“Previous administrations, Republican and Democrat, very sharply resisted” the Middle East foreign policy outlook of America’s new president, Donald Trump. So argued George Washington University Middle East studies professor Nathan Brown during the February 7 presentation “Trump’s Foreign Policy Positions on Palestine and the Middle East” at Washington, DC’s anti-Israel Jerusalem Fund. The hackneyed views of the panelists and, presumably, the largely leftist audience of about fifty, including two women in Code Pink attire and “pussy hats,” strengthened the case for Trump’s anti-establishment approach.
Brown skeptically referenced Trump’s “conviction that the United States is in a civilizational battle.” Trump considers the “necessity to eliminate radical Islamic terrorism” a “very, very core theme,” thereby raising a “suspicion on some people’s parts that ‘radical Islamic terrorism’ is really a synonym for Islam.” As an example, Brown cited Trump’s references to global Muslim support for executing apostates, a factual observation of Islam’s political pathologies.
Brown condemned the “extremely pugnacious tone” of Trump and his administration, particularly forthcoming ambassador to Israel David Friedman, to whom he attributed “very, very strong, even deeply offensive statements about people who disagree with him.” He fretted—seemingly without irony—that “it is difficult to think analytically when you have so many verbal fireworks and, sort of, bombs being set off.” Brown ignored whether an unorthodox approach might improve upon the recurring failures of the Middle East foreign policy establishment.
The never-ending Arab-Israeli conflict exemplifies this uncritical acceptance of the status quo. Brown noted the past decade’s “ineffectual flailing in the context of a peace process that was created in the 1980s and 1990s.” He maintained that the Oslo Accords peace process had “viability in that time,” but “died in the mid-2000s, around the time of the Palestinian elections of 2006,” which ultimately brought Hamas to power in the Gaza Strip. The conflict in recent years has “metastasized” into a “generational struggle between two societies,” he maintained, disregarding the Islamic supremacism underling Palestinian rejection of Israel. At least now, Brown rightfully recognizes that the conflict is “not one in which some sort of concerted diplomatic push” will succeed.
Although wrong to demand that both sides undertake reforms in equal measure, Brown grasped the truth that there should be a
focus on developments within these societies, ways in which a younger generation of Palestinian political activists are just fundamentally different and check out of the questions and the structures that are answerable to the past, one in which the Israeli political spectrum is shifted in some important ways. . . . It makes sense to take a much longer perspective and not worry about what the administration said last week.
University of Maryland professor and longtime Middle East pollster Shibley Telhami, meanwhile, clung to tired, failed Middle East foreign policy concepts, including the traditional two-state solution. He was distraught at the thought of Trump initiating a “shift in paradigm” whereby policymakers could entertain ideas such as “it’s not an occupation in the West Bank; we shouldn’t support a Palestinian state; support annexation of blocs of settlements.” Reiterating the myth that Israeli settlements are key to peace, he wondered “how much damage will take place” under Trump and whether the U.S. will “be permissive of massive change on the ground” in the disputed territories from the 1967 war.
Telhami condemned Israeli “occupation” of the ancestral Jewish heartland in Judea and Samaria and rejected out of hand any connection between Islam and violence. “When someone says it is not occupation, who is going to spearhead the fight that it is occupation? When you say Islam is terrorism, who is going to spearhead the fight” against this claim, he asked.
Telhami drew hope from polling data suggesting that the Palestinians’ supposed “demand for justice actually is resonating more to America than in the past.” Similarly, he lauded the disgraceful United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which falsely called Israeli building in the West Bank and even East Jerusalem illegal, for restating “that every single inch of the territories were to be considered occupied territory.” For Telhami, it demonstrated an “international public opinion that is still very strongly on the side of fairness,” a “fairness” that apparently includes labeling Judaism’s holiest site, the Wailing Wall, “occupied.”
The panelists may have legitimate concerns about the Trump Administration’s impetuosity, but possibilities for change are preferable to the dead end policies they proffered. The dangers of Islamic supremacism deserve fresh scrutiny after years of policymakers’ politically-correct willful blindness. Likewise, rather than rote sloganeering about “land for peace,” Israel deserves the chance to apply the pressures necessary to defeat an enemy that has consistently opposed its existence. Trump will receive plenty of advice, but he would do well to avoid such Middle East studies establishment figures such as Brown and Telhami.
Andrew E. Harrod is a freelance researcher and writer who holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a J.D. from George Washington University Law School. He is a fellow with the Lawfare Project. Follow him on Twitter at @AEHarrod. This essay was sponsored by Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.
DFD says
Off Topic, thoughts and comments from Europe
====================================.
To commence, something strange. Something extraordinary happens once during a given time frame. OK, twice – coincidence, quite possible, thrice….?
Germany: Dr. Rudolf Ulfkotte died recently, heart attack. Few weeks ago Mrs. Susanne Kablitz committed suicide. Age 47, good looking, married leaving two children. Life of the party type. For years an anti Islam activist. Prof. Rolf Peter Sieferle, renowned academic, politically incorrect and outspoken, two books: ‘Finis Germania’ and ‘Das Migrationsproblem’, mid 50’s, healthy, no known problems – suicide…
Trump seems to have begun with ‘purges’, wee, replacements, overdue. I hope he stays on course.
Netherlands: Gert Wilders has announced the election platform for his PVV: Zero asylum, the de-Islamizing of the Netherlands, the revoking of all “asylum” grants, the banning of all immigration from Muslim nations, and withdrawing from the European Union. A clear line, he can make it with that.
Denmark: The Danish parliament has decided, 55:54 out of 170 possible votes, to take measures against the ‘alienation’. The declared it to be unacceptable that there are now areas where Danes are in the minority. I don’t have info about these ‘measures’ to be taken.
Germany, the AfD: There’s a struggle within the AfD, between the Petry/Pretzell (her husband) wing and between Gauland and Meuthen. It appears that Petry wants to appaeal to mainstream voters, whilst Meuthen wants to appeal more to nationalist/traditionalist voters. The struggle broke into the open because of a statement by Hoecke. The Petry wing has launched a party-exclusion process against Hoecke. It seems to be a struggle for outright leadership too. Hoecke was just the trigger.
Which is of course bad news for us, the AfD lost on avg. 4% in the polls. The readers of the alternative media urge restraint, or at least to wait till after the election. So do various AfD members. And so do I…
DFD says
Update on Germany
================.
AfD: It appears Frauke Petry has lost her marbles. She launched legal action against “Compact”, demanding about €15,000 because compact reported correctly that she started the exclusion procedure against Hoecke. Compact is a growing online magazine, as well as a growing print magazine – and was always, and most strongly, supporting the AfD. From day one.
Compact, Meuthen (one of the AfD leaders) and Gauland (Chairman I believe, anyway, grand old man of AfD) are holding a support for Hoecke session… That’s what’s needed, infighting in the election year. In Europe’s strongest country which is under most pressure from the greens (anarchists and left). Terrific, no?
Custos Custodum says
Trump’s team will need to take DRASTIC steps to drain the European swamp as well, lest the leftist malaria re-infect the U.S.
Remember Barry made a point of handing off the globalist baton to Angela Merkel – Barry’s last official visit.
Inconceivable! says
Why doesn’t this libertard bother to SHAVE? He’s probably living in a tent in a friend’s back yard! Why do these idiots think their opinions have any validity? The FLETCHER school of law? I have a PhD and a JD and an MBA from Big-10 universities….I’ve never heard of Fletcher (other than as amemorial home in a Pink Floyd song)…some hole-in-the-wall place with 2 professors and a dozen students? Is this the best the commies can come up with? Some obscure dimwit who doesn’t even practice regular personal hygiene? Anyway, my observations: this narrative misses one important point: the Muslims are still fighting the crusades! They’ve invaded Europe with an unarmed army…robbing and raping their way across the continent! If Europe wishes not to be enslaved under Sharia law, they need to wake-the-fuck-up and fight back!
Andrew E Harrod says
I have a Fletcher PhD, not Nathan Brown. I have no beard. The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy is America’s oldest international relations graduate school, having graduated NATO SACEURs John Galvin and James Stavrides, among others. I know personally that the Fletcher School is not a place for “commies.”
Elmo Glick says
Fletcher School is a major school in international relations. It has a very prestigious reputation. I wouldn’t know about the ideological climate of the school, but I would think it’s somewhat mainstream.
Walter Sieruk says
Actually what some people refer to as “radical Islamic terrorism ” is really one of the results of the religion that is Islam . One of the results or outcomes as it also may be called is the brutal and deadly jihad organization ISIS.As the following essay explains .
The cruel ,vicious and murderous jihadists thugs who compose the brutal and deadly jihad entity ISIS are actually putting in to the practice ,with all their ruthless actions, the violence and killing that is part of the teaching of the “holy book” of Islam ,the Koran. Which contain the doctrine of extreme violent force for the advancement of Islam. As seen in the Koran, for example, 2:191,4:89. 5:33. 9:5,111,123. 47:4. So in spite of the strong denials by many, ISIS is an actual Islamic organization. Likewise the malicious, bloodthirsty violence jihadists who make up ISIS are real Muslims. Nevertheless, there are some who might , understandably, wonder and then ask “Just how can those jihadists of ISIS ,being so very religious , also at the time also be so very malice-filled ,unfeeling and deadly ? “ The answer to that question is found in the Bible. For the Bible teaches that there are some people who are extremely heartless, cold, callous and dangerous because they have had “their conscience seared with a hot iron.” First Timothy 4:2. [ K.J.V.] In this case of the members of ISIS this “hot iron” is Islam.
Coral Searle says
Very true. NO islam = NO problem. Worldwide.
old white guy says
radical islam is not a synonym for islam, it is islam.
Carolyne says
I wonder how much money George Washington University’s Dept. of Middle Eastern Studies gets from Saudi Arabia. Do they have their own grandiose building funded by a Saudi prince? That would tend to skew them in this direction.
Kay says
@ Carolyn
Good question. One could probably find out.
Walter Sieruk says
What is called “Radical Islamic Terrorism” , is very much based on religion. The religion of Islam For Islam’s “holy book” the Qur ‘an [the Koran] instructs on the use of violence and killing for the advancement of Islam. As found in ,for example 2:191. 4:89. 5:33. 9:5,111,123. 47:4. Furthermore, it may be illustrated that if Islam is represented as a tree then the fruits then the fruits of that tree are the many brutal, violent and deadly jihad terror entities. Such as ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, al Shabaab , Hamas, Hezbollah, P.I.J. etc. With this statement, the Wisdom of the teachings of Jesus may, very much, apply to this subject. For Jesus taught “Ye do know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” After saying this Jesus told them what He told them when He said “By their fruit ye shall know them.” Matthew 7:16, 17, 18,.20. [K.J.V.] In conclusion, Islam is a corrupt tree and also a false religion, Proverbs 14:12. John 14:6. First John 2:22,23. 4:14,15. 5:12,13,20.
billybob says
If Islam is represented as a tree then the fruits then the fruits of that tree are the many brutal, violent and deadly jihad terror entities.
Very well put!
Coral Searle says
At any moment they can go jihad with no warning, and there is no way to tell which ones are a threat and which are not. So our choices are to either admit that islam is incompatible with the civilised world and expel it completely, or accept this never-ending terror and violence as a normal way of life. A society can have either peace and prosperity or islam. NEVER both.
AleX says
Very true and reasoned, Coral. It will soon come to that in Western societies. First country to officially ban islam will be followed by others. I am sure some sociologists are working on drafting projects for the future laws already, laws banning islam. The process of collecting information concerning this dangerous, seditious ideology has already started. What they need is to formulate a law and add it to the Chart of Rights. Banning islam is in fact a human right. We have the right to be kept away from it.
overman says
lt’s going to get a lot worse in lsrael, now that Hamas has elected a new Hard-Line leader.
Walter Sieruk says
Many times the jihadist members of different Islamic terror entities have gathered together and chanted the words “We love death, they love life.” Likewise those jihadist/Muslims don’t stop with those awful words; they carry through with jihad suicide/homicide attacks. Any sane person would ask “Why do those jihad –minded Muslims have such a mindset of murderous madness?” The answer is that they obtain the way of thinking and believing from the “holy book” of Islam, the Koran. As some people call it the Qu ‘ran. For example the Koran in Sura 9:111 instructs “The believers fight in Allah’s Cause, they slay and are slain, they kill and are killed.” Therefore it may be conclude that Islam is actually a death cult. In great and wonderful contrast to the death cult which is Islam there is Christianity which is centered on Jesus and His teachings. For Jesus did not teach killing and death but taught and gave life, a good peaceful well lived life and more. For example Jesus declared “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10. [K.J.V.]
Coral Searle says
100% correct.
Wellington says
“Trump Upsets the Academic Foreign Policy Establishment”
Good. Only a President who would do so would be an American President doing his job since the “Academic Foreign Policy Establishment” has proven to anyone who is properly informed, has retained their common sense and has not abandoned clear moral reasoning that said establishment, treated in the aggregate with exceptions of course, is a wretched, pampered, destructive, overeducated and overpaid lot of dunces who continue to get things wrong again and again and again———and yet never learn.
This is why I coined an acronym to describe such underwhelming and harmful people, that being “DWD,” which stands for “Dodos With Doctorates.” Anymore, they can be found most everywhere. Yes, they’re practically ubiquitous. Damn shame.
Kepha says
Over-schooled, dear friend, not over-educated.
Abu Nudnik says
Nathan Brown is wrong. There is not now, nor has there ever been, a sovereign state called Palestine. It is the name for the provinces of Judea and Samaria, renamed Palestina by the Romans in 165 AD, after the Philistine Road, which led from Gaza to Alexandria. Israel therefore did not replace such a state in 1948. There is not one piece of evidence that such a state ever existed. No membership in an international body, no ambassador to or from it, no bilateral agreement of any kind.
sencit says
Absolutely correct!
No archaeological evidence, no history, nothing at all.
Angemon says
Good. And seeing how he didn’t make a secret out of that (much to the contrary, he said it loud and proud) and was elected, it’s safe to say his message resonated with the American population.
That’s because those people are most likely morons.
Well, is that true or false? If its true, that’s not Trump’s fault, is it? And if it’s true, and Trump is out to “eliminate” the support for killing apostates, it can be done in several ways. Like, for example, funding a project to reinterpretate islamic texts and do away with the death penalty. But no, the aforementioned morons are seemingly working in a “Trump wants to eliminate islamic terrorism and most muslims in the world support the killing of apostates, therefore Trump wants to eliminate most muslims in the world. Oh, no, I can’t let Trump eliminate the people who would kill others for leaving their religion” mindset – why have a charitable interpretation of what Trump says, or even ask for clarification, when they have a perfectly nice narrative where they are the good guys fighting the power and defending an “oppressed minority”? “Oppressed minority” in non-muslim majority nations only (end even then only when they’re a residual population) because there’s a mountain of evidence from muslim-majority nations showing what happens to non-muslims there.
“Deeply offensive”? Oh, the poor, hurt feelings!
Lol. The man beat career politicians and a hostile, corrupted media to secure the nomination and win the Presidency, even with the “verbal fireworks and bombs” and alleged difficulty in thinking analytically. What else can he possibly do to get some sort of credit from the likes of Nathan Brown? Reminds me of a joke I heard once: Jesus Christ returned to Earth to assess the status of Mankind, and he disguised himself as a doctor from the National Health Service. His first appointment was a paraplegic man. The man entered Jesus’ office and before he could say a word, Jesus told him “Get up and walk, whatever your maladies were, you’re now healed”. The man did so, thanked him and left the office. The other patients in the waiting room were surprised to see him walking and asked him what happened. The man replied: “same s*** as always with these NHS doctors, didn’t ask me how I was doing or gave me a proper physical examination”.
Custos Custodum says
Should we even have (and pay for) an “Academic Foreign Policy Establishment”?
98% of these “scholars” are hard-core ideologues. A rigid system of undocumented and tacit taboos controls what may and may not be said. Taboo facts are anathema.
Note, for example, the seemingly sophisticated approach to ethnic subversion. We are supposed not to suspect Sibley Telhami of harboring pro-Islamic sympathies.
At the level of a social host, such agnosticism is good manners and a humane attitude. (Key “diversity” rant here.)
At the level of running a supposedly academic system, the “don’t ask don’t tell” approach to national loyalty is nothing short of suicidal.
common sense says
Another indicator that we can win.
tgusa says
Welcome to the party pals! President Trump upsets all of the usual players because his ideas are populist. and really for all of us that only want better. Where Americans lead, our friends a will follow. And that is dangerous to all of them. Trump is upsetting all Apple carts, and it hasn’t been but one month.
Dominic says
Donald
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/who-created-eu-zone-hitler-islam-dominic-jermano
Trump
dumbledoresarmy says
I would encourage Islamoresistant Indians such as yourself to contact PM Modi and urge him to publicly invite President Donald Trump to visit India.
The USA needs to *disengage* from Pakistani and Afghanistan – bigtime; cessation of ‘aid’ and other ties that have all worked to detriment of USA – and *realign* towards India.
India and the USA is in many ways a good ‘fit’. Both have huge internal problems at the moment, of course, but nothing that commonsense and courage cannot fix. Both need to ‘lose’ a dhimmi mindset – US externally (its dead-end relationships with Turkey, Indonesia, EMirates, House of Saud, and so on) and Indian internally (its politicians’ tendency to appease its large and dangerous mohammedan fifth-column).
My prayer as an *Australian* – belonging to a country that a/ has a longstanding alliance with the USA and b/ *also* is related to India because of our shared past as part of the ‘British Commonwealth’ – for *both* the USA *and* India is that their leaders, and their people, will be set free from a dhimmi mindset toward Islam; that they will be given both courage and wisdom. Because if *they* can shake off dhimmitude, and push back against the Mohammedans, then that will be good for *them*…and *also* good for us, and for the whole infidel world.
Steve Klein says
Mr. Harrod wrote: (Nathan Brown) “maintained that the Oslo Accords peace process had “viability in that time,” but “died in the mid-2000s, around the time of the Palestinian elections of 2006,” which ultimately brought Hamas to power in the Gaza Strip….”
From the piece (How Did Hamas Come to Power in Gaza?) linked to: “In 1993, Israel ceded governmental control of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority as part of the Oslo peace accords. In 2005, Israel withdrew its soldiers from Gaza and mandated that all Israeli settlers evacuate the area. The Palestinian Authority called an election the following year, and Hamas, a radical Islamic organization labeled as a terrorist group by many countries, won a majority of seats in parliament…”
In other words, Hamas is the democratically elected government of the ‘Palestinian’ peoples in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, by means of an election President George W. Bush and his Sec. of State (Condoleezza Rice) called free and fair. Only the Bush administration refused to recognize the will of the ‘Palestinian’ peoples and denied Hamas’ legitimacy. Bush instead insisted the leader ‘Palestinians’ rejected, Mahmoud Abbas, was “a man of peace; a man of vision.”
Carolyne says
And George W Bush is an idiot.
Dexter L. Wilson says
Why does the left want people in this country that could create hundreds of Terrorist activities considering that Muslims can Lie (Taquiya) to unbelievers so they could take a pledge to obey American Laws and being lying the whole time.
underbed cat says
The command from allah to spread Islam, is actually a command to flood a country thru migration, but before the massive migration begins the MB organizations must quietly set up mosques which start out small but organize and settle, then the process is to acquire an education for members to get entry into job positions, establish muslim groups in universities to promote information about Islam with many omissions about sharia laws or outright silence, to start the darwa or of offering this choice to others. Appearing peaceful, young and pious, they also start a campaign to discredit the host country. Finding little cracks to enter to inflame many which soon then uses any opportunity to exploit issues. In poorer countries the violence comes faster….and is always denied to be blamed elsewhere. It works so well due to the fact that the verbal darwa may be different than the doctrine which calls for jihad of the non believers and is actually in the little book with the commands. Add to that leftist idealism, funding from foreign countries and they start process to create a educational environment that will grow with omissions and silencing criticism. So if Trump upsets the academic trained foreign policy experts, who may have muslim partners who know that words they say will never be analyzed differently, such as” peace” and “tolerance” they will never know something is being omitted, and that is that those words don’t get extended to anyone else.
Peter Shearer says
” raising a “suspicion on some people’s parts that ‘radical Islamic terrorism’ is really a synonym for Islam.””
Well, actually it is. I have been pointing this out for years. The problem with understanding this is the result of a misappropriation of the English language by the left. Like all Orwellian words; radical has been morphed to mean the opposite of what it is supposed to mean.
The word radical derives from the Latin radix which means ‘root’.(base if you will). The symbol used in mathematics to indicate a square root, √, is called ‘the radical’. Root vegetables such as carrots are classified as radicals. In chemistry the term radical was used by Lavoisier way back in 1789 to mean the root base of certain acids (again, from the Latin word “radix” meaning “root”).
So, jihadist Islam is radical because it represents one of the root elements of Islamic doctrine.