Why Is It Difficult For The West To Behave Rationally And Defend Itself Against Terrorism?

The Price of Blindness

by Jonathan Rosenblum
Jerusalem Post
May 3, 2013


In preparation for Yom Yerushalayim, I've just finished The Battle for Jerusalem: An Unintended Conquest by long-time Jerusalem Post reporter Abraham Rabinovich. (The book is an expanded e-book version of his 1972 classic.) Rabinovich interviewed over 300 combatants in the battle, and it shows. No one captures the experience of war from the fighters' perspective better than Rabinovich.

While reading The Battle for Jerusalem, it struck me that Israel's need to constantly defend itself against threats to its very existence from 1948 to the present, has prevented the most basic human instinct – the instinct for self-preservation – from atrophying here to the degree it has throughout the West.

Retiring Yale classicist Donald Kagan, 80, expressed concern in his valedictory interview with the Wall Street Journal's Matthew Kaminski that the delicate flower of democracy is threatened today. He laments the development of a culture that "makes it difficult for us [i.e., the West] to behave rationally when the rational thing is to be tough." He sums up the basic lesson of growing up in the tough Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn: "If you don't want trouble with someone be sure he has something to be scared of."

Kagan attributes the West's failure to absorb that lesson to culture and a lack of political leadership. Democracy, he argues, requires free, autonomous, and self-reliant population, and they are in increasingly short supply in an America of office workers and disability recipients.

Israelis, however, have been forced to be tough for wont of choice. And the experience of war has developed the qualities Kagan considers fundamental for democracy and the capacity for leadership.

The Boston Marathon Bombings and Understanding the Islamic Worldview

The following from Christian Worldview Radio is reposted here with permission of Middle East Forum:

The Boston Bombings and
Understanding the Islamic Worldview
Interview with Mark Durie

Christian Worldview Radio
April 27, 2013

http://www.meforum.org/3497/boston-bombings-islamic-worldview

David Wheaton: Perhaps you watched the Boston Marathon bombings that killed four people and injured more than 200 others and wondered, "Why would two young Muslim men, who were granted political asylum in America years ago, educated in our schools, and received financial aid from U.S. taxpayers, set off two bombs in order to murder and maim as many Americans as possible?"

It's a very good question. It has been said that, "All Muslims are not terrorists … but almost all terrorist attacks against America are committed by Muslims."

Why is this? What is it about Islam — or perhaps about America? — that leads two young Muslims to murder the people that have actually taken them in?

Mark Durie, an Australian pastor and author of three books on Islam joins us from Australia The Christian Worldview all the way from Australia.

Islamist Watch on The Aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombing

The following by David J. Rusin is reposted here with permission of Middle East Forum:

IW News Brief: Boston and the Aftermath of Terror

by David J. Rusin  •  Apr 30, 2013 at 2:45 pm

http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2013/04/iw-news-brief-boston-and-the-aftermath-of-terror

Islamist Watch (IW) maintains an extensive archive of news items on nonviolent Islamism in the Western world. The complete collection can be found here; lists organized by topic are accessible on the right side of the IW homepage.

The IW database includes dozens of articles scrutinizing the many narratives, questions, and controversies to arise in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings carried out by two Muslim immigrants, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Several key developments are highlighted below:

The Lengths The Media Goes To Whitewash Terrorism in The Boston Marathon Bombing

It was a blow the immigrant boxer could not withstand: after capturing his second consecutive title as the Golden Gloves heavyweight champion of New England in 2010, Tamerlan Anzorovich Tsarnaev, 23, was barred from the national Tournament of Champions because he was not a United States citizen.
A Battered Dream, Then a Violent Path, New York Times, April 27, 2013

In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, Barry Rubin addresses The Truths About Terrorism Whose Names They Dare Not Speak. For example, he notes the above-quoted article in the New York Times, written in part by Deborah Sontag.

According to the article, Tamerlan Tsarnaev's turn to terrorism was due -- at least in part -- because he was blocked from the national Tournament of Champions since he wasn’t a U.S. citizen. The suggestion is that if only the US gave people citizenship more easily, there would not have been a terrorist attack.

What is missing from the article?

Video: Boston Marathon Bombers Were Terrorists -- And So are Those Who Launch Bombs at Israelis

HonestReporting has come out with a video noting the double standard where the media calls the Boston Marathon Bombers terrorists -- but says Palestinians firing rockets are militants:

The media felt no hesitation to label the Boston Marathon bombers as terrorists. They were correct to do so. Terrorist are those who use violence and threats to promote a political purpose.

So when Palestinians launch rockets at civilian targets in Israel, why does the media refuse to call them terrorists? Why do they use the word "militant" instead. These rocket attacks kill innocent civilians and are acts of terrorism.

The media should use the word "terrorism" when it is the most accurate description of an attack.

Here is the video:

UN's Richard Falk's Latest Smear of Both the US and Israel

For Immediate Release: April 26, 2013

Contact: info@humanrightsvoices.org Follow us on Twitter

UN Official's Smear of Boston Victims Just Latest Attack On US, Israel This article by Anne Bayefsky originally appeared on Breitbart News.

On July 7, 2011, U.S. UN Ambassador to Geneva, Eileen Donahoe, issued a statement on Richard Falk. He’s the UN "human rights expert" who thinks Boston had it coming. The professor who labeled Boston’s victims “canaries” because resistance to “the American global domination project” is justified. The same guy who has been spouting antisemitism and anti-Americanism from his UN perch for years.

It reads: "Mr. Falk’s continued comments and postings to his personal blog are deeply offensive, and I condemn them in the strongest terms. I am registering a strong protest with the UN on behalf of the United States. The United States has often been critical of Mr. Falk’s approach to his mandate, including his one-sided and politicized view of situation in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. We hope that he will resign, recognizing that his continued status as a UN mandate holder is a blight on the UN system."

What happened next?

Video: Latma Examines The FBI Investigation of The Boston Marathon Bombing

This week, Latma takes a look at how the FBI investigates the motive of the Boston Marathon bombers.

Here is the video:

Education By Murder: What Effects The Boston Marathon Bombing Will -- And Won't -- Have

The following by Daniel Pipes is reposted here with permission:

Education by Murder in Boston

by Daniel Pipes
The Washington Times
April 24, 2013

http://www.danielpipes.org/12781/boston-terrorism

N.B.: Text differs slightly from the Washington Times

What will be the long-term impact of the Apr. 15-19 Boston Marathon attack and the ensuing action-movie-style chase, killing a total of four and wounding 265?

Let's start with what its impact will not be. It will not bring American opinion together; if the "United We Stand" slogan lasted brief months after 9/11, consensus after Boston will be even more elusive. The violence will not lead to Israeli-like security measures in the United States. Nor will it lead to a greater preparedness to handle deadlysudden jihad syndrome violence. It will not end the dispute over the motives behind indiscriminate Muslim violence against non-Muslims. And it certainly will not help resolve current debates over immigration or guns.

United We Stand postage stamp.

What it will do is very important:

UN Human Rights Official, Richard Falk, Says Boston Got What It Deserved

For Immediate Release: April 22, 2013

Contact: info@humanrightsvoices.org Follow us on Twitter

UN Human Rights Official Says Boston Got What It Deserved This article by Anne Bayefsky originally appeared today on Breitbart.com. UN Human Rights Council “expert” Richard Falk has published a statement saying Bostonians got what they deserved in last week’s terror attack. He quotes W.H. Auden to make his point: "to whom evil is done/do evil in return.” Richard Falk is the UN’s “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.” He has held the post since 2008, despite exposure as a 9/11 conspiracy theorist.

Kerry's Mixup: Compares Victims of Boston Marathon Bombing With Terrorists of Mavi Marmara

The Washington Times claims Secretary of State John Kerry pushes Turkey-Israel rapprochement.

Yeah, as if.

Not only does Kerry imply a comparison between Israel on the one hand and the Boston Marathon bombing terrorists -- he also compares the victims of the Tsarnaev brothers with those killed aboard the Mavi Marmara, when in fact the Turks killed on the Mavi Marmara were members of the terrorist associated IHH

The Washington Times reported Kerry's statement as follows:

Arlene Kushner on The Boston Marathon Bombing: How Tsarnaev Brothers Became Islamist Radicals

From Arlene Kushner:
April 21, 2013

The Boston Terror Lessons

There is, of course, a lot of nonsense floating about with regard to terrorists Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev -- such as the claim by his mother that they're "innocent" and were "framed" by the FBI.

And there is a great deal that is still unknown.  It is being broadly assumed, for example, that these guys, who were involved in a shoot-out that left at least one dead are also the terrorists who set off the bombs at the Marathon, and yet I do not believe that this is known with any certainty. 

But not only is there a great deal that is still to be exposed in this case, there are undoubtedly facts that will be kept from the public even if and when the authorities discover them.  We are not exactly dealing with a nation that is "up-front" about jihad and Islamic threats.  Not with the current obsession with political correctness and "Islamophobia" -- and a president who has banned allusions to Islam with regard to terror attacks.  To this day the Fort Hood massacre has never been identified as the Islamic terrorism that it was.

~~~~~~~~~~

Will The Boston Marathon Bombing Change Anything?

According to Barry Rubin, No, Boston Will Not Change Anything

Rubin points out that regarding the terrorist attack by Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon bombing, the issue is not the heroes who shined in saving the victims or capturing the brothers, nor even the quality of the police work -- the issue is the vulnerability of the US revealed by the attack.

After Boston Marathon Bombing, Should Niqabs and Burqas Be Banned?

The following by Daniel Pipes is reposted here with permission:

Boston Bombing Lesson: Ban Niqabs and Burqas

by Daniel Pipes
April 21, 2013
Cross-posted from National Review Online, The Corner

http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2013/04/boston-bombing-lesson-ban-niqabs-and-burqas

The Tsarnaev brothers pulled off their terrorist attack with great skill but made a fatal mistake in letting their faces and bodies be seen at a heavily photographed international sporting event. This meant that multiple images of them were available for a massive law enforcement squad to comb over and, after three days, identify them by name and appearance.

This rapid identification was not unprecedented – the London police had done likewise in the July 2005 suicide bombings but because none of the four perpetrators survived that attack, that was more a theoretical achievement than a practical one. To the best of my knowledge, the Tsarnaevs were the first terrorists to be tracked down via still and video pictures.

In retrospect, the brothers should not have exposed their appearances. But how to avoid doing so? Hoodies leave the face exposed. Ski masks arouse suspicion in temperate weather, as do Halloween masks all but one night a year, and stocking masks at any time.

The Boston Marathon Bombing: A Call To Action or A Sign of Things To Come?

Barry Rubin asks Who’s Going to Keep More Teenage Muslims from Becoming the Next Boston Marathon Terrorists? Nobody.

At issue is how Tamerlan and Dzokhar Tsarnaev seemed to suddenly become radical Islamist terrorists.

The cause, Rubin notes, is the prolific amount of revolutionary Islamist propaganda available:

There are literally hundreds of Internet sites, videos, preachers, books, and everything else you can think of that promote revolutionary Islamism. They tell Muslims that they should and must be revolutionaries and terrorists; they cite holy works to do so.

The problem then is the lack of anything to counteract this:

The Boston Marathon Bombing and No-Fault Terrorism (Update: Just Ask The New York Times!)

DIESEL: (As Judge) Right!

Officer Krupke, you're really a square;
This boy don't need a judge, he needs an analyst's care!
It's just his neurosis that oughta be curbed.
He's psychologic'ly disturbed!

ACTION
I'm disturbed!

JETS
We're disturbed, we're disturbed,
We're the most disturbed,
Like we're psychologic'ly disturbed.

DIESEL: (As Judge) In the opinion on this court, this child is depraved on account he ain't had a normal home.

ACTION: (Spoken) Hey, I'm depraved on account I'm deprived.
"Gee, Officer Krupke," West Side Story

After all of the speculation about the identity of the perpetrators behind the Boston Marathon bombing, we now know who they are. We know they are not right wing radical white men. Instead, they are Muslim extremists. From the beginning, comments were being made about how to relate to the terrorists in general, and later -- how to relate to the fact they are Muslim.

Mideast Media Sampler 4/18/13: Stalemate in Syrian Civil War

by David Gerstman, contributing blogger at Legal Insurrection

1) Syria and contiguity

Jacques Neria writes in Stalemate in the Syrian Civil War:

While Assad has survived so far, he has not been able to quell the rebellion, the economy is in shambles, and so are most of the areas hit by the civil war. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are either refugees in camps in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, or are homeless in their own localities. Never in its history has Syria been so isolated, both in the Arab and international domains. Never has a Syrian regime been so widely condemned in international forums. Nevertheless, Assad has managed to survive, not only because of his power structures but also, and mainly, because of the support of Russia, China, and most especially Iran and Hizbullah.
The strategists around Assad chose deliberately to give up territory inessential to the regime’s survival, mainly in the periphery near the borders with Turkey, Iraq, and Jordan. As a result, the Kurdish minority found itself for the first time in Syria’s modern history in a vast autonomous territory bordering Turkey, geographically connected to their brethren in Iraq and Iran, with a potential of establishing the much-dreamed-of Kurdish homeland.

Media Coverage Of Boston Marathon Bombing: Telling It Until They Get It Right

Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters. We are moving forward. And don't confuse the people please. You are part of the public message. So help us get the message straight. And if you don't understand, maybe you'll confuse it to the people. That's why we like follow-up questions.
Lieutenant General Honore to journalists during Hurricane Katrina

Hot Air has a good overview of just how clueless the media is about developments in the Boston Marathon bombing. Looking over the various updates that the post goes through, some things become obvious:

Mideast Media Sampler 4/17/13: Palestinian Museums Of Fabricated History

by David Gerstman, contributing blogger at Legal Insurrection


1) A museum to a false history

A few years ago Hezbollah opened up a museum devoted to boasting of its victories against Israel. Last year, Sharon Weinberger wrote about Hezbollah’s terror tech museum:

The museum features different units of Hezbollah, including its missile unit. Hezbollah’s increasing rocket and missile capabilities were some of the defining features of the 2006 war and continues to attract attention. In 2010, then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates accused Iran and Syria of equipping Hezbollah with advanced weaponry. “We are at a point now where Hezbollah has far more rockets and missiles than most governments in the world and this is obviously destabilizing for the whole region,” he said.

More recently, the Lebanese magazine, NOW featured an article about the museum.

“I came here to see what the Islamic Revolution in Lebanon did to free my land and my village,” visitor Kamel Mouradi said, referring to Hezbollah, which was founded by the Iranian establishment.

Up the hill from the Abyss is a walkway that leads tourists through a dense forest. Visitors walk past a hidden cove where former Secretary General of Hezbollah Sayyed Abbas Moussawi would pray and encourage fighters. Life-size replicas of Hezbollah militants are spread throughout the woods – some carrying missiles, others firing them and another, kneeling down to pray.

Not to be left out, Hamas now plans to build a museum devoted to its resistance, with Iranian help.

Video: Doctor Credits Israel With Helping Set Up Disaster Team Handling Boston Marathon Blast

The Algemeiner reports Boston Marathon Blasts: Doctor Credits Israelis With Helping Set Up Disaster Team:

Hours following a pair of blasts at the Boston Marathon that left 2 dead and up to 100 wounded according to reports, a chief doctor at the hospital where many of the patients are being treated credited Israelis with teaching his team how to respond to such disastrous attacks.

“About two years ago in actual fact we asked the Israelis to come across and they helped us set up our disaster team so that we could respond in this kind of manner,” said Alastair Conn, Chief of Emergency Services at Massachusetts General Hospital, responding to a question about the preparedness of his staff to handle trauma on this scale.