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LONDON IS BOMBED. PROTECT MUSLIMS!

by Julia Gorin

Desperation has again led Muslims to commit suicide bombings, this time in London. Brits still bewildered by the attacks, protesting, "But we're not Jewish!" need to get out of their cocoons and start asking the relevant question: Why is this happening? To stop terrorism, one must remove the root causes of terrorism. To that end, maybe it's time England pulled out of occupied Londonistan. Only then will this cycle of violence end. With the unemployment rate among British Muslims at 10 percent above the national average, perhaps a divestment campaign, as well as an academic boycott of England, would help England figure out what it's been doing wrong. Either way, our favoritism toward this colonial power at the expense of Muslims must end.

"Polls of British Muslims show a considerable sense of anger," reports the NY Times. "Eight out of 10 believe that the war on terrorism is a war on Islam, while a poll conducted last year... found a surprising 13 percent who said that further attacks... on the United States would be justified." This is worrisome, considering that Muslims in Europe and America are picking up electoral strength as their numbers grow. In fact, we can expect soon to see a new addition to the bumper sticker genre of "I'm a woman and I vote," or "I'm retired and I vote": "I'm Muslim and I bomb."

Within a day of the 7/7 attacks on British civilians, which naturally resulted in a surge of worldwide concern for Muslim welfare, headlines began streaming in, such as "Muslim Leaders Fear Revenge Attacks from the Extreme Right." ("And Therapy from the Left.") Other headlines have been hailing Britons for their stoicism in the face of terror. The UK Guardian reported that London's pubs were full - a response that sharply contrasted with American "hysteria" over such massacres. Then again, it's not like the Islamofascists have defeated the Brits on the soccer field yet.

Experts have said it's likely the explosives used in London came from Muslim Bosnia - eliciting another huge sigh of relief from the world that we got rid of that Serbian dude. Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Muslims are leaving European countries to blow themselves up in Iraq, confirming that living in Europe is so yucky that people would rather be dead in Iraq than alive in Europe.

Giving faces and names to the dead, a Times article titled "Lost in Bombings, Diverse and Promising Lives [in that order]" mourned names like Shahara Islam, Anthony Fatayi-Williams and Ganze Gonoral, which reflected "the diversity of their origins and the indiscriminate nature of the bombs that struck London." (How is Oprah going to explain this one to her viewers!) Accessorizing the piece were prominent photos of two of the victims - an African and a Muslim. In other words: You're killing the wrong people! If only the bombers had been more careful to kill just white civilians, the world would be better able to understand their point of view. (A similar conundrum arose in 2002 when an Ethiopian was crippled in a suicide bombing against Israelis: journalists were ambivalent, unable to decide whether he counted as Jewish or black.) It's all very confounding to a society that celebrates diversity (except when there's a practical benefit to it such as profiling ethnically to prevent more terror).

In one interview with friends of 22 year-old London bomber Shehzad Tanweer, the youngsters said they understood his anger, sharing "the same sense of otherness, the same sense of siege, the same sense that their community, and Muslims in general, were in their view helpless before the whims of greater powers." After all, from the rescue of Kuwait to the liberation of Iraq to the American soldiers we fed to Somalis, to the jihad we fought for Muslims in Kosovo and Bosnia, plus the toeing of the line that Western journalists agree to in reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in order to maintain access to the terrorist perspective, it's easy to understand Muslim anger: we all know what it's like - having that annoying, sycophantic friend, always doing stuff for you, always forgiving you no matter how you mistreat or provoke him. Really, the West is like Ned Flanders from The Simpsons; no wonder Muslims want to wring our necks!

After a Brazilian electrician exiting a London building under surveillance was shot dead last week when he didn't obey police orders to stop, British Muslims are worried about the shoot-to-kill policy, which could potentially kill Muslims before they have a chance to take 52 Britons with them.

Amid the sweeping arrests in Britain, the country would do well to show restraint - and not take an example from the U.S., which squandered international good will after 9/11. Because everyone likes a victim: when Jews were being incinerated, they were likeable; when they tried to make sure it didn't happen again, the world found it distasteful. When America was struck on 9/11, they liked us! they liked us! they really liked us! When we did something about it, the world stopped liking us. (It's almost surprising that our Left hasn't coordinated with al Qaida to keep that good will coming.)

So England should take heed of the U.S. experience: before we had the chance to respond, the Muslim world got mad that we were even thinking about how to respond. Hate rallies against America sprang up across the globe - protests in anticipation of what we were only thinking about doing. Revenge was already being threatened for the retaliation we hadn't yet decided on, leading many to worry that the revenge would come before we could even answer the first attack. Which would have given us two things to retaliate for. Can you imagine how angry that would have made the Muslim world? Can you picture the protests over our having two things to get back at them for? Boy, would we have been in for it! Therefore, Tony Blair should consider the distinct possibility that perhaps it was in anticipation of how he might respond to a terror attack that incited it in the first place. Let's pray that the Brits don't take any drastic measures, like allowing police patrols to finally start carrying guns.

England must keep in mind that it is not yet a Muslim nation, and so aggression won't yield world sympathy. (Although the Muslims had better not act up too much, or Hollywood will have to come out with more movies about the menace of neo-Nazis, Christian Crusaders and the Mossad.)

The same week as the first London attacks, there were two suicide bombings in Israel, killing six and maiming 90. By acting against Hamas in response, Israel ended the five-month truce, according to the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle and the AP. Islamic Jihad, which carried out the earlier of the two bombings, agreed, issuing a statement that it remained committed to the cease-fire. (Apparently, in Arabic, "ceasefire" means you cease fire.)

Last week, explosions rocked the resort town of Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, where many from the West, including plenty of Britons, were on holiday. The most confounding question facing investigators there: Why are Westerners vacationing in the Middle East? Isn't that like a Jew vacationing in Hamburg during WWII? ("The Germans aren't all like that.") Fellow Westerners, Mountain doesn't have to come to Mohamed; Mohamed has already come to Mountain. If you want to experience the Middle East, there's no need to leave your own backyard.

Closer to home, three U.S. Muslim groups condemned the attacks on London, echoing what Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has been saying all along about suicide bombings: "This isn't good for our image!"

At least rumors over Israeli involvement in the 9/11 attacks have died down lately, except at a public forum last month at Democratic National Headquarters, where Dems led by Michigan Rep. John Conyers distributed literature alleging a Mossad plot. DNC Chairman Howard Dean rebuked his colleagues, saying, "The Democratic National Committee stands in absolute disagreement with and condemns the allegations... Such statements are nothing but vile, anti-Semitic rhetoric." At which point Democrats finally agreed that Dean was too out of touch with the rest of the party and had to go.

Meanwhile, calls to dismantle the Guantanamo Bay facility continue, with little consideration given to the environmental hazard this would create - what with all the free radicals that would be floating about. (The ongoing concern for the detainees underscores Terri Schiavo's tactical error: had she been a Gitmo or Abu Ghraib prisoner, she never would have been allowed to starve to death.) The gulag comparisons have abated, though, which is unfortunate in light of the mistreatment and abuse that go on there - people not having access to showers for weeks after arrival, then having rocks, urine and feces hurled at them, plus getting spat in the face and even ear-bitten - all the while powerless to do anything about it. And that's just the U.S. soldiers stationed there.

Finally, as more details emerge linking al Qaida and Iraq to the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, we begin to understand why authorities never caught the second man responsible: They were looking for John Doe when they should have been looking for Mohamed Doe.

The good news for the semi-free world is that al Qaida recruitment centers have been getting so many applicants for martyr missions that a lot of volunteers are being turned away. Now that's disenfranchisement! When al Qaida denies these souls their last recourse in life, it shouldn't be surprised when these embittered rejects take the only remaining path available to them: strapping on bombs and targeting the al Qaida offices themselves.

Julia Gorin is a New York-based opinion writer and contributing editor for FoxNews.com and JewishWorldReview.com, and a stand-up comedian specializing in conservative humor. Her work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, and exactly once in the New York Times. This article appeared in Jewish World Review (http://www.JewishWorldReview.com) July 29, 2005.