As President George W. Bush said after the August 19th bombings in Baghdad and Jerusalem, the terrorists and their sponsors “bear a deep hatred for the values of the civilized world”:
“They hate freedom and religious tolerance and democracy and equality for women. They hate Christians and Jews and every Muslim who does not share their narrow and violent vision.”
It is not yet known precisely who was behind the Baghdad attack. But in the case of the Jerusalem bus-bombing, two Palestinian terrorist groups have claimed responsibility. They are Palestine Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Both groups are committed to the destruction of Israel and its replacement by an extremist Muslim Palestinian state.
Abdel Aziz Rantisi is a key leader and spokesman for Hamas. In statements and writings going back many years and continuing to the present, he has expressed his hatred of Israelis, Jews, moderate Palestinians, Americans, and all others who do not accept the perverse goals of Hamas. Rantisi’s hatred for Jews goes so deep that he has disputed facts known to every historian concerning the German Nazi Holocaust of European Jews during the Second World War.
In the face of such hatred, as President Bush said, all nations have a responsibility:
“No nation can be neutral in the struggle between civilization and chaos. Every nation that stands on the side of freedom and the value of human life must condemn terror and act against the few who would destroy the hopes of the many.”
“We are on the offensive against terror,” said President Bush. “And we will stay on the offensive against terror.”
