Monday, December 14, 2009

Daniels Gets The Threat Posed By Muslim Terrorism

Gov. Mitch Daniels proved himself worthy of the Man of Achievement Award he received last month from Indiana's Anti-Defamation League. Daniels spoke out forcefully against growing anti-Semitism from "very new and strange quarters" and "the astonishing virulence and widespread nature of anti-Semitism" in accepting the award. Daniels expressed dismay that former allies of the Jewish people have gone astray. He cited the United Nations, the academic left and some in the African-American community, such as Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan, as examples of former allies against anti-Semitism who now regularly engage in "vigorous attacks" on the state of Israel. Daniels quipped that when he was a child, he and his friends went out on Halloween to collect candy while young Jewish children collected money for UNICEF, a U.N. relief organization. Now, the U.N. has become a hotbed of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiments he observes.

In listening to Gov. Daniels' remarks, I was particularly impressed by his disregard for political correctness in this moment and willingness to speak out about what needs to be said about the problem of Muslim anti-Semitism and terrorism in this world. "And then most dangerously, a very large sector of one of the great religions of this world openly and unapologetically commit to the threatening and hoping for extinction of the state of Israel, not a fringe movement of that religion but a mainstream portion," Daniels said. "It must be called for what it is." Note that he goes out of his way to disabuse us of the notion spoken by so many in the mainstream media and on the Left that anti-Semitism is "not a fringe movement" but is represented by a "mainstream portion" of the Muslim community.

Gov. Daniels' singled out Indiana's Muslim Alliance for praise because of their immediate response condemning the terrorist attack by Maj. Hasan on his fellow Army soldiers at Ft. Hood. Daniels was less generous in his comments towards Indiana U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, one of two Muslim members of Congress. Noting the lack of universal condemnation of the attacks within the Muslim community, Daniels said, "The congressman from this district in which we are meeting dismissed [Hasan's terrorist attack] as a matter of mental illness, ignoring the fact that there was once a theory called Nazism that encouraged openly hatred of the Jewish people, and encouraged violence against the Jewish people."

Daniels told the audience that the loss of old allies means that it is all the more important that we reach out to find new allies. Daniels expressed disappointment that so many seem willing to turn a blind eye to the growing anti-Semitism in the world today. He lauded Indiana University for its recent announcement that it is establishing the Institute for the Contemporary Study of Anti-Semitism. Indeed, about 67% of documented hate crimes in the U.S. have been committed against Americans because of their Jewish faith according to the most recent federal hate crimes statistics. There were at least 10 times as many anti-Jewish hate crime incidents or offenses in the U.S. last year compared to the number of anti-Muslim hate crime incidents or offenses. Many of the anti-Jewish hate crimes in the U.S. and elsewhere are committed by persons of Muslim faith. This past weekend, a rabbi in Vienna, Austria was savagely attacked by a Muslim man following a menorah lighting ceremony.

8 comments:

Cato said...

Being endorsed by the ADL is no badge of honor. It simply proves that Mitch is a trusted neocon.

AIPAC and ADL have managed to convince the fundie right that it's America's job to support Israel. Worse, they get away with claiming that not supporting Israel is "anti-semitism," whatever that means.

Israel is a hypocrite apartheid country who runs a massive pr campaign to ensure that they'll never be forced to practice what they preach.

They ran this lady over with a bulldozer:

http://www.rachelcorrie.org/

Cluster bombs for the kiddies:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article620881.ece

Apartheid in action:

http://mondediplo.com/2007/02/08tramway

And let's not forget the "settlements," which are outright theft:

http://www.uruknet.info/?new=60260

http://directaction.org.au/issue15/israel_continues_to_steal_arab_land

The GOP will get nowhere until it backs off its unflinching support for Israel.

Fleischer, Perle, Feith, Wolfowitz, Kristol, Scooter, Abramoff, Abrams, etc. have given us a pro-war Republican Party that lied the country into war and has just about bankrupted us, while earning the enmity of the rest of the world.

No, Sir, I will not trust a Republican who speaks from an AIPAC or ADL dais.

This Party must reclaim conservatism if it is to have any future. Let's stop being Israel-first and again become America-first.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Wow, Cato. You prove Daniels' point entirely. You conveniently ignore the terrorists who are constantly firing rockets into Israel and blowing up city markets with young Palestinians with bombs strapped to them. You want the Israelis to help and accommodate a population that not even other Arab countries will lift a finger to help economically other than to arm their extremists with weapons to fire on Israelis.

Wilson46201 said...

Conquered people don't often take their occupation and subjugation quietly...

Gary R. Welsh said...

When the Palestinians accept the right of Israel to exist, Wilson, let me know.

Wilson46201 said...

When the Israelis accept the right of Palestine to exist, let me know, Gary.

Jason said...

Wilson, Israel has never been against the right of Palestine to exist. That's why they haven't nuked Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria. All 3 contain parts of what is commonly referred to as Palestine. Read a history book.

The Palestinians are used as cannon fodder in this campaign and have been for years. Don't buy into the rhetoric that the Jews somehow kicked them out of their homeland and then duped the rest of the world into rewriting history.

stevelaudig@gmail.com said...

Don't conflate anti-semitism with opposition to the actions of the Israeli state. Just as one could oppose the apartheid South-African state without being anti-Afrikaner, so too can people of principle oppose the illegal and discriminatory actions of Israel in stealing land and discriminating against its own non-Jewish citizens. As an American taxpayer I can oppose the 50 billion or more that has be gifted to Israel in the last fifty years. We could use the money in the U.S. rather than giving it to a state that causes the U.S. problems. Israeld can be a criminal state on its own shekel not on U.S. taxpayer dollars. If the U.S. didn't give them the support it does it might moderate its behavior.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Steve, We've actually spent a lot more money over the past decade propping up governments in Iraq and Afghanistan, which the last time I checked, were Muslim countries.