Obama minimized terror, distorted issues

JERUSALEM – President Obama's much-anticipated address to the Muslim world today contained crucial, long overdue helpful messages to adherents of the Islamic faith, but Obama also grossly mischaracterized important issues in ways, I believe, that could damage U.S. policy and security.

The speech, in which Obama referenced his Islamic experiences as a child in Indonesia and the Muslim faith of his paternal family, was a major departure from the tone of his campaign last year, when those who factually reported on the candidate's Muslim background, including WND, were denounced as fearmongers and leaders of smear campaigns.

Obama today referred to the Quran as "holy" four times and quoted several verses from the Islamic text. He also used Muslim terminology, such as the Quranic obligation of "zakat" or charity.

In his address, Obama tackled what he said were seven major issues of import that "we must finally confront together."

Terror minimized

Firstly, he pointed to "violent extremism in all of its forms." He vowed "America is not – and never will be – at war with Islam. We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security."

"Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism – it is an important part of promoting peace," Obama declared.

The U.S. president did not once use the word "terrorism."

From his comments, it seems he does not understand Islamic duty is the central motivation for these unnamed "extremists." I can attest from scores of interviews with some of the region's most dangerous terrorists that they are not waging a jihad against the U.S. because they are poor, or angry or desperate, but because they believe it is their Islamic duty to spread their belief system around the world.

In an in-person interview with a recruited Palestinian suicide bomber, for example, the wanna-be martyr explained to me he wanted to blow himself up amongst men, women and children "to scarify myself for Allah."

"The goal is not the killing of the Jews, but that this is the way to reach Allah. The goal is satisfying Allah and his instructions. No money interests, nothing. No brainwash, no pressure," the potential bomber said.

Obama, however, went on to claim "violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims."

But poll data in the Middle East and Europe suggests Obama's "potent minority of Muslims" who support "violent extremists" actually consist of a widespread plurality.

In January 2007, Jerusalem Post columnist Michael Freund pointed to worrying survey results: 25 percent of Muslims in Britain approved of the July 7, 2005, jihad terror bombings in London; 30 percent said they would rather live under Islamic law, or Shariah, than in a Western pluralistic society. Forty-four percent of Muslims in Nigeria thought suicide attacks were "often" or "sometimes" justified, with only 28 percent rejecting them in all cases. Roughly 14 percent of Muslims in France, Britain and Spain approved of suicide attacks against civilian targets, and only 45 percent of Muslims in Egypt considered terror never justified.

Other surveys found upwards of 50 percent of the general public support suicide terror in such "moderate" Arab countries as Egypt and Jordan. A Jerusalem Media and Communications Center poll revealed that 77.2 percent of Palestinians supported terrorist kidnappings, while six out of 10 Palestinians also said they were in favor of firing Qassam rockets at Israeli towns and cities.

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch previously pointed to a May 2007 Pew Research Center poll of Muslims in America which found that 26 percent between the ages of 18 and 29 affirmed that there could be justification in some (unspecified) circumstances for suicide bombing, and 5 percent of all the Muslims surveyed said that they had a favorable view of al-Qaida.

Until Obama and U.S. policy internalizes that terrorism – which is widely supported in the Muslim world – is a religious problem, we will never be able to properly defeat it.

Starlingly, when referring to Palestinian terrorism, Obama used the term "resistance," signifying legitimate means of opposition.

"Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed," he said.

Selling out Israel

Obama ascribed much import to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, placing it as his No. 2 issue in today's address.

He affirmed "America's strong bonds with Israel are ... unbreakable" and he importantly rejected Holocaust denial – a growing trend in the Muslim world – as "ignorant, and hateful."

However, he went on to imply the creation of Israel was a result of "anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust."

In fact, as I point out in my latest book, "The Late Great State of Israel," Zionism is the return of the Jewish people to its ancestral and eternal homeland, born, in modern times, of a national liberation struggle against British and Ottoman imperialism, Naziism and the reactionary forces within the Arab and Muslim worlds.

Alarmingly, Obama stated the Hamas terrorist group could play a role in "fulfilling Palestinian aspirations" if only they "put an end to violence, recognize past agreements and recognize Israel's right to exist."

Hamas' official charter calls for the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel. The Islamist group is responsible for scores of suicide attacks, shootings and rocket launchings aimed at Jewish civilian population centers.

Have we not learned from the mistakes of legitimizing late PLO Leader Yasser Arafat, or violent groups in Iraq and Afghanistan, that such ideological jihadi zealots cannot be reformed? Thousands of civilians have died as a result of our failed experimentation with legitimizing terrorists.

Obama patronizingly demanded Israelis must "acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's."

As if Israel did not offer the Palestinians a state on numerous occasions, including at Camp David in August 2000 or at Taba months later, only for Palestinian leaders to reject Israel's offer and initiate violence without proposing counter offers. Just last year, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered the Palestinians 94 percent of the West Bank and willingness to negotiate Jerusalem.

Obama pointed to Israeli West Bank settlements as specifically undermining "efforts to achieve peace," as if the Palestinian rejection of Israel's right to exist extends only to the settlements. As if Arab counties did not multiple times wage war to destroy the Jewish state long before Israel ever won the West Bank in a battle for its survival.

The White House must understand Israel's settlement activity is not the main obstacle to peace. (Israel several times offered to hand the West Bank to the Palestinians). It's Arab rejectionism that is at the core driving the conflict.

Obama also took the occasion to legitimize an "Arab Peace Initiative," which calls on Israel to make near suicidal territorial concessions and accept millions of foreign Arabs into its population (thus destroying Israel by population genocide) in exchange for "normalized" relations with the Arab world.

The president finally alluded to international control over Jerusalem when he stated, the holy city should be "a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them) joined in prayer."

All carrot, no stick for Iran

The president briefly moved on to Iran, where he repeated his policy statement that "any nation – including Iran – should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."

This likely sent shivers down the spines of Jerusalem officials, who fear Iran is pursuing nuclear technology to develop weapons.

Obama did not use his speech to offer a single threat to Iran regarding the ramifications of their alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Obama's commendable points

In a laudable point, Obama told the Muslim world (pay attention Hamas!) that democratic elections are not enough.

"You must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise," he said.

He then segued into the condemnation of rampant persecution of non-Muslims, specifically Christians, in the Islamic world.

"The richness of religious diversity must be upheld – whether it is for Maronites in Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt," Obama said.

Here, Obama commendably took on a pressing issue that his predecessors, including Presidents Bush and Clinton, largely ignored. The persecution of Christians in the Middle East gets scant attention in the news media or in the world of Western politics.

Obama also tackled the lack of freedom and education for women and called for "allowing all humanity – men and women – to reach their full potential."

Regarding the giving of charity and the growth of development in the Muslim world, Obama specifically heralded "efforts like Saudi Arabian King Abdullah's interfaith dialogue and Turkey's leadership in the Alliance of Civilizations."

But, as WND previously reported, U.S. critics of the Alliance painted the organization as anti-Western and advocating Iranian interests.

Obama concluded his speech by once again quoting from the "holy" Quran; this time also bothering to read from the Talmud and the Bible.