Hamas, Fata, does it really matter, don’t they both want to destroy Israel and the west?

Not to beat a dead horse (by the way who came up with that expression?) but I do believe one of the greatest challenges of our time is facing radical Islam head on. That fact resonated again this morning when we heard on Hot Talk from Professor Richard Landes from Boston University who has been studying the Middle East and the Gaza Strip extensively.

Professor Landes is concerned because the U.S. has a history of throwing money at our enemies in hopes that they will cooperate and be appeased. Such is the case right now as we arm one faction of the Palestinians (Fata) so they can defeat the other faction (Hamas). I’m concerned that this is a poor strategy and that we should have learned our lesson from examples in recent history that this is not wise. A great example would be arming the Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban to fight the Soviets only to see them use our own weapons against us.

The other concerned raised by the professor is the prevailing wisdom and progressive thought that western democracies have to act apologetic when it comes to dealing with radical Islam. Political correctness is not going to work when the enemy has no desire to have peace, and has no desire to communicate, but only wants to slay all of the infidels. When you can strap a bomb to your own child and send them to commit suicide to kill your enemies we have a real problem.

Finally Professor Landes also noted that it is common for westerners to put Israel on the same level as the radical Muslims and call this an even fight. Anyone who does this should be ashamed of themselves. Israelis aren’t the ones killing innocents using children and weapons of mass destruction. We need to throw our full weight behind supporting Israel in this conflict and others, and we need to stand up against this radical ideology wherever we face it including the Gaza strip.