A popular children’s story features a little locomotive put to the test in front of a great, heavy train. As it neared the top of the grade, it reduced speed, but kept saying, “I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can.” Drawing on bravery, it reached the top and then went on down the grade, congratulating itself by saying, “I thought I could, I thought I could.”

Like the little engine that could, Israel is the little nation that could. The history of Israel involves unprecedented obstacles, including forty years of wilderness wanderings; seemingly endless warfare, blood baths (Masada), brutal captivity and enslavement (Assyria, Babylon, Egypt); displacement and persecution; rabid anti-Semitism, pogroms (Russia), Intifadas and riots; plundering, and genocide. When, in 1348, the “Black Death” killed them, among others, Jews were blamed for the Bubonic plague.

Under Hitler, Jews were left bereft of their businesses, their food was rationed, and they were “marked” with yellow badges. Exported en masse to Eastern Europe concentration camps, where egregious medical experiments were performed on them, literally millions of Jews were mercilessly mistreated and eventually out-and-out exterminated.

Victim or Victimizer?

Although Israel is about the size of New Jersey, she is surrounded by her sworn enemies with a landmass comparable to the whole of the United States of America. In A.D. 635, Mohammed conquered Palestine, subjugated Jews, and used Jewish spoil to support his religious movement. The 1981 Mecca Declaration pledged jihad against Israel until the last Jew in the world is eliminated.

Before Arafat, there was Palestinian spiritual leader Haj Amin al-Husseini. Called “Fuhrer of the Arab world,” the Mufti of Jerusalem befriended Hitler, supported his “Final Solution,” and murdered Jews. To this day, Mein Kampf is a best seller in Arab countries. Additionally, throughout the Arab Middle East, government press promotes a long debunked source for turn-of-the-century hatred of Jews. In his anti-Semitic campaign (1933-45), Hitler likewise used The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Repeatedly and unremittingly, Jewish sovereignty has been attacked – not to mention Israeli El Al airliners, busses, schools, restaurants, peace spokespersons, and friends of Israel. At the Olympics in Munich (1972), Black September terrorists attacked even Israeli athletes. Egyptian president Anwar Sadat became one of three Arab leaders assassinated by fellow Arabs for having sought peace with Israel. Then, there’s America. In 1988, Bin Laden (and another suspect) allegedly issued a religious edict (fatwa) calling on Muslims to kill Americans “anywhere in the world where they can be found.” In 1993, the World Trade Center bombing retaliated against U.S. support for the Israeli government. These are acts of victimizers, not victims.

Verbal Fuel to Fires of Hatred

Indeed, the so-called “Jewish problem” identifies Jews as the most universally hated and persecuted ethnic group in history. The Qur'an characterizes Jews as “estranged,” “despised and rejected apes,” insolent, “open enemies” not to be taken as “friends,” “helpers,” or “protectors.” Hatred of Jews is taught in mosques around the world. Nakhba (meaning “the catastrophe”) is the term Arabs use for the birth of Israel. Accordingly, some seventy percent of the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza approve the suicide bombing of women and children – if the targets are Jews, that is.

Some suggest it is safer today to be a Jew in America than to be a Jew in Israel. Followers of the Qur'an are to lie in wait for these infidels, as men “made for hell” – then, “beleaguer,” “terrorize,” “fight,” “seize,” “smite,” and “slay” them. Specifically, slit their necks and “smite all their finger tips off them.”

President of Iran (on the northern border of Israel), Mahmoud Ahmadinejab likens Israel to a “dead rat,” “doomed to go.” Zionists, he insists, are “the true manifestation of Satan” and, therefore, must be wiped off the map.“ After all, he adds, "the Zionist Regime is on its way to annihilation.” Be sure Ahmadinejab is more than happy to help it along.

With Muslim hate speak escalating, “freedom of speech” is denied those opposed to the Islamic Grand Design. 1989, two California bookstores were firebombed to protest sale of Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, which disparaged Islam. No reciprocity here.

Many instigators of the Palestinian Liberation Organization never lived in the Palestine Mandate before creation of Israel – or even thereafter. The expressed purpose of the PLO is not to “liberate Palestine,” as is claimed. In the words of its own leaders, it’s “to push the Jews into the sea.” To accomplish this (and thereby “destroy the Jewish state”), armed struggle is deemed necessary.

Takiya Trickery; Fatal Fanaticism

The code of the desert allows seducing, marauding, tricking, and lying. Modeled by the Prophet Mohammed at Hudayblya, takiya is the right within Islam to “fake peace” when one is proven to be weak. The idea is to wait for better timing in order to conquer one’s enemy. Takiya trickery tramples trust in Palestinian “peace” propaganda. Facts do not back conciliatory language plainly used opportunistically.

Unlike syncretistic (doctrinally mixed) religions, Islam allows no compromise; therefore, its most ardent followers are fanatics, willing to engage in terrorism on Allah’s behalf. Fanatics do not collaborate; they conquer. For the faithful, fatal fanaticism holds promise of great reward. By joining the fight unto death, young, hormonal, suicide bombers are ensured instant access to heaven, where seventy-two beautiful virgins await their blissful entry. Martyrs’ families stand to reap monetary rewards and generous accolades for their sons’ murderous violence. This dubious benefits package is hard for some to resist.

Deprivation and Hatred by Design

Whereas Israel welcomed and resettled hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees from Arab countries, no Arab countries welcomed Palestinian refugees, or allowed them to become full-fledged citizens. To the contrary, Arab leaders have refused to undertake needed effort to liberate the 3.7 million Palestinian “refugees” registered with the United Nations. Even highly educated professionals among them in Arab countries are relegated to lives of servitude.

Former Defense Secretary William Cohen warned, “The scenario of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons in the hands of a terrorist or rogue nation is not only plausible – it’s quite real.” All the more alarming is this: Those who are deprived and have little or nothing to lose are most dangerous among enemies.

More to come in Part 2.