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What Causes Terrorism: Straight From the Horses' Mouth

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by halfbreed, Nov 17, 2004.

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  1. halfbreed

    halfbreed Member

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    http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/11/17/419aff792d179

    Apparently, Palestinian propoganda and fundamentalist Islam are to blame for terrorism in the Middle East...Who Knew? :eek:

    If you don't believe me, read about this guy.

    Former PLO Terrorist Advocates for Israel

    Walid Shoebat Tells of Growing Up Muslim in Bethlehem, Blames Palestinians for Conflict

    By Danielle Slutzky
    Columbia Daily Spectator
    November 17, 2004

    “I am not ashamed to stand in front of you and say I am Walid Shoebat and I used to be a Palestinian terrorist,” a middle-aged man from Northern California told over 115 students yesterday. Once imprisoned for his violent attempts to kill Israeli citizens, Shoebat now advocates for his former enemy, speaking worldwide about his rare and controversial transformation into a leading Zionist.

    In a speech in the Alfred Lerner Cinema, Shoebat rejected occupation and land ownership as causes of the Arab-Israeli conflict, instead citing global and rising anti-Semitism, propaganda in Palestinian schooling, Islamic fundamentalism, and the relative silence of pro-Israel activists as major factors contributing to the problem.

    The event followed more than three weeks of heated controversy over Columbia’s dialogue about the Arab-Isreali conflict. It was just one stop on Shoebat’s tour to campuses worldwide, including Harvard Law School, Princeton, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and to communities in London and Chile.

    Alex Helfand, GS ’06 and one of the students who helped bring Shoebat to campus, said that the speech “added a new and credible face to the table.” The event was sponsored by the Walid Shoebat Foundation, Koach, Netzach Yisrael, and Chai Society, with the assistance of Columbia Chabad and Hasbara Fellowships, an Israel advocacy group .

    Born a Muslim in Beit Sahour outside of Bethlehem, Shoebat is the son of a Palestinian Muslim father and an American Christian mother. His father’s father was a close associate of Haj Amin Al-Husseini, a Nazi ally, while his mother’s grandfather was the mayor of Eureka in Humboldt County, California.

    “My family hates me now,” said Shoebat, who spoke to his father last month for the first time in years after his father received a call predicting that Shoebat would be shot by those who oppose him.

    “If go back home, I have five minutes to live,” said Shoebat. In the Middle East, “I am only safe in Israel proper.”

    Shoebat’s family took away his land when he defected from their cause and converted to Christianity. His parents told him that he would have to return to Islam in order to regain acceptance.

    “I was always taught that the Jews stole my land. My own family did,” Shoebat said. “I cannot go home ... not because of the Jews but because of my opinion.”

    Shoebat said he “woke up and smelled the hummus” at age 33 when his wife asked him to prove that the negative things he claimed about Jews were right. For months he intensively studied Jewish history, the Holocaust, and the Jewish Bible to understand the people he said he used to hate.

    “In order to understand the enemy you must put yourself in his shoes,” said Shoebat.

    After “realizing that all that I was taught was a lie, I made a pledge to cleanse my grandfather’s house,” he said. As his grandfather did, Shoebat dedicates his life to promote what he believes to be the truth: Israel security and reform in the Middle East.

    Shoebat blamed the Arab countries’ failure to accept Israel’s right to exist as the underlying factor in ongoing conflict, and he described the culture that he grew up in as intolerant of any belief other than “that of the Palestinian Authority, Hamas, or the coffin.”

    At age six in a kindergarten in Jericho, Shoebat said he would sing a popular song entitled “Arabs Our Beloved and Jews Our Dogs.”

    “I used to wonder at that time who the Jews were but with the rest of the kids, I repeated the words without any knowledge of their meaning,” he said.

    Relentless hatred towards the Jews has always been prevalent in Shoebat’s family, he said. He told the audience that after a Jew saved his cousin from drowning, his family refused to acknowledge the ethnicity of the rescuer. In fact, the cousin’s brother died in a suicide attempt in Jerusalem soon afterwards.

    On Holocaust Remembrance Day, Shoebat said he would laugh with his family at images of naked, heaps of Jews, amazed by how far he thought Jews would go to fabricate the Holocaust.

    “None of my teachers, family members, or friends said the Holocaust was real,” Shoebat said. “I was taught that it was an act intended only for the establishment of the Jewish State.”

    Shoebat cited such thoughts in the Arab world as reasons for heightening anti-Semitism and Islamic fundamentalism, as evidenced by the presence of a DVD entitled “I Hate Israel” on the top of last year’s best-seller list in Egypt.

    “New Palestinian leadership is not the solution,” he said. “Mahmoud Abbas [Abu Mazen], the prime minister of the PLO, himself wrote his thesis on the Holocaust as a fabrication,” said Shoebat.

    “Neither is ‘Israel’s occupation’ the cause. Jews have tried to give land for peace,” he said. “The occupation is in the minds of children who are taught hatred.”

    Shoebat acknowledged that Muslims are often offended by his speeches. But he emphasized that he was interested in exposing the violence present in Islamic fundamentalism rather than “exposing Islam as violent religion.”

    Debi Horowitz, CC ’04, was one of the students in attendance. Horowitz said she was happy with the turnout but thought that the program’s sponsors could have done a better job advertising the event. The audience consisted of mostly Jewish students, which one student raised as a cause for concern in terms of spreading Shoebat’s message.
     
    #1 halfbreed, Nov 17, 2004
  2. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost Member
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    I don't buy it.

    What causes the propaganda and fundamentalists to come about?

    This kind of sh*t just doesn't fall out of the sky.
     
    #2 DonnyMost, Nov 17, 2004
  3. halfbreed

    halfbreed Member

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    Umm ... they usually come out in order to make themselves seem more superior. Hitler, anyone?
     
    #3 halfbreed, Nov 17, 2004
  4. thacabbage

    thacabbage Contributing Member

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    Yes, the Jews aren't to blame at all. It's those damn anti-Semitic A-rabs and their hate mongering ways. :rolleyes:

    I'm not buying it. It's one thing to go transform from terrorist to pacifist, but outright endorsing Zionism? I don't doubt that Palestinians hate Jews, but there's a cause behind everything, and until that is examined, this cycle of violence will never cease. I truly believe that the Western world cannot aid in the process until the "terrorist" is atleast somewhat legitimized as a "freedom fighter." In no way am I condoning acts of terrorism. But there's more to the story than just black and white. What would cause a person to take his own life? Decades of mounting frustration due to occupation and humiliation can lead to much emotion. To insinuate that one side in this conflict is completely free from blame [as this article does], is beyond ridiculous and counterproductive in the grand scheme of things.
     
    #4 thacabbage, Nov 17, 2004
  5. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost Member
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    So it's just an ego thing?
     
    #5 DonnyMost, Nov 18, 2004
  6. Roc Paint

    Roc Paint Member

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    A difference of opinon.
     
    #6 Roc Paint, Nov 18, 2004
  7. subtomic

    subtomic Member

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    Does anyone really think that there is just one cause to terrorism and that all terrorists are motivated by just one thing?
     
    #7 subtomic, Nov 18, 2004
  8. DaDakota

    DaDakota Balance wins
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    It is pure brainwashing.

    When you grow up and all you hear is one side, that is all you know.

    The mullahs, the parents, the government, the schools all preach hatred, then what do you think these children learn?

    It is a sad state of affairs over there.


    DD
     
    #8 DaDakota, Nov 18, 2004
  9. giddyup

    giddyup Member

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    Al-Jazeera is their source of news. Enough said.
     
    #9 giddyup, Nov 18, 2004
  10. halfbreed

    halfbreed Member

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    No, just all Palestinian terrorists. I haven't really heard of any of them bombing Houston because our plants violate Kyoto.
     
    #10 halfbreed, Nov 18, 2004
  11. MR. MEOWGI

    MR. MEOWGI Contributing Member

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    The root of terrorism is misunderstanding, intolerance, hatred, revenge and hopelessness. This root cannot be located by the military. Bombs and missiles cannot reach it, let alone destroy it.
     
    #11 MR. MEOWGI, Nov 18, 2004
  12. Pimphand24

    Pimphand24 Member

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    eloquently put :cool:
     
    #12 Pimphand24, Nov 18, 2004
  13. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    i agree..in large measure i agree.

    how were the roots of Nazism beaten?

    but how was the KKK beaten back???

    how was the Mafia beaten back???

    i don't think we can ever rid the world totally of misunderstanding, intolerance, hatred, revenge and hopelessness. but i think we can beat it back. and, unfortunately, i think it takes some force to make that happen. i wish that were not the way. but it appears that force is at least one element in beating this back...or maybe just beating back the effects of it.
     
    #13 MadMax, Nov 18, 2004
  14. Chump

    Chump Member

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    I agree - I only wish our leaders could see this


    and the cycle continues.....bomb them..death...bomb us..death...bomb them...death....bomb us...death
     
    #14 Chump, Nov 18, 2004
  15. MR. MEOWGI

    MR. MEOWGI Contributing Member

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    It wasn't me, I'm not eloquent! I left out the quote...



    "Strike against Terror"
    by Thich Nhat Hanh*, November 2002


    "Strike against terror" is a misleading expression. What we are striking against is not the real cause or the root of terror. The object of our strike is still human life. We are sowing seeds of violence as we strike. Striking in this way we will only bring about more hatred and violence into the world. This is exactly what we do not want to do.

    Terror is in the human heart. We must remove this terror from the heart. Destroying the human heart, both physically and psychologically, is what we must absolutely avoid. The root of terrorism should be identified, so that it can be removed. The root of terrorism is misunderstanding, intolerance, hatred, revenge and hopelessness. This root cannot be located by the military. Bombs and missiles cannot reach it, let alone destroy it. Only with the practice of looking deeply can our insight reveal and identify this root. Only with the practice of deep listening and compassion can it be transformed and removed.

    Darkness cannot be dissipated with more darkness. More darkness will make darkness thicker. Only light can dissipate darkness. Violence and hatred cannot be removed with violence and hatred. Rather, this will make violence and hatred grow a thousand fold. Only understanding and compassion can dissolve violence and hatred.

    Hatred, and violence are in the hearts of human beings. A terrorist is a human being with hatred, revenge, violence and misunderstanding in his or her heart. Acting without understanding, acting out of hatred, violence and fear, only helps sow more terror, bringing terror to the homes of others and ultimately bringing terror back to the homes of the attacker. The philosophy of "an eye for an eye," only creates more suffering and bloodshed and more enemies. One of the greatest casualties we may suffer results from this wrong thinking and action. Whole societies are living constantly in fear with their nerves being attacked day and night. Such a state of confusion, fear and anxiety is extremely dangerous. It can bring about another world war, this time extremely destructive in the worst possible way.

    We must learn to speak out for peace now, so that our spiritual voice can be heard in this dangerous and pivotal moment of history. Those of us who have the light should display the light and offer it so that the world will not sink into total darkness. Everyone has the seed of awakening and insight within his or her heart. Let us help each other touch these seeds in ourselves so that everyone can have the courage to speak out. We must ensure that the way we live our daily lives does not create more terrorism in the world, through intolerance, hatred, revenge and greed. We need a collective awakening to stop this course of self_-destruction.

    Spiritual leaders in this country need to be invited to raise their voice strongly and speak up for peaceful solutions to the world problems and bring about the awareness of the teaching of compassion and non-violence to the American nation and the people.

    By understanding the nature and cause of the suffering of humanity, we will then know the right method to begin to heal the great problems on this planet.
     
    #15 MR. MEOWGI, Nov 18, 2004
  16. dugtzu

    dugtzu Member

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    ooooh, so THAT'S what zell miller's doing now.
     
    #16 dugtzu, Nov 18, 2004
  17. Pimphand24

    Pimphand24 Member

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    Sounds like life is a one great Greek Tragedy. I saw this Iraq war coming, saw the mistake, tried to stop it, but it happens anyways. Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps our role in life is a choice. Either flee from the suffering (ignore it, deceive yourself), or be brave in enough to keep trying to change the unchangeable... to keep living the cycle of it all.
    Peace through war? It's like a hooker trying to screw her way to chastity. (It's impossible guys)
    I still stand by my plan of ending terrorism through peace in the middle east. We have our best chance now that Arafat is dead and I'm glad Tony Blair got Bush to see the importance of this opportune moment. Peace will not be acheived by our current stance. Yes, it was good to go after Al Queda in order to protect ourselves, but there is a time when you have to drop the weapons and go for the ultimate solution rather than seeking more blood in other Muslim countries. True peace, in itself and for itself is the only way to end the cycle.
    But who am I kidding? When has the human race wanted this? We love the suffering. We love the tragedy. Let the cycle continue!

    And by the way, the Palestinian propoganda and "fundamentalist" Islam are mere tools of the terrorists in order to carry out their hate. They are products of tensions between Israel and Palestine and they will only change once a solution is achieved between the two governments. As long as these tensions remain, they will continue to fuel terrorism and you will have this endless cycle until the encore.
    As you see, I'm not too optimistic about it but I still care. (It's a very painful existence :( )
     
    #17 Pimphand24, Nov 18, 2004
  18. rimbaud

    rimbaud Member
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    The same Hitler who arose out of a devastated post-WWI Germany? I wonder why a humiliated, economically wrecked country would want to feel better and/or superior to others?
     
    #18 rimbaud, Nov 18, 2004
  19. glynch

    glynch Member

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    When you grow up and all you hear is one side, that is all you know.

    I know what you mean. In the US we have grown up with the notion that Israel is a nation of innocent victims.
     
    #19 glynch, Nov 18, 2004
  20. MadMax

    MadMax Member

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    seriously?? is that really what you're hearing?? i'm in the us, and i'm not hearing that at all. not at all.
     
    #20 MadMax, Nov 18, 2004
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