HAMAS, an Arabic acronym for Harakat Al-Muqawama Al-Islamia, has, till now, been an Islamic resistance movement. It's an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Today, it was born as a new political power. It has won the Palestinian election. As a result of this election victory, we should all be very concerned.
This was certainly not the outcome hoped for by President Bush, since it calls into question the wisdom of trying to bring democracy to the Middle East. Indeed, the President has shown his dismay, though naturally he has put a positive spin on the result, saying that this landslide win by the radical Islamist party reminded us of the "power of democracy"! Indeed, Mr President! Indeed, it does! He added that he and his administration would not deal with HAMAS unless it renounced violence and its commitment to the destruction of Israel.
"The United States does not support a political party that wants to destroy our ally Israel. People must renounce that part of their platform. A political party that articulates the destruction of Israel as part of its platform is a party with which we will not deal."Democracy, as a political system, relies on well-educated voters, capeable of cool, rational thought, uninhibited by a religion which has as its ideal the implementation of Shariah, or quranic, law, and is not helped if, at its core, the government is blatantly anti-Semitic, or anti any other ethnic or religious group if it comes to that. A democratic government should strive to be tolerant and fair and inclusive. How tolerant, fair and inclusive can we expect this government to be?
This election result is certainly going to change dramatically the peace process which the President and other Western powers have worked so hard to put into place. How can the peace process have any meaning for a party which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel?
Furthermore, this result is going to embolden other Islamic militant groups in the region to push for the implementation of their agenda and, more importantly, to push to achieve power themselves. The budding democracies of the Middle East are beginning to look neither so attractive nor so democratic after all! We have set a train in motion which we are going to find difficult, nay impossible, to bring to a halt! In addition, we have the prospect of yet another extremist government in the region. Now, this one in Palestine can mimic the excesses of Ahmadinejad's régime in Tehran, and the one can add power to the elbow of the other. On top of all that, it has been stated recently that Iran and Syria are edging ever closer to each other, the one has vowed to help the other in the difficulties that lie ahead.
To add insult to injury, Iraq is a disaster area: that country will be taken down the Islamic route, too. Today's victory was yet another victory for Islamic fundamentalism! Things are closing in on the only true democratic act in town: Israel!
Without wishing to sound like a prophet of doom, World War III doesn't look quite so far off as we might at first have thought!
Should I perhaps suggest that you brace yourselves for a very rough road ahead?
Reaction from around the world (Source: The BBC)
©Mark Alexander
19 comments:
Yes, Mussolini, they will use democracy for their own ends: to elect the radical Islamic government that they so crave. The rest, as they say, will be history!
Only fools think that democracy and Islam are compatible. Only a fool would try to achieve a melding of the two diametrically-opposed political systems. There are a heck of a lot of fools about!
As I read your blog, Mark, the words of the prophet Hosea come instantly to mind: "For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind...." President Bush and his advisors have set a goal of bringing democracy to the Middle East, presumably without having any sense of the record of history or without knowing the true nature of Islam. Pathetically, our current leaders are weak, cowardly and ineffectual. Our greatest hope is that the Israelis will take appropriate action to stop the intolerant, fanatical racist bigots in their tracks, othewise we are about to "reap the whirlwind" for all the reasons you have cited in your excellent post and that will mean "curtains" for human civilization.
I wasn't surprised by the election results. Who would be? World leaders I guess.
I thought Mark would appreciate this quote by David Horovitz of the Jerusalem Post:
"Some may seek comfort in the belief that an ascent to government could prompt a greater sense of responsibility, a move to moderation. But Hamas's intolerance is based on a perceived religious imperative. No believing Muslim, in the Hamas conception, can be reconciled to Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East. To deny that, for Hamas, is blasphemy. And that is the ideology to which the Palestinian people, for whatever reason and by their own free hand, have just tied their fate. That is the guiding ideology with which Israel and the West will now have to grapple."
Sounds a lot like what you've been telling us all along.
The article it was quoted from is here:
Hamas Without Veils
Mark: Today's victory was yet another victory for Islamic fundamentalism!
My American history class was discussing this very topic today. I could see on my students' faces the recognition that the world order may be just about to change. Indeed, these teenagers seem to have a better grasp of the dangers than our world leaders.
I can't get out of my mind the looks on my students faces. Describing their expressions is impossible for me to communicate. The best expression I can come up with it horrified awakening.
Usiconoclasticpatriot:
President Bush and his advisors have set a goal of bringing democracy to the Middle East, presumably without having any sense of the record of history or without knowing the true nature of Islam.
I have said my piece on this over and over, and it is that Islam and democracy are incompatible. (The reasons I have stated many times before. There's no need to re-iterate them in this comment.) President Bush says it is not, stating, if my memory serves me well, that it is an insult to Middle Eastern Muslims to assert that their values are incompatible with freedom and democracy.
Well, he is wrong about this, too! Why should it be an insult? To say that implies that President Bush thinks that democracy is a superior political system. Well, I would agree with him, and you would probably agree with him, too. But we have been brought up to revere democratic principles. Muslims have not.
Muslims, especially devout ones, revere something quite different. They revere the Qur'an and the body of laws that stem from it, from as-Sirah, and from aHadith, as-Shariah!
Their version of freedom of freedom is the freedom to worship Allah, the freedom to revere ar-Rasul Ullah. the venerated Prophet Muhammad, and the freedom to carry out Allah's will. If Allah doesn't will it, they don't want it.
It seems to me that President Bush has become unstuck with this 'crusade' (sorry about the 'C' word!) to bring democracy to the Middle East because he has failed to recognize and understand that democracy is viewed by Arabs as a Western model of government, which, of course, it is. And if it's Western, they don't want it!
You mark my words: Unless I'm greatly mistaken, they will use democracy to Islamize these countries. The western-style democratic process won't be in place for long.
Heather:
I wasn't surprised by the election results. Who would be? World leaders I guess.
Nor was I! I sometimes think these world leaders are so shut off from the real world, so remote, that they have become, sadly, very misinformed and unrealistic in their expectations.
"Some may seek comfort in the belief that an ascent to government could prompt a greater sense of responsibility, a move to moderation. But Hamas's intolerance is based on a perceived religious imperative. No believing Muslim, in the Hamas conception, can be reconciled to Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East. To deny that, for Hamas, is blasphemy. And that is the ideology to which the Palestinian people, for whatever reason and by their own free hand, have just tied their fate. That is the guiding ideology with which Israel and the West will now have to grapple."
Right on! He's got that described to a 't'!
Thanks for that very interesting link. I appreciated that, and enjoyed reading it. I would recommend all my visitors to take a look at it.
Always On Watch:
My American history class was discussing this very topic today. I could see on my students' faces the recognition that the world order may be just about to change. Indeed, these teenagers seem to have a better grasp of the dangers than our world leaders.
They are right: We may yet witness a change in the world order. Isn't that disturbing?
America has been a beacon of freedom for the world. We need a strong America. It is a safeguard for the free world. It is the guadian of our liberty. We need to be very careful about the changes we bring about. We may surprise ourselves and find that they may not serve our long-term interests after all!
It seems to me that the powers that be have been playing fast and loose with our future. That goes not only for US leaders, but for all Western leaders in toto.
Mussolini:
Some time ago, I think it was on Gates of Vienna, I cynically stated that Iraqi elections are all well and good but the people are muslims and will elect muslims.
I was told I was being negative...Those of us who have been shaking our heads and muttering "cynically" (you me and the others here) were called extremist and irrational.
I didn't read your post, but clearly you were right in your assessment.
There is nothing extremist or irrational about it. To doubt the success of such a mission (the mission of bringing democracy to the Islamic Middle East) is far from extremist. On the contrary it is realistic and very rational! It is realistic, of course, because it reflects the reality of the situation - it brings the beliefs, ideas, emotions and values of Middle Eastern Muslims into the equation; it is rational because it is a lucid assessment based on reason - it takes into account a dispassionate understanding of what islam is all about. It was not based on some vain, irrational, pie-in-the-sky hope!
Mussolini:
What a great, inspired comment!
I won’t re-express many of the excellent points in the article or comment section. They were crystal clear the first time. But while we were aware how an election process in an Islamic setting makes matters worse, not better, most people seemed shocked. And I believe they are truly shocked. My wife happened to be home listening to New York’s classical music station (owned and run by the New York Times,) only to hear the expression of shock in every hour’s newscast. Her responce was "Shock? How could expect otherwise?"
Of course, the return to Islam (i.e. fundamentalist Islam) is growing among the Muslims of Europe as they rediscover the meaning of their religion and feel their numbers grow. They live in democracies—real democracies with considerable respect for individual rights—and it doesn’t stop them from embracing Islamism. Why should it be better in areas formerly run by Arafat? Shock, denial, and appeasement is the topic of my post today. Thanks for adding to the comments section. It helped to flush out the picture (I tend to be terse.)
Am I surprised at the outcome of the Palestinian elections? No, but I'm feeling really down about the world situation today. Not defeated, you understand, but damned depressed especially after watching the live reports on today's cable news.
For a little over a week now, I've been feeling the most down I've felt since 9/11.
What I have most feared since I understood the Islamic threat is coming about--strengthening of the likes of Hamas, possible nukes in Iran, one helluva mess in Iraq, infiltration of our governments, propagandizing in our educational institutions, dhimmitude from almost all sectors, etc. You know the list as well as I do.
Last night my husband and I were discussing the big question. "Is it too late?" That question is our shorthand for "Is it too late to save Western civilization?"
I don't see anyone with backbone (Mussolini's term) taking the steps to save our way of life.
Having said the above, I am not a quitter. I will not roll over and say, "There's nothing I can do." Surrender just isn't in me, I suppose. I'm going to protect myself the best I can financially and keep spreading the truth as I understand it.
But it surely would be nice to see an encouraging event. I want to be wrong, but GWB's experiment in Iraq is a failure. Returning land to the "Palestinians" is a failure. And all because our leaders have failed to identify the true problem--Islam.
“These are the times the try men’s soul …”
Here is Hamas's charter, from this source:
Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious...The Movement is but one squadron that should be supported by more and more squadrons from this vast Arab and Islamic world, until the enemy is vanquished and Allah’s victory is realised...
The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the wings of Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine. The Muslim Brotherhood Movement is a universal organization which constitutes the largest Islamic movement in modern times...
It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine, for under the wing of Islam followers of all religions can coexist in security and safety where their lives, possessions and rights are concerned...
The Islamic Resistance Movement is one of the links in the chain of the struggle against the Zionist invaders. It goes back to 1939, to the emergence of the martyr Izz al-Din al Kassam and his brethren the fighters, members of Muslim Brotherhood. It goes on to reach out and become one with another chain that includes the struggle of the Palestinians and Muslim Brotherhood in the 1948 war and the Jihad operations of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1968 and after...
The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said: ‘The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him...’
That last pargraph is from the Koran, of course.
I'll leave it to others to tear apart the third paragraph. Off to work now.
AlwaysOnWatch:
"I want to be wrong, but GWB's experiment in Iraq is a failure. Returning land to the "Palestinians" is a failure. And all because our leaders have failed to identify the true problem--Islam."
You want to be wrong about George Bush's experiment. We all do. But you're not. You're spot on! It's a cock-up from beginning to end!
And you're right about the true problem, too. It's Islam! Islam first, second and third!
Always On Watch:
"Last night my husband and I were discussing the big question. "Is it too late?" That question is our shorthand for "Is it too late to save Western civilization?"
The answer, in my humble opinion, is: No, it's not too late. But it is getting very close to five to midnight! We can still save it, but to do so, we need to change course. We need to recognize what's going on, and act accordingly, however difficult and Draconian the decisions we take will have to be. We shall have to do exactly what we have to do to be victorious. And do these things, come what may!
Jason:
Yes, they are trying times indeed. they are particularly trying, in my opinion, because our leaders seem to be clueless as to how to deal with the major problem facing us: Islam.
If we could have confidence in their leadership, if we could have confidence in their undertanding the problem, and confidence in their ability to tackle it, it would help greatly.
Franze:
"It will be necessary an steel wall between West and moslemlands? I know perfectly, that democracy don't solve the muslim problem."
Yes indeed! Franze, just in case you haven't read my book yet, I have called for an iron veil to be dropped between the Islamic world and the West. That, in my opinion, is the only way to deal with this aggressive, advancing religion - a religion which threatens to snuff out our culture, our achievements, our civilization.
This is precisely what I mean by the title of my book,The Dawning of a New Dark Age.
To read more about it here and here.
Always On Watch:
Thanks for the 'Hamas Charter'. Disturbing, isn't it?
You will surely have noticed that I have already posted the blog. So thanks again. Thanks, too, for the link to Cuanas. It's a great weblog. Just like yours!
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