The world is helpless against jihad
Op-ed: After 9/11, it seemed the world would be never be the same, that it was waking up, beginning to understand; but jihad has become stronger and more murderous, and the free world is even more powerless.
There are wars. There is brutality against rivals and enemies. There are exceptions in every war. But when it comes to jihad, horror is a norm.
Slaughtering a person in front of the cameras appeared to be the lowest point. We were wrong. The burning of the Jordanian pilot clarifies that we are witnessing something much darker. Pure evil that is turned into a snuff film.
Make no mistake. The Islamic State is not just the organization operating in Syria and Iraq. Why in the past year we saw schoolchildren being massacred and entire villages being burned down with their residents in Pakistan and Nigeria. There is no real different between Boko Haram, the Taliban and ISIS. ISIS just likes to do it in front of the cameras.
We should pay attention to the numbers. In 2013, jihad killed 17,958 people. In 2014, the death toll jumped to 32,007. We are not talking about wars. We are only talking about jihad massacres. Tens of thousands are a statistic. One slaughter, followed by others, and the burning of a man alive, are making the full scope of the horror clear.
The free world is helpless. So is the Muslim world. It's helpless in the face of the thousands, or tens of thousands, who have joined the circles of murderous Islam. It's also helpless in the face of the support the murderers receive in almost every Muslim community in the world.
Even if we assume that the approval rates are low, an average of 7% in Arab countries, according to a research institute in Doha, and a similar percentage in the Muslim communities in the West, we are likely talking about tens of millions in the Muslim world and hundreds of thousands in Europe. It's horrifying.
Saudi King Abdullah, who died two weeks ago, warned several months before his death that it is a danger to world peace. He knew what he was walking about. Why it was Saudi Arabia that funded this radicalization for at least two decades, until it blew up in its face.
But the free world is finding it difficult to understand. Some Hamas leaders are explicitly talking about the need to annihilate Jews, and not just Jews, but also Christians – and the response is another pro-Hamas rally, encouraged by the "forces of progress." It doesn’t end with an understanding towards Hamas. It continues with understanding, justification and sympathy towards ISIS as well among similar circles in the world and in Israel.
After the terror attacks in the United States, it seemed that the world would never be the same. That it was waking up. That it was beginning to understand. This was mere illusion.
Jihad has become much stronger and more murderous. The world which is fighting it has become even more powerless. We should only hope that it sobers up at some point. Let's hope that by the time that happens, it won't be too late.
