 ... as grievous as the murder of the nearly 3,000 souls who perished on that day was, the horror of the events of 9/11 went deeper than the loss of those persons ...
... On 9/11, Americans understood that what had happened was not an isolated criminal act but a direct assault on the symbols of American sovereignty and commerce.
... Implicit in this understanding was the notion that our national apathy about Islamic terrorism had to end.
... Americans also began to comprehend that there was little difference between Al Qaeda and the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah terrorists who were and are still engaged in terror attacks on Israel.
"Islamophobia" is a red herring, a false debating point which seeks to change the subject from the very real threat of the infiltration of Islamist extremism in the United States to a focus on the mythical discrimination to which American Muslims are supposedly being subjected.
The truth is, despite the justified anger at 9/11 and the manifest failure of "mainstream" Muslim groups such as the one Yoffie honored with his presence to denounce terror, there has been little or no backlash against American Muslims.
Indeed, the government has forbidden common-sense profiling of likely terror suspects at airports (i.e. young Muslim males, not the white female octogenarians who are just as likely to be stopped by this farcical security measure as Islamists) and President Bush has said that Islam is a "religion of peace" so often that it has become something of tired joke.
By reaching out to a group whose origins and present conduct place it on the wrong side of the debate on terrorism, Yoffie has given them a Reform kosher certificate which they will be able to brandish as they seek to advance their anti-Israel as well as pro-Islamist agendas.
Unfortunately, this egregious misjudgment, which will have long-term negative implications for the pro-Israel community's ability to combat extremism, isn't an isolated example. It is part and parcel of the same trend of 9/11 fatigue that the Times explored in an article that never once mentioned the words terrorism or Islam.
If that is the direction in which our national conversation is heading, we will be making a huge mistake. Though, thank heaven, Islamic terrorists have not yet duplicated 9/11, they have not ceased their efforts to do so. As Israelis have come to learn, the battle against these terrorists cannot be won in a day or even a year but requires both patience and perseverance. Though some of us may be tired of remembering 9/11, a return to the apathy of 9/10 is a luxury that no one in the West can afford. Read it all! "9-11 fatigue ignores real meaning of date"
by "Jonathan S. Tobin"
JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent.
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