Fighting Terrorism (8 page)
Read Fighting Terrorism Online
Authors: Benjamin Netanyahu
Not long after the establishment of the European protectorates throughout the Arab world, two streams of thought emerged to challenge the “horrible state” in
which the Muslim Arabs found themselves. The first, the Pan-Arab nationalism of Egypt's Nasser and the Baath Party in Syria and Iraq, was consciously modeled after the Pan-German nationalism which had succeeded in unifying the fragmented German people in the nineteenth century and had resurrected a defeated Germany between the two world wars. Pan-Arabism actively supported Hitler's “achievements” in Europe and collaborated with him against the British in the Middle East during the war. An ideology tailor-made for Arab military men, it dreamed of the creation of a modern and unified Arab-fascist nation. The second stream was that of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic fundamentalist organizations, which rejected Pan-Arabism as yet another alien ideological strain, regarding its proponents as heretics. The Islamicists claimed to be returning to the true roots of Muslim Arab greatness by advocating the unification of all the Arab realms under a “pure” Islamic regime.
which the Muslim Arabs found themselves. The first, the Pan-Arab nationalism of Egypt's Nasser and the Baath Party in Syria and Iraq, was consciously modeled after the Pan-German nationalism which had succeeded in unifying the fragmented German people in the nineteenth century and had resurrected a defeated Germany between the two world wars. Pan-Arabism actively supported Hitler's “achievements” in Europe and collaborated with him against the British in the Middle East during the war. An ideology tailor-made for Arab military men, it dreamed of the creation of a modern and unified Arab-fascist nation. The second stream was that of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic fundamentalist organizations, which rejected Pan-Arabism as yet another alien ideological strain, regarding its proponents as heretics. The Islamicists claimed to be returning to the true roots of Muslim Arab greatness by advocating the unification of all the Arab realms under a “pure” Islamic regime.
What the two movements had in common was their abiding hatred of the weakness and treachery of the Arab monarchies (and of the Shah's rule in Iran) and of the Western powers, which they believed to have dismembered the Islamic world, leaving it humiliated, impoverished, divided, and culturally colonized. As soon as the Arab states began to achieve full independence after World War II, these two movements began working to dispose of the Arab monarchs, with no small measure of success: Three decades later, the pro-Western monarchs of Egypt, Iraq, and Libya had been deposed and replaced
by Pan-Arabist military regimes of one stripe or anotherâall of them eager to devote themselves to the task of dismantling the remaining Arab monarchies and adding them to their own realms; all of them sympathetic to the confrontation with the West being spearheaded by the Soviet Union; all of them recognizing the liberation of Jerusalem as a central vehicle for stirring up ultra-nationalist sentiment among their people; and all of them possessing no hesitation about resorting to terrorism to achieve these ends. As Egyptian President Nasser, the leading proponent of Pan-Arab nationalism, said on the eve of the Six-Day War: “We are confronting Israel and the West as wellâthe West, which created Israel and despised us Arabs, and which ignored us before and after 1948. They had no regard for our feelings, our hopes in life, our rights ⦠If the Western powers disavow our rights and ridicule and despise us, we Arabs must teach them to respect us and take us seriously.”
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It was this school of thought, too, which produced Yasir Arafat's PLO, whose “Palestine National Covenant”âwhich to this date has not been officially canceled by its constitutional author, the Palestine National Councilâis a hodgepodge of Nasserist Pan-Arab fascism and Marxist clichés about the end of “colonialism,” all of it aimed at destroying Israel as a Western intrusion into the Arab realm.
by Pan-Arabist military regimes of one stripe or anotherâall of them eager to devote themselves to the task of dismantling the remaining Arab monarchies and adding them to their own realms; all of them sympathetic to the confrontation with the West being spearheaded by the Soviet Union; all of them recognizing the liberation of Jerusalem as a central vehicle for stirring up ultra-nationalist sentiment among their people; and all of them possessing no hesitation about resorting to terrorism to achieve these ends. As Egyptian President Nasser, the leading proponent of Pan-Arab nationalism, said on the eve of the Six-Day War: “We are confronting Israel and the West as wellâthe West, which created Israel and despised us Arabs, and which ignored us before and after 1948. They had no regard for our feelings, our hopes in life, our rights ⦠If the Western powers disavow our rights and ridicule and despise us, we Arabs must teach them to respect us and take us seriously.”
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It was this school of thought, too, which produced Yasir Arafat's PLO, whose “Palestine National Covenant”âwhich to this date has not been officially canceled by its constitutional author, the Palestine National Councilâis a hodgepodge of Nasserist Pan-Arab fascism and Marxist clichés about the end of “colonialism,” all of it aimed at destroying Israel as a Western intrusion into the Arab realm.
After years of Arab propaganda directed at the West, it has become fairly easy to sell the assertion of Western Arabists that if only Israel had not come into being, the Muslim and Arab relationship with the West would be
harmonious. But in fact, the antagonism of the Islamic world toward the West raged for a millennium before Israel was added to its list of enemies.
The soldiers of militant Islam and Pan Arabism do not hate the West because of Israel; they hate Israel because of the West
.
harmonious. But in fact, the antagonism of the Islamic world toward the West raged for a millennium before Israel was added to its list of enemies.
The soldiers of militant Islam and Pan Arabism do not hate the West because of Israel; they hate Israel because of the West
.
From virtually the beginning of the contemporary Jewish resettlement in the land of Israel, parts of the Arab world saw Zionism as an expression and representation of Western civilization, an alien implantation that split the realm of Islam down the middle. Indeed, a common refrain in Arab and Iranian propaganda has it that the Zionists are nothing more than neo-Crusaders; it is only a question of time before the Muslims unite under a latter-day Saladin who will expel this modern “Crusader state” into the sea. That in this larger anti-Western context, militant Arabs understand Israel as a mere tool of the West to be used against them can be seen in the constant references made by Saddam, Assad, and Arafat to Saladinâthe great Muslim general who liberated Jerusalem from the European Crusaders in 1187, after having signed a treaty avowing peace. As Arafat recently said, “The PLO offers not the peace of the weak but the peace of Saladin.”
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What is not stated explicitly, but what Muslim audiences understand well in its historical context, is that Saladin's peace treaty with the Crusaders was merely a tactical ruse that was followed by Muslim attacks which wiped out the Christian presence in the Holy Land.
4
3
What is not stated explicitly, but what Muslim audiences understand well in its historical context, is that Saladin's peace treaty with the Crusaders was merely a tactical ruse that was followed by Muslim attacks which wiped out the Christian presence in the Holy Land.
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Until recently, then, the dominant anti-Western ideology emanating from the Middle East was Pan-Arabism,
rooted in an abiding hatred of the West, and of Israel as its principal local manifestation. Yet in recent years, when no new Saladin emerged to unify Arabdom, this ideology has waned, only to flare up again briefly when it was thought that Saddam Hussein was ready to play the part of the Great Redeemer. But when Saddam was ignominiously booted out of the veritable Western protectorate of Kuwait, it became demonstrably clear that Pan-Arabism was no match for the hated West. A new force would now vie for the allegiance of those Arabs and Muslims who kept alive the smoldering historic resentment of the West. That force was militant Islam. Basing themselves on an extreme and narrow interpretation of the tradition of Islamic scripture, the new Islamic purists interpreted this entire great faith as pivoting around the obligation to wage incessant and unrelenting
jihad
âthe Islamic holy war to free the world from the non-Islamic heathen.
rooted in an abiding hatred of the West, and of Israel as its principal local manifestation. Yet in recent years, when no new Saladin emerged to unify Arabdom, this ideology has waned, only to flare up again briefly when it was thought that Saddam Hussein was ready to play the part of the Great Redeemer. But when Saddam was ignominiously booted out of the veritable Western protectorate of Kuwait, it became demonstrably clear that Pan-Arabism was no match for the hated West. A new force would now vie for the allegiance of those Arabs and Muslims who kept alive the smoldering historic resentment of the West. That force was militant Islam. Basing themselves on an extreme and narrow interpretation of the tradition of Islamic scripture, the new Islamic purists interpreted this entire great faith as pivoting around the obligation to wage incessant and unrelenting
jihad
âthe Islamic holy war to free the world from the non-Islamic heathen.
Until the fall of the Shah of Iran, the history of Islamic radicalism was one of agitating against the Pan-Arabist strongmen ruling their countries. Periodically, they would succeed in inflicting a painful blow, as when they assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981; or in provoking a vicious reprisal, as when Syrian President Hafez Assad leveled the fundamentalist stronghold of Hama, leaving tens of thousands dead, after an abortive uprising there in 1982. These activities gained the militants no operational capacity which could be directed against Israel or the West. Nonetheless they justified directing their terrorist efforts against their own governments
by arguing that the
jihad
had to be waged against the enemy closest to homeâin this case the secular Arab rulers. Yet with the Iranian revolution in 1979, monies and logistical support for the first time began to be available for more ambitious Islamic terrorist operations outside the Middle East. While the Pan-Arabist regimes had been painfully punished by the West for their aggressionâfrom the American-British bombing of Libya to the allied war effort against Iraqâthe flourishing culture of Islamic terrorism in Iran, Sudan, Lebanon, and Gaza has gone virtually untouched by Western anti-terrorist policies, even as it has spread outward and westward: first against foreigners in Lebanon, then against Israel, later against targets in Europe and South America, and finally against the Great Satan itself, the United States.
by arguing that the
jihad
had to be waged against the enemy closest to homeâin this case the secular Arab rulers. Yet with the Iranian revolution in 1979, monies and logistical support for the first time began to be available for more ambitious Islamic terrorist operations outside the Middle East. While the Pan-Arabist regimes had been painfully punished by the West for their aggressionâfrom the American-British bombing of Libya to the allied war effort against Iraqâthe flourishing culture of Islamic terrorism in Iran, Sudan, Lebanon, and Gaza has gone virtually untouched by Western anti-terrorist policies, even as it has spread outward and westward: first against foreigners in Lebanon, then against Israel, later against targets in Europe and South America, and finally against the Great Satan itself, the United States.
The infiltration of Islamic terrorism into Europe was not immediately obvious. Many of the European countries now have rapidly expanding Muslim communities, with sizable Muslim “ghettos” already existing in Berlin, Cologne, Paris, Marseilles, and many other European cities. The German, French, and British Muslim communities number in the millions. Of course, this fact by itself is in no way significant; in no way does Islam itself advocate lawlessness or violence. It is a great religion that has fostered, as in medieval Spain, some of the world's most advanced civilizations. Most of the European Muslims, like their co-religionists in the United States and Israel, are law-abiding citizens or residents who would never dream of participating in terrorist activity or in any other illegal act. But a few of them have come under
the sway of a perverse and primitive interpretation of the faith, which moves them to fanaticism and violence. And as the Muslim communities in the West continue to grow, a widening fringe of their membership invariably becomes susceptible to infection by the message of militant Islam. Europe has in this way come to be dotted with centers of militant Islamic activity. By 1995 at least fourteen militant Islamic groups were known to be operating throughout Europe, their active membership reaching into the tens of thousands. Thus, one of the co-conspirators in the World Trade Center bombing was assisted by a formidable yet hitherto unnoticed Islamic group in Denmark. Similarly, authorities in Belgium in 1994 uncovered a large cache of weapons, apparently intended for the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), which is attempting to overthrow the military government in Algeria. The FIS was one of the first suspects of the July 1995 bombing of a Paris subway purportedly carried out to deter France from further support of the Algerian regime. Regardless of the identity of the perpetrators of this particular attack, France's burgeoning Muslim community affords the FIS and other militant Islamic groups ample room for maneuver in that country. A series of weapons smuggling by Italian Muslims ended in June 1995 with the raid by 1,400 Italian police on mosques and other Islamic cultural centers in Milan, Rome, Florence, and other Italian cities. The arrests included the Islamic spiritual leader of Milan and sixteen other activists, who are to be charged with planning the assassination
of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a state visit to Italy, as well as attacks against American and Israeli targets. In addition to weapons and forged documents, the Italian authorities seized records linking some of Italy's central Islamic religious establishments to terrorist attacks throughout the world, including the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.
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the sway of a perverse and primitive interpretation of the faith, which moves them to fanaticism and violence. And as the Muslim communities in the West continue to grow, a widening fringe of their membership invariably becomes susceptible to infection by the message of militant Islam. Europe has in this way come to be dotted with centers of militant Islamic activity. By 1995 at least fourteen militant Islamic groups were known to be operating throughout Europe, their active membership reaching into the tens of thousands. Thus, one of the co-conspirators in the World Trade Center bombing was assisted by a formidable yet hitherto unnoticed Islamic group in Denmark. Similarly, authorities in Belgium in 1994 uncovered a large cache of weapons, apparently intended for the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), which is attempting to overthrow the military government in Algeria. The FIS was one of the first suspects of the July 1995 bombing of a Paris subway purportedly carried out to deter France from further support of the Algerian regime. Regardless of the identity of the perpetrators of this particular attack, France's burgeoning Muslim community affords the FIS and other militant Islamic groups ample room for maneuver in that country. A series of weapons smuggling by Italian Muslims ended in June 1995 with the raid by 1,400 Italian police on mosques and other Islamic cultural centers in Milan, Rome, Florence, and other Italian cities. The arrests included the Islamic spiritual leader of Milan and sixteen other activists, who are to be charged with planning the assassination
of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a state visit to Italy, as well as attacks against American and Israeli targets. In addition to weapons and forged documents, the Italian authorities seized records linking some of Italy's central Islamic religious establishments to terrorist attacks throughout the world, including the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.
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Germany, too, has become an epicenter of militant European Islamic activities, not only including organizations affiliated with the Iranian-Shiite and Sunni
Mujahdeen
terrorist networks but also those serving as the base for a
third
militant Islamic terror movementâa fanatical Turkish Islamic terrorism which has found a haven among the two-million-strong Turkish community in Germany. Germany is also the center for Iranian-sponsored European radicalism, with organizations such as the Hamburg Islamic Center serving to circulate conspiracy theories accusing the West of trying to destroy the Islamic world. The Iranians also finance the Union of Islamic Student Associations in Europe (UISA), whose members commit to “defend to the death the Islamic faith and Islamic revolution,” distributing Khomeiniist ideological materials and recruiting new sympathizers for radical Islam. Other groups with a substantial organizational base in Germany include the Hizballah and Hamas.
Mujahdeen
terrorist networks but also those serving as the base for a
third
militant Islamic terror movementâa fanatical Turkish Islamic terrorism which has found a haven among the two-million-strong Turkish community in Germany. Germany is also the center for Iranian-sponsored European radicalism, with organizations such as the Hamburg Islamic Center serving to circulate conspiracy theories accusing the West of trying to destroy the Islamic world. The Iranians also finance the Union of Islamic Student Associations in Europe (UISA), whose members commit to “defend to the death the Islamic faith and Islamic revolution,” distributing Khomeiniist ideological materials and recruiting new sympathizers for radical Islam. Other groups with a substantial organizational base in Germany include the Hizballah and Hamas.
Turkey too has recently experienced a rash of Islamic terrorist attacks, quite apart from its lingering battle with the Syrian-sponsored terrorism of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). Much of this new anti-Turkish terrorism
emanates from enclaves of Turkish Islamic radicals based in Germany. Other terrorism originates from still another source, the Arab-Israeli conflict. Istanbul itself has been the site of repeated acts of terrorism against Jewish and Israeli targets, including the Iraqi-backed 1986 grenade and machine-gun attack of the Abu Nidal organization against the crowded Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul, in which twenty-one people died. This was followed in 1995 with a grenade attack on Istanbul's Beit El synagogue, which fortunately did not claim any lives because two of the grenades failed to explode. Significantly, this last attack was carried out by Hizballah terrorists who have sought, with Iranian support, to make Turkey into a regular staging area for their activities. Within a span of a few years, they have murdered an Israeli embassy security officer, fired rockets at the car of an Israeli official, attempted to assassinate the head of the Turkish Jewish community, Jacques Kimche, and most recently attempted to assassinate Yehuda Yuram, another leader of that same community.
emanates from enclaves of Turkish Islamic radicals based in Germany. Other terrorism originates from still another source, the Arab-Israeli conflict. Istanbul itself has been the site of repeated acts of terrorism against Jewish and Israeli targets, including the Iraqi-backed 1986 grenade and machine-gun attack of the Abu Nidal organization against the crowded Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul, in which twenty-one people died. This was followed in 1995 with a grenade attack on Istanbul's Beit El synagogue, which fortunately did not claim any lives because two of the grenades failed to explode. Significantly, this last attack was carried out by Hizballah terrorists who have sought, with Iranian support, to make Turkey into a regular staging area for their activities. Within a span of a few years, they have murdered an Israeli embassy security officer, fired rockets at the car of an Israeli official, attempted to assassinate the head of the Turkish Jewish community, Jacques Kimche, and most recently attempted to assassinate Yehuda Yuram, another leader of that same community.
This violence has been supported by German-based Turkish-European organizations such as the Association of Islamic Societies and Communities (ICCB), whose publication
Mohammed's Nation
calls for the violent overthrow of the Turkish government and brands the Jews as enemies of humanity. The head of the ICCB, Cemaleddin Kaplan, known as “the Khomeini of Cologne,” was in 1993 ordered deported by the Aliens Office of the city of Cologne, but restrictions on deportation contained in German federal law have allowed the radical spiritual
leader to remain in Germany. An even more powerful organization is the Association for a New World Outlook in Europe (AMGT), the European branch of the Turkish Welfare Party (RP). In March 1994, it won 19 percent of the votes in local elections in Turkey, on a platform calling for the (thus far non-violent) establishment of a Turkish Islamic Republic, opposition to the existence of Israel, and the spread of the rule of Islam to the entire world. AMGT has 400 branches throughout Europe and claims 30,000 members.
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Mohammed's Nation
calls for the violent overthrow of the Turkish government and brands the Jews as enemies of humanity. The head of the ICCB, Cemaleddin Kaplan, known as “the Khomeini of Cologne,” was in 1993 ordered deported by the Aliens Office of the city of Cologne, but restrictions on deportation contained in German federal law have allowed the radical spiritual
leader to remain in Germany. An even more powerful organization is the Association for a New World Outlook in Europe (AMGT), the European branch of the Turkish Welfare Party (RP). In March 1994, it won 19 percent of the votes in local elections in Turkey, on a platform calling for the (thus far non-violent) establishment of a Turkish Islamic Republic, opposition to the existence of Israel, and the spread of the rule of Islam to the entire world. AMGT has 400 branches throughout Europe and claims 30,000 members.
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Many other examples of Islamic terrorist infiltration of Europe, of both the Shiite and Sunni strains, have largely been ignored in public discourse. Most of the European governments are loath to address the issue and do not do so unless a particularly violent attack takes place. Unlike the battle with their “own” domestic terrorist groups, the uprooting of militant Islamic bases on their soil invariably entails a confrontation with Iran or other important regimes in the Islamic world, something most European leaders prefer to avoid for fear of unpleasant diplomatic and economic consequences. The Islamic terrorist network has for this reason been making rapid inroads into every part of Europe, including Britain, and until recently hardly anyone was paying attention.
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