The Root Cause of Terrorism

It's becoming popular to talk about "the root causes of terrorism."
Lately, we've heard:
- The root cause of terrorism is foreign domination and control of muslim resources.
- The root cause of terrorism is the hatred of the Western way of life.
- The root cause of terrorism is alienation.
- The root cause of terrorism is poverty and illiteracy.
- The root cause of terrorism is the moral decadence of the West.
- The root cause of terrorism is the West's support for Israel.
Do you know what I think is the root cause of terrorism?
It works.
By that I mean those using terrorism in the world today do it because it achieves their objectives. Simple.
No place does it work more effectively than in Israel – once seen as a bulwark against islamist terrorism. If you want a case study in the enabling of terrorism, the encouraging of terrorism, the feeding and cultivation of terrorism, look no further than the Jewish state.
Let's look at the cost of unrelenting terrorism in the Jewish state over the last six years since Ariel Sharon was elected as a hard-line prime minister to put an end to attacks but who betrayed his constituency:
- 56 percent of Israelis support negotiating even with Hamas, a terrorist organization sworn to the Jewish state's destruction;
- 75 percent of Israelis believe their country is struggling for its very survival;
- The more Israel has acceded to the demands of terrorists, the more terrorism has increased;
- The more Israel has unilaterally retreated from lands won in hard-fought combat, the more emboldened its attackers have become;
- The more accommodating Israel is with the terrorists, the higher become the demands on the Jewish state by international busybodies who blame their own problems with terrorists on Israel. It's a vicious cycle. But it is a cycle benefiting the terrorists, demonstrating its effectiveness as a tactic. What do the terrorists want besides killing and terrifying people?
Ultimately, it is very simple. They want the entire world subjugated to islamic rule and law.
There are only two ways to stop the terrorism:
- Surrender and live under the domination of Islam.
- Soundly defeat the Islamic jihad.
You can't talk to it. You can't buy it off. You can't understand it. You can't win it over with compassion. You can't reason with it. You can't negotiate with it. You can't bargain with it. You can't appease it away. You can't wish it away.
In fact, this is an enemy that cannot be seduced by expressions of "tolerance" and gestures of goodwill. It is actually repulsed by such moves, seeing them as weakness to be exploited further and signs that their strategy is winning the day.
It didn't begin Sept. 11, 2001, or even with the first World Trade Center bombing or the Iranian revolution of 1979.
This is a war President Jefferson fought.
This is a war that led to Christopher Columbus' voyage west and, ultimately, the discovery of America.
This is a war that nearly led to the conquest of Europe before that.
And it may well lead to the conquest of Europe in the 21st century.
It would not be inaccurate to say this conflict has defined world history for the last 1,300 years.
In the 20th century, we witnessed the high cost of appeasement. We saw it with Nazi Germany. We saw it with the Soviet Union. We saw it with Communist China. And, lately, we see it in the Middle East and in the war with jihadism. Life's lessons are always learned the hard way...