Blaming the United States, Israel, or Capitalism Is Not the Solution
Authors: Cohen Ariel 
Published: January 2025

The majority of participants (Cohen, Esposito, Fuller, and Khan) shared theconcern that militant and violent adherents of radical political Islam –“jihadis,” for lack of a better term – may not only radicalize the West’s attitudetoward western Muslims, but, more importantly, toward Islam as awhole. Indeed, the continuation of terrorism against western interests willlikely result in either an American or a combined western future response –both political and military. The result of either action may be greaterinvolvement by the United States in the greater Middle East, although, ironically,one needs to remember that it is the radicals who would, in fact, preferthat this country pull out of the region.Terrorism is also the cause of what some authors refer to as “Islamophobia,”a phenomenon that remains quite rare despite the events of 9/11.Though 2004 saw a greater number of anti-Jewish incidents reported in theUnited States than anti-Islamic incidents, one could assume that the jihadiswould prefer to see anti-Muslim incidents carried out by Americans toincrease. One reason for this could be that aberrant American actions, especiallyif they are blown out of proportion by media in the United States andabroad, will radicalize Muslims and cause the jihadis’ ranks to swell.Additionally, Cohen, Esposito, Fuller, and Khan also agreed upon thenecessity for a broader interpretation of the meaning of ijtihad as a tool ofmodernization for the Muslim world. However, one of the other participants,Jan, formulated a traditionalist/fundamentalist position regarding ijtihad,viewing it as a tool that only the ulama can wield. He believes that mass andelite indoctrination along the lines of traditional orthodox Islam will bringabout the establishment of a pan-Islamic state along the lines of a khilafah.Most of other participants disagreed with such a prognosis.Unfortunately, Esposito, Fuller, and Jan launched quite vitriolic andmisplaced attacks against the supporters of Israel. They refer to them by differentnames: “pro-Likud Lobbies,” “extremists,” or supporters of the“Zionist state.” The topic of Arab-Israeli relations has little to do with thequestions at hand: moderate Islam vs. radical Islam, and the future of politicalIslam. If Israel never existed, the extremists would identify other issuesto fight about. Israel-bashers, fall prey – or are, indeed, intentional mouthpiecesfor – a conspiracy theory of the worst kind: an ideological canard, thatthe United States, or even the world, is run by the Jews. These modern simulacracertainly resemble something out of the Protocols of the Elders ofZion, a Czarist secret service (Okhrana) piece of anti-Semitic disinformation,or the vitriolic rhetoric of Der Sturmer, the Nazi propaganda weeklyrag. Take Jan’s 2003 discussion of Husain Haqqani’s article in The Nation:… there are well-studded gems for pleasing [the] master of our destiny,the Zionists in the U.S… Realising Zionist power, the chief opportunist,General Musharraf, took the lead through covert promises of recognisingIsrael during his visit to the U.S.[2] The intellectual mercenaries are nowtrying to catch up with some confused mixture of rejecting Musharraf andaccepting Israel ...