Crunch time…writes Michael Kuttner

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War has been declared against democratic values by the forces of Islamic terror but there are still too many who refuse to acknowledge what must be done to defeat it.

Michael Kuttner

A general election in the United Kingdom was always going to attract the attention of jihadists and so it has proven. These Islamic inspired terrorists cannot countenance the democratic process and everything that it represents. Therefore a full-scale assault could almost have been predicted. The horrific acts perpetrated in Manchester and London sound sickeningly familiar to Israelis who have experienced decades of such outrages.

Warnings that this poisonous ideology posed a direct threat to other countries were generally greeted with a yawn of indifference. The generally accepted politically correct wisdom held that these sort of things only happened in Israel because of our supposedly illegal “occupation” of territory which never ever constituted any sort of Palestinian independent entity. As such this skewed version of historical fact meant that apart from the usual anemic ritualistic expressions of regret the main reaction to any terror in Israel was and indeed still is a blind repetition of nonsensical platitudes.

Now that Islamic terror has spread to Europe and other places the reaction is different. Candle lit multi-faith vigils and marches across the globe are the order of the day, something very rarely seen when Israelis are blown up or stabbed by frenzied fanatics.

However one thing remains constant. This is a suffocating sense of political correctness which inhibits and stifles an effective response to the war declared on western civilisation and values. Theresa May has stated that “enough is enough” but for that ringing declaration to actually work something stronger than words and touchy-feely demonstrations is urgently required. With a leader of the opposition whose declared friends are members of Hamas and Hezbollah and who blames British Foreign Policy for domestic terror the choice seems obvious. What looks like an easy decision however to outsiders is not necessarily translated into reality by voters. We must therefore hope that sanity will prevail.

Home-grown and radicalised Islamic terrorists present a major challenge to authorities. So far most have avoided taking hard decisions but crunch time has arrived and awkward questions must be answered. For example, how are these people becoming influenced? It is not a mystery. Social media, places of worship and schools are all part of the problem when they should really be part of the solution. So long as there are places where youngsters and others can have their minds poisoned there is no hope of successfully combating this fast spreading plague.

The authorities know what is happening but they are hampered by politicians who prefer to spout inane nonsense rather than take action to cripple those responsible. Look at the reaction to the recent suggestion by a leading New Zealand opposition politician. He demanded that Moslem religious and lay community leaders stand up and speak up about what is incubating amongst their adherents. The wrath of the politically correct brigade descended on his head. We all know why moderate Moslems are not demonstrating in the streets and expelling those who inculcate theologies of hate and violence. They are intimidated by the extremists and fear for their own lives. This is the reality played out in the Arab world and in places where the fanatics hold sway.

Unless and until the root causes are tackled things will only get worse. Europe has not yet internalised this lesson and their future looks bleak. The UK may (pun intended) just manage to escape disaster but it will be close run thing. Other parts of the world need to wake up fast or else they will rapidly find themselves up the creek without a paddle.

Proof that Europe has already missed the boat is evidenced by an amazing statement made by a senior NATO diplomat the other day:

“NATO is designed to defend the territory of its members, not to stop terrorism or immigration.”

 The assertion that terror and uncontrolled borders present no perceived threat to NATO member countries sums up the ostrich like thinking which now prevails on that continent.

The Islamic Holy month of Ramadan has traditionally seen an upsurge of violence and mayhem. We experience this every year in Israel and now it is a world-wide phenomenon. It has just been reported that this year in the first eleven days of this observance there have been 627 murders in 59 attacks in 17 countries. For a religion which is touted as one of peace this is a rather contradictory state of affairs. Iran, a sponsor of terror itself has also been targeted by ISIS but this has more to do with intra Islamic rivalry rather than anything to do with Israel as many would have us believe.

I predicted last year that the 50^th. Anniversary of the 6 Day War would unleash a torrent of revisionist narratives. So it has already proven.

The media have pulled out all the stops in their efforts to present a completely distorted version of events from 1967. In this they have been aided by a motley assortment of disaffected Israelis and disconnected Jewish individuals all of them with a particular revisionist barrow to peddle. The same old technique which postulates that using Jews to rubbish the Jewish State will insulate the publishers from any accusation of deliberate bias is employed. Compounding this deliberate distortion is the refusal in many cases to run opposing or balancing narratives.

Other outlets dropping any pretence of impartiality use well known anti Israel commentators and Palestinian Arab officials to publish their skewed version of events. Inevitably the Zionist conspiracy theorists have a field day circulating their sick and discredited assertions. Not to be outdone by the media the usual collection of international organizations has jumped on the bandwagon. These range from Amnesty International to the UN Human Rights Council, the former advocating boycotts and the latter indulging in its usual orgy of knee jerk condemnations.

All of the above have one thing in common. They do not acknowledge that on the eve of 6 June 1967, Israel was faced by the forces of Egypt, Syria and Jordan, all of whom had publicly expressed their intention to destroy the Jewish State and massacre its citizens. Also absent is any recognition that the residents of northern Israel were faced with daily terror perpetrated by Syria from the Golan Heights or that Eilat was blockaded. Missing from all this current revisionist history is the fact that Judea and Samaria as well as half of Jerusalem were illegally occupied by Jordan.

We need to stop apologising for defeating those whose aim was (and still is) the annihilation of the Jewish State. If we had not succeeded we would not be here now and the rest of the world would have had to find another scapegoat.

Deliberately omitting reality as it existed makes it easy to portray Israel as an aggressor and occupier. Arab Palestine was never a sovereign entity and Jerusalem was never the Capital of any such fictitious nation. The omission of uncontestable facts and the willing connivance of editors and TV/Radio producers to facilitate such untruths need to be confronted. It’s only going to get worse with the forthcoming centenary looming of the Balfour Declaration and the liberation of Beersheba and Jerusalem from Ottoman control.

Crunch time has well and truly arrived.

Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.