A Gentile American wrote, in defense of Israel: “What would you do if there were a huge influx of Muslims onto the American shores? That is, what would you do if a large group of people who denied in principle the U.S. Constitution—who were not satisfied with the peaceful exercise of their religion, but were intent upon revolutionizing the government itself and reconstituting it on Islamic lines—entered the country and demanded full rights as citizens? Would not this be a rather serious problem?”
Now that the U.S. has had a taste of Muslim terrorism at the World Trade Center [referring to the first, 1993 attack], Americans might better appreciate the magnitude of this problem in Israel if considered in quantitative terms.
In 1990 Israel’s Arab citizens—the bulk of which are Muslims—numbered approximately 800,000. [Ten years latter they numbered one million!] Now, in a survey taken during the [1991 Persian] Gulf War—a survey reported by Knesset Member Yossi Sarid—62 percent or almost 500,000 of these Arabs openly expressed support for Saddam Hussein despite his having raped Kuwait and, more significantly, had threatened to incinerate half of Israel.
Surely a much larger percentage of Israel’s Arabs citizens do not identify at all with the Jewish state. Haifa University researcher Sammy Smooha reported in 1986—before the [first] intifada [which began in December 1987]—that 75 percent of Israel’s Arab citizens identified themselves as “Palestinians.” Indeed, given their Arab-Islamic culture, I dare say at least 95 percent do not regard themselves as “Israelis”— surely the basic reason why they are exempted from military service.
There is an obvious and ominous conclusion to be drawn from such data, namely, that Israel harbors no less than 760,000 Arab citizens who reject Israel’s existence as a sovereign and independent Jewish state. (Indeed, a report by Israel’s internal security service indicated that in 1988 and 1989, that is, with the [first] intifada well-established, Arab citizens of Israel committed 442 politically motivated assaults including stabbings, shootings, arson, and sabotage. The report also indicated that Arab terrorist cells within Israel’s pre-1967 borders were working with PLO counterparts in Judea and Samaria.)
Turning to the United States, in 1990 it had a population of 255 million people—51 times greater than that of Israel. Multiply 51 by 760,000 (the projected number of Israel’s Arab citizens who oppose Israel’s existence) and we get almost 40 million. Imagine, therefore, 40 million Muslims in the United States who reject the U.S. Constitution and democracy, but who nonetheless enjoy full citizenship, including equal political rights. Surely this would give many democratic Americans cause for concern, to put it mildly.
Another way to appreciate Israel’s “Arab problem” is as follows. Bearing in mind that Islam is a militant creed, how might our 40 million projected Muslims in America react to the U.S.-led bombing of Iraq during the [1991] Gulf War? The Muslim bombing of the World Trade Center [in 1993] suggests that Arab terrorist attacks against non-Muslim Americans would be comparable in number and kind to those committed by Arabs against Jews in Israel.
On the other hand, given 40 million Muslim citizens in the United States, would an American president have resorted to bombing Iraq in the first place, especially if he were up for re-election? But let us expand on this scenario.
What might a U.S. government with 40 million Muslim citizens do to Muslim “activists” who incite other Muslims not only to stone, knife, or kill non-Muslim Americans, but to commit acts of sabotage, arson, and insurrection? Would the government act with the self-restraint Washington expects and often demands of Israel?
But even this fails to illustrate the magnitude of Israel’s “Arab problem,” to say nothing of the inability of so many sheltered Americans to appreciate its awesome ideological dimensions.
Suppose America, once again with 40 million Muslims, were bordered on the north not by democratic Canada, with a population of roughly 10 percent that of the United States. Instead, imagine an Islamic Canada—indeed, an Arab military dictatorship—with a population of 5 to 10 times that of the United States, hence 1.275 to 2.55 billion Arab Muslims. (Think of Syria’s and Egypt’s population, respectively, as roughly 5 to 10 times that of Israel.)
Given such an Islamic Canada on America’s northern border, I wonder how liberal the U.S. government would be with its Muslim “activists”? Perhaps it would deport them across the U.S.-Mexican border (assuming Mexico had also become an Arab Muslim state). After all, when America entered World War II, its government uprooted and transferred 114,000 Japanese Americans to “retention camps”—and these were law-abiding citizens.
Now, given the demographic and geopolitical scenario outlined above, would there be any Israel-bashers in the United States today? But what am I saying? Do we not have a tribe of Israel-bashers or self-hating Jews in Israel itself?
True, but they would be nonexistent given the America portrayed above. For if America had 40 million Muslims, and if the country were bordered by two Arab dictatorships with formidable Muslim populations, be assured the United States would not be the liberal democracy aped by Israel’s self-hating Jews.
