The Passion of Jesus and Muhammed
By Moshe Feiglin, From Manhigut Yehudit, March 16, 2004
Mel Gibson's latest film, "The Passion of Jesus" was a tremendous box office success in its first week of screening. Millions of Americans and Europeans (or perhaps we should just say Christians) are flocking to the cinemas in order to watch a boring film in Aramaic all about hammering nails in the body of Jesus. To Gibson's credit it should be said that he was courageous enough to bet on a film in which Americans would be obliged to sit and read sub-titles for two hours, a documentary film about a slaughter-house, a film that nobody believed would stand a chance.
But Gibson understood something that most of us would like to repress. The world is becoming increasingly unstable, and people are seeking something beyond it - religion. The two major religions that encompass the majority of humanity are based on Judaism, and consequently hate it. They are both waging an unending struggle for control of the world. Christianity gains power by hugging, and Islam by stabbing.
The stock broker in the WTC couldn't understand what the suicide pilot wanted from him but, in the final analysis, economic and cultural conquest (MacDonald's, Coca Cola, rock music) is no less effective than a suicide bomber. The wretched broker who disappeared in a cloud of dust never understood in which global arena he was playing.
When the twin towers disintegrated, the Jews mistakenly thought that the Christian western world would now treat them with greater understanding. "Now they can understand what Israel is fighting for", friends told me while hypnotically viewing the burning WTC buildings. "They" were, of course, the Christian Western world, which found itself attacked in such a cruel manner by Arab Islam. There was a great degree of logic in this: "My enemy's enemy is my friend". However, in practice the opposite happened. Waves of anti-Semitism and intensive hatred for Israel began sweeping US universities, and didn't stop at the university gates. We need hardly mention the horrifying waves of anti-Semitism in Europe. Instead of discovering new allies in the Christian world, Israel finds itself in the dock in the Hague International Court.
The Christian world is faced with two options: It can fight against terror, which means fighting against Islam, or it can surrender and be gradually overcome by the waves of the modern Moslem Jihad. London ladies don't want to wear yashmaks, nor does New York wish to turn into Cairo, and this is clearly the real meaning of the Moslem conquest. Arabs are not sons of the desert but its father. They created the desert - everywhere they come vegetation stops and the wind blows everything away.
Therefore surrender to Islam is inconceivable, but neither is war very likely. Just look at what has happened to the poor Americans in Iraq. They pictured the enemy as a country or as terrorist organization. They just didn't want to believe that they are engaged in a religious war against Islam. They defeated Iraq but they are losing against Islam. The politicians in the West refuse to admit it, but the millions waiting patiently to buy tickets for Gibson's film are desperate for an answer in the same dimension in which they are being attacked.
And now a third alternative emerges - the Jews. Both Christianity and Islam have something in common- hatred of the Jews. Judaism, the mother of the great religions, refuses to disappear and by its very existence constantly exposes the great lie on which they are based. "If you can't beat them, join them", says the Christian, "but against whom?" The answer is obvious. Anti-Semitism has always existed there in the west, even when the memory of Auschwitz blunted it somewhat.
For the Americans it's a slow process. Christianity isn't as sick there, as in Catholic Europe. But as the defeat by Islam becomes more apparent, the hatred of the Jews and of Israel increases. For the Europeans the process is much more rapid. Overnight the Spaniards replaced their leadership and thus rewarded the murderers of 200 railway passengers by rapid withdrawal of their troops from Iraq. Now the energy of vengeance will be directed at their mutual enemy.
Where does Israel lie in all this?
The Israeli victory in 1967 led to an interesting event throughout the world. Strangely enough the "conquest" of the "territories" and the defeat of the Egyptian army dampened down the flames of world anti-Semitism. Western Jews who had disguised their Jewishness suddenly re-discovered it and displayed it proudly everywhere. It seems that anti-Semitism is inversely related to Israel's victories over its enemies. When Israel defeats the Moslem Arab world, the Christian world overcomes its built-in anti-Semitism and lets the Israelis do the job. A strong Israel is not an alternative punch-bag but a support in the struggle against Islam.
Israel is now leading the global collapse in the face of the Islamic offensive.
Naturally lip-service was always paid, but in the end Israel always received more support when it defeated the Arabs soundly. However, Israel is now leading the global collapse in the face of the Islamic offensive. An Israel undergoing terrorist attacks, an Israel in which the blood of its sons is cheaper than ever, justifiably arouses world anti-Semitism. Did Moslem suicide bombers exist before the Jews, in the Oslo Agreement, abandoned their belief in the justice of their cause?
Morality abhors a vacuum. When we Israelis abandoned the justice of our cause and admitted that the Holy Land was Moslem, we released this genie. If it hadn't been for the Oslo process, the WTC twin towers would still be standing.
The understanding of this process leads to a harsh conclusion. Israeli defeatism will increase anti-Semitism throughout both the Christian and Moslem worlds. The more Israel withdraws, the more the West will give in to Islam and attack Israel instead.
Islam, encouraged by its success, will continue to attack both the West and Israel. It is difficult to predict how this madness will precisely be halted, but one thing is clear. Not only is Jewish history being written now, for good or bad, in Israel. World history is also being currently written in the Holy Land.