Re: HANG ON
Read what Noni Darwish says.
A Cry from an Arab American
for the Russian Children
by: Nonie Darwish
Among the Chechnyan terrorists that did the unspeakable in a Russian school yesterday were reported to be several Arabs. Personally, I am not surprised, but how many Arabs in the Middle East even try to connect the dots and link their current radical culture of Islam to these unspeakable deeds around the world?
They simply do not see the connection and unfortunately the world media is not doing its job in telling the Arab World about it. CNN feels that being “objective” is never to blame Arab culture, and it ends up supportive of Arab views in its delivery of news in the Middle East and around the world.
Until age 30, I lived as a Muslim in the Middle East. Horrible news such as from Chechnya, or other terrible incidents like in the Philippines, India, the Sudan or Pakistan, were always covered up and twisted to portray Muslim terrorists around the world as just innocent victims of terrible discrimination. These murderers were always portrayed as minority “freedom fighters” who needed to rise against the majority Christian or non-Muslim population in their midst.
The larger picture in these countries and the reasons behind the turmoil was never explained in any other way. I will never forget the prayers that many Arabs offered in support of minority Muslims all over the world who were believed to be manning the frontier for Jihad. The world-wide Muslim community is tasked spreading Islam in the “lost” world around them, in Dar-El-Harb, the land of war, to be conquered by the sword.
I once had a guest from Egypt in my home who was the most kind and wonderful Muslim man you would ever want to meet. While he was watching Chechnya rebels on TV, I saw him pray and cry for their success against the Soviet Union. Praying for killing of the innocent never seemed holy to me.
The world has been seeing Arab radical
Terrorism growing without much international outcry for half a century. I started seeing many men and women in my culture of origin turn into robotic monsters with a wish to destroy life on earth in order to go to heaven. Many thought this was only against Israel and its interests and, as a result, they ignored it.
The world and its lazy media is not doing Arabs or the rest of the world any favor by sticking their heads in the sand like ostriches. Even after 9/11, many in the West and the UN are still finding excuses for terrorism. Even the Arab’s best friends, the French, thought they would get special treatment from terrorists by selling out the US and supporting Saddam Hussein. But in the eyes of the terrorists the French were always just temporary friends until the right time came to strike - - one enemy at a time.
Where are Muslim demonstrations against terror? All I’ve ever noticed following 9/11 were celebrations throughout the Arab world. Taking a stand against
Terrorism and for reformations in the Muslim world is viewed as an Israeli conspiracy. The very few courageous Arab writers who think and speak independently are often attacked and terrorized for their views, and accused of being puppets of the Zionists. Apparently standing strong against
Terrorism and for reformations in the Muslim world is viewed as “Zionist”
Conspiracy no matter how heinous the murders conducted by militant Islamists.
Since 1967 there have been thousand of Arab terrorist attacks. Israel had only one against the Arabs – and that was by a mentally deranged man that was condemned vehemently by almost all of Israel’s citizens. The Israeli government never tried the Arabs who beat the attacker to death after he surrendered. Yet I hear apologists for terrorism here cite that one incident as justification for the thousands and thousands terrorist attacks Israel and America over the years.
Even worse, how many resolutions by the UN Commission on Human Rights condemning an Arab country for human rights violations have ever been proposed or passed? The answer is zero. But the number of Commission on Human Rights resolutions condemning Israel for human rights violations is 26. Imagine that! Is there any doubt that much of the state-sponsored and culturally-encouraged terrorism all over the Middle East by the Arab states is a violation of someone’s human rights? Could it be that the UN is contributing to the problem, rather than solving it?
Seeing the horror on the faces of the Russian children who looked malnourished and poverty stricken to begin with, I decided to make a stand against the Islamic culture of terror I grew up in and the madness resulting from its teachings.
The intense and repetitive teachings of hate produce inhumane robots. Make no mistake about it, my motivation is out of love for the goodness in the Muslim world to prevail and that I do know exists, but is today so deeply hidden under the layers of indoctrination. Accusing me of being part of a “Zionist conspiracy” is a joke at this point from the other side to cover up what is going on.
It is time for the world media and the UN to take a serious stand against Islamic, yes, Islamic, terror. The UN should immediately issue a very strong resolution condemning terrorism with serious consequences to Oil rich Arab countries that finance terrorism or teach that terrorists are heroes going to heaven. No “ifs,” “ands” or “buts” and no diluted language by the international media.
The out-of-control culture in the Middle East needs a wake up call and a dose of reality. I cannot defend the cruel teachings and hate speech in my culture of origin any more. No other Arab with any integrity should. There is no cause in the world that should justify this insanity. I lived it and know what will end it. What is needed immediately is a united world stand against the Arab’s stagnant and barbaric view of the world and of themselves. We should demand from our media to report the truth and not stand as an obstacle in facing and fighting danger. The world cannot stand by, confused and equivocal about 9/11 and Islamic terrorism any more.
Please, America and the good people of the world, save my Arab culture of origin from itself.
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Arab Reaction to the Beslan Massacre
By Nonie Darwish
In the aftermath of the Beslan school massacre, some Arab media outlets and politicians have taken a new, stronger stand against terrorism. It was welcome news to many that several articles in the Arab press denounced the attack and maybe that signaled a new turning point in the Arab World. The Arab street did not express the usual celebrations where adult men and women cheer on the terror waged on the children of infidels. This incident brought out some Arab critics even against the way Islam is being taught. However, there are reasons other than just sympathy for the Russian victims that are bringing out critics of terrorism in Arab media: I wonder if this vicious attack had been on Boston instead of Beslan, Arab media would have treated it in the same manner.
The way Arabs look at Russia and the former Soviet Union is different from how they regard Western Democracies, especially the United States. Arabs do not want to wake up the Russian bear because they know that Russia will deal severely with its enemies and without the baggage of political correctness we are all familiar with in the US. They know that America the Superpower, is bound by its morality, public opinion and often exercises self-restraint even in its War on Terror. Muslim terrorists in Iraq blow up churches, blow up fellow Iraqi citizens and murder Americans then hide in their mosques. They then dare the American soldiers to touch their holy shrines or even attempt to bring out the murderers from inside. The terrorists who burn churches then hide in mosques know exactly what they are doing and that they can get away with it if the enemy is America.
Russia, on the other hand, is a different world force, and in many ways can react with brutality equal to that of the Arab world. Russians will not introspectively ask, “Why do they hate us?” They will react severely against terrorism on their children. Having found Arabs among the terrorists in Beslan is proof of Arab connections. Most Arab countries openly support Muslim separatist movements around the world, such as in the Philippines, and worldwide. Russia might not strive to retaliate with limited surgical attacks on terrorists, but will likely do the old-fashioned bombing of whole blocks in cities, subjecting its enemies to more casualties and collateral damage. I do not believe that the political opposition in Russia will demand a more “sensitive” war on terror; that is a fact Arabs understand. The Soviet Union’s war in Afghanistan was brutal and the Muslim world can still remember that.
The Arab world is now in a panic since by giving financial and moral support to all the Muslim separatist movements in the past they have created a monster. These Muslim minorities have been aided and abetted by Arabs for decades to turn against their non-Muslim nations from whom they demand a separate state. It is time for Arabs to let go and leave them to live in peace in their own communities. They cannot hide the fact that they caused much bloodshed and turmoil in all these minority Muslim regions and should take responsibility for it. Now they are trying to save face by denouncing terror in these regional conflicts that they have helped create.
I hope this is a wake up call to the West of what can happen when Muslims congregate to live in a separate section in a state or county and refuse to mix with the rest of the population. As soon as they take control of an area and become the majority in a city they demand a separatist movement. The Arab influence and support on these communities is not benign and harmless; its basic goal is the fueling of resentments and armed resistance from the larger community. The wealthy Saudi Arabs are respected in minority non-Arab Muslim communities first and foremost because they are the keepers of the holy Muslim grounds of Mecca and Medina and because they speak Arabic, the language of the Quran. That makes them more credible when interpreting it. Many Arab minorities in other countries believe that whatever comes from the Saudis are direct orders from in the words of the Prophet Mohammed himself. The Saudis also lure these communities with the petro-dollars desperately needed in these poorer communities. That is how all these hot spots of Muslim turmoil around the world began and are now being manipulated by Arabs. The Chechnyans are simply Russians who practice Islam now want to split and form an Islamic state of their own. Think of all the trouble it could bring to Europe and Russia. Such Muslim state, with its loyalty to Radical Muslim countries, would end up being yet another playground of terror controlled from Mecca in the heart of Europe.
Arab countries are now seeing shrinking support for Arab causes from world public opinion. They have turned many of their traditional friends into critics and even their money might not be able to buy them favoritism any more. With terrorism against France, Spain and Italy and other nations the Saudis should expect a united world public opinion against their activities, hopefully, coming through the UN, soon.
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Loudspeaker Call To Islamize America
By: Nonie Darwish
The Islamist movement in the United States has no intention of expressing sensitivity to the majority Judeo-Christian culture of America. Even 9/11 has not slowed them down, but might even have given more fuel to their cherished dream of seeing America and its government Moslem.
The City Council of Hamtramck, Michigan, gave its preliminary approval to the Bangladeshi al-Islah mosque to carry the Arabic call to prayer five times a day through a loudspeaker. The Moslem call for prayer, in Arabic, says: “Allah is great. I confess that there is no God but Allah. I confess that Mohamed is his messenger. Call for prayer, call for prayer.” This is repeated for two minutes.
Devout Moslems already know when it is time to pray and in this day and age there are certainly other ways to call people for prayers that conforms to noise regulation and respects the wish of the general public not to hear loudspeakers 5 times a day praising a God that is different from theirs and in whose name the terrorists of 9/11 committed their atrocity. How far are we Arab/Moslem Americans going to keep pushing the envelope to test America’s patience? To whose benefit these loudspeakers are being installed? Could the loudspeakers be another sign of an audacious, in-your-face conquest of America to please those who finance these mosques?
Americans are the most tolerant people in the world and it seems that the more tolerant they become, the more they are taken advantage of. How far will our tolerant Judeo-Christian culture be pushed around? And how many times will Christians give the other cheek to prove they love those who despise them?
Arab/Moslem Americans should reciprocate the tolerance and sensitivity to the rest of America. They should not demand from America to tolerate unwelcome loudspeakers even if the politicians in the city council want to please the Arab population for their vote. Mosques in the US should know better because in most Moslem countries, Jewish synagogues and Christian churches are not even permitted to be built, much less promoted via public-address loudspeakers.
At a time when American youth are dying to stabilize Iraq and bring democracy to a Moslem country, the last thing I want to see as an Arab American is my fellow Americans upset at us for forcing Koran read to them through amplifiers.
Mosques all over the Middle East have used and abused loudspeakers to spread not only the call for prayers, but also Friday sermons. In many Arab capitals you can often hear a prayer to destroy the infidels (non-Moslems) and the Jews, the enemies of God, over loudspeakers that are often used as tools of incitement and indoctrination. People in congested and noisy Arab cities such as Cairo often hear 3 or 4 mosque loudspeakers simultaneously since there could be 4 or more mosques in one square mile. The dawn prayer can come as early as 5 am and many Moslems in the Middle East hate it, but are too afraid to say anything about it.
Why is America importing fear, oppression and insensitivity to the American general public? There is a fine line between tolerance and self destruction.
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Arab Means Not Having to Say You're Sorry
5/13/2004
In Moslem culture, during the Daheyah (Sacrifice) feast, Moslems bring a lamb into the home for a ritual slaughter accompanied by the invocation ‘Allahu Akbar’, in the presence of the family and the children. Now we see the Daheyah of Radical Islam to be Jews such as Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl, who were beheaded with no mercy, accompanied by the same pious invocation. This is a perversion of Islam, but don’t expect an apology.
To expect Arab and Moslem leadership to apologize for the barbaric murder of Nick Berg is a reflection of the West’s naïve and wrong expectations of Arab culture. In the Arab world to take responsibility and say sorry is taken as an unmanly sign of weakness that may get a person into more trouble. Those who admit guilt, even if it is accidental, are given no mercy and may end up taking all the blame and being brutally punished. It is the norm for Arabs to deny a fact (however blatant) and blame others rather than admit to the wrongdoing and apologize. Honesty is not rewarded.
Bush apologized for the humiliation and abuse of Iraqi prisoners. His apology was taken by the Arab media and the ‘Arab Street’ as an admission of guilt and a sign of weakness. It was not appreciated as taking responsibility to find out the truth behind the events that happened due to the actions of a few Americans.
If 19 Americans had committed a terrorist act comparable to 9/11, and belonged to a terrorist American network against any nation on earth, the reactions on all sides would have been very different than what we have seen, due to our cultural differences. Any sitting US president would apologize and take immediate action to stop the terror coming from America. Americans would be outraged. In our ‘politically correct’ liberal culture, the media and academia would urge all of our citizens to a collective self-psychoanalysis, to uncover the ‘root causes’ of how WE could have caused such evil behavior. They might find the American terrorists to be victims of the American culture that drove them to become monsters, and will blame themselves and everything American for their behavior. A cultural war will break out with each camp blaming the other for the creation of American terrorists. Money to fund studies will start pouring into college campuses and think tanks to get to the bottom of the issue.
This is not the case in the Arab World.
Terrorism is the direct result of the radical Islamist culture that is flourishing all over the Arab world and promoted by Arab media, governments, educational system and religious leaders. Terrorists are given training camps, money, power and respect for doing God’s work for Jihad. Arabs’ understand that they cannot win a war against the West and all they can succeed doing is to indoctrinate one generation after another for martyrdom. Their secret weapon is the anger and rage of the Arab street. It is a powerful weapon that they treasure, and they will not allow the West to unmask the lies of the daily dose of fear and anger fed to the beast on the Arab Street waiting for the next explosion. How can anyone expect them to apologize for a deep-rooted cultural and religious mission to defeat or kill infidels, especially Jews? Most Arabs still blame Israel for 9/11 and even 3/11 in Spain. How can we expect these countries to sincerely cooperate with the international community to end terror and its barbaric brutality? Americans should stop judging other cultures with the American value system, and especially stop expecting Arab/Moslem culture to respond rationally according to Western standards. Arab power is derived from oil, terror and manipulative PR campaigns. They know it and we know it, so let us stop kidding each other with false expectations.
Most Arabs do understand America’s current dilemma in Iraq and they do not want to sincerely help. They know we want to leave honorably after stabilizing the situation and a new Iraqi democratic government is in business. We set a date in June to hand over power. You would think that if they sincerely want America to leave they would be at their best behavior in order for the US to have no excuse and leave, but the opposite is happening. They have increased their violence and attacks and brutality. Many say “we want a Vietnam with America” and can’t wait for an excuse to exhibit rage and violence. Arab media and the power behind it are promoting a bloody scenario. They want to see America leave humiliated even if Iraqis benefited by the removal of Saddam and even if it is at the expense of the Iraqi people and the region. Above all they do not want to see America, a non-Moslem Superpower, as the cause for Iraq’s wellbeing, especially when all the Arab countries stood by doing nothing to stop Saddam’s brutal regime. Only Arabs leaders should be heroes in the Arab world; not Bush. It is a matter of pride.
Arab media understand that America has no desire to occupy Iraq, but they never miss an opportunity to give the raging masses their daily dose of fear of America. “America wants to hand over the keys of Iraq to Sharon” was a recent heading in Egyptian newspapers. Arab games are exposed and our leftist media should not cover up the game.
There are many reasons for Arab and Moslem silence. However, fear of speaking out is no longer a credible excuse. Day in and day out all we see out of the Arab world is anger, revenge and a culture out of control. The Arab street is afraid of Arab leaders and Arab leaders afraid of the Arab street; and both can only get out their frustration on America, Europe, Israel and innocent victims such as Nick Berg and Daniel Pearl.
Nonie Darwish
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