By Ira Sharkansky
JERUSALEM — The evil genie is out of the bottle.
And there are no good ideas for a quick fix.
There are too many Muslims living in western societies, supporting too many radical preachers, and reading from too many exciting and inciting web sites.
The dangerous may only be a small fraction of the Muslims among us, but they are difficult to find and deal with.
Moreover, they keep coming, due to chaos in what had been their homelands.
Westerners are both blessed and limited by the rules of civil rights and humanitarian attitudes that have become part of us, especially since World War II.
Countries act to screen migrants, but there are too many for the process to be thorough.
The most recent example of administrative screw-ups is that Orlando killer. Born in the US, he was a citizen by right. He was interviewed twice by the FBI, with some kind of follow-up, until he bought weapons and began what ended his life and 49 others.
There is pressure in western societies to allow migration, and to go easy on the illegals. Who else will do the menial work?
Freedom of religion and free speech are admirable values, but they get in the way of protecting us from hate and violence.
We learned long ago that you cannot administer public affairs with delicacy and sensitivity. It would be ideal, but isn’t likely to work. Keep it simple, stupid, is an essential rule of public administration. Don’t count on the personnel at the work place to be careful and sensitive.
We can forget about monitoring what the preachers say in mosques and the teachers in Muslim religious schools. And we can forget about monitoring the Internet.
It might help by educating the US President. There is something about Islam and Muslims that is problematic.
His efforts to avoid offense have produced ridicule at home and throughout the Middle East, where Muslims recognize as well as anyone the dangers from religious fanaticism.
Officials could start by pressuring Muslim religious and political leaders to protect their own best interests.
We should expect more from Muslims than expressions of regret and sympathy after incidents such as Orlando, or assertions that the killer was not a “true Muslim.”
For their own good, Muslims should be more active in monitoring their people, and dealing with those who threaten the status of their community.
The status quo serves politicians like Donald Trump and his equivalents among right wing European and Israeli nationalists.
Muslims can expect ugliness from non-Muslims if they do not move firmly against their extremists. Individuals may encounter actions ranging from outbursts of anti-Muslim violence to problems in getting hired or renting an apartment. Official policies may remain even-handed and politically correct, but Muslims may experience the kind of rough treatment that Blacks get from local police.
People who look Middle Eastern are also likely to suffer, even though they may not be Muslim. Or if Muslims, may be outspoken in their opposition to radicalism.
Israel can get away with ethnic profiling, due in part to its large non-Muslim majority, and well trained security personnel. To expect something similar from US police or TSA inspectors at the airports stretches credibility and optimism.
Israel’s ethnic profiling does not only work against Arabs. Jews are treated differently than Muslims with respect to the Temple Mount. Jews may enter only via one entrance, which is closed at times of Muslim prayer or tension, and may not pray while on the Temple Mount.
Time and good luck may be the only answers for the threat of Islam. Good luck in not being in the wrong place at the wrong time. And time, as well as good luck, for this wave of fanaticism to recede.
It should help to continue combating the centers of militant Islam where they have gotten a foothold in the Middle East and Africa. However, success will require greater cooperation from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other Muslim governments, Each have their own list of the movements, militias, and doctrines that they view as legitimate or hostile, deserving financial and material aid, or requiring military attack.
We can also hope for a more effective government in Nigeria.
Barack Obama deserves praise as well as ridicule. Along with his problems in putting terror and Islam in the same sentence are all those Muslim fighters (along with the collateral damage of innocents) he has killed by attacking hostile centers in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. He hasn’t put many American boots on the ground. “Advisers” may number in the thousands, but the mass deployment done by George W. Bush is not on the cards in this administration, and maybe not in the next, no matter who wins in November. Iraq and Afghanistan are not counted among American successes. Air power along with cooperation from Muslim governments may be the best that can be done. However, it won’t end the Muslim threat quickly or completely, and will have the side effect of provoking Muslims already in the west.
We are looking at a long war of attrition, with “solution” kept to the ranting of politicians and commentators who think like them.
The Israel-Palestine conflict is a small part of the larger picture, There is no end in sight, with animosity and acts of violence provoked by religious and nationalist fanaticism, not all of which is Muslim.
Jews should be sensitive to the problems at the interface of religion and legitimacy. We are not all on the same page that is relevant to our relations with non-Jews, the various sects of Judaism, homosexuality, the Land of Israel, and how to deal with those who oppose our views about all of those topics.
It’s to our credit that few of us are violent in behalf of our politics or religion, even though it is not a point that convinces those enamored of BDS.
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Sharkansky is professor emeritus of political science at Hebrew University. He may be contacted via ira.sharkansky@sdjewishworld.com. Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)