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The threat from the death cult of Islam

“Think Twice” with Jonathan Tobin and guest Ben Poser, Ep. 190

According to JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin, Americans and many in the West seem to be blind to the threat posed by radical Islam and Islamist movements. Thanks to the successes of a red/green alliance that unites Marxists and Islamist antisemites who both hate the West, this attitude is leading to a fundamental shift that undermines the national identity of some nations and calls into question their willingness to defend civil liberties. This also involves not just tolerance for antisemitism and hatred for the state of Israel but legitimization and mainstreaming of the worst sort of anti-Jewish hate.

He’s joined in this week’s “Think Twice” by Ben Poser, the executive editor of White Rose Magazine, which has devoted its most recent issue to a discussion of what it describes as “the death cult of Islam.” Poser believes that in the name of tolerance and pluralism, many in the West fail to understand that jihadist terror groups and their advocates aren’t so much distorting Islam as they are a reflection of its basic beliefs and texts. Moreover, the claim by Muslim apologists that the word “jihad” is merely about internal struggle rather than faith-based commitment to aggression and terror against non-Muslims is a deception.

Poser points out that the notion that the West is uniquely or even solely guilty for slavery or imperialism is not just wrong. It also ignores the fact that historically the Muslim world was just as responsible for such practices and, unlike the West, never repented for its crimes. Indeed, as he notes, slavery continues to this day in the Islamic world, though few in the West care to notice it.

He says Western societies need not violate their principles of civil liberties to defend their values against those who seek to impose Muslim practices that are antithetical to liberty and democracy. Moreover, they need to recognize that while the red-green alliance seems to be solely focused on vilifying Jews—in which they falsely accuse Israel of genocide and what Hamas Islamists seek to do—it is also a threat to the entire West and not just Israel and its supporters.

It is, Poser declares, necessary to understand that groups like the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that masquerade as a Muslim civil-rights group are directly linked to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood terrorists. The Brotherhood should, he says, be designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. government. Washington should also stop treating Qatar, which funds these groups and is itself deeply implicated in Islamic terror and indoctrination, as an ally rather than a dangerous foe.

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Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of the Jewish News Syndicate, a senior contributor for The Federalist, a columnist for Newsweek and a contributor to many other publications. He covers the American political scene, foreign policy, the U.S.-Israel relationship, Middle East diplomacy, the Jewish world and the arts. He hosts the JNS “Think Twice” podcast, both the weekly video program and the “Jonathan Tobin Daily” program, which are available on all major audio platforms and YouTube. Previously, he was executive editor, then senior online editor and chief political blogger, for Commentary magazine. Before that, he was editor-in-chief of The Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia and editor of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger. He has won more than 60 awards for commentary, art criticism and other writing. He appears regularly on television, commenting on politics and foreign policy. Born in New York City, he studied history at Columbia University.
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