Pursuing Holiness

That word, terrorism. I do not think it means what David Gomez thinks it means.

Doubtless, Mr. Gomez meant that the Islamic shooter who attacked the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle - who does not represent all Muslims any more than Phelps et. al represent Christians - did not act as part of an organized terror plot. It was probably more or less spur of the moment. Something like, “I have a gun, I’m really mad at Israel, nothing good on TV, I guess I’ll go kill some Jooos who are the source of all evil in the world.” Although he was not funded by al Qaeda or Iran - that we know of - that does not make it less an act of terror.

The FBI defines terror in the Code of Federal Regulations as “…the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.” I’d like to ask Gomez why this shooting isn’t terror. Perceived payback for what’s “going on in Israel” certainly qualifies as a political or social objective. But the American government has a knee-jerk reaction to not call Islamic terror by its name. It’s so consistent it may well be a written policy somewhere.

Props to CAIR in Seattle, who said

There is no room for such acts of violence in our city and community. When one of us is attacked, none of us are safe. We refuse to see the violence in the Middle East spill over to our cities and neighborhoods.

We reject and categorically condemn any attacks against the Jewish community and stand in solidarity with the Jewish Federation in this tragedy.

but their parent organization, CAIR, was predictable. They at least avoided use of the word “backlash.”

The American Muslim and Jewish communities must do whatever is within their power to prevent the current conflict in the Middle East from being transplanted to this country. We also urge local, state and national law enforcement authorities to step up security measures at synagogues, mosques and other religious institutions of both faiths.

Because it’s well known that Jews have committed acts of terror in American airports and college campuses, with sniper fire in Washington, D.C., and encouraged more of the same. Preaching that advocates terror is a serious problem in many foreign-funded synagogues in this country. That’s why the Jewish communities need to step up and take responsibility for driving this kind of hatred out of their communities.

If Mr. Gomez can’t bring himself to call it terror, he could at least call it a hate crime. If we must have hate crime laws, they could at least be used on occasions such as this. Theo van Gogh, who was also not a victim of radical Islamic terror by Mr. Gomez’ understanding of the word, is still unavailable for comment.

[Added - Again, I don't think the shooter, Naveed Afzal Haq, represents all Muslims. But I think he represents a lot more of them than we'd like to admit. Approximately 13% of Muslims (208,000) just in the UK thought the 7/7 bombers were martyrs. If only 5% of those Muslims were willing to act on that belief (that the bombers were martyrs and consequently the bombings were admirable and justified) that is 10,400 people. Just in the UK. I haven't seen surveys like this in America, but I'd be willing to bet a lot of people in Dearborn, MI, for example, nodded approvingly when they heard about this shooter.

Jay Tea also noted CAIR's reaction.]

written by Laura