Israel needs Western love and Middle Eastern fear for long-term survival, but defending itself complicates relations and perceptions globally.
Tehran
Islam: From Confusion to Clarity
Photo: Protest of 4 November 2015 in Tehran against government of the United States. Photo by Mohamad Sadegh Heydary By early 1981 American embassy hostages held in Tehran were back home. A discreet reception was held for some of them in a suburban home in Northern Virginia, USA. One former hostage, Malcolm Kalp (pictured below), was reported to have said at that meeting, “We still think the Soviet Union is our enemy, that worldwide communism is still the principal threat to our way of life. But the real challenge isn’t the Soviet Union – it’s militant Islam. We have no idea what we are up against”. Three and a half decades later his observation remains accurate on all counts. Mostly only those who have lived within Islamic societies and have studied their sacred texts (Qur’an, Hadith and Sira) can understand what is happening and give some explanation of likely outcomes should the message of revivalist Islam continued to spread unchecked around the world. And spreading it surely is. Like rogue organisms from some cancerous tumour, cells of fundamentalist Islam multiply and metastasise faster than intelligence agencies can track them. United Nations Secretary, General Ban Ki-Moon said on February 5, 2016 that […]