June 24, 2013
http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4704
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The enthusiastic media response
to the election of the “moderate” and “reformist” Hassan Rouhani is
reminiscent of the unrealistic drivel which greeted the “Arab Spring”.
Indeed, there was perhaps greater justification for the misplaced
optimism over the downfall of despotic Arab leaders than in the election
of this Mullah, one of eight candidates approved by Ayatollah Khamenei
from a pool of 686.
While Rouhani is far more
sophisticated than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (a Holocaust
denier who continuously called for Israel to be wiped off the map), he
is no moderate. In the past he sought to cover up Iranian nuclear
development, and during the recent elections reiterated that he remains
adamantly committed to Iran’s nuclear project. In 1999 he supported the
brutal suppression of the Iranian student protest. As a member of Iran’s
Supreme National Security Council, he was also fully au fait with
Iranian global terrorist attacks including the 1994 bombing at the
Buenos Aires Jewish community center (AMIA) which killed 85 and injured
hundreds of others. Rouhani still unhesitatingly refers to Israel as the
“great Satan”.
There are, in fact grounds for
believing that Rouhani was the Ayatollah’s preferred candidate, on the
grounds that his appearance of moderation could ease Western sanctions
and reduce the threat of military action.
Besides, there is no doubt that
the Ayatollah will continue to call the shots on this and all major
policy issues. In 1997 Muhammad Khatami’s election on a reformist
program was greeted as a turning point by the West, but merely resulted
in stylistic changes, whilst the basic policies and structure of the
radical Islamic regime remained unchanged.
Western leaders are already
falling for the ploy: White House chief of staff Dennis McDonough
referred to Rouhani’s alleged “moderation” as “a potentially hopeful
sign” and EU foreign policy spokesman, Catherine Ashton, suggested that
the president- elect who would not be taking office until August, be
granted time to appoint new negotiators.
President Obama and other
Western leaders, reluctant to resort to military action to prevent the
Iranians from becoming a nuclear power, will likely use Rouhani’s
cosmetic moderation to justify indefinite “ongoing negotiations”.
Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu warned the international community “not to become caught up in
wishful thinking and be tempted to relax the pressure on Iran to stop
its nuclear program”, urging that Iran be judged by its actions and, if
it continued to develop its nuclear program, that it be stopped by “any
means”.
But, as we witnessed during the
“Arab spring”, a thin line divides naive optimism from delusion when
the West grasps at straws to convince itself that Islamic fanaticism can
be managed diplomatically.
Whilst Israelis have now
largely accepted the true nature of Islamic extremism, the Western world
remains largely in denial. This is highlighted by the ongoing chant
that “Islam is a religion of peace”.
All religions, including
Christianity and Judaism, include texts which can be interpreted to
justify violence and intolerance. However, while many, if not the
majority, of Moslems seek to live in peace, today it is the Islamists
who are empowered, and are imposing their fanaticism, intolerance and
violence, on their own people and seeking to do likewise to those in the
West.
There is no difference between
extremist Shiite and Sunni millennial ideologies committed to violent
global conquest. Their leaders all loathe the West, are pathologically
anti-Semitic, and yearn for the global imposition of sharia law. Most
Westerners fail to internalize that these concepts represent the core
values of the jihadi movement.
Although overall, the region is
like a scorpions den in which Islamic fundamentalists reign supreme or
are becoming stronger, there are variations. States with residual
secular roots are less burdened with oppressive regimes. Thus Turkey, is
currently less oppressive than Iran, Saudi Arabia or Egypt despite
Recep Erdogan’s vicious anti-Israeli rhetoric designed to foster
popularity in the Arab world. Some describe his regime as Moslem
Brotherhood “light”. Nevertheless, Erdogan’s regime is becoming
increasingly authoritarian, as evidenced by the recent brutal
suppression of demonstrations, and that Turkey has proportionately more
journalists in jail than any other country.
Unfortunately, the West and the
US administration in particular, continue to pursue a disastrous policy
of appeasing the Islamists. Since Obama’s Cairo speech, his abandonment
of Mubarak “to promote democracy”, and his outreach to Iran and rogue
states, it has all been downhill.
Middle East specialist Barry
Rubin even accuses the US of entering into an alliance with the Moslem
Brotherhood - in all its pristine evil. Yet American liberals bury their
heads in the sand, characterize Islamic fundamentalist leaders as
“moderates”, and ignore the evil anti-Western, anti-Christian and
anti-Semitic ideological foundations upon which the Islamist regimes are
built.
Hamas is a direct offshoot of
this poisonous network. President Morsi is strengthening the
Brotherhood’s control of Egypt and, despite the huge financial support
he receives from the US, responds contemptuously to American concerns
about increased human rights abuses. Tunisia’s “Arab Spring” has led to
intensified repression.US intervention on behalf of the anti-Qaddafi
rebels in Libya culminated in the murder of its ambassador. Yemen is a
breeding ground for Al Qaeda, and in Afghanistan, the US is engaging in
direct negotiations with the murderous Taliban!
The long-standing bipartisan
love affair between US and Saudi Arabia has enabled the global export of
Wahhabi ideology, resulting in the emergence of clusters of Islamic
fundamentalists and even homegrown terrorists throughout the Western
world. Yet exposure of wealthy Saudi Arabians exporting jihad is kept
off the radar.
Of course, Syria represents the
ultimate abomination where the obscene bestiality of Islamist
barbarians is displayed in the atrocities perpetrated by Assad and the
Shiites, backed by Iran and Hezbollah as well as the Sunnis supported by
the Saudis, Moslem Brotherhood factions and other extremists, including
offshoots of Al Qaeda.
Until now, the US seems
undecided whether to stand aside and enable the Iranian backed Assad
regime, which only two years ago it considered a potential ally, to
annihilate its enemies or to provide military support to Sunnis which
include terrorist bodies like Al Qaeda that are likely to turn these
weapons against the West. In the meantime 100,000 Syrians have been
butchered and if the conflict continues, many more will be killed in
ethnic massacres.
In this constellation, if Iran
becomes a nuclear power, it will either completely dominate the region
or ignite a wild race amongst these unstable Islamic countries to also
achieve nuclear status.
We invite disaster if we
succumb to Iran’s timetable by remaining inactive following the election
of a president who follows instructions from the bitterly fanatical
Ayatollah Khomeini, who has never responded positively to any diplomatic
overture.
It is no exaggeration to state
that this situation impacts on the future of Western civilization. We in
Israel are at the frontline. Our role must be to persuade the world
that confronting Iranian and Islamic fundamentalism is not merely an
Israeli problem.
The challenge facing the West
is no less critical than the battles fought to prevent Nazism and
communism from achieving global domination. Democracies led by the US
must devise a realistic strategy including the option of employing force
in order to deter terror and efforts to undermine our social and
democratic order.
This is no time for “hoping for the best” It is a time for facing reality.
The writer’s website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com.He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com
This column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom
Some of my recent articles:
Chief Rabbinate Electoral Machinations (June 17, 2013)
Implications for Israel in the US Global Retreat (June 12, 2013)
Religious Tolerance and Mutual Respect rather than Polarization (June 6, 2013)
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