At Tel Aviv University
on Monday, Baroness Caroline Cox, a cross-bench member of the British
House of Lords, gave a talk sponsored by the Yuval Ne'eman Workshop for
Science, Technology and Security and the Israel Institute for Strategic
Studies, run by Martin Sherman.
A passionate defender
of human rights and the rule of law, Cox has spent the bulk of her
career fighting forces that threaten to undermine Western democracy in
general, and that of her country in particular. The focus of her lecture
was the spread of political Islam in the U.K. and Africa, a phenomenon
that has taken up much of her parliamentary and humanitarian work.
Though her pro-Israel
positions are well-known (she is a co-founder of the One Jerusalem
organization and co-president of the Jerusalem Summit), she purposely
left the Jewish state out of the discussion. Nevertheless, she made a
point of mentioning the symbolic relevance of her topic to the timing of
her speech, which happened to fall on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Her message was that
jihad is being waged through an Islamist infiltration of the political,
cultural, legal and economic systems of non-Muslim countries. It is
being accomplished, she said, by pushing to have Shariah law written
into, if not replace, the law of the land; by manipulating democracy to
destroy it; by investing in educational institutions and making it
impossible for anyone to criticize their teachings; and -- as in the
case of African countries -- by preventing anyone who does not convert
to Islam from getting a job or receiving government aid, including food
for starving children.
The list goes on, and
it is as ugly as the honor killings and female genital mutilation
practiced by Shariah-abiding citizens and accepted by Western
apologists. Even more shocking is the extent to which Britain has
willingly resigned itself to this barbarism. Indeed, recounted Cox, the
situation is so "schizophrenic" that while bigamy is prohibited in the
U.K., polygamy among its Muslim citizens is accepted as a
religious-cultural norm.
This, she explained, is
not only dangerous for Britain; it is devastating for Muslims seeking
the protection of British law. They are abandoned by the system in the
name of diversity, and sent to Shariah courts to settle their issues.
Shariah, thus, is
managing to thrive in the U.K., thanks to concessions made by the
establishment to an ever-growing Islamic population. And it's no wonder,
with Muslim men being left to marry multiple wives with whom they sire
dozens of children.
Admitting that
educating and rallying her peers and the public against this crack in
civilized society is a Sisyphean task, she concluded by urging that we
all tell ourselves, "I cannot do everything, but I must not do nothing."
Such an appeal often
falls on deaf ears. Ignorance is partly to blame. Then there's the fear
-- of being accused of Islamophobia on the one hand, and of violent
repercussions on the other. It is far easier to empathize with the enemy
and confront a less daunting culprit.
Which brings us, of course, to Israel.
One key element of
global jihad is propaganda aimed at turning lies into truth and vice
versa. Trained by the Soviets masters of this art, Arab-Muslim
apparatchiks have taken it to a whole new level. Their success lies in
their two-pronged self-portrayal as downtrodden victims of Western
imperialism and as destined victors against the "infidels." Chief among
these are the "Great Satan" (America) and the "Small Satan" (Israel).
That Europe's response
is to sell its soul to appease the beast is bad enough. But when the
administration in Washington follows suit, the sense among the sane is
that even science fiction couldn't do justice to the horror of it all.
Yes, President Barack
Obama is looking the other way during bogus negotiations with Iran,
thereby enabling the Islamic republic to develop nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry is blaming Israel for not
acting in a similar fashion with the Palestinian Authority.
Not only has Kerry
chided Israel on several occasions for its inability to persuade the PA
to engage in peace talks toward the establishment of a Palestinian
state, but he has made public statements to that effect. Buoyed by the
moral relativism that the State Department has been applying to "both
sides," the PA signed a treaty with Hamas.
Fuming, Kerry outdid
himself on Friday. During a closed meeting of the Trilateral Commission
-- a tape of which was obtained and released by the Daily Beast -- Kerry
told officials from Europe, Russia and Japan that in the absence of a
two-state solution, Israel "winds up either being an apartheid state
with second-class citizens, or it ends up being a state that destroys
the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state."
Though Kerry now says
he regrets using the word "apartheid," it was no mere slip of the
tongue. Rather, it revealed the depth of his hostility to Israel. It
also served as proof of the power of propaganda. When repeated often
enough, such a blatant falsehood can even roll easily off the lips of
the world's highest-ranking diplomat.
Baroness Cox would not be the least bit surprised.
Ruthie Blum is the author of "To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the 'Arab Spring.'"
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