The West Appeases Islam

In the war between Islam and the West, the West has been failing. There’s more to it than the ascent of ISIS and the appeal it has for disenchanted Muslim youth in Europe.

More importantly, Europe and the West have failed to defend their culture and values. The anti-Western bias that saturates radical leftist thinking tells the Muslim world that it is on the right side of history. It tells the jihadis that the West is in decline and that its leaders will no longer defend it.

As I have mentioned, the clearest sign is the West’s failure to stand up for the only liberal democracy in the Middle East. Western leaders are incapable of defending the only free enterprise government in the Middle East. They have consistently held Israel to account for the failures of the Palestinians.

I have suggested that these leaders are buying protection, but they are not only undermining the Israeli government. They are fomenting and legitimating anti-Semitism.

Surely, the Obama administration has led the march. The resurgence of overt anti-Semitism in America is coming down from the highest levels of the American government. When you elect Jeremiah Wright’s protégé, what do you expect?

So, our Vice President, Joe Biden, was speaking to J Street, an anti-Israeli leftist lobbying group that favors more and more concessions to the Palestinians. For the J Street crowd, Israel is always in the wrong. It needs to submit to the Palestinian terrorists lest it be destroyed by the Palestinians. Naturally, J Street believes that it loves Israel and is trying to save it for itself.

As always, in these administration rants, the goal is to appear to be even handed—that is, neutral-- in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They see no significant or substantial difference between the warring parties—only one of which has declared war against the other. After months of terrorist stabbings of Israelis, the Palestinians are rewarded by being placed on the same ground as the Israelis. They are chastised by agents of the American government while the Obama-Biden administration saves its full fury for the Israelis. What other message can they draw but that terrorism works.

Joe Biden said:

I firmly believe that the actions that Israel's government has taken over the past several years - the steady and systematic expansion of settlements, the legalization of outposts, land seizures - they're moving us and more importantly they're moving Israel in the wrong direction.

Biden continued to declare that the United States accepts responsibility for Israel’s security, but he also expressed:

… our sometimes overwhelming frustration with the Israeli government.

He says nothing about his overwhelming frustration with the Palestinian Authority’s terrorism. The best he can muster is that it needs to denounce terrorism. He does not say that they should stop the terrorism or that they should stop the building of terror tunnels with their partners in Hamas. He does not say that until they accept the legitimacy of Israel there will be no negotiations.  He offers them a polite slap on the wrist while he holds Israel responsible for the problems.

Biden is not remaining neutral in the conflict. He is echoing the Palestinian party line. With friends like that, the Israelis do well to develop alliances with Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

As though that were not bad enough, German Chancellor Angela Merkel—you remember, the woman who is destroying Germany with her open-arms policy toward Muslim refugees; the woman who is directing government officials to cover up the instances of Muslim violence against German women— stood side by side with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas at a press conference yesterday and stated that the problems in the area derive from Israeli settlements.

The policy of Western appeasement is alive and well. Sometimes you have to take sides.