Sunday, February 8, 2015

A wake-up call on Islamist terrorism - Zalman Shoval



by Zalman Shoval


The MI6 chief is not entirely alone in the fight against Islamist terrorism. Britain is a bit more experienced in the field and their experience with Irish terrorism has made them more wary of terrorist threats -- but most of its allies are still confused and unable to clearly see the threat posed to them, let alone have the political power to deal with it.

British intelligence agency heads generally refrain from making public statements to outside sources, contrast to their Israeli counterparts, and even more so they do not spit in the well they drank from after retiring from their posts. With that said once they are relieved of their official titles the British intelligence chiefs do allow themselves from time to time (usually with authorization, sometimes even motivation from their superiors) to express themselves more freely about subjects they previously were not able to.

This is true both for both former MI5 chief Eliza Manningham-Buller and former MI6 (of James Bond fame) head Sir John Sawers. And Sawer's recent statements were clear and direct: the current chaos and terrorism in the Middle East is a security threat to Europe no less than the Soviet Union was during the Cold War.

One could assume Sawers told his superiors the same thing while he was still at his post (he retired in November), but it seems that either he or his superiors believe that now is time to let the public know about the growing threat -- and show that it is not a matter of isolated incidents or passing thing, but a general offensive, and to say that the fight against Islamic terrorism must include measures no less sweeping than those taken during the Cold War.

The MI6 chief is not entirely alone in the fight against Islamist terrorism. Britain is a bit more experienced in the field and their experience with Irish terrorism has made them more wary of terrorist threats -- but most of its allies are still confused and unable to clearly see the threat posed to them, let alone have the political power to deal with it. Such is the case for France, which has its own set of problems, or Germany -- and what stands out most is the U.S.'s tendency to ignore reality.

Though we actually received a surprise in that field recently: New York Times Foreign Affairs columnist Tom Friedman, who generally is a steadfast supporter U.S. President Barack Obama's policies, called on Obama to "say it like it is" in a weekend feature. Friedman was referring to Obama's evasive wording when it comes to global terror and Islam.

"This administration, so fearful of being accused of Islamophobia, is refusing to make any link to radical Islam from the recent explosions of violence against civilians (most of them Muslims) by Boko Haram in Nigeria, by the Taliban in Pakistan, by al-Qaida in Paris and by jihadists in Yemen and Iraq. We've entered the theater of the absurd," Friedman wrote. Too bad he "forgot" to mention Hamas.

Friedman also expressed his shock at White House spokesman Josh Earnest statement regarding the Charlie Hebdo attacks, which implied that the terrorists who massacred 12 people at the French magazine's office were doing so out of a random act of terrorism, and only later realized Islam would be an appropriate explanation for it and thus used it.

"President Obama knows better. I am all for restraint on the issue, and would never hold every Muslim accountable for the acts of a few. But it is not good for us or the Muslim world to pretend that this spreading jihadist violence isn't coming out of their faith community," Friedman said.

Will the warnings from London and New York fall on deaf ears? Only history will be able to tell us that, though we can only hope so.


Zalman Shoval

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=11517

Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.

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