I first heard the horrific news of the attack of militant Islam against the United States as I left the graduation ceremony at the College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel, Israel. I watched my Jewish students, whose families had lived in the Land of Israel for generations, receive their degrees together with Arabs dressed in their traditional garb and new immigrants from Russia and Ethiopia. I thought of the hatred against Israel spewed out at Durban by haters of human dignity, freedom, democracy and pluralism. As an Arab woman took her diploma and shook the hand of the college president, I thought of the "welcome" received by the two Israelis who turned into Ramallah by mistake. As they were being lynched and butchered, their Palestinian murderers held up their bloodied hands to television cameras in ecstatic glee. As I congratulated my Ethiopian students awarded degrees in science and engineering, I realized that Israel was the only people in history who took blacks out of Africa to liberate them, rather than enslave them.
As grieving people placed flowers and lit candles at the gates of United States embassies throughout the world to express their sorrow, there was one blatant exception joyous Palestinians. The ecstatic followers of arch-terrorist Arafat were dancing in the streets, handing out sweets, pointing their thumbs up and shouting "bull's eye." In celebration of America's agony, members of Arafat's Fatah-Tanzim murderous gang shot guns in the air and marched through Gaza City with huge posters of bin Laden.
It is interesting that these inventors of the myth of a Palestinian people chose the name used by the ancient Romans to blot out the names of Israel and Judea. The dictionary definition of the original word for Palestinian, "philistine," is "a barbarous hater of culture." Good choice!
The world needs to understand that Israel has been unwillingly forced to be in the forefront of the war against the same evil empire of terror that attacked the United States. It needs to acknowledge that Arafat is the godfather of terrorism and mentor to all the soldiers of the evil empire. He and his bosom buddies, bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, incite the Arab masses to hate all the values of Western culture represented by the United States and Israel. Israel is despised and feared because it is a democratic island in the sea of repressive dictatorial regimes that is the norm in the Arab world.
Petty dictator Arafat has no interest in living in peace with Israel. He rejected Barak's peace offer and declared war on Israel, the spearhead of Western enlightenment in the Middle East. His suicide bombers brutally murdered families eating out at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, mutilated teenagers out for the night at a Tel Aviv disco, blew up commuters at a Nahariya train station, etc., etc., etc. This is the same old Arafat whose comrades tossed overboard a wheel-chair bound American on a vacation cruise, killed hundreds of U.S. soldiers in one blast in Lebanon, murdered in cold blood Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, attacked a school in Maalot, shooting children in their classrooms, etc., etc., etc.
Peres talking to Arafat will be as fruitful as Powell begging bin Laden and Saddam Hussein to be good guys and stop hurting poor innocent people. Arafat's Fatah-Tanzim and his partners, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizbullah must be put out of business by all possible means. It is time that the free world, with American leadership, unmask the myths created by these terrorists in their effort to destroy "little Satan" Israel and "big Satan" USA. America and all the world's democracies must fully back Israel in totally defeating the terrorism reeking havoc in its heartland.
The primary myth that needs to be exposed is that Palestinians are entitled to get their land back. It was never their land. In his "Myths of the Middle East," Arab-American journalist Joseph Farah exposes this myth, telling us the truth that Palestine is no more real than Never-Never Land. Palestine never existed in all of history as an autonomous entity. The only sovereign nation that has ever ruled over the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is Israel. King David ruled over the Land of Israel 3,000 years ago, nearly 1,600 years before Muhammad was born. Since the Romans leveled the Temple 2,000 years ago, committed genocide against the Jews and declared that Jewish sovereignty would be no more, the Land of Israel was ruled by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and the by the British.
In 1948, the occupation finally ended and the Jews reestablished their sovereignty over their ancient homeland with the blessings of the United Nations. All surrounding Arab countries immediately attacked the infant State of Israel in a concerted effort to annihilate it. They failed. From 1948 to 1967, Jordan ruled the West Bank that it took by force of arms and never thought of establishing a separate Palestinian State there. It was only after the Jews re-inhabited their historic homeland of Judea and Samaria that the myth of a Palestinian nation was created and marketed worldwide. Jews come from Judea, not Palestinians. There is no language known as Palestinian, or any Palestinian culture distinct from that of all the Arabs in the area. There has never been a land know as Palestine governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs indistinguishable from Arabs throughout the region. Overall, there are 22 Arab countries that cover more that 99 per cent of the land mass in the Middle East. Israel, the size of New Jersey, covers less that one per cent. To Arafat and his terrorist gangs, that is too much.
The declaration of war against America and Western culture requires telling the truth. Arafat's myths along with his terrorist infrastructure must be vanquished. The Arabs will continue to reject Israel's existence if they think they can destroy it. In 1923, Zionist leader Zev Jabotinsky explained: "So long as the Arabs have a glimmer of hope to rid themselves of our presence, they will not give up for all the sweet words and far-reaching promises in the world." At this critical time, American needs to strongly support Israel's war against terrorism. Only if Israel is seen as too strong to be destroyed, will the barbarism of the Palestinians and their ilk stop.
All Jews, Christians and peace-loving Muslims must declare war on the militant brand of Islam that loves death and hates life. In the Bible we are presented with the choice: "See! Today I have set before you a choice between life and good or death and evil." Today, we must take sides. There can be no appeasement of evil or compromise with death-loving suicide bombers. We must choose life and good and fight for it.
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Dr. Menahem Alexenberg is a professor at the College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel, Israel, and former professor at Columbia University in New York.
As grieving people placed flowers and lit candles at the gates of United States embassies throughout the world to express their sorrow, there was one blatant exception joyous Palestinians. The ecstatic followers of arch-terrorist Arafat were dancing in the streets, handing out sweets, pointing their thumbs up and shouting "bull's eye." In celebration of America's agony, members of Arafat's Fatah-Tanzim murderous gang shot guns in the air and marched through Gaza City with huge posters of bin Laden.
It is interesting that these inventors of the myth of a Palestinian people chose the name used by the ancient Romans to blot out the names of Israel and Judea. The dictionary definition of the original word for Palestinian, "philistine," is "a barbarous hater of culture." Good choice!
The world needs to understand that Israel has been unwillingly forced to be in the forefront of the war against the same evil empire of terror that attacked the United States. It needs to acknowledge that Arafat is the godfather of terrorism and mentor to all the soldiers of the evil empire. He and his bosom buddies, bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, incite the Arab masses to hate all the values of Western culture represented by the United States and Israel. Israel is despised and feared because it is a democratic island in the sea of repressive dictatorial regimes that is the norm in the Arab world.
Petty dictator Arafat has no interest in living in peace with Israel. He rejected Barak's peace offer and declared war on Israel, the spearhead of Western enlightenment in the Middle East. His suicide bombers brutally murdered families eating out at the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, mutilated teenagers out for the night at a Tel Aviv disco, blew up commuters at a Nahariya train station, etc., etc., etc. This is the same old Arafat whose comrades tossed overboard a wheel-chair bound American on a vacation cruise, killed hundreds of U.S. soldiers in one blast in Lebanon, murdered in cold blood Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, attacked a school in Maalot, shooting children in their classrooms, etc., etc., etc.
Peres talking to Arafat will be as fruitful as Powell begging bin Laden and Saddam Hussein to be good guys and stop hurting poor innocent people. Arafat's Fatah-Tanzim and his partners, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizbullah must be put out of business by all possible means. It is time that the free world, with American leadership, unmask the myths created by these terrorists in their effort to destroy "little Satan" Israel and "big Satan" USA. America and all the world's democracies must fully back Israel in totally defeating the terrorism reeking havoc in its heartland.
The primary myth that needs to be exposed is that Palestinians are entitled to get their land back. It was never their land. In his "Myths of the Middle East," Arab-American journalist Joseph Farah exposes this myth, telling us the truth that Palestine is no more real than Never-Never Land. Palestine never existed in all of history as an autonomous entity. The only sovereign nation that has ever ruled over the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is Israel. King David ruled over the Land of Israel 3,000 years ago, nearly 1,600 years before Muhammad was born. Since the Romans leveled the Temple 2,000 years ago, committed genocide against the Jews and declared that Jewish sovereignty would be no more, the Land of Israel was ruled by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and the by the British.
In 1948, the occupation finally ended and the Jews reestablished their sovereignty over their ancient homeland with the blessings of the United Nations. All surrounding Arab countries immediately attacked the infant State of Israel in a concerted effort to annihilate it. They failed. From 1948 to 1967, Jordan ruled the West Bank that it took by force of arms and never thought of establishing a separate Palestinian State there. It was only after the Jews re-inhabited their historic homeland of Judea and Samaria that the myth of a Palestinian nation was created and marketed worldwide. Jews come from Judea, not Palestinians. There is no language known as Palestinian, or any Palestinian culture distinct from that of all the Arabs in the area. There has never been a land know as Palestine governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs indistinguishable from Arabs throughout the region. Overall, there are 22 Arab countries that cover more that 99 per cent of the land mass in the Middle East. Israel, the size of New Jersey, covers less that one per cent. To Arafat and his terrorist gangs, that is too much.
The declaration of war against America and Western culture requires telling the truth. Arafat's myths along with his terrorist infrastructure must be vanquished. The Arabs will continue to reject Israel's existence if they think they can destroy it. In 1923, Zionist leader Zev Jabotinsky explained: "So long as the Arabs have a glimmer of hope to rid themselves of our presence, they will not give up for all the sweet words and far-reaching promises in the world." At this critical time, American needs to strongly support Israel's war against terrorism. Only if Israel is seen as too strong to be destroyed, will the barbarism of the Palestinians and their ilk stop.
All Jews, Christians and peace-loving Muslims must declare war on the militant brand of Islam that loves death and hates life. In the Bible we are presented with the choice: "See! Today I have set before you a choice between life and good or death and evil." Today, we must take sides. There can be no appeasement of evil or compromise with death-loving suicide bombers. We must choose life and good and fight for it.
------------
Dr. Menahem Alexenberg is a professor at the College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel, Israel, and former professor at Columbia University in New York.