Attacks against Muslim minorities and their mosques and schools whenever there is a terrorist attack in the West illustrate the dangerous level of hatred and racism that exists in the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, Italy and elsewhere.
Arabs and Muslims have been subjected, and still are, to invasions, aggressions, occupations, oppressions and acts of state terrorism from the Western nations and the Jewish state closely allied to them. This has resulted in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of victims, whether in the recent past in Palestine, Egypt, Sudan and the Arab Gulf countries under the British occupation, or Lebanon, Algeria, Syria, Tunisia and Morocco under the French or Libya under the Italians, or at present in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.
For example, during the Great Uprising against the British occupation in Palestine in 1936, 20 percent or one-fifth of the Palestinian people were killed, wounded or arrested.
But we are yet to hear Britain express regrets nor apologizing for giving our country away to the European Zionist Jewish settlers and creating the Palestine-Israel conflict.
And in the last four years alone 4,036 Palestinians have been killed, including over 620 children, more than 40,000 have been wounded, 8,000 arrested and 7,500 houses demolished.
Over 100,000 Iraqis have so far been killed in the war. Of course all of these victims had names, faces and loved ones who grieve and mourn their loss.
But never did we hear of Christian and Jewish minorities in Arab and Muslim countries being attacked, nor their churches, synagogues and schools being torched and vandalized by the local populations; nor should they be. Yes, there have been disturbances between Christians, Jews and Muslims and even between Muslims and Muslims from time to time, but these are sectarian conflicts and they are a new phenomenon caused by the religious tensions created around the world.
The claim by some Western leaders that these attacks by “Islamic terrorists” are a war directed against the people of the West because of “who we are” and because of “our way of life, civilization and democracy” is another big lie and needs to be condemned. It is designed to inflame prejudice and hatred of Arabs and Muslims, and to make it appear as if the West is defending itself that brings false moral comfort and gives justification for its unjust wars. How long it is going to take those few Western leaders to admit that these terrorist attacks are politically motivated and are in retaliation against their Middle East policies?
No wonder then we find all those bigots, racists and reactionaries launching their crusade against the first mosque, school or Muslim-dressed person they come to face to face with in their neighborhood or streets. Given what they hear from their leaders they look at Muslims as strangers within their ranks, rather than part and parcel of their society, who have the same rights as all others. Islam is the biggest religious community after Christianity in Australia. This is also the case in France, Britain, Germany and many other Western countries.
True, these leaders sometimes say that Muslims and Islam should not be held responsible for these terrorist acts. But at the same time they call it, together with the media, “Islamic terrorism.” They also argue that “Islamic terrorism” is directed against the West because of “who we are” etc.
We never heard these leaders and the media refer to Christian Catholic terrorism or Christian Catholic extremism every time there was an IRA terrorist attack, nor do they refer to the Israeli Army and settlers’ daily acts of terrorism as Jewish terrorism. So why is Al-Qaeda and the like referred to as Islamic terrorism?
Needless to say, all terrorist acts should be condemned, whether carried out by individuals, groups or armies in uniform under government orders. While these terrorist acts are not justifiable in any way, equally unjustifiable are the West’s biased policies toward Israel and against the Arabs and Muslims.
As long as aggression, occupation, oppression and racial discrimination continue against the Palestinian, the Iraqis and the Afghanis, as long as we continue to hear threats and incitements made against Syria, Iran and other Muslim countries, and as long as Arab and Muslim people’s interests and values are not respected, and the same set of principles the West imposes on all countries, are not also imposed on Israel, you do not need to be an Einstein to know that there will be continued explosions, as we are witnessing, and will not decrease but increase in force, and no power in the world will be able to stop it as long as the underlying causes remain.
— Ali Kazak is head of the General Palestinian Delegation to Australia & New Zealand and Ambassador of Palestine to Vanuatu & East Timor.
