{"id":126,"date":"2007-10-04T12:27:06","date_gmt":"2007-10-04T19:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/2007\/10\/04\/pure-internet-gold\/"},"modified":"2007-10-04T12:37:48","modified_gmt":"2007-10-04T19:37:48","slug":"pure-internet-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/2007\/10\/pure-internet-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"pure internet gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Convention Lecture <\/a>| April, 2004 | Haim Harari<\/a><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0HAIM HARARI<\/a>, a theoretical physicist, is the Chair, Davidson Institute of
\nScience Education, and Former President, from 1988 to 2001, of the Weizmann
\nInstitute of Science.<\/p>\n

\u00a0During his years as President of the Institute, it entered numerous new
\nscientific fields and projects, built 47 new buildings, raised one Billion
\nDollars in philanthropic money, hired more than half of its current tenured
\nProfessors and became one of the highest royalty-earning academic
\norganizations in the world.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Throughout all his adult life, he has made major contributions to three
\ndifferent fields: Particle Physics Research on the international scene,
\nScience Education in the Israeli school system and Science Administration
\nand Policy Making.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0“As you know, I usually provide the scientific and technological
\n“entertainment” in our meetings, but, on this occasion, our Chairman
\nsuggested that I present my own personal view on events in the part of the
\nworld from which I come. I have never been and I will never be a Government
\nofficial and I have no privileged information. My perspective is entirely
\nbased on what I see, on what I read and on the fact that my family has lived
\nin this region for almost 200 years. You may regard my views as those of the
\nproverbial taxi driver, which you are supposed to question, when you visit a
\ncountry.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I could have shared with you some fascinating facts and some personal
\nthoughts about the Israeli-Arab conflict. However, I will touch upon it only
\nin passing. I prefer to devote most of my remarks to the broader picture of
\nthe region and its place in world events. I refer to the entire area between
\nPakistan and Morocco, which is predominantly Arab, predominantly Moslem, but
\nincludes many non-Arab and also significant non-Moslem minorities.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Why do I put aside Israel and its own immediate neighborhood? Because
\nIsrael and any problems related to it, in spite of what you might read or
\nhear in the world media, is not the central issue, and has never been the
\ncentral issue in the upheaval in the region. Yes, there is a 100 year-old
\nIsraeli-Arab conflict, but it is not where the main show is. The millions
\nwho died in the Iran-Iraq war had nothing to do with Israel. The mass murder
\nhappening right now in Sudan, where the Arab Moslem regime is massacring its
\nblack Christian citizens, has nothing to do with Israel. The frequent
\nreports from Algeria about the murders of hundreds of civilian in one
\nvillage or another by other Algerians have nothing to do with Israel. Saddam
\nHussein did not invade Kuwait, endangered Saudi Arabia and butchered his own
\npeople because of Israel. Egypt did not use poison gas against Yemen in the
\n60’s because of Israel. Assad the Father did not kill tens of thousands of
\nhis own citizens in one week in El Hamma in Syria because of Israel. The
\nTaliban control of Afghanistan and the civil war there had nothing to do
\nwith Israel. The Libyan blowing up of the Pan-Am flight had nothing to do
\nwith Israel, and I could go on and on and on.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The root of the trouble is that this entire Moslem region is totally
\ndysfunctional, by any standard of the word, and would have been so even if
\nIsrael would have joined the Arab league and an independent Palestine would
\nhave existed for 100 years. The 22 member countries of the Arab league, from
\nMauritania to the Gulf States, have a total population of\u00a0 300 millions,
\nlarger than the US and almost as large as the EU before its expansion. They
\nhave a land area larger than either the US or all of Europe. These 22
\ncountries, with all their oil and natural resources, have a combined GDP
\nsmaller than that of Netherlands plus Belgium and equal to half of the GDP
\nof California alone. Within this meager GDP, the gaps between rich and poor
\nare beyond belief and too many of the rich made their money not by
\nsucceeding in business, but by being corrupt rulers. The social status of
\nwomen is far below what it was in the Western World 150 years ago. Human
\nrights are below any reasonable standard, in spite of the grotesque fact
\nthat Libya was elected Chair of the UN Human Rights commission. According to
\na report prepared by a committee of Arab intellectuals and published under
\nthe auspices of the U.N., the number of books translated by the entire Arab
\nworld is much smaller than what little Greece alone translates. The total
\nnumber of scientific publications of 300 million Arabs is less than that of
\n6 million Israelis. Birth rates in the region are very high, increasing the
\npoverty, the social gaps and the cultural decline. And all of this is
\nhappening in a region, which only 30 years ago, was believed to be the next
\nwealthy part of the world, and in a Moslem area, which developed, at some
\npoint in history, one of the most advanced cultures in the world.<\/p>\n

It is fair to say that this creates an unprecedented breeding ground for
\ncruel dictators, terror networks, fanaticism, incitement, suicide murders
\nand general decline. It is also a fact that almost everybody in the region
\nblames this situation on the United States, on Israel, on Western
\nCivilization, on Judaism and Christianity, on anyone and anything, except
\nthemselves.<\/p>\n

Do I say all of this with the satisfaction of someone discussing the
\nfailings of his enemies? On the contrary, I firmly believe that the world
\nwould have been a much better place and my own neighborhood would have been
\nmuch more pleasant and peaceful, if things were different.<\/p>\n

I should also say a word about the millions of decent, honest, good people
\nwho are either devout Moslems or are not very religious but grew up in
\nMoslem families. They are double victims of an outside world, which now
\ndevelops Islamophobia and of their own environment, which breaks their heart
\nby being totally dysfunctional. The problem is that the vast silent majority
\nof these Moslems are not part of the terror and of the incitement but they
\nalso do not stand up against it. They become accomplices, by omission, and
\nthis applies to political leaders, intellectuals, business people and many
\nothers. Many of them can certainly tell right from wrong, but are afraid to
\nexpress their views.<\/p>\n

The events of the last few years have amplified four issues, which have
\nalways existed, but have never been as rampant as in the present upheaval in
\nthe region. These are the four main pillars of the current World Conflict,
\nor perhaps we should already refer to it as “the undeclared World War III.”
\nI have no better name for the present situation. A few more years may pass
\nbefore everybody acknowledges that it is a World War, but we are already
\nwell into it.<\/p>\n

The first element is the suicide murder. Suicide murders are not a new
\ninvention but they have been made popular, if I may use this expression,
\nonly lately. Even after September 11, it seems that most of the Western
\nWorld does not yet understand this weapon. It is a very potent psychological
\nweapon. Its real direct impact is relatively minor. The total number of
\ncasualties from hundreds of suicide murders within Israel in the last three
\nyears is much smaller than those due to car accidents. September 11 was
\nquantitatively much less lethal than many earthquakes. More people die from
\nAIDS in one day in Africa than all the Russians who died in the hands of
\nChechnya-based Moslem suicide murderers since that conflict started. Saddam
\nkilled every month more people than all those who died from suicide murders
\nsince the Coalition occupation of Iraq.<\/p>\n

So what is all the fuss about suicide killings? It creates headlines. It is
\nspectacular. It is frightening. It is a very cruel death with bodies
\ndismembered and horrible severe lifelong injuries to many of the wounded. It
\nis always shown on television in great detail. One such murder, with the
\nhelp of hysterical media coverage, can destroy the tourism industry of a
\ncountry for quite a while, as it did in Bali and in Turkey.<\/p>\n

But the real fear comes from the undisputed fact that no defense and no
\npreventive measures can succeed against a determined suicide murderer. This
\nhas not yet penetrated the thinking of the Western World. The U.S. and
\nEurope are constantly improving their defense against the last murder, not
\nthe next one. We may arrange for the best airport security in the world. But
\nif you want to murder by suicide, you do not have to board a plane in order
\nto explode yourself and kill many people. Who could stop a suicide murder in
\nthe midst of the crowded line waiting to be checked by the airport metal
\ndetector? How about the lines to the check-in counters in a busy travel
\nperiod? Put a metal detector in front of every train station in Spain and
\nthe terrorists will get the buses. Protect the buses and they will explode
\nin movie theaters, concert halls, supermarkets, shopping malls, schools and
\nhospitals. Put guards in front of every concert hall and there will always
\nbe a line of people to be checked by the guards and this line will be the
\ntarget, not to speak of killing the guards themselves. You can somewhat
\nreduce your vulnerability by preventive and defensive measures and by strict
\nborder controls but not eliminate it and definitely not win the war in a
\ndefensive way. And it is a war<\/p>\n

What is behind the suicide murders? Money, power and cold-blooded murderous
\nincitement, nothing else. It has nothing to do with true fanatic religious
\nbeliefs. No Moslem preacher has ever blown himself up. No son of an Arab
\npolitician or religious leader has ever blown himself. No relative of anyone
\ninfluential has done it. Wouldn’t you expect some of the religious leaders
\nto do it themselves, or to talk their sons into doing it, if this is truly a
\nsupreme act of religious fervor? Aren’t they interested in the benefits of
\ngoing to Heaven?\u00a0 Instead, they send outcast women, naive children, retarded
\npeople and young incited hotheads. They promise them the delights, mostly
\nsexual, of the next world, and pay their families handsomely after the
\nsupreme act is performed and enough innocent people are dead.<\/p>\n

Suicide murders also have nothing to do with poverty and despair. The
\npoorest region in the world, by far, is Africa. It never happens there.
\nThere are numerous desperate people in the world, in different cultures,
\ncountries and continents. Desperation does not provide anyone with
\nexplosives, reconnaissance and transportation. There was certainly more
\ndespair in Saddam’s Iraq then in Paul Bremmer’s Iraq, and no one exploded
\nhimself. A suicide murder is simply a horrible, vicious weapon of cruel,
\ninhuman, cynical, well-funded terrorists, with no regard to human life,
\nincluding the life of their fellow countrymen, but with very high regard to
\ntheir own affluent well-being and their hunger for power.<\/p>\n

The only way to fight this new “popular” weapon is identical to the only way
\nin which you fight organized crime or pirates on the high seas: the
\noffensive way. Like in the case of organized crime, it is crucial that the
\nforces on the offensive be united and it is crucial to reach the top of the
\ncrime pyramid. You cannot eliminate organized crime by arresting the little
\ndrug dealer in the street corner. You must go after the head of the
\n“Family.”<\/p>\n

If part of the public supports it, others tolerate it, many are afraid of it
\nand some try to explain it away by poverty or by a miserable childhood,
\norganized crime will thrive and so will terrorism. The United States
\nunderstands this now, after September 11. Russia is beginning to understand
\nit. Turkey understands it well. I am very much afraid that most of Europe
\nstill does not understand it.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it seems that Europe will
\nunderstand it only after suicide murders will arrive in Europe in a big way.
\nIn my humble opinion, this will definitely happen. The Spanish trains and
\nthe Istanbul bombings are only the beginning. The unity of the Civilized
\nWorld in fighting this horror is absolutely indispensable. Until Europe
\nwakes up, this unity will not be achieved.<\/p>\n

The second ingredient is words, more precisely lies. Words can be lethal.
\nThey kill people. It is often said that politicians, diplomats and perhaps
\nalso lawyers and business people must sometimes lie, as part of their
\nprofessional life. But the norms of politics and diplomacy are childish, in
\ncomparison with the level of incitement and total absolute deliberate
\nfabrications, which have reached new heights in the region we are talking
\nabout. An incredible number of people in the Arab world believe that
\nSeptember 11 never happened, or was an American provocation or, even better,
\na Jewish plot.<\/p>\n

You all remember the Iraqi Minister of Information, Mr. Mouhamad Said
\nal-Sahaf and his press conferences when the US forces were already inside
\nBaghdad. Disinformation at time of war is an accepted tactic. But to stand,
\nday after day, and to make such preposterous statements, known to everybody
\nto be lies, without even being ridiculed in your own milieu, can only happen
\nin this region. Mr. Sahaf eventually became a popular icon as a court
\njester, but this did not stop some allegedly respectable newspapers from
\ngiving him equal time. It also does not prevent the Western press from
\ngiving credence, every day, even now, to similar liars. After all, if you
\nwant to be an anti-Semite, there are subtle ways of doing it. You do not
\nhave to claim that the holocaust never happened and that the Jewish temple
\nin Jerusalem never existed. But millions of Moslems are told by their
\nleaders that this is the case. When these same leaders make other
\nstatements, the Western media report them as if they could be true.<\/p>\n

It is a daily occurrence that the same people who finance, arm and dispatch
\nsuicide murderers, condemn the act in English in front of western TV
\ncameras, talking to a world audience, which even partly believes them. It is
\na daily routine to hear the same leader making opposite statements in Arabic
\nto his people and in English to the rest of the world. Incitement by Arab
\nTV, accompanied by horror pictures of mutilated bodies, has become a
\npowerful weapon of those who lie, distort and want to destroy everything.
\nLittle children are raised on deep hatred and on admiration of so-called
\nmartyrs, and the Western World does not notice it because its own TV sets
\nare mostly tuned to soap operas and game shows. I recommend to you, even
\nthough most of you do not understand Arabic, to watch Al Jazeera, from time
\nto time. You will not believe your own eyes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0But words also work in other ways, more subtle. A demonstration in Berlin,
\nwith people carrying banners supporting Saddam’s regime and featuring
\nthree-year old babies dressed as suicide murderers, is defined by the press
\nand by political leaders as a “peace demonstration.” You may support or
\noppose the Iraq war, but to refer to fans of Saddam, Arafat or bin Laden as
\npeace activists is a bit too much. A woman walks into an Israeli restaurant
\nin mid-day, eats, observes families with old people and children eating
\ntheir lunch in the adjacent tables and pays the bill. She then blows herself
\nup, killing 20 people, including many children, with heads and arms rolling
\naround in the restaurant. She is called “martyr” by several Arab leaders and
\n“activist” by the European press. Dignitaries condemn the act but visit her
\nbereaved family and the money flows.<\/p>\n

\u00a0There is a new game in town: The actual murderer is called “the military
\nwing,” the one who pays him, equips him and sends him is now called “the
\npolitical wing” and the head of the operation is called the “spiritual
\nleader.” There are numerous other examples of such Orwellian nomenclature,
\nused every day not only by terror chiefs but also by Western media.. These
\nwords are much more dangerous than many people realize. They provide an
\nemotional infrastructure for atrocities. It was Joseph Goebels who said that
\nif you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. He is now being
\noutperformed by his successors.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The third aspect is money. Huge amounts of money, which could have solved
\nmany social problems in this dysfunctional part of the world, are channeled
\ninto three concentric spheres supporting death and murder. In the inner
\ncircle are the terrorists themselves. The money funds their travel,
\nexplosives, hideouts and permanent search for soft vulnerable targets. They
\nare surrounded by a second wider circle of direct supporters, planners,
\ncommanders, preachers, all of whom make a living, usually a very comfortable
\nliving, by serving as terror infrastructure. Finally, we find the third
\ncircle of so-called religious, educational and welfare organizations, which
\nactually do some good, feed the hungry and provide some schooling, but
\nbrainwash a new generation with hatred, lies and ignorance. This circle
\noperates mostly through mosques, madrasas and other religious establishments
\nbut also through inciting electronic and printed media. It is this circle
\nthat makes sure that women remain inferior, that democracy is unthinkable
\nand that exposure to the outside world is minimal. It is also that circle
\nthat leads the way in blaming everybody outside the Moslem world, for the
\nmiseries of the region.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Figuratively speaking, this outer circle is the guardian, which makes sure
\nthat the people look and listen inwards to the inner circle of terror and
\nincitement, rather than to the world outside. Some parts of this same outer
\ncircle actually operate as a result of fear from, or blackmail by, the inner
\ncircles. The horrifying added factor is the high birth rate. Half of the
\npopulation of the Arab world is under the age of 20, the most receptive age
\nto incitement, guaranteeing two more generations of blind hatred.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Of the three circles described above, the inner circles are primarily
\nfinanced by terrorist states like Iran and Syria, until recently also by
\nIraq and Libya and earlier also by some of the Communist regimes.\u00a0 These
\nstates, as well as the Palestinian Authority, are the safe havens of the
\nwholesale murder vendors. The outer circle is largely financed by Saudi
\nArabia, but also by donations from certain Moslem communities in the United
\nStates and Europe and, to a smaller extent, by donations of European
\nGovernments to various NGO’s and by certain United Nations organizations,
\nwhose goals may be noble, but they are infested and exploited by agents of
\nthe outer circle. The Saudi regime, of course, will be the next victim of
\nmajor terror, when the inner circle will explode into the outer circle. The
\nSaudis are beginning to understand it, but they fight the inner circles,
\nwhile still financing the infrastructure at the outer circle.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Some of the leaders of these various circles live very comfortably on their
\nloot. You meet their children in the best private schools in Europe, not in
\nthe training camps of suicide murderers. The Jihad “soldiers” join packaged
\ndeath tours to Iraq and other hotspots, while some of their leaders ski in
\nSwitzerland. Mrs. Arafat, who lives in Paris with her daughter, receives
\ntens of thousands of dollars per month from the allegedly bankrupt
\nPalestinian Authority while a typical local ringleader of the Al-Aksa
\nbrigade, reporting to Arafat, receives only a cash payment of a couple of
\nhundred dollars, for performing murders at the retail level.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The fourth element of the current world conflict is the total breaking of
\nall laws. The civilized world believes in democracy, the rule of law,
\nincluding international law, human rights, free speech and free press, among
\nother liberties. There are naive old-fashioned habits such as respecting
\nreligious sites and symbols, not using ambulances and hospitals for acts of
\nwar, avoiding the mutilation of dead bodies and not using children as human
\nshields or human bombs. Never in history, not even in the Nazi period, was
\nthere such total disregard of all of the above as we observe now. Every
\nstudent of political science debates how you prevent an anti-democratic
\nforce from winning a democratic election and abolishing democracy. Other
\naspects of a civilized society must also have limitations. Can a policeman
\nopen fire on someone trying to kill him? Can a government listen to phone
\nconversations of terrorists and drug dealers? Does free speech protects you
\nwhen you shout “fire” in a crowded theater? Should there be death penalty
\nfor deliberate multiple murders? These are the old-fashioned dilemmas. But
\nnow we have an entire new set.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Do you raid a mosque which serves as a terrorist ammunition storage? Do you
\nreturn fire, if you are attacked from a hospital? Do you storm a church
\ntaken over by terrorists who took the priests hostages? Do you search every
\nambulance after a few suicide murderers use ambulances to reach their
\ntargets? Do you strip every woman because one pretended to be pregnant and
\ncarried a suicide bomb on her belly? Do you shoot back at someone trying to
\nkill you, standing deliberately behind a group of children? Do you raid
\nterrorist headquarters, hidden in a mental hospital? Do you shoot an
\narch-murderer who deliberately moves from one location to another, always
\nsurrounded by children? All of these happen daily in Iraq and in the
\nPalestinian areas. What do you do? Well, you do not want to face the
\ndilemma. But it cannot be avoided.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Suppose, for the sake of discussion, that someone would openly stay in a
\nwell-known address in Teheran, hosted by the Iranian Government and financed
\nby it, executing one atrocity after another in Spain or in France, killing
\nhundreds of innocent people, accepting responsibility for the crimes,
\npromising in public TV interviews to do more of the\u00a0 same, while the
\nGovernment of Iran issues public condemnations of his acts but continues to
\nhost him, invite him to official functions and treat him as a great
\ndignitary. I leave it to you as homework to figure out what Spain or France
\nwould have done, in such a situation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The problem is that the civilized world is still having illusions about the
\nrule of law in a totally lawless environment. It is trying to play ice
\nhockey by sending a ballerina ice-skater into the rink, or trying to knock
\nout a heavyweight boxer with a chess player. In the same way that no country
\nhas a law against cannibals eating its prime minister, because such an act
\nis unthinkable, international law does not address killers shooting from
\nhospitals, mosques and ambulances, while being protected by their Government
\nor society. International law does not know how to handle someone who sends
\nchildren to throw stones, stands behind them and shoots with immunity and
\ncannot be arrested because he is sheltered by a Government. International
\nlaw does not know how to deal with a leader of murderers who is royally and
\ncomfortably hosted by a country which pretends to condemn his acts or just
\nclaims to be too weak to arrest him.. The amazing thing is that all of these
\ncrooks demand protection under international law and define all those who
\nattack them as war criminals, with some Western media repeating the
\nallegations. The good news is that all of this is temporary, because the
\nevolution of international law has always adapted itself to reality. The
\npunishment for suicide murder should be death or arrest before the murder,
\nnot during and not after. After every world war, the rules of international
\nlaw have changed and the same will happen after the present one. But during
\nthe twilight zone, a lot of harm can be done.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The picture I described here is not pretty. What can we do about it? In the
\nshort run, only fight and win. In the long run – only educate the next
\ngeneration and open it to the world. The inner circles can and must be
\ndestroyed by force. The outer circle cannot be eliminated by force. Here we
\nneed financial starvation of the organizing elite, more power to women, more
\neducation, counter propaganda, boycott whenever feasible and access to
\nWestern media, Internet and the international scene. Above all, we need a
\ntotal absolute unity and determination of the civilized world against all
\nthree circles of evil.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Allow me, for a moment, to depart from my alleged role as a taxi driver and
\nreturn to science. When you have a malignant tumor, you may remove the tumor
\nitself surgically. You may also starve it by preventing new blood from
\nreaching it from other parts of the body, thereby preventing new “supplies”
\nfrom expanding the tumor. If you want to be sure, it is best to do both.<\/p>\n

\u00a0But before you fight and win, by force or otherwise, you have to realize
\nthat you are in a war, and this may take Europe a few more years. In order
\nto win, it is necessary to first eliminate the terrorist regimes, so that no
\nGovernment in the world will serve as a safe haven for these people. I do
\nnot want to comment here on whether the American-led attack on Iraq was
\njustified from the point of view of weapons of mass destruction or any other
\npre-war argument, but I can look at the post-war map of Western Asia. Now
\nthat Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya are out, two and a half terrorist states
\nremain: Iran, Syria and Lebanon, the latter being a Syrian colony. Perhaps
\nSudan should be added to the list. As a result of the conquest of
\nAfghanistan and Iraq, both Iran and Syria are now totally surrounded by
\nterritories unfriendly to them. Iran is encircled by Afghanistan, by the
\nGulf States, Iraq and the Moslem republics of the former Soviet Union. Syria
\nis surrounded by Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel. This is a significant
\nstrategic change and it applies strong pressure on the terrorist countries.
\nIt is not surprising that Iran is so active in trying to incite a Shiite
\nuprising in Iraq. I do not know if the American plan was actually to
\nencircle both Iran and Syria, but that is the resulting situation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In my humble opinion, the number one danger to the world today is Iran and
\nits regime. It definitely has ambitions to rule vast areas and to expand in
\nall directions. It has an ideology, which claims supremacy over Western
\nculture. It is ruthless. It has proven that it can execute elaborate
\nterrorist acts without leaving too many traces, using Iranian Embassies. It
\nis clearly trying to develop Nuclear Weapons. Its so-called moderates and
\nconservatives play their own virtuoso version of the “good-cop versus
\nbad-cop” game. Iran sponsors Syrian terrorism, it is certainly behind much
\nof the action in Iraq, it is fully funding the Hezbollah and, through it,
\nthe Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad, it performed acts of terror at
\nleast in Europe and in South America and probably also in Uzbekhistan and
\nSaudi Arabia and it truly leads a multi-national terror consortium, which
\nincludes, as minor players, Syria, Lebanon and certain Shiite elements in
\nIraq. Nevertheless,most European countries still trade with Iran, try to
\nappease it and refuse to read the clear signals.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In order to win the war it is also necessary to dry the financial resources
\nof the terror conglomerate. It is pointless to try to understand the subtle
\ndifferences between the Sunni terror of Al Qaida and Hamas and the Shiite
\nterror of Hezbollah, Sadr and other Iranian inspired enterprises. When it
\nserves their business needs, all of them collaborate beautifully.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It is crucial to stop Saudi and other financial support of the outer
\ncircle, which is the fertile breeding ground of terror. It is important to
\nmonitor all donations from the Western World to Islamic organizations, to
\nmonitor the finances of international relief organizations and to react with
\nforceful economic measures to any small sign of financial aid to any of the
\nthree circles of terrorism.\u00a0 It is also important to act decisively against
\nthe campaign of lies and fabrications and to monitor those Western media who
\ncollaborate with it out of naivety, financial interests or ignorance.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Above all, never surrender to terror. No one will ever know whether the
\nrecent elections in Spain would have yielded a different result, if not for
\nthe train bombings a few days earlier. But it really does not matter. What
\nmatters is that the terrorists believe that they caused the result and that
\nthey won by driving Spain out of Iraq. The Spanish story will surely end up
\nbeing extremely costly to other European countries, including France, who is
\nnow expelling inciting preachers and forbidding veils and including others
\nwho sent troops to Iraq. In the long run, Spain itself will pay even more.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Is the solution a democratic Arab world? If by democracy we mean free
\nelections but also free press, free speech, a functioning judicial system,
\ncivil liberties, equality to women, free international travel, exposure to
\ninternational media and ideas, laws against racial incitement and against
\ndefamation, and avoidance of lawless behavior regarding hospitals, places of
\nworship and children, then yes, democracy is the solution. If democracy is
\njust free elections, it is likely that the most fanatic regime will be
\nelected, the one whose incitement and fabrications are the most
\ninflammatory. We have seen it already in Algeria and, to a certain extent,
\nin Turkey. It will happen again, if the ground is not prepared very
\ncarefully. On the other hand, a certain transition democracy, as in Jordan,
\nmay be a better temporary solution, paving the way for the real thing,
\nperhaps in the same way that an immediate sudden democracy did not work in
\nRussia and would not have worked in China.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I have no doubt that the civilized world will prevail. But the longer it
\ntakes us to understand the new landscape of this war, the more costly and
\npainful the victory will be. Europe, more than any other region, is the key.
\nIts understandable recoil from wars, following the horrors of World War II,
\nmay cost thousands of additional innocent lives, before the tide will turn.”<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.freerepublic.com\/focus\/f-news\/1167830\/posts<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Convention Lecture | April, 2004 | Haim Harari \u00a0HAIM HARARI, a theoretical physicist, is the Chair, Davidson Institute of Science Education, and Former President, from 1988 to 2001, of the Weizmann Institute of Science. \u00a0During his years as President of the Institute, it entered numerous new scientific fields and projects, built 47 new buildings, raised […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-war","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elbertcounty.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}