The Blame Game 
By Linda Haslam

Once again, there is warfare in the Gaza Strip. Once again, Israel is being criticized for using undue force as a means of protecting herself. I ask you, what would be a proper response if your neighbor began firing rockets at you just twelve days before Christmas? Could you wait for two weeks to respond? Could you hunker down and take the abuse from 200 rockets so that Christians making a pilgrimage to the West Bank city of Bethlehem would be safe?

How did Hamas get to be seen as the "underdog?" Almost two years ago, Hamas was killing Palestinian members of the Fatah party. Palestinian civilians were forced to flee for their lives as Hamas seized power in Gaza. Many of these refugees owe their lives to help from the Israelis. Still the media reminds us over and over again that Israel uses modern weapons while Hamas has to rely primarily on homemade bombs.

In the last three years and previous to the 2008 Christmas season, Hamas has fired 6,000 rockets at Israel. These all hit somewhere and they all caused air raid sirens to go off. How would you feel if you were often awakened in the night by these sirens? How traumatized would your family be knowing they had only 30 seconds to get to the bomb shelter you probably have in your basement?

Why do our major television networks seldom give much time to these events? They seem to treat this destruction with its human injuries and loss of life as simply minor occurrences. Of course, this is probably the fault of the Israelis. They simply do not put on a good enough show for the camera. You know---not enough moaning and groaning and screaming. The media through its choice of what to emphasis, enables radical Islamists. Individuals so far left of center as to declare that we brought 9/11 on ourselves, enable radical Islamists.

Who are these radical Islamists? Worldwide, there are approximately 1.5 billion Muslims. Approximately 15% are directly involved in some faction of jihad. This means that while there are only 14 to 14.5 million Jews left on this earth (half of whom live in Israel), there are at least 225 million jihadist that want to kill them. Why? Allah, himself, told Muhammed that this must be accomplished in order to bring about the "Day of Resurrection." If you had had this preached to you all your life, would it sound ridiculous?

How does Hamas fit in? Hamas was organized in 1987 as the Palestinian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. You can find its charter along with references to the supporting Koranic verses here.  Hamas does not want peace. Hamas will never accept Israel’s right to exist. Its stated goal is to destroy Israel and replace it with a radical or fundamentalist Islamic government—one that controls all of what was Palestine when Palestine was part of the Byzantine Empire. Hamas and the entire Muslim Brotherhood base their alleged right to control this ancient land on a ruling made in the eighth century by Umar Ibn al-Khattab, the second caliph of Islam. He declared that all lands conquered by Muslims automatically became gifts to Allah. As gifts to Allah, they were "Waqf" lands; and control of said lands belonged to generations of Muslims until the "Day of Resurrection." The implications of this tradition are staggering as the first Islamic wave of Jihad pushed all the way into France.

If 9/11 taught us anything, it should be that we are not immune to radical Islam. In fact, of all the Muslim organizations in the U.S., there is only one that is not affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. That organization is the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. It was founded by Dr. Zuhdi Jasser to give a voice to Moderate Muslims. Dr. Jasser says that he believes that in this country, Muslims who wish to live by our laws rather than Sharia Law are still in the majority. However, he also believes that this is a slim majority—probably not even a full 51%. He also feels that Muslims are being radicalized by their mosques, as all those mosques funded and/or supported by Saudi money, preach some form of Wahabbism. If you don’t find any of this troubling, then look in the mirror as you place blame for the violence in Gaza. Apathy almost always exacts its toll.

Linda Haslam is an Advisory Board member of The Defenders Council Council of Vermont