A video purporting to show the murder of British aid worker David Haines was released by Islamic State militants on Saturday. The orange color the victims wear is similar to the orange worn by non-compliant prisoners held by the US at Guantanamo Bay. (YouTube capture)
“They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 1:19)
Backed by a bipartisan American commitment, President Barack Obama announced on Wednesday evening his strategy to combat the Islamic State, calling for an international effort to defeat ISIS.
“Israel fully supports President Obama’s call for a united action against ISIS,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, the anniversary of 9/11.
“All civilized countries should stand together in the fight against radical terrorism that sweeps across the Middle East, that sweeps across the world. And we are playing our part in this continued effort. Some of the things are known, some things are less known.”
Some reports last week indicate that part of that effort includes providing sensitive satellite imagery and other intelligence against ISIS, but Israel did not confirm or deny this.
“We don’t comment on any assistance by us, or if there is such assistance, in the fight against ISIS,” said Yaacov Havakook, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry.
On September 11, the anniversary of four coordinated al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area on September 11, 2001, Israel remembered those who perished in the attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We mourn with you on this day for the thousands who lost their lives in that horrific attack.”
Ten Middle East allies have signed on to the efforts against the severely brutal Islamic group, which executed British aid worker David Haines, a 44-year-old father of two, in retaliation for the United Kingdom’s entry into the coalition.
“This British man has to pay the price for your promise, Cameron, to arm the peshmerga against the Islamic State,” said a masked man standing over Haines.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron
“This is a despicable and appalling murder of an innocent aid worker. It is an act of pure evil,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said.
“We are living through a time when it seems that daily the darkness deepens, the shadows fall, the weight of human evil seems to grow and even those who stand up for what is good find themselves assailed on every side,” the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said Sunday.
“Our hearts go out to the family of Mr. Haines and to the people of the United Kingdom,” Obama said Saturday. “The United States stands shoulder to shoulder tonight with our close friend and ally in grief and resolve.
“We will work with the United Kingdom and a broad coalition of nations from the region and around the world to bring the perpetrators of this outrageous act to justice, and to degrade and destroy this threat to the people of our countries, the region and the world,” he continued.
On Wednesday, in his presidential address, Obama consistently referred to the group as ISIL (also known as ISIS or IS) and denied that the group is Islamic, even though many well-informed leaders and analysts disagree with this position.
“ISIL is not ‘Islamic,'” Obama stated. “No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim. And ISIL is certainly not a state. It was formerly al Qaeda’s affiliate in Iraq, and has taken advantage of sectarian strife and Syria’s civil war to gain territory on both sides of the Iraq-Syrian border. It is recognized by no government, nor the people it subjugates. ISIL is a terrorist organization, pure and simple. And it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in its way.”
US President Barack Obama promises action against ISIS.
On Thursday, however, Netanyahu emphasized that the establishment of an Islamic caliphate is a common goal among extremist Islamist groups.
“Old hatreds—Shiite against Shiite, but primarily Shiite against Sunni, Sunni against Sunni—all come bursting from subterranean layers of history and frustration. And they all have one common goal. The goal is [to] establish a new Islamist dominion, first in the Middle East and in their warped thinking, throughout the world,” Netanyahu said.
“They all agree that they have to establish a caliphate. They all disagree who should be the caliph,” he warned.
Phyllis Chesler, an American writer, psychotherapist, and professor emerita of psychology and women’s studies at the College of Staten Island (CUNY), criticized Obama for minimizing IS persecution of other religions. Chesler was held captive in Afghanistan after she moved to Kabul as a newlywed 20-year-old Jewish bride of a Westernized Muslim man.
“Why did President Obama mention other ‘religious minorities’ (that means Christians, Yazidis) second? Why did he minimize their persecution and near-extermination by counting their losses as (only) in the “tens of thousands”? If there are currently fewer Christians and Yazidis, not to mention Kurds, in the cross-fire, (let’s not forget the Christians of Lebanon or Egypt at the hands of Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood), it is only because those who could, fled long ago or were just forced to flee and now swell the ranks of refugees living on the edge, far, far greater in number than the poster-children among refugees, the Palestinians,” she said.
Phyllis Chesler promotes her memoir, An American Bride in Kabul, on Fox News. (YouTube capture)
In a message to President Obama, former Muslim and son of an Imam, Brother Rachid, who has a Bachelor in Religious Studies and is currently working on his Master’s in Terrorism Studies, said he was raised to hate Jews and Christians.
He emphasized that ISIS is actually practicing the fundamental teachings of the Koran and precisely emulates Muhammad, the Islamic prophet.
He warned that even if ISIS is stopped, other Islamic groups will continue to rise up to destroy the infidels unless the root of the problem is erased in the schools, mosques, Arab media and websites.
Another source of misinformation about Islam is the American and European media. Even respected commentators like Charlie Rose, who recently declared on his prime-time show, “I don’t think the Koran teaches them [ISIL] to do this kind of thing [beheadings, massacres, etc.],” are misinforming the public.
With such lack of knowledge about the core teachings of the Koran, the problem of terrorism cannot be effectively erased and will, in fact, gain acceptance.
At least one Islamic terrorist group, Hamas, has found legitimacy, even in the United Nations, but the world is not ready to accept the extreme barbarianism of ISIL, which even al-Qaeda expelled from its group.
That is why a coalition has been formed.
In this map that reveals the territorial control of ISIS, the red areas represent the areas of Syria and Iraq that are controlled by ISIS, the peach colored areas represent the territory currently claimed by ISIS, and the yellow areas represent the rest of Syria and Iraq. Israel is the small sliver of land on the left, and Jordan is the section to Israel’s right.
The Wall Street Journal highlighted the “strange bedfellows” that have united against ISIL since its brutal takeover of parts of Iraq and Syria earlier this summer.
These bedfellows include Israel and Egypt, which have together stood against Hamas terrorists; Qatar, a financier of Hamas terrorism; China, a supplier of weapons to Iran; Iran, a sworn enemy of Israel; and both Syria’s brutal leader Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian rebels fighting against him.
Even al-Qaeda may be enlisted to help in the effort.
Yet, even in this “united coalition” the US must act as mediator to avoid conflict between the Arab states and Israel.
And as the US may now enlist Iran’s help, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzachi Hanegbi added concern that this strange alliance might result in closer ties between America and Iran, which could provoke flexibility toward Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“ISIL is a five-year problem,” Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s strategic affairs minister, said before Obama addressed the nation on Wednesday night. “A nuclear Iran is a 50-year problem with far greater impact.”
This aerial view shows only a small portion of the crime scene where the World Trade Center collapsed following the September 11 terrorist attack. Surrounding buildings were heavily damaged by the debris and massive force of the falling twin towers. (PHOTO: U.S. Navy / Chief Photographer’s Mate Eric J. Tilford)
“I think it’s crucial not to let the fight against Sunni extremism make us forget the danger of Shiite extremism. They are two sides of the same coin,” Netanyahu said Thursday.
“We don’t have to strengthen one to weaken the other. My policy is: Weaken both. And most importantly, don’t allow any of them to get weapons of mass destruction. And that’s why the arrangement that was achieved in Syria to disband and take out the chemical weapons and chemical materials was so important,” he continued.
“And I think President Obama had a very important achievement there. We understand what it would mean that any of these sides would have weapons of mass destruction because all you have to imagine is what would have happened if on 9/11 al-Qaeda had nuclear weapons. You know they would have used them against New York and against Washington.”
