Re: The straightforward arithmetic of jihad

On Feb 1, 4:27 pm, dshara...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
The straightforward arithmetic of jihad
By MICHAEL FREUND
13 Shvat 5767, Thursday, February 1, 2007 23:22 IST

It's time we open our eyes and confront reality. Ever since the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon, the media has sought to reassure us that only a tiny
minority of Muslims actually support the use of violence against
Israel and the West.

It's just a small fringe, a marginal few at best, they tell us, so
don't worry about it all too much. One percent or three percent - who
cares? Just sit back, enjoy your morning eggs and coffee and have a
nice day.

But a look at the numbers tells a very different story. The extent of
support for global jihad is frightening in its proportions, and the
numbers are anything but insignificant.

Consider, for example, the following statistics regarding support for
suicide bombings and other types of terror attacks.

In a poll conducted five months ago, and broadcast on Britain's
Channel 4 TV, nearly 25% of British Muslims said the July 7, 2005,
terror bombings in London, which killed 52 innocent commuters, were
justified. Another 30% said they would prefer to live under strict
Islamic Sharia law rather than England's democratic system.

Now, one in four justifying terror may not be a majority, but it
certainly isn't a "small fringe" either.

In other countries, the figures are no less unsettling. A survey
published in December found that 44% of Nigerian Muslims believe
suicide bombing attacks are "often" or "sometimes" acceptable. Only
28% said they were never justified.

According to the annual Pew Global Attitudes Survey, released in July
2006, "roughly one-in-seven Muslims in France, Spain and Great Britain
feel that suicide bombings against civilian targets can at least
sometimes be justified to defend Islam." The report also found that
less than half of Jordan's Muslims believe terror attacks are never
justified. In Egypt, only 45% of Muslims say terror is never
justified.

STILL THINK only a "tiny minority" are in favor of violence? In
Israel, the percentages are even more alarming. After Cpl. Gilad
Shalit was abducted by Hamas terrorists last summer, a poll conducted
by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center revealed that 77.2%
of Palestinians supported the kidnapping, while 66.8% said they would
back additional such attacks.

More than six out of 10 Palestinians also said they were in favor of
firing Kassam rockets at Israeli towns and cities.

And lest you think that war fever lay behind the results, consider
this: four additional polls published in September, nearly a month
after the Lebanese conflict had ended, all found large majorities of
Palestinians backing terror attacks against the Jewish state.

Indeed, in various countries around the world, support for Muslim
fundamentalist terror groups appears to be widespread.

On the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, a survey
conducted by Al-Jazeera asked respondents, "Do you support Osama Bin-
Laden?" A whopping 49.9% answered: yes.

And the July 2006 global Pew survey found that among Muslims, a
quarter of Jordanians, a third of Indonesians, 38% of Pakistanis and
61% of Nigerians all expressed confidence in the mass murderer who
founded al-Qaida.

In Lebanon six months ago, the Beirut Center for Research and
Information found that over 80% of the Lebanese population said they
supported Hizbullah.

And do I need also to mention that a majority of Palestinians backed
Hamas in parliamentary elections last year? Sure, there are also
places where support for violent jihad is not as high. As Reuters
reported on October 15, just 10 percent of Indonesian Muslims said
they backed jihad and supported bomb attacks on the island of Bali
aimed at foreign tourists.

But Indonesia is home to more than 200 million Muslims, so while 10
percent may sound like a small number percentage-wise, it is actually
quite large in absolute terms. It means there are some 20 million
Muslims in Indonesia alone who are willing to say out loud that they
support the use of violence and terror against innocent human beings.

Since when is that a "marginal few"? The question of whether a "tiny"
or "sizable" minority backs the global jihad is far more than just one
of semantics. It goes to the very nature of the struggle that Israel
and the West now find ourselves in.

The figures above, taken from a variety of nations, continents and
contexts, all point in one very ominous direction. They demonstrate
beyond a shadow of a doubt that the global jihadist movement enjoys a
wide and broad base of support that extends far beyond just a
minuscule number of supporters.

POLITICIANS and journalists might wish to believe, as we all do, that
the backers of violent jihad are few and far between, and that they do
not represent large numbers of people with like-minded extremist
views. But that is simply not the case.

The arithmetic of jihad is quite straight-forward, and it is time we
stopped looking the other way and pretending otherwise.

The threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism to Israel and the West can,
and must, be met. With determination and a sense of purpose, victory
is not out of reach.

But the longer we continue to underestimate the extent of the problem,
the more difficult it will be to defeat it.

So let's put aside all that wishful thinking, and roll up our
collective sleeves and get to work. Like it or not, the war on terror
still faces a long road ahead.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?
cid=1167467849587&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Deborah
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"More than six out of 10 Palestinians also said they were in favor of
firing Kassam rockets at Israeli towns and cities." That's more than
ample reason to expel all of them.

Iamhere



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