The Washington Times
March 30, 2004

Terror and tolerance

By Jean-Christophe Mounicq

The morning of Jan. 29, upon hearing about the attack on a bus in Jerusalem,
I did not experience the expected emotion. It seemed such a “normal” thing,
and I have not enough tears to shed for people I do not know.
The next day, on Jan. 30, I read an article about one of the victims –
Avraham Belhassen, 26 years old, a young father – and realized that I could
tolerate no more. I can no longer tolerate terrorist folly, Islamist hatred,
the passivity of Muslims, the blindness of the West.
Following the attacks in Madrid, this feeling struck me again. The
reaction of the Spanish people, cringing in fear before the Islamist claim
of responsibility, bothered me even more. I can no longer tolerate such
cowardly Munich-like behavior that leads inevitably to dishonor and war.
The reaction of the European media and political class to the
elimination of Sheikh Yassin – the master of hate and terrorism, and one who
had called for the murder of Jews – pushed me over the edge. I can no longer
tolerate descriptions of the monster responsible for hundreds of deaths and
thousands of wounded as a “spiritual leader,” a poor “paralytic in a
wheelchair.” I can no longer tolerate murderous, barbaric Islamist hatred.
I can no longer tolerate the electoral victories of Islamists in
Algeria, Turkey or France. I can no longer tolerate the indifference of
Muslim leaders and the majority of Muslims to the suffering of non-Muslims.
I can no longer tolerate their affected statements or their perpetual
self-victimization.
I can no longer tolerate the double game of Yasser Arafat, the Saudi
princes or Pakistani leaders. I can no longer tolerate watching Muslims
dance with joy, in the Palestinian territories or in Paris, following
attacks on the World Trade Center or an Israeli bus. I can no longer
tolerate their anti-Semitism, anti-Christianism, anti-Buddhism or
anti-Hinduism.
I can no longer tolerate those who hate liberty but take every advantage
of it. I can no longer tolerate Islamist lack of respect for secularism and
equality, between men and women, Muslims and others. I can no longer
tolerate their lack of respect for the cultures of the very countries that
shelter them. I can no longer tolerate the multiplication of veils on women
in the streets of Paris.
I can no longer tolerate attacks on French officials, abusive complaints
against the police, terrorism against judges, the ban against teaching about
the Holocaust in schools, or the brutalization of male doctors who treat
Muslim women in hospitals. I can no longer tolerate burning cars in
Strasbourg and synagogues in Bondi. I can no longer tolerate catcalls when
the Marseillaise is played during games at the Stadium of France. I can no
longer tolerate the cries of “death to Jews” in their demonstrations or
“death to Christians” written on walls.
I can no longer tolerate concealing the massacres of Christians and Jews
in Islamic countries, Copts in the Middle East, of one-and-a-half million
Orthodox Armenians in Turkey at the beginning of the last century, as well
as a million-and-a-half Christian Sudanese at its end. I can no longer
tolerate Muslim ethnic cleansing in Kosovo or Palestine. I can no longer
tolerate Islamist totalitarianism.
I can no longer tolerate the relativism and masochism of a West
incapable of recalling its own history other than to denounce it. I can no
longer tolerate comparing the Crusades to jihad, when the Crusades were
nothing but a parenthesis in the history of Christianity while jihad is an
integral part of Islam.
I can no longer tolerate the cowardice, weakness and mediocrity of the
majority of Western leaders, or the unwillingness of Westerners to affirm
their own values and the superiority of liberty and democracy over all other
principles and systems. I can no longer tolerate the inability of Europe to
recall its Judeo-Christian heritage.
I can no longer tolerate taxes that the European Union transforms into
subsidies for the Palestinian Authority or that France transforms into arms
for Saddam Hussein. I can no longer tolerate paying the maternity bills for
women ready to sacrifice their infants as suicide bombers or for teaching
children hatred on the West Bank.
I’m going to pray in the memory of Avraham, pray that his death and
those of so many others might finally open the eyes of the cowards in the
West who refuse to face the truth. I’m going to pray for Westerners to
understand that the war on terrorism is in reality a war against Islamism,
and that Islamism is gaining ground among Muslims.
I’m going to pray that moderate Muslims might organize demonstrations
against the terrorists just as Corsicans and Basques have demonstrated
against their own terrorists. Pray that Islam, which is entering its nuclear
era, might become neither conqueror nor warrior, but rather adapt to
modernity before it is too late.

Jean-Christophe Mounicq is a French writer specializing in economics,
world politics and the French political scene. His book “Understanding World
War IV” will be published later this year.