Israel to blame?
Joseph Farah
Posted: October 3, 20061:00 a.m. Eastern
A tenured professor at the University of Chicago recently claimed Israel was to blame for the Sept. 11 attacks and for the U.S. war in Iraq.
The assertions by John Mearsheimer were met with an amen chorus from colleagues at New York University and Columbia.
"The Israel lobby was one of the principal driving forces behind the Iraq war, and in its absence we probably would not have had a war," he explained. Later, he said al-Qaida's "animus to the United States … stemmed from U.S. foreign policy toward Israel."
Imagine what a peaceful world in which we would live if we could only rid ourselves of that annoying little Israel. That is the essence of what we hear throughout much of academia. That is the essence of what we hear at the United Nations. That is the essence of what we hear from the so-called "international community." That is the essence of what we hear from a vast segment of the world press.
While it is an undeniable truth that Israel is on the front lines of the global Islamic jihad, surrounded as it is by hostile neighbors and active terrorist organizations sworn to its destruction, I would love to hear one of these anti-Israel twits explain what the Jewish state has to do with the following conflicts:
Afghanistan – Far from Israel, the Taliban and al-Qaida are battling U.S. coalition forces in an effort to re-establish their Islamic dream state – the one that actually gave us Sept. 11.
Algeria – Far from Israel, Islamic guerrillas continue to attack a government dominated by fellow Muslims.
Bosnia – Far from Israel, it's now a home for Islamic terrorists thanks to the international community that handed it over to Muslim rule.
Central Asia – Far from Israel, Islamic radicals are trying to spread Shariah law in states formerly part of the Soviet Union.
Chad – Far from Israel, unrest is growing largely because of a refugee crisis started by the radical Islamic regime in neighboring Sudan.
India – Far from Israel, Islamic radical groups regularly set off bombs, while India contests with neighboring Islamic Pakistan for control of Kashmir.
Indonesia – Far from Israel, Islamic terrorists are a constant threat in the most heavily populous Muslim state in the world.
Kosovo – Far from Israel, Islamic radicals burn down churches and persecute Christians.
Nigeria – Far from Israel, Muslims in the north fight for more control over the government and the nation's vast oil reserves.
Philippines – Far from Israel, Islamic guerrillas in the south are fighting for their own country and, of course, the forced expulsion of non-Muslims.
Russia – Far from Israel, Islamic terrorists have attacked airliners, schools and other civilian targets in their fight for an independent, Islamic Chechnya.
Somalia – Far from Israel, tribal fighting continues in another former playground of Osama bin Laden. Islamic radicals fight for Shariah law to bring order.
Sudan – Far from Israel, Muslims in the north slaughter Christians, animists and even other Muslims in a war that has already killed millions.
Thailand – Far from Israel, a small population of Muslims in the south, totaling only about 3 percent, fight for a separate Islamic state. A recent military coup installed the country's first Muslim leader, who suspended the constitution.
Uganda – Far from Israel, Muslim rebels in the north, aided by Sudan, have challenged the government.
Maybe political science professors can tie Islamic terrorist acts against Egypt's government, inside Lebanon and targeting the Saudi kingdom to Israel – because it's in the neighborhood.
Maybe they can persuade some people that the U.S. invasion of Iraq had something to do with Israel, though Saddam Hussein posed little real threat to the Jewish state.
But, how, I wonder, do these geniuses discount the raging Islamic jihad on the march from the East to the West? Do they really think all of this bloodshed is about a tiny, fictional nation of Palestine? Who really believes any of this global fighting will stop if and when Israel ceases to exist?
Joseph Farah is founder, editor and CEO of WND and a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators Syndicate. His latest book is "Taking America Back." He also edits the weekly online intelligence newsletter Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, in which he utilizes his sources developed over 30 years in the news business.