaled Mashal, the leader of Hamas. He proclaims a similar vision of the future: “We say this to the West — by Allah you will be defeated. Tomorrow our nation will sit on the throne of the world.”
………………..
Ladies and gentlemen, militant Islam’s ambition to dominate the world seems mad, but so too did the global ambitions of another fanatic ideology that swept into power eight decades ago. The Nazis believed in a master race. The militant Islamists believe in a master faith.
………………..
Ladies and gentlemen, would you let ISIS enrich uranium? Would you let ISIS build a heavy water reactor? Would you let ISIS develop intercontinental ballistic missiles? Of course you wouldn’t. Then you mustn’t let the Islamic state of Iran do those things either, because here’s what will happen. Once Iran produces atomic bombs, all the charms and all the smiles will suddenly disappear. They’ll just vanish. And it’s then that the ayatollahs will show their true face and unleash their aggressive fanaticism on the entire world.
There’s only one responsible course of action to address this threat. Iran’s nuclear military capabilities must be fully dismantled. (Applause.) Make no mistake: ISIS must be defeated. But to defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear power is to win the battle and lose the war. (Applause.) To defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear power is to win the battle and lose the war.”To give appropriate background to Netanyahu’s speech, I refer readers to the interview with Jonathan Spyer, my favorite expert on the region of Syria-Iraq, recently carried out by Voice of Israel (see
Origins of Terrorism
In his speeches at the UN General Assembly and at the Security Council, Pres. Obama mentioned that the phenomenon of terrorism is not new. But, it is worthwhile pointing out that the phenomenon of modern Islamic terrorism dates explicitly from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) that started terrorism against Israel in the 1960s. Most notably they pioneered hijacking aircraft and murdered hundreds of innocent civilians, including blowing up a Swiss airliner bound for Israel as well as blowing up three planes that they had hijacked to Jordan in 1970. Supposedly the PLO gave up terrorism when Yasir Arafat was allowed to return to “Palestine” in 1993 by PM Rabin as part of the Oslo Accords. But in fact, Arafat continued to support terrorism against Israel both by Fatah. his own faction the PLO, and by Hamas which was founded in 1987 as the Palestinian offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Arafat explicitly organized the Second Intifada (2000-2003) that killed thousands of Israelis in suicide bombings.
The PLO also gave rise to the phenomenon of Islamic terrorism against western targets. There were many PLO terrorist incidents in Europe, including the attack on the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 that led to the killing of 11 Israeli athletes. Many people believe that the PLO did in fact finally give up terrorism against Israel when Pres. Abbas became Arafat’s successor in 2005. But, so far few Israelis believe that, since we continue to see terrorists from the West Bank carrying out and trying to carry out bombings and shootings in Israel. But, most of the terrorist incidents are now perpetrated by Hamas terrorists, such as the murder of the three teenagers last June.
Subsequently, Osama bin Laden of al Qaeda declared war on the US in 1996 and started his campaign that led to the Twin Towers attack in 2001. But, for many Islamists Al Qaeda allowed its enmity for the West and particularly the USA to blind it to the opportunities that presented themselves in the wake of the so-called “Arab Spring,” when the chaos in Syria and Iraq left large regions of Sunni-dominated territory available for conquest and the establishment of their desired Caliphate. Hence the split between ISIS (or ISIL) and Al Qaeda (and its affiliate in Syria the Al Nusrah Front) and the subsequent expansion of IS.
But, the US under Pres. Obama was very slow to respond to those conquests. Everyone knew about them and the Yazidis, the Christians and the Kurds were being massacred, but it was not until two American journalists were beheaded that Obama decided to react militarily against this dangerous and determined foe. If only Obama had continued his predecessor George W. Bush’s Global War Against Terrorism instead of rushing off to Cairo to tell the Muslims what good guys the Americans really are, then we might not be in the state we are in today, trying to catch up and destroy them only from the air. If only we had strongly supported the true opposition to Assad in Syria, the Free Syrian Army, they might have defeated Assad, and there might not be such a strong Islamist opposition in Syria and tens of thousands of Syrians, Yazidis, Christians and Kurds might still be alive. Now with the Coalition of States against IS and Britain cautiously joining in the aerial attacks, we can expect the estimated ca. 3,000 foreign fighters in IS in Iraq and Syria to return to their homelands and bring about another wave of terrorism, that is already beginning.
Jack Cohen, Netanya, Israel
Jack Cohen: Born in London, UK, lived in suburban Washington DC area for 30 years, moved to Israel in 1996. He has a web site: Comment From Israel
Jack Cohen
