A day after the horrific terrorist attacks on London the nations that comprise the Group of Eight (France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) announced its decision to give $3 billion to the Palestinian Authority. In their infinite wisdom, the G8 nations pledged the substantial sum "so that two states, Israel and Palestine, two peoples and two religions can live side by side in peace." However the message received loud and clear by the Islamic community was that terrorism pays.
Alan M. Dershowitz, a criminal law professor at Harvard Law School and the author of The Case for Israel, commented on the G8 nation's allocation of funds by saying "The primary cause of terrorism is not occupation, humiliation, or desperation... The primary cause of terrorism is that it works. And it works because the craven international community gives into it and rewards it. It also works because too many Islamic leaders praise it and too few condemn it. Terrorism will continue as long as potential terrorists believe they will benefit from using that tactic."
Just weeks prior to the terrorist bombing in London, the Palestinian television broadcast a speech by sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiras that summed up the attitude of Islamic fundamentalists. In it, Mudeiras stated:
"We take this opportunity to hold Britain accountable and say there is revenge we can never forget! We cannot forgo the revenge we want to exact from Britain. We hold Britain responsible for what happened in Palestine. Britain is the cause, till this very minute, of every drop of blood dripping into this land. I say to you: You must look at our situation with an outlook of confidence in Allah's victory! If you help Allah [spread Islam], Allah will bring you victory. We once ruled the world and the day will come when, by god, we will rule the entire world. The day will come when we will rule the United States, the day will come when we will rule Britain, we will rule the whole world [and all will live in peace and comfort under our rule] except the Jews. The Jews will not live in peace and comfort under our rule. Treachery will keep being their nature throughout history. The day will come when the whole world will rid itself of the Jews."
Mudeiras' speech aired on the 57th anniversary of the naqba. Al-naqba means "catastrophe." The Palestinians use it to refer to the events of 1948 which led to the establishment of the State of Israel.
Why reward the Palestinian Authority when it has not lived up to its end of the bargain? The Palestinian leadership has not yet taken adequate steps to stop the violence or end corruption within the government. Over $1 billion in aid has already been pocketed by greedy government officials. Investigations into the Palestinian Authorities financial mis-management has also revealed hundreds of millions of dollars that were diverted to accounts in Switzerland and Tunisia. There is even evidence that direct budgetary assistance to the PA from the EU and UN has been used to fund terrorism and pay rewards to the families of homicide bombers.
It seems as though most Westerners are blind to the true nature of Islam. It doesn't help when our media regularly distorts the truth to conform it to their political and ideological agendas. The BBCs coverage of the terrorist attacks on London is a good example. In the hours and days after their initial publication, the BBC removed the words "terrorist" and "terrorism" from several articles on its website, opting instead for more politically correct terminology (see link below to Jerusalem Post article for more details). As we are faced with an ever-increasing barrage information it is important to keep in mind that the media has its own agenda and takes pride in its ability to shape public opinion rather than to inform it.