basement and type
my assignments
for school on
Goering's field
typewriter.
I have always
been proud of dad,
who did not want
to talk about what
he did during the
1st Lt. Shapiro on
war. When I was
April 12, 1945,
13, we were
less than one month watching a televi-
before he caught
sion program on
Hermann Goering. Sunday night. My
dad was named in
the 20th Century program as "Goering's
guard" in The Story of Goering.
It is an honor to meet survivors of the
Holocaust, Hidden Children and their
families. It is an honor to meet veterans
of the Allied Forces. It is a privilege, to
look into their eyes, to hear their stories.
This moment in time is fleeting.
May we always remember.
❑
supporters from all walks of campus
life to express their opposition pub-
licly. They organized conservatives
and progressives, blacks and whites,
Jews and Christians to stand with
Israel, and relied on their friend and
ally, the student assembly president,
whose systematic deconstruction of
the case for divestment ultimately tor-
pedoed the resolution.
Pro-Israel students at Washington
University in St. Louis recently turned
out 600 people for an Israeli hip-hop
concert by securing the co-sponsor-
ship of 50 distinct student organiza-
tions with which they had established
ties, including the African-American,
Latino-American and Christian stu-
dent associations.
Activists at the University of Iowa
engaged campus political leaders
beyond their traditional base by organ-
izing a pro-Israel conference featuring
two members of Congress, and which
was attended by College Democrats,
College Republicans, and student gov-
ernment officials from more than a
dozen Iowa universities with little or no
Jewish infrastructure.
These examples are not exceptional
but reflect a national trend of more
sophisticated pro-Israel campus
activism. If members of our community
have missed this phenomenon, it is
because much of today's most signifi-
cant and effective advocacy takes place
under the media's radar at countless stu-
dent government meetings, campus
political forums and quiet conversations
at Starbucks.
If pro-Israel students aren't marching
anymore, it's because they've found a
more effective way of getting the job
done. 111
Hamas Vs. The United States
"Islam's biggest enemy," and
Philadelphia
in 2004 it called him "the
he Bush administra-
enemy of God, the enemy of
tion's push for quick
Islam and Muslims." A 2004
democracy in the
press release announced,
Middle East has an increas-
"Hamas considers the U.S as
ingly clear implication: If
an enemy and as an accom-
Islamist organizations such as
plice to the Israeli enemy
Hamas are to be likely elec-
DAN IEL
aggression against the
toral winners, Western pow-
PIP ES
Palestinians. The U.S will face
ers should stop classifying
responsibility for its position
them as terrorists and instead
Spec ial
come to terms with them.
Comme ntary as an accomplice with Israel."
Hamas logistical cells could
This conclusion follows
be quickly turned operational. By early
from such efforts as those led by
2002, Eli Lake has revealed in the New
Alastair Crooke and his Conflicts
York Sun, the FBI concluded that 50-
Forum; the European Union's explo-
100 trained Hamas and Hezbollah
ration of opening a dialogue with
agents "had already infiltrated
the Islamists; and an astonishing
statement in which the White House America" where they worked "on fund-
raising and logistics." But Dennis
spokesman referred to Hamas mem-
Lormel, formerly in FBI counter-ter-
bers as "business professionals."
rorism, notes that these cells "have the
Before this whitewashing of
potential of being operational."
Hamas proceeds too far ahead, it
FBI director Robert Mueller reaf-
bears noting that the organization
firmed the threat this February:
has not just murdered more than
"Although it would be a major strate-
400 Israelis, but also prepared itself
gic shift for Hamas, its United States
for war with the United States.
network is theoretically capable of
The ideological justification for
facilitating acts of terrorism in the
war is in place. In 2003, Hamas
United States."
declared President George W. Bush
According to a senior government
counter-terrorism official, Hamas
could be merging with elements of
Osama bin Laden's "all inclusive mili-
tary arm" and the two together then
"carry out military strikes" against the
United States. "They have operations
planned for here, they have the capa-
bilities to strike at will, and, when the
time is right, they will do it."
Counter-terrorism specialist Boaz
Ganor notes, "Hamas formally does
•not engage and does not intend to
engage in a terrorist attack on
American soil. But I think it is not
inconceivable that Hamas would
change its strategies, and they would
like to be ready for that option."
T
`Although it would be a
Attacks In The U.S.?
major strategic shift for
Hamas has gone global. Reports
indicate it is active, planning attacks
Hamas, its United States against American forces in
Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait. Of
network is theoretically
particular note, it was a Palestinian
with
possible ties to Hamas, Ahmed
capable of facilitating acts Mustafa
Ibrahim Ali, who shot three
American corrections officers at a
of terrorism in the
prison in Kosovo in April 2004.
Palestinian anger could prompt
United States.
.1)
Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle
East Forum. His e-mail address is
Pipes@MeForum.org and his Web site is
www.DanielPipes.org.
violence in the United States. Ken
Piernick, who had headed the FBI
counter-terrorism efforts against
Hamas, told the New York Sun: "In
time, a very volatile and vitriolic hos-
tility brewing in Gaza in particular
will slowly suffuse itself to Hamas
and Hezbollah cells in America. In
the past couple of years, we have
already seen inflammatory rhetoric
from their supporters in the United
States. At some point in time, it's like
the glass rod will snap."
Potentially violent Hamas opera-
tives in the United States have
already turned up:
• In November 2003, the Israelis
arrested Jamal Akkal, 23, a
Canadian immigrant of Palestinian
origins, and a year later, he pleaded
guilty to planning to kill Israeli offi-
cials traveling in the United States as
well as leaders of the American and
Canadian Jewish communities.
• In August 2004, Ismail Selim
Elbarasse, a longtime Hamas money-
man, was arrested for videotaping
the details of Maryland's Bay Bridge.
This "set off alarms among U.S.
counter-terrorism investigators," the
Baltimore Sun reports. They treated
the incident as a Hamas reconnais-
sance of the bridge and "as a poten-
tial link between Hamas and Al
Qaida." In court papers, authorities
alleged that the images Elbarasse
shot of the bridge included close-ups
of features "integral to the structural
integrity of the bridge."
Hamas, in short, can at will attack
the United States, something that
should not be forgotten. President
Bush stated in June 2003 that "the
free world, those who love freedom
and peace, must deal harshly with
Hamas" and that "Hamas must be
dismantled." That approach should
remain U.S. policy. ❑
A kl S werimg
Israel's Critics
The Charge
Israel is a militaristic society.
The Answer
Israel's non-violent Peace Now
group often stages peaceful protests,
drawing thousands of people to
downtown Tel Aviv. Israel's army is
called its defense forces and, as its
backbone is reservist, is not
designed for offensive operations or
militaristic adventures. The
Palestinians have had one docu-
mented peace demonstration.
— Allan Gale, Jewish Community
Council of Metropolitan Detroit
5/26
2005
31