If Allah is the maker of life, as Mohammed Atta believed, could He desire the destruction of what he had created? What is suicide but rage at the living, and contempt for the life left behind? Mohammed Atta offered his deed of destruction as a gift to God. In his eyes, his martyrdom was unselfish and the strangers he killed were not innocent. His mission was to purge the world of wasteful pleasures, to vanquish the guilty and to implement God’s grace. But if God wanted to cleanse His creation, why would He need Mohammed Atta to accomplish His will?

* * *
These are the questions of an agnostic, who has no business saying what God desires or does not. Nonetheless, an agnostic can appreciate believers like Pascal, whose humility is transparent and who are attempting to make sense of the incomprehensible through faith. Why are we born? Why are we here? Why do we die? An agnostic can respect the faith of a skeptic who confronts our misery and refuses to concede defeat. He can admire a faith that provides consolation for the inconsolable, and in a heartless world finds reason to live a moral life.

But murder is not moral and the desire to redeem the world requires it. Because redemption requires the damnation of those who do not want to be saved.

– The End of Time

–

If you have a favorite Horowitz quote you want to highlight for others then please submit it here. Please include:

1. “Horowitz Quote of the Day” in subject line.
2. A link to where the quote is from. (No need to include this if it’s from a book.)
3. Any remarks you’d like published explaining what value you take from it.
4. Your preferred name and a link to your blog or homepage (if you have one.)

Here Qaradawi is actually condemning the jihad bombings in Russia because non-Muslim noncombatants were murdered. However, those who are still on that endless search for a Moderate Muslim who will magically transform the hearts and minds of untold millions of Muslims worldwide, and lead them to discard age-old and authoritative understandings of jihad and Islamic supremacism, should hold their hosannas. For Qaradawi has said of jihadist suicide bombings in Israel: "It's not suicide, it is martyrdom in the name of God, Islamic theologians and jurisprudents have debated this issue. Referring to it as a form of jihad, under the title of jeopardising the life of the mujahideen. It is allowed to jeopardise your soul and cross the path of the enemy and be killed."

Yes, he believes it to be jihad even if the "enemy" is comprised of noncombatants -- because, you see, Israeli society is militarized and the Palestinians are weak: "Israeli women are not like women in our society because Israeli women are militarised. Secondly, I consider this type of martyrdom operation as indication of justice of Allah almighty. Allah is just. Through his infinite wisdom he has given the weak what the strong do not possess and that is the ability to turn their bodies into bombs like the Palestinians do."

It is hard to see why he would so eagerly embrace such loopholes regarding suicide bombing in Israel, but not bother in regard to suicide bombing in Russia. Could it be because this time there are some Infidels around, listening to him and eager to be fooled? I don't know, but in any case it would be interesting to hear how he would respond if Chechen jihadis approached him with an argument justifying the jihad/martyrdom bombings in Russia that ran along the same lines as his justification for them in Israel.

"Qaradawi wants militants to review convictions on jihad," by Anwar Elshamy in Gulf Times, April 3 (thanks to Maxwell):

Qatar-based Islamic scholar Dr Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi yesterday condemned the recent Moscow subway bomb attacks, saying that militant groups targeting civilians should review their adopted convictions of jihad.

In his Friday sermon, Sheikh Qaradawi said that jihad should only be defensive and that non-military persons should not be targeted in such a war.

"The Holy Qur'an says that killing an innocent person is tantamount to killing the whole humanity. For this reason, Islam prohibited Muslim armies to kill women, children or old men in wartime," Sheikh Qaradawi told a congregation at the Omar bin al-Khattab mosque.

Qaradawi, who is the chairman of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, urged the Islamic militant groups to review their convictions about Jihad, saying that their attacking of civilians led the detractors of Islam to brand Muslims as "terrorists".

"Such atrocities only hurt Islam and our Qur'an. They were even used as a pretext for accusing Islam of being a religion of violence and terror," he added.

Amazing that anyone would ever get such an idea.

Referring to the twin suicide bombings that rocked Moscow's underground train system last week, the scholar rejected the attacks as "having nothing to do with jihad" rules.

"Islam does not allow killing innocent people in war even if they are non-believers. Those people who got embroiled while they were on their way to work were innocent and could not be held responsible for their political leaders' mistakes," the scholar added.

However, he urged the Russian leaders to start a political dialogue with the Caucasus militant groups and not to resort to armed force to solve the conflict.

"I hope that the Russian leaders would launch a constructive dialogue. They can even request some leaders of Muslim or Arab countries to mediate between Russia and the Caucasus militants," he added....

Yes, that will solve everything.

A suicide bomber on foot killed at least five people, including three women, in Pakistan's northwest, a senior police officer said Friday.

The bomber exploded his bomb near a convoy of buses, carrying Shia Muslims, in Hangu district, destroying three vehicles, police officer Islam-ud-Din said.

Commissioner Khalid Khan earlier said that ten people were killed in the attack....

Police described the attack as sectarian as Shia Muslims were targeted. Hangu district has seen a series of sectarian attacks in the past but the area had been calm in recent months....

"Pakistan suicide attack kills 3, wounds dozens," from AP, February 27 (thanks to Twostellas):

Islamabad: A suicide car bomber attacked a police station on Saturday in northwest Pakistan, killing three people and wounding about two dozen.

The blast also toppled a mosque next to the police station in Karak in North West Frontier Province, said Ajmal Khan, a government official. Both police and civilians were among the wounded....

"Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs in return is the garden of Paradise: they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain..." -- Qur'an 9:111

"Say (O Muhammad): O ye who are Jews! If ye claim that ye are favoured of Allah apart from (all) mankind, then long for death if ye are truthful." -- Qur'an 62:6

"The Americans love Pepsi-Cola, we love death." -- Afghan jihadist Maulana Inyadullah

"We love death more than you love life!" -- New York jihadist Adis Medunjanin

Note that this death-loving mother said this on "moderate" Fatah-controlled television. "Mother celebrates son's Martyrdom death: 'All mothers should sacrifice their child for Palestine,'" by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik for Palestinian Media Watch, February 21:

Palestinian Authority TV news recently chose to feature a Palestinian mother promoting her son's death as a positive goal.

Upon learning of her son's death in an Israeli air strike, the mother explained that she had always hoped for her son's Shahada - death as a Martyr -- and recommended that other mothers likewise "sacrifice their child for Palestine."

The words of another woman, chosen by PA TV news for the pre-recorded news report, described how Palestinian society sees Martyrs as grooms. This is based on the Islamic tradition, promoted actively by the PA and Hamas, that Martyrs will marry 72 virgins in Paradise.

PA TV news report:

Mother upon news of son's death in an Israeli air strike: "We had always hoped for his [my son's] Martyrdom (Shahada), knowing he wanted to die as a Martyr (Shahid). Every time he went out, we would say to him, 'May Allah be with you.' We knew that he wanted to die as a Martyr. Praise to Allah, he sought Martyrdom, and he achieved it. My message to every mother is to sacrifice her child for Palestine." Second woman: "By Allah, we welcome every Martyr as if he were a groom among us." [PA TV (Fatah), Feb. 11, 2010]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that these two ideas -- that death is a higher value than life and that Martyrdom death leads to a wedding between the Martyr and the virgins of Paradise -- have been promoted actively by both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas for years.

Palestinian schoolbooks teach children that aspiring to death is better than life:

"O heroes, Allah has promised you victory ... Do not talk yourselves into flight... Your enemies seek life while you seek death." They seek spoils to fill their empty stomachs while you seek a Garden [Paradise] as wide as are the heavens and the earth... Death is not bitter in the mouth of the believers. These drops of blood that gush from your bodies will be transformed tomorrow into blazing red meteors that will fall down upon the heads of your enemies." [Reading and Texts Part II, Grade 8, p. 16. Schoolbook currently in use in PA schools.]...

Read it all.

"Say (O Muhammad): O ye who are Jews! If ye claim that ye are favoured of Allah apart from (all) mankind, then long for death if ye are truthful." -- Qur'an 62:6

"The Americans love Pepsi-Cola, we love death." -- Afghan jihadist Maulana Inyadullah

"We love death more than you love life!" -- New York jihadist Adis Medunjanin

"Wife of airline liquid bomb plotter 'prayed he would achieve highest level of martyrdom,'" from the Daily Mail, February 16 (thanks to Kris):

The wife of the extremist who led the plot to kill hundreds of jet passengers prayed he would achieve the highest level of Islamic martyrdom, a court heard today.

Cossor Ali, 28, wrote in her diary how she was desperate for Abdullah Ahmed Ali to kill himself for his cause, it is alleged.

She even wrote of her hopes to be pregnant with a son by the time her husband was dead, jurors heard.

'I am growing more and more attached to the cause for which you are striving for, and the reason for which we are apart,' she wrote.

'I hope and pray Allah grants your wish and gives you the highest level of Shahada.'

Ahmed Ali, also 28, and two other men were convicted of the murder plot in September last year following a trial, Inner London Crown Court heard....

The al-Qaida-inspired terror cell, jailed for conspiracy to murder on a mass scale, planned to detonate home-made liquid bombs on flights bound for major North American cities....

Her diary, written in early 2005, was found in a Next bag between a cupboard and a wardrobe together with notes she had sent to her husband. [...]

'I'm really looking forward to snuggling up to you in bed, while we listen to a talk or either one of us reads Qur'an or a book to each other....

"Oooh honey, snuggle closer and read the part again where Allah will make the unbelievers drink molten lead!" (18:29)

Also in the box was Ahmed's will, which stated: 'Before I detail my last will and requests I would like to say a few words to those who may read it I begin with a reminder to all including myself every soul shall taste death.

'The time and place for every soul is written and with every passing day it draws nearer.

'So let us not fear or worry about it.

'The only thing for us to worry about and work towards is pleasing Allah by obeying all his commandments and abstaining from all his prohibitions.

'This will ensure that our life after death will be successful and that we will die as true Muslims with Imaan.'...

"True Muslims with the Imaan [faith]"? A jihadist suicide bomber? Surely he is Misunderstanding Islam -- can we please get an Islamic spokesman to explain how exactly he is doing so and what they are doing to prevent other Muslims from misunderstanding Islam in a similar way? Honest Ibe? Brave Ahmed? Anyone? Anyone?

When watching this video and reading about the glories due to the shahids (martyrs), remember that in the Qur'an a martyr is not simply one who dies for Allah, but one who kills for Allah and is killed in the process (9:111). So this whole sermon is essentially a recruitment video for suicide attackers.

"Martyrs get 'A full life with Allah and 72 wives,'" by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik for Palestinian Media Watch, February 7:

[...] Six privileges, or kindnesses, to be granted the holy Martyr are mentioned in a hadith (tradition attributed to the Prophet Muhammad in Islam) and were explained in a recent Friday sermon broadcast on Hamas TV.

The privileges that are bestowed upon the one who dies for Allah and mentioned in the hadith are:
1- The Shahid's sins are forgiven
2- He sees his place in Paradise and lives a full life of joy with Allah
3- He is protected from "the Great Shock" on Judgment Day
4- He is crowned with a crown of honor
5- He marries 72 dark-eyed wives
6- He will be able to intervene on behalf of 70 of his family members on Judgment Day, thereby ensuring them the reward of Afterlife

For years, both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have promoted the ideal of dying as a Martyr for Allah. The promotion has been successful. [...]

The following is the translation from the Hamas TV sermon explaining the Shahid's six rewards:

"Just as Allah selected the best of His creations, to be prophets and messengers, so Allah has chosen from among us, and from the best of His creations, to be the Shahids (Martyrs). ... Oh Allah, grant us Shahada (Martyrdom) for Your sake, Oh Master of the world! Join us with the Shahids (Martyrs)! ...

The Shahid of this life and of the Afterlife is one who ascended to Allah [dying] on the battlefield. ... This is the highest level of Shahada (Martyrdom). The Prophet said: 'The Shahid has six privileges.' [Sunan A-Tirmidhi (1663) and Sunan Ibn Majagh (2799), all subsequent quotes are from this Hadith if nothing else indicated. - Ed.]

The first of these privileges:

'He is forgiven [his sins] with the first gush of his pure blood.' ... Therefore, the Shahid is not washed, but is left bloodied. Why? His blood will testify for him before Allah about his Shahada (Martyrdom) on Resurrection Day.
The second [privilege]: 'He sees his place in Paradise.'
If we only knew what Allah has prepared for the Shahids in Paradise, we would not sit idly in this world. ... Shahids do not die. Shahids live a full life with Allah. They live in the highest Heaven and in the world of angels, eating, drinking, walking and enjoying themselves. Therefore Allah has forbidden us to say that Shahids are dead. He has forbidden us and told us: 'Do not think that those who are killed in the name of Allah are dead. No, because they are alive, and their livelihood is with Allah.' [Quran, Sura 3:169]
...
The third kindness: 'The Shahid is shielded from the Great Shock [on Judgment Day].'
...
The next kindness: 'A crown of honor is placed upon his head, one stone of which is worth more than all there is in this world.'
The next kindness: 'He marries 72 of the Dark-Eyed wives.'
One description of the Dark-Eyed [maidens]: 'If one of the women of Paradise would look towards the earth, she would light up everything between heaven and earth.' [Sahih Bukhari, 6199]
The next kindness: 'He is a heavenly advocate for 70 family members.'"
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Jan. 1, 2010]

[Visit Pajamas]

According to a recent ABC report, “As many as three dozen criminals who converted to Islam in American prisons have moved to Yemen where they could pose a ‘significant threat’ to attack the U.S., according to a report on al-Qaeda from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. … Also of concern to U.S. officials, the Senate staff found, is a group of ‘nearly 10 non-Yemeni Americans who traveled to Yemen, converted to Islam, became fundamentalists, and married Yemeni women so they could remain in the country.’ … An American official described them as ‘blond-haired, blue-eyed types’ who fit the profile of Americans who al-Qaeda has sought to recruit for terror missions.”

These, of course, are not the first Americans — black, white, or in between — to convert to Islam and join the jihad: John Walker Lindh wound up fighting fellow Americans alongside Taliban forces in Afghanistan; Adam Gadahn became a major character in al-Qaeda’s propaganda machine; Gregory Patterson, Levar Washington, and Kevin James plotted terror strikes against the U.S.; Christopher Paul and Jose Padilla conspired to use weapons of mass destruction.

Then there are the countless European converts, such as the British “shoe-bomber,” Richard Reid, who attempted to achieve “martyrdom” by detonating explosives in his shoes while aboard a passenger aircraft; the late Germaine Lindsay, who did achieve “martyrdom” by killing himself and 56 of his fellow citizens and injuring over 700, in the London bombings of 2005; and Abu Abdullah, the native Briton-turned-fiery-Islamist-preacher who makes no secret of his vitriolic hatred of the West (all, of course, while enjoying that unique Western liberty, freedom of speech).

What causes such men, born and raised in the West, often from Christian backgrounds, to abandon their heritage, embrace Islam, and become radicalized to the point that they conspire to kill their fellow countrymen?

[To continue reading this article, click here.]

Apparently their avowal of jihad didn't help them as much as they thought it would. An update on, and reversal of, this story. "Five American Muslims retract statement on joining Jihad," from PTI, February 2:

LAHORE: Five American Muslims arrested for allegedly plotting terror attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan today retracted their statement about plans to join the jehad against US forces during an appearance in an anti-terrorism court.

When the young men were produced in the anti-terrorism court in Sargodha district of Punjab province, they told the judge that they were innocent and had neither committed any crime nor had plans to do so.

The men--Ramy Zamzam, 22, Waqar Hussain Khan, 22, Ahmed Abdullah Minni, 20, Iman Hasan Yemer, 17 and Omar Farooq, 24 also told the court that they had been subjected to torture by the FBI and the Pakistani police.

The FBI had sent a team to Pakistan last month to question the youths. The youths slipped a note written on toilet paper to the media while leaving the court. The note read: "We have done nothing wrong. Please help us." The court adjourned the hearing of the case against them till February 16.

Earlier, police had submitted a chargesheet in the court that alleged the US nationals wanted to join hands with militants fighting in Afghanistan. The chargesheet also said they had plans to target important installations in Pakistan and to embrace 'shahadat' (martyrdom).

Senior police officials had also said that the youths had confessed that they had come to Pakistan to travel to Afghanistan to join the jehad against US forces in that country....

JAKARTA // Imagine, for a moment, a possible headline in the future: "Osama bin Laden denounces terrorism and renounces jihad."

What are the odds? Is it even possible to wean an extremist like bin Laden off his violent ideology? The likelihood is hard to envisage.

But the Obama administration is keen to attempt something very close to that. This week, it agreed to give US$11 million (Dh40m) to Yemen to build a militant rehabilitation centre in the Arab state within the next three months for released Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The centre would treat terrorists in much the same way as drug addicts: seeing Islamic radicalism as an anomalous behavioural pattern and treating it with a mix of psychotherapy, counselling and religious re-education, coupled with economic incentives to slowly steer them back into society.

This move, analysts say, underscores the realisation that punitive detention or torture in a dank prison does not necessarily reform extremists. Some militants continue to espouse a virulent hatred for the West even after serving time in prison. Killing them can be counterproductive - many of them seek martyrdom.

The future of fighting extremism around the world may lie in terrorism rehabilitation.

Or not:

[...] Rehabilitation counsellors say it is almost impossible to alter the mindset and entirely expunge the spirit of jihad....

From Palestinian Media Watch:

A Hamas TV program for children is once again promoting Shahada – Martyrdom for Allah – as a positive goal for kids.

In the most recent episode of the show Tomorrow’s Pioneers, the child host asks a 10-year-old girl who phones into the program whether she had been afraid of dying during the 2009 Gaza War.

“No, I wasn’t afraid,” the little girl says. “I wished for Shahada (Martyrdom) – Shahada for Allah.”

The host is effusive in her praise that “even this little girl” dreams of Shahada, and adds, “We all wish for this.”

Read the rest at PMW

Related posts:

1. Obama Using National Endowment for the Arts to Create a Cult of Personality
2. Death Panels? We Don't Need No Stinking Death Panels!
3. The Wretched Cockburns and the New York Times Perpetrate Another Atrocity Against the Jews

"Devout student showed no extremist side," by Andrew England in the Financial Times, December 30 (thanks to James):

[...] For about a month until the end of September, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian accused of trying to destroy a passenger jet over Detroit, was a student at Sana'a Institute for Arabic Language.

Students are asking how a man they knew as a friendly colleague could be at the centre of a failed terrorism plot. The man described by students as "nice", if a shade introverted, was hailed as a "martyrdom-seeking brother" by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the Yemeni-based group that has claimed responsibility for the failed attack.

"This man was here studying Arabic. He did not have a bad idea about anyone, American or British," says Ahmed Mujab, a teacher at the institute. "There was nothing strange about him."

Matthew Salmon, a Canadian who shared a student apartment with the Nigerian for just more than two weeks, says he was devout but gave no indication of being an extremist.

"He was passionate about his faith," says Mr Salmon, adding that his message was to bring "peace and brotherhood to the world through Islam".

Mr Abdulmutallab, who had also spent a year at the institute from 2004 to 2005, was "amiable and forgettable at the same time", someone who regularly attended prayers but stayed in his room when at home.

When the pair discussed religion, Mr Abdulmutallab would encourage his Canadian colleague to think about joining him at the mosque....

Mr Abdulmutallab was in Yemen from August until early December, according to officials. "It was a shock when we all found out," says Mr Salmon, adding that students felt a sense of "fear that we had lived with someone who is willing to do that"....

How, oh how could it have happened?

Two weeks ago, Time magazine once again proved to have little appreciation for the US Constitution when it announced that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was its “person of the year 2009.” He deserved this honor, the magazine’s editors said, because he “has dramatically expanded” the Fed “and reinvented it.” In other words, because he used the economic crisis as an excuse to radically increase the size of government.

Today, the British editors of the Times of London proved to have a much better understanding of what truly matters:

Neda Soltan was not political. She did not vote in the Iranian presidential election on June 12. The young student was appalled, however, by the way that the regime shamelessly rigged the result and reinstalled Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.Ignoring the pleas of her family, she went with her music teacher eight days later to join a huge opposition demonstration in Tehran.

This apolitical student ended up becoming the face of the Green Revolution and a martyr for democracy when she was shot and killed by the regime’s thugs. As The Times explains:

She was no less of an icon inside Iran, whose Shia population is steeped in the mythology of martyrdom. Vigils were held. Her grave became something of a shrine, and the 40th day after her death — an important date in Shia mourning rituals — was marked by a big demonstration in Behesht-e Zahra cemetery in Tehran that riot police broke up…

Six months on, it is obvious that Ms Soltan did not die in vain. The manner of her death, and the regime’s response, has shredded what little legitimacy it had left. She helped to inspire an opposition movement that is now led by her generation, which a systematic campaign of arrests, show trials, beatings, torture and security force violence has failed to crush, and whose courage and defiance has won the admiration of the world.

There couldn’t have been a better winner this year. Unlike Bernanke, Soltan actually did something positive. In fact, she’s nothing less than a hero. Not only is she the one and only person of the year 2009, the “Quote of the Year” should also go to her, as far as I’m concerned:

“Even if a bullet goes through my heart it’s not important,” she told Caspian Makan, her fiancé. “What we’re fighting for is more important. When it comes to taking our stolen rights back we should not hesitate. Everyone is responsible. Each person leaves a footprint in this world.”

What great courage and what a great source of inspiration she should be to all those who love freedom, no matter where they live.

By the way, although I criticized Andrew Sullivan earlier today (for his support for Levi Johnston), I believe he’s doing an amazing job covering the Green Revolution. He deserves a lot of appreciation for the work he puts into informing all of us about the latest developments in Iran. Without his undying commitment to Iran’s pro-democracy movement, many of us would have no idea what’s happening in that country.

Related posts:

1. Iranian Student Protester Person of the Year
2. Iranian Ayatollah: Regime Collapse Soon
3. Bill O’Reilly: McCain is the Person of the Year

Treason. "Detained U.S. Nationals In Pakistan Say No Regrets On Planning Jihad Against U.S. Forces, Affirm: 'Martyrdom Is Our Aim; We Will Get Martyrdom If We Are Hanged,'" from MEMRI, December 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):

The five U.S. nationals detained recently by the Pakistani security forces have said that they do not regret planning attacks in connection with jihad against the U.S. forces in Afghanistan, according to a Pashtu-language newspaper....

"Martyrdom is our aim. We will get martyrdom if we are hanged [executed]," Usman Anwar, a police investigative officer, quoted the detained U.S. nationals as saying, according to a report in the Pashtu-language newspaper Wrazpanra Wahdat.

Ramy Zamzam, one of the detained U.S. nationals, told interrogators that they had planned to obtain martyrdom but we did not succeed, adding that they do not regret organizing their plan for jihad....

"No Christmas celebrations in Basra," from Alsumaria, December 21 (thanks to Nicholas):

Christians in Basra decided not to celebrate Christmas explicitly as it coincides this year with a sad memorial for Shiite who commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Al Hussain and his brother Al Abbas in Karbala. Bishop Imad Al Banna, the head of Chaldeans Bishops in Basra called on all Christian brethren not to display their joy, not to publicly celebrate the feast of the Nativity or entertaining guests at home to show our respect vis-à-vis Shiites, on the occasion of Muharram, said the statement issued Sunday. The Shiites, according to the lunar calendar, commemorate this year the mourning of Ashura (the 10th of the month of Muharram) the next weekend when Christmas falls on Friday. Meanwhile, bishop of Baghdad Shlimoune Wardouni said that this concerned only Basra.

If Allah is the maker of life, as Mohammed Atta believed, could He desire the destruction of what he had created? What is suicide but rage at the living, and contempt for the life left behind? Mohammed Atta offered his deed of destruction as a gift to God. In his eyes, his martyrdom was unselfish and the strangers he killed were not innocent. His mission was to purge the world of wasteful pleasures, to vanquish the guilty and to implement God’s grace.But if God wanted to cleanse His creation, why would He need Mohammed Atta to accomplish His will?

These are the questions of an agnostic, who has no business saying what God desires or does not. Nonetheless, an agnostic can appreciate believers like Pascal, whose humility is transparent and who are attempting to make sense of the incomprehensible through faith. Why are we born? Why are we here? Why do we die? An agnostic can respect the faith of a skeptic who confronts our misery and refuses to concede defeat. He can admire a faith that provides consolation for the inconsolable, and in a heartless world finds reason to live a moral life.

But murder is not moral and the desire to redeem the world requires it. Because redemption requires the damnation of those who do not want to be saved.

* * *

My father was an atheist who embraced the secular belief of the social redeemers. Along with all who think they have practical answers to the absurd cruelties of our human lot, my father felt superior to those who do not, especially those who take solace in a religious faith. In this prejudice, my father had impressive company. The psychologist Sigmund Freud regarded religion as an illusion without a future. But, like all revolutionaries Freud could not live without his own reservoir of belief, which was science. Progress was his human faith.

Whether they are secularists like my father and Freud, or religious zealots like Mohammed Atta, those who believe we can become masters of our fates think they know more than Pascal. But in their search for truth where do they imagine they have gone that he did not go before them? What do they think they know that Pascal did not? Their bravado is only a mask for the inevitable defeat that is our common lot, an inverse mirror of their human need.

– The End of Time

–

If you have a favorite Horowitz quote you want to highlight for others then please email it to DavidSwindle {@} Gmail.com. Please include:

1. “Horowitz Quote of the Day” in subject line.
2. A link to where the quote is from. (No need to include this if it’s from a book.)
3. Any remarks you’d like published explaining what value you take from it.
4. Your preferred name and a link to your blog or homepage (if you have one.)

Related posts:

1. From the Pen of David Horowitz: November 1, 2009
2. From the Pen of David Horowitz: September 20, 2009
3. From the Pen of David Horowitz: December 2, 2009

Being a leftist Anti-Zionist means not only never having to say you are sorry, such as when you get your facts all wrong.  It also means that you have an obligation to represent yourself as a victim of harassment.   Armchair martyrdom is as fundamental a part of leftist ideology as anti-Americanism and hatred of Israel.

In his now-famous essay from July, 1976, “The Intelligent Co-ed’s Guide to America,” Thomas Wolfe wrote about how desperately American academics wish to feel persecuted.  A pretense of being persecuted today seems to do wonders both for their ego and for their web traffic.  The entire “Zionist Lobby” is largely an invention by these same people, anxious to show that they are being oppressed by an evil nefarious conspiracy.  You just need to wave your stigmata and denounce the “Neo-Conservatives,” the “Rightwing McCarthyists,” and – of course the Jews.  Whining about being persecuted seems to be the leading participation sport of today’s far Leftists and the radical armchair postureurs.

As documented recently on this web site, Joel Beinin, the Israel-hating pro-Hamas sometimes-Maoist professor of Middle East Studies at Stanford University is just such a persecution whiner.  Here is what we wrote:

‘“McCarthyism” seems to be Beinin’s third favorite “m” word, after Marxism and Mao, and he applies it liberally to anyone who dares to criticize him. Beinin wrote a 2004 article called “The New McCarthyism: Policing Thought about the Middle East.” In it, Beinin denounced the Ford Foundation’s decision to withdraw funding from any university grantee that finances the promotion of “violence, terrorism, or bigotry or the destruction of any state.” What worried Beinin was that such restrictions could potentially hurt a “Palestinian student group [that] called for the replacement of the state of Israel with a secular, democratic state,” meaning one seeking the extermination of Israel.’

Beinin went on to declare that Bay Area Zionists silenced him and prevented him from giving a talk to a school in San Jose.  The San Francisco Chronicle checked and reported that no one at all from the local Jewish Community had even spoken with anyone at that school.

Well, the good professor is back.  Over the Thanksgiving weekend he widely circulated the following epistle, which we reprint for you here in full, spelling errors and all:

26 November 2009

I arrived in Israel at about 15:00 on Wednesday, 25 November afternoon to visit my mother, brother, and sister who are Israeli (and US) citizens resident in Israel since 1973.  My mother has been ill, and this visit was prompted primarily for that reason. I have visited Israel dozens of times before – most recently December 2008 – and resided in the country for extended periods on several different occasions.  Yesterday, for the first time since my first visit to Israel in 1965, I was detained without explanation at Ben-Gurion airport for nearly two hours and ultimately interrogated.  The questioners asked questions that they surely already knew the answers to.  The asked, for example, my profession and my email.  My position as Donald J. McLaughlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History at Stanford University and my email are a matter of public record, easily obtainable from the website of Stanford’s Department of History.  The questioners also asked whether I had travelled (sic) to “other countries in the region” which, since they had my passport in their hands for the better part of two hours with all the relevant visa stamps, was also not obscure information.  My luggage was not searched nor was I asked any question remotely related to the security of Israel except whether I had traveled (sic) to Iran (I was there once, for two weeks, in 1970 when Israel had warm relations with the Shah’s regime).

It therefore appears that this “investigation” had no purpose other than to harass and intimidate me.

Upon leaving I was told that I would be contacted further by one “Amos” from the Ministry of Defense.  For my convenience, I was given his phone number: 054-*******.

Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History
Professor of Middle East History
Joel Beinin
Contact in Israel: 054-565-2320

The main reports about the horrific suffering by Beinin at the hands of the security personnel at Israel’s airport have been on web sites run by Israel’s own predominantly-Arab Stalinist communist party and on one of its front groups named “The Left Bank.”

Now the above Beinin hysterics about being “intimidated” need a dose of deconstruction.  Beinin routinely travels to countries that happen to be at war with Israel, and has visited Iran, which happens to be officially on record as calling for the annihilation of Israel and its population.  By his own admission, Beinin’s passport is bristling with visas from such countries.  One would expect even the sleepiest airport passport inspector at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport to sit up and take notice of someone coming into the country with such visas.  Most passport inspectors at Tel Aviv airport, by the way, are teenage girls.  So you can imagine the terror and intimation experienced there by the poor professor.

Now Beinin’s insistence that the airport security staff must have known who he is rings a bit curious.  I did a search of the Hebrew web, and – sure enough – there are some internet mentions of him in Hebrew, but almost all of those are on the web sites of communist party and its fronts, which the airport inspectors may not visit on a regular basis.  There are two mentions of Beinin’s getting sued by Los Angeles journalist Rachel Neuwirth for his posting false smears about her.

What about Beinin’s claim that being questioned about his travels in belligerent countries constitutes “harassment” and “intimidation?”   (We have only his word that the questioning took two hours, and no mention at all of his being offered cookies and tea; I have waited in that airport for longer just to get a guitar case out of the belly of a plane!)   Well, an acquaintance of mine named Julia is an Israeli Jew born in Libya, a fact noted on her Israeli passport, and you would not believe the hassle she goes through every time she wants to come to the United States for a visit!  My wife was questioned at length and searched at Tokyo airport after 9-11 because her passport says she was born in the Middle East.

More to the point, Joel Beinin is an anti-Israel hate propagandist, someone who has made a career out of rationalizing anti-Jewish terrorism and endorsing Arab demands for Israel’s annihilation.  Other countries routinely bar hostile propagandists for far less provocation.  Canada banned ultra-leftist and Saddam’s agent George Galloway from entering, and also banned some other radicals.  Canada also banned a controversial rap group from entering.  The US banned Tariq Ramadan due to his terrorist connections.  It has banned others for security reasons, including Cat Stevens, the British author Sebastian Horsley, a pro-LSD Canadian psychologist, and at least one Israeli.  The UK banned radio host Michael Savage (along with 15 other people) for being insensitive to Moslems, and tried to ban Dutch politician Geert Wilders.  Egypt has barred Hamas members from entering.  The Ukraine banned the mayor of Moscow from entering the country because of things he said.

Now as it turns out, Israel almost never prevents anti-Israel propagandists and anti-Semitic hate-mongers from entering the country.  For example, it rather stupidly allows lots of “anarchists” from the “International Solidarity Movement” and similar pro-terror groups to enter the country and then to attack its policemen and soldiers as their attempt to help Palestinian terrorists.  The only two anti-Israel propagandists of note who have been barred from entering Israel in recent years were: 1.  Norman Finkelstein, a Neo-Nazi who was fired by DePaul University and who was barred from entering Israel due to his intimate ties with the Hezb’Allah, and 2. Richard Falk, the anti-Semitic retired professor from Princeton who was barred from entering Israel as head of an anti-Israel UN propaganda “commission.”  (When Falk arrived earlier as a private person to give university lectures, he was admitted.)

Anti-Israel fanatics, like Noam Chomsky and the Swedish journalist who recently invented a medieval blood libel about Jews stealing the body parts of Palestinians, have been admitted to Israel freely, although they never would be if I had anything to say about it.  Even Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, whose nasty diatribe, The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, has become the Koran for Israel-bashers and Jew-haters around the world, were welcomed in Israel for a speaking tour.

It goes without saying that Beinin has never expressed any criticism of the fact that Israelis are prohibited altogether from entering Iran and most Arab countries.  Some of those countries prohibit entry to Jews from anywhere.  In Saudi Arabia you will get expelled and beaten to a pulp if you have a Hanukka Menorah or a Christmas tree.

Of course the greatest irony in all of this is that Beinin was not banned from Israel at all, in spite of being a fanatical pro-terror anti-Israel propagandist.   He was simply interviewed by an alert young passport inspector, suspicious of all those visas in Beinin’s passport from countries seeking Israel’s annihilation.  For Beinin, however, the incident was a priceless opportunity to wave his stigmata and show the world what a persecuted martyr and victim he is.  His questioning in the airport proves he is being intimidated and harassed by them damned Zionists!