The paradise that became a theater of war
lunedì 17 febbraio 2014 English 0 commenti
Il Giornale, February 17, 2014An attack at the Taba border crossing that left four dead and dozens wounded is quite an achievement for the Ansar Beit al-Maqdis organization, not to mention [its attack on] the bus of Christian tourists going from Saint Catherine's in Egypt to the holy sites of Jerusalem. The bus was blown up within the few meters that divide Egypt and Israel—the former now in the hands of General Sisi, bitter enemy of the Muslim Brotherhood, the latter the hated stronghold of the Jews, the enemies of the Islamic Ummah. The bomb, placed under the driver's seat, detonated when it was supposed to, in a place where the Zionists would really feel the threat. Responsibility for the massacre was claimed by the same organization that had only days ago launched two missiles on the small Israeli city of Eilat.
The symbolism is clear: yesterday the trial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi resumed, and the Brotherhood wants to continue the war. But beyond any symbolism, the reality is uncommon Islamist violence throughout the Middle East, from Iraq to Syria, Sinai, and Gaza. The Gaza Strip, dominated by Hamas, wheremixed groups are provisioned—hospitable Bedouins, terrorist commuters, envoys from Al-Qaeda, and recruiters for organizations based in Iraq and Syria, all now united against Egypt, but also against Israel and the Christian world.
Egypt is not helplessly standing by: those who speak of an Israeli "siege" on Gaza ignore the fact that Egypt is building a buffer zone, that in a single day it destroys 17 houses and submerges in filthy water the tunnels used to move a variety of weapons and supplies in and out, arrests dozens of suspects, destroys olive groves, and engages in lethal gun battles. Yesterday, Israel immediately offered its ambulances to bring the wounded to Israeli hospitals. The Sinai is now a theater of war: there have been about300 jihadist attacks since July, and the violence has extended to Cairo, with attacks on soldiers and the killing of an official with the Ministry of the Interior.
The group responsible for the attack ("Ansar Beit al-Maqdis" means "Champions of Jerusalem") was started in Gaza in 2011. There is a curious gaffe in the name of the Al-Qaeda-associated group: "Al-Maqdis" means the same as "Ha-Mikdash," and Beit Ha-Mikdash is the old name for the Jewish Temple that first arose in Jerusalem. Ansar carried out an attack that killed 8 Israelis and downed an Egyptian military helicopter. Some say it's the military wing of the Brotherhood, using official Al-Qaeda channels (like the Al-Fajr Media Center),and it's often praised by Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. On the Sinai Peninsula -- once a beautiful vacation spot between the blue sea and the red desert mountains -- many other groups mingle, ally, and split, set on violence against all of them -- Christians, Muslim traitors, and Jews. They have money, weapons, and one goal: to destroy all who stand in the way of the creation of the worldwide Caliphate.
This article originally appeared in slightly different form in Italian in Il Giornale; English copyright, The Gatestone Institute