Stop. Arrêtez. Ta’atzo. Enough is enough. Too many people are in mourning after reeling from events of the past weeks. Stabbings and shootings in Israel. Bombings, shootings, and hostages in France. Bombings in Lebanon and Nigeria. It’s time to call a spade a spade and acknowledge the threat facing free people across the globe: Radical Islam.
For the past several weeks, Israel has faced terror attacks levied on its citizens almost daily. From shootings to stabbings to thrown Molotov cocktails, Israeli citizens leave the house each day forced to remain at a heightened sense of vigilance.
Not to be outdone, France has witnessed more than its fair share of terror attacks in the past year: the shooting of a kosher supermarket, the assault on Charlie Hebdo, and the devastating, coordinated suicide bombings and shootings on Friday, November 13, an event from which French President Hollande narrowly escaped.
Not wanting to leave out Africa or the Middle East, Radical Islam reared its ugly head in Lebanon, where a suicide bombing attack killed forty three and injured dozens more. Finally, for an encore, terror struck again in Nigeria, with two bombings killing over thirty people and injuring over seventy. To add insult to injury, one of the bombers was an eleven year old girl.
Islam, of course, has its fair share of peaceful followers. History has witnessed what great potential Islam has had. It is a widely-followed world religion. Among its numerous contributions to civilization include a globally-used base ten number system and modern algebra. Islam was the first to give real rights to prisoners of war. When Portugal and Spain expelled the Jews in the 1490s, Muslims took them in. The world has witnessed the potential of Islam time and time again. Now, however, Radical Islam is perverting a great world religion.
The threat Israel, Nigeria, and France face, as well as us all, is twofold: the spread of Radical Islam and the refusal of those in power to acknowledge the problem. The past fifteen years have seen the 9/11 attacks, the July 2005 coordinated suicide bombings in the UK, Fort Hood, numerous attacks in France, the Boston Marathon bombings, and the second and third Intifadas, among countless others. It has seen the rise of Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, the al-Nusra Front, al-Shabbab, and countless other radical jihadist cells.
The victims of Radical Islam are numerous and diverse. Jihadists do not discriminate. The victims are Jews, Christians, Sunnis, Shiites, Atheists, blacks, whites, Arabs, Israelis, gays, straight, young, old, males, females, you name it. That radical Islam runs rampant across the globe, whether in the Middle East, Africa, or Europe, shows that it is not a regional or political problem. It is both a global and systemic religious problem.
Religions evolve. Christianity is living proof of that. What was once a faith defined by murderous crusaders has now evolved into a peaceful religion. Islam must take those same steps. Moderate Muslims and non-Muslims alike must show the next generation of Muslims why violent jihad and Radical Islam is wrong.
To exacerbate the situation of expanding Radical Islam, Western leaders refuse to acknowledge the gravity of the situation, make excuses for the evildoers, and assign blame to the victims. Recently, President Barack Obama made the baseless claim that we have “contained” the ISIS threat. Secretary of State John Kerry stated the Charlie Hebdo attackers had legitimacy, then rationality. Finally, Mr. Kerry blamed the terror attacks in Israel on Israeli settlements.
In response, I would ask the Kurds, the Yazidis, and the Syrian Christians if the ISIS threat is contained? I would ask if the free-speech exercising Charlie Hebdo writers believed the murders were legitimate or rational? And I would ask the relatives of Rabbi Yaakov Litman and his son Netanel, if they thought the shootings of their beloved were legitimate political responses to them living in the Judea region, or because they are Israeli Jews?
There comes a point in time when enough is enough. The time for addressing the problem of Radical Islam came long ago. The events of the past weeks should serve as the latest of wake up calls to the real and global threat that Radical Islam poses. I pray for the safety and memories of those in Israel, France, Nigeria, and the rest of the world. I pray for an eventual end to Islamic terror across the globe. And I pray that our leaders wake up, acknowledge the problem that exists whether they like it or not, and show some chutzpah (Yiddish for “audacity”) in defeating the threat and defending our people and our way of life.