Address to Indian Muslim Federation – How To Defeat Terrorism
QUOTE Terrorists cannot operate, not for long, without the cover and the practical, emotional and moral support of the community of which they are a part.When that community perceives itself to be the victim of a massive injustice, and if that injustice is not addressed by political means, the community will cover, condone and even applaud the activities of those of its own who resort to terror as the only means of drawing attention to the injustice, to cause it to be addressed. It follows that the way to defeat terrorism ? the only successful and actually proven way ? is by addressing the genuine and legitimate grievances of the host community.The community will then withdraw its cover and support for its terrorists; and if they continue to try to operate, the community will oppose them by exposing them ? reporting them to the authorities if reasoning fails UNQUOTE
Those are my 147 words. As I go on to say, there are many case studies to support them. In Northern Ireland, for example, the British Army did NOT defeat IRA terrorism.The terrorists called off their campaign WHEN THEY HAD NO CHOICE ? because the Catholic host community would not cover and support them any longer.And that happened only because the British government summoned up the will,about half a century later than it should have done, to risk the wrath of militant Protestantism by insisting that THE LEGITIMATE GRIEVANCES of the Catholics of Northern Ireland be addressed.
The way to defeat Islamic terrorism is by addressing THE LEGITIMATE GRIEVANCESof itshost communities ? Arab and Muslim communities everywhere.
To give some substance to that contention, and for example, I’ll now apply the formula for defeating terrorism to the Palestineproblem, which I describe as the cancer at the heart of international affairs?. If the President of America had a magic wand, and if he could wave it overnight to get Israel back behind its borders as they were on the eve of the 1967 war, with Jerusalem and open city and the capital of two states, he would have (with one wave of the wand) the thanks, respect, friendship and support of not less than 95%, and probably 99%, of all Arabs and Muslims everywhere.
That wouldbe the case because the underlying prime cause of Arab and other Muslim hurt, anger and humiliation is Israel’s arrogance of power coupledwith the failure of the governments of the international community, including the impotent regimes of the existing Arab order, to call and hold the Zionist state to account for its crimes. What Arabs and Muslims everywhere hate most of all are the double-standardsof the governments of the American-led Western world?..double- standards which result in there being one set of rules for the behaviour of allnations with the exception of Israel, and one set of rules for Israel alone. (Though today it has to be said that the regime in WashingtonDCis behaving in an Israeli-like way, I mean with contempt for international law).
Having said that, and to deny Zionism the scope for deliberately and maliciously misrepresenting what I’ve said, I must now make in verbal parenthesis what I call my statutory declaration. It’s this. Judaism and Zionism are NOT one and the same. They are TOTAL OPPOSITES.Knowledge of this fact is the key to understanding (a)why it is perfectly possible to be passionately anti-Zionist - opposed to Zionism’s colonial enterprise -without being in any way, shape or form anti-Semitic; and (b)why it is wrong to blame all Jews for the crimes of the few?.. That’s the end of my statutory declaration, but I’ll add that it’s also a fact that Arabs and Muslims have always known the difference between Judaism and Zionism.Throughout much of their history, Arabs and other Muslims were the best protectors of Jews. It was Zionism’s colonial enterprise that poisoned the relationship, but not to the point at which most Arabs and other Muslims blame allJews for Zionism’s crimes).
What I’m suggesting in summary is that calling and holding the Zionist state of Israel to account for its crimes, in order for there to be a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, isthepre-requisite for defeating Islamic terrorism.And my message to Western leaders is this: If you want to avert a Clash of Civilisations, end the double-standards which are the bedrock of your foreign policies.
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