The West continues to believe, or at least pretend, that this is about land or a Palestinian state or undoing the shackles of colonialism or whatever sanctimonious and self-righteous label you choose. If only the Palestinians had a state blah blah blah. If only Israel would stop doing this blah blah blah. If this were merely a territorial dispute, then the Palestinians would have accepted the myriad of “land for peace” deals offered them in the past 78 years. If this were merely a territorial dispute, the Palestinians would have lived peacefully in Gaza rather than turning it into a terror state. In reality, this is jihad, a religious war against the Jews. The Hamas Charter speaks of killing Jews - not just Israelis - everywhere. Every week the Islamists scream “globalize the intifada,” “from the river to the sea” or “Khaybar Khaybar al Yahood.” These aren’t calls for peace, they are calls for a holy war. Islamism demands jihad so rejecting jihad is blasphemy. Even if there is peace in Gaza tomorrow and the Palestinians are gifted a state as a reward for 10/7, Islam’s war against Israel and the Jews will continue.
It won’t stop until Iran gets nuclear weapons and uses them and that day, sadly, is coming sooner than most think. As long as it’s just Jews dying the Europeans will always find a reason to do nothing. But Islam has bigger plans than just Israel.
Your article shows intimate personal feelings as you should. I feel very much the same way. My feeling on the whole matter is to look back at our history. They have been murdering Jews for at the least the past three thousand years or more. Let's face it they, the world, hates us and will continue without let up. The sooner we come to grips with this the better. If things go the way they have been going I feel the next three thousand will be like the last three thousand. Shalom Dan
I think this is incorrect because it super-imposes a rather recent (and mostly Protestant) definition of religion that distorts the essence of Islam.
You write “To be clear: Islam and Islamism are not the same. Islam is a religion practiced by nearly two billion people. Islamism is a political ideology that fuses religion with state power, demands clerical rule, the implementation of sharia law, and weaponizes antisemitism as a central plank.”
Islamism is in fact grounded in the teachings of Islam. It is not like, say, anarchism or Marxism that, while having developed in Christian Europe, are quite independent of Christianity.
There is no conception within Islam of a separation between church and state. They are inseparable because Islam existed before that concept was born and, unlike Judaism whose scriptures also made no such distinction but came to accept and incorporate it through interpretation. That’s why Sharia is the legal standard in Muslim countries while Halacha is not the legal standard in Israel.
The real distinction within Islam is between the fundamentalists who believe not only that everything in the Quran and Hadiths are true and that Muhammad was perfect and a model of their own behavior, and those who are more “à la carte” Muslims for whom Islam is perhaps a marker of identity but its details remain somewhat vague and secondary to making ends meet. So, yes to prayer five times a day, yes to halal food but definitely no to dying for the sake of Allah for any reason.
Whether Islam can reinterpret itself in a manner similar to Judaism is an open question, but the prospects are not bright.
The Jews were an oppressed minority and their faith was constantly reinterpreted to take that omnipresent reality into account. For nearly 2,000 years they were a stateless people living essentially at the sufferance of the majority population, whether Christian or Muslim.
In contrast, Muslims control some 57 countries and, historically, Islam has closed the so-called gates of interpretation around the 12th century. Not surprisingly, this occurred at the height of their imperial project, a bit of hubris maybe. So there are multiple hurdles facing Islam before any chance of an “Islamic reformation” can happen.
Perhaps the best one can hope for in the short term is for a majority within Islam to adopt something close to the Jewish view of the coming of the Messiah: it will occur on its own schedule and there’s nothing mankind can do to accelerate it.
At any rate, it for Muslims to sort out by themselves.
Thank you so much for your wonderful/educational essay !!!!!......" the protestors " all over the world loudly are saying " from the river to the sea ", " by all means necessary ", " globalized the intifada " .....Multiple times the " Palestinians " rejected the idea of having their state next to the estate of Israel..why ? Because they want the elimination (God forbid ) of our beloved Israel and the elimination (God forbid) of all the Jews !!!!! ....
Your start to this article is incorrect. The attack on the shul in Manchester was in the morning, as people were going IN to services, not as they were leaving.
You realize you people sound crazy right? Like everything you say is not only wrong, it is dead wrong. Like reality is the literal opposite of everything you say. It is in fact the media that is dominated by mostly Jewish Zionists (https://youtu.be/8SE_ktIj-ow?si=FBcxy-L53WCi6jqW), who outright ignore the mass slaughter of 100s of thousands of Palestinians (most women’s and children). Of course, like many strongly identified Jews, you people suffer from collective narcissism, so you have to retreat into fantasy world where you people are the victims and not the ghoulish race-supremacist mass murderers and land grabbers that you actually are in reality.
The West continues to believe, or at least pretend, that this is about land or a Palestinian state or undoing the shackles of colonialism or whatever sanctimonious and self-righteous label you choose. If only the Palestinians had a state blah blah blah. If only Israel would stop doing this blah blah blah. If this were merely a territorial dispute, then the Palestinians would have accepted the myriad of “land for peace” deals offered them in the past 78 years. If this were merely a territorial dispute, the Palestinians would have lived peacefully in Gaza rather than turning it into a terror state. In reality, this is jihad, a religious war against the Jews. The Hamas Charter speaks of killing Jews - not just Israelis - everywhere. Every week the Islamists scream “globalize the intifada,” “from the river to the sea” or “Khaybar Khaybar al Yahood.” These aren’t calls for peace, they are calls for a holy war. Islamism demands jihad so rejecting jihad is blasphemy. Even if there is peace in Gaza tomorrow and the Palestinians are gifted a state as a reward for 10/7, Islam’s war against Israel and the Jews will continue.
Great article. Clear, honest and gets at the crux of this awful antisemitic world we are living in
GOD BLESS ISRAEL AND ITS PEOPLE
Brave, intelligent and truthful article. Thank you.
It won’t stop until Iran gets nuclear weapons and uses them and that day, sadly, is coming sooner than most think. As long as it’s just Jews dying the Europeans will always find a reason to do nothing. But Islam has bigger plans than just Israel.
Your article shows intimate personal feelings as you should. I feel very much the same way. My feeling on the whole matter is to look back at our history. They have been murdering Jews for at the least the past three thousand years or more. Let's face it they, the world, hates us and will continue without let up. The sooner we come to grips with this the better. If things go the way they have been going I feel the next three thousand will be like the last three thousand. Shalom Dan
I think this is incorrect because it super-imposes a rather recent (and mostly Protestant) definition of religion that distorts the essence of Islam.
You write “To be clear: Islam and Islamism are not the same. Islam is a religion practiced by nearly two billion people. Islamism is a political ideology that fuses religion with state power, demands clerical rule, the implementation of sharia law, and weaponizes antisemitism as a central plank.”
Islamism is in fact grounded in the teachings of Islam. It is not like, say, anarchism or Marxism that, while having developed in Christian Europe, are quite independent of Christianity.
There is no conception within Islam of a separation between church and state. They are inseparable because Islam existed before that concept was born and, unlike Judaism whose scriptures also made no such distinction but came to accept and incorporate it through interpretation. That’s why Sharia is the legal standard in Muslim countries while Halacha is not the legal standard in Israel.
The real distinction within Islam is between the fundamentalists who believe not only that everything in the Quran and Hadiths are true and that Muhammad was perfect and a model of their own behavior, and those who are more “à la carte” Muslims for whom Islam is perhaps a marker of identity but its details remain somewhat vague and secondary to making ends meet. So, yes to prayer five times a day, yes to halal food but definitely no to dying for the sake of Allah for any reason.
Whether Islam can reinterpret itself in a manner similar to Judaism is an open question, but the prospects are not bright.
The Jews were an oppressed minority and their faith was constantly reinterpreted to take that omnipresent reality into account. For nearly 2,000 years they were a stateless people living essentially at the sufferance of the majority population, whether Christian or Muslim.
In contrast, Muslims control some 57 countries and, historically, Islam has closed the so-called gates of interpretation around the 12th century. Not surprisingly, this occurred at the height of their imperial project, a bit of hubris maybe. So there are multiple hurdles facing Islam before any chance of an “Islamic reformation” can happen.
Perhaps the best one can hope for in the short term is for a majority within Islam to adopt something close to the Jewish view of the coming of the Messiah: it will occur on its own schedule and there’s nothing mankind can do to accelerate it.
At any rate, it for Muslims to sort out by themselves.
Thank you so much for your wonderful/educational essay !!!!!......" the protestors " all over the world loudly are saying " from the river to the sea ", " by all means necessary ", " globalized the intifada " .....Multiple times the " Palestinians " rejected the idea of having their state next to the estate of Israel..why ? Because they want the elimination (God forbid ) of our beloved Israel and the elimination (God forbid) of all the Jews !!!!! ....
Your start to this article is incorrect. The attack on the shul in Manchester was in the morning, as people were going IN to services, not as they were leaving.
You realize you people sound crazy right? Like everything you say is not only wrong, it is dead wrong. Like reality is the literal opposite of everything you say. It is in fact the media that is dominated by mostly Jewish Zionists (https://youtu.be/8SE_ktIj-ow?si=FBcxy-L53WCi6jqW), who outright ignore the mass slaughter of 100s of thousands of Palestinians (most women’s and children). Of course, like many strongly identified Jews, you people suffer from collective narcissism, so you have to retreat into fantasy world where you people are the victims and not the ghoulish race-supremacist mass murderers and land grabbers that you actually are in reality.
Truth! ⭐💪🏻