I worked sixteen hours a day for twelve months (and counting!) either traveling to speaking engagements or giving radio interviews from my hotel room or office. On some days I would give fourteen radio interviews, starting at 7:00 A.M. and going until 11:00 P.M. Radio talk show hosts would thank me for my honesty and tell me after the interview that I made their phone lines light up like they have never seen before. It was clear that the American public was ready to speak and to hear the truth, and to be inspired to learn what they could do to protect their communities.
As I worked to publicize Because They Hate, I learned a lot about the state of our society and the place honesty and forthrightness hold. I discovered that many organizations wanted to have me as a speaker for major events because of the popularity and effectiveness of my message, but they were afraid and intimidated by the possible reaction of Muslims in their community. Some organizations canceled bookings out of intimidation from influential members who thought that my ideas would inflame the Muslims in their communities. Many times I was instructed before speaking to be politically correct and not to offend anyone. And so I agreed to give only the facts without inserting my political opinion—I let the news facts reported around the world about current events and terrorists activities and attacks speak for themselves. By the end of my presentations to many even leftist groups, my audiences agreed with me on 90 percent of my presentation. The only disagreements came from Muslim invited guests—usually doctors and respected members of the Islamic community—who passionately argued that Hezbollah is not a terrorist organization, that we do not have terrorists in our communities, and that their Islamic community was different and peaceful. It was laughable to say the least hearing these arguments in Toronto where sixteen local Canadian Muslims tried to blow up government buildings and behead politicians;2 in Miami where many local Muslims have been charged with terrorist activities;3 in New York where local Muslims were charged with a terrorist plot to blow up JFK;4 in LA where a massacre was planned by local Muslims against two Los Angeles synagogues;5 and in Australia where nine men were tried in a terrorist plot to blow up Australia’s only nuclear reactor.6 One organization flew me across the country to be their keynote speaker for their annual event, and then, after hearing my first presentation, instructed me to change facts reported in the news—I wasn’t to offend people with the truth even if it meant I had to lie.
Discussing news events has apparently become a bigoted and racist activity because terrorists are Muslims. Discussing those facts may offend some people and so we must stay silent.
In all the presentations that I have done with crowds large and small at a variety of venues, I have not run into one Muslim who stood up and apologized for the murder and attacks that were perpetrated in the name of their religion. Whenever a Muslim stood up from the crowd, it was to argue that I was making Muslims look bad. No one stood up to call for reform in their religion or used the opportunity to ask other Muslims if they would like to join in a movement to publicly condemn terrorist organizations by name.
The Muslim community recognized quickly that my message had a welcome audience and that I present it effectively and without fear. And so they tried to organize to stop me from coming to their communities in the first place. They tried everything from intimidating and threatening me by phone and e-mail in detailed terms, to intimidating the groups who invited me to speak, especially universities. They knew that anyone who attended my lectures would walk away with a different reality than the one that has been perpetrated for the last thirty years by the PLO and presented by sympathetic media and “progressive” Muslims on campus.
Speaking boldly earned me passionate enemies and faithful supporters. When I was scheduled to speak at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, an e-mail originating out of an organization in California was sent to members in the Detroit community. The title of the e-mail said: “Islam-Basher Brigitte Gabriel to visit Ann Arbor on December 4” and the text included the following: “Muslims, Arabs, and their friends and allies should give Gabriel a proper welcome.” College campuses I visited, occupied by deceptive, self-loathing Americans and Islamist sympathizers, became battlegrounds—in order to exercise America’s right to freedom of speech, I had to be surrounded by an army of police officers insuring my safety. Extensive security, bodyguards, and K9 units at university lectures became the norm. Many times I thought that America’s freedom of speech, much attacked and laying in an intensive care state, was in dire straits.
As Muslims (and what I am finding to be more surprising, some Jews) complained about this book from one continent to another, Because They Hate earned respect and admiration from world leaders and decision makers in business and politics.
I had the privilege of visiting England and addressing the British Parliament/House of Commons, as well as business leaders throughout the country, about the rise of radical Islam in Europe. Audiences were very receptive and shared their concerns and feelings of helplessness against the tsunami of radicalism swelling within their community. What was shocking and eerie especially in London was the evidence of a rise of anti-Semitism throughout Europe. This is a direct side effect of the rise of Islam and the brainwashing and intimidation by the swelling number of Islamic communities preaching hate in their mosques and Islamic schools. Jews cannot even go to their temples for prayer services without intense security to ensure their safety.
Since this book has been published, I have been invited to meet and work with the FBI in addressing counterterrorism strategies and educating agents on the mind-set of terrorists, how radicalism is spreading through the mosques in America, and what to do about it. Because They Hate was put on the reading list at the FBI Academy and was assigned as mandatory reading for Navy SEALs heading to the Middle East. I addressed the United States Special Operations Command in Florida as well as the Joint Forces Command in Virginia. Standing in the presence of such heroes made me realize the greatness of America and the people behind the freedoms we enjoy
But my proudest moment was September 10, 2007, when I addressed members of Congress on Capitol Hill after General Petraeus delivered his address to the House about the war in Iraq.
Being on Capitol Hill that day was a remarkable experience. As my assistant and I pulled into the Capitol under heavy security, we looked around in utter amazement as heavily armed SWAT teams with fully loaded Ml6s covered the Capitol and its surrounding streets with weapons ready to fire. One would expect to see this in Israel—but not in the United States. It was a chilling sign of the times we live in and a harsh reminder that we are at war with Islamofascists who are bent on killing us.
My presentation on Capitol Hill was one of the most important presentations I have ever given. The room filled quickly after the 9/11 ceremony on the steps of the Capitol. I began speaking at 7:30 P.M. There were no journalists, no cameras, and no C-SPAN. I was more candid than I have ever been in any public presentation. I knew I had only one chance to drive the point home to these influential representatives who make decisions about our country that impact our safety and our future. By the time I was done speaking and finished another hour answering questions, I was standing in the company of brothers and sisters who share the same concerns for the welfare of our nation, our children, and our grandchildren.
It was obvious my message was like a breath of fresh air. Our representatives hear from CAIR, Moveon.org, and similar organizations, but as many of them told me, there is no one—no other organization on the Hill—that carries the message I brought to them.
My presentation on Capitol Hill was the beginning of a partnership between American Congress for Truth (ACT) and those of our elected officials who are interested and are listening. They welcomed us to bring issues to their attention, and to become more involved in writing bills and resolutions to protect our country and its citizens. Finally, we are no longer working on the outside and hoping they hear us. We are working together, hand in hand on the inside.
I also had the privi
lege of visiting Australia on a speaking tour and speaking with Prime Minister John Howard, when I presented the keynote address at a dinner gala in Melbourne. It was surreal being escorted by security through the bowels of the Crown Palladium Grand Hotel kitchen as protestors screamed and shouted “Brigitte Gabriel and John Howard are Islamophobes.” They held protest signs and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans in their attempt to upset and disturb people entering the hotel. Afterward, I had the opportunity to meet with key patriotic Australian businessmen and women and community leaders, one of whom was a member of ACT and who had flown from around Australia to meet me in Melbourne. Together we all sat in the living room of my hotel suite and strategized about mobilizing Australia and creating a branch of American Congress for Truth, the organization I started here in America. Out of that meeting Australian Coalition for Truth was born, an Australian grassroots movement to counter the Islamic threat within Australia.
Recent events around the world support the facts I discuss in Because They Hate, and about which I have been lecturing. Events are unfolding around the world fast and furious parallel to the rise of Islamic radicalism in every continent. On August 14,2007, two journalists were kidnapped in Gaza—Fox News correspondent Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wig—and were released only after being forcing to convert to Islam on their knees with their faces down as they recited the Shahada.
Muslims viciously attacked the Pope around the world for quoting in an academic speech a Byzantine Emperor on how Islam was spread by the sword and through forced conversion. The Pope’s comments started a wave of global upheaval: priests in Islamic countries were killed, churches were burned, the Pope was burned in effigy as well, and a nun serving in a hospital was shot dead in the back by two gunmen in Mogadishu.7
But the most frightening developments have been from the terrorist activity rising from within England and America.
Our enemy is not an organization of people living overseas plotting to attack. Our enemies are the neighbors next door, the doctors practicing in our hospitals, and the workers who share our lunch break. Our enemies are terrorists driven by a dangerous ideology and clothed in deception who operate under cover and laugh about the advantages our sensitivity training, gullibility, and political correctness give them.
Who would have thought that in June 2006 the words “Those who heal you will kill you,” spoken to an Anglican priest in Iraq by an Al Qaeda spokesman would come to haunt British citizens in their own cities.8 Londoners woke up to hear that another attack on British citizens had come close to taking lives again. Luckily the terrorists bungled their first two attempts and authorities discovered the unexploded devices and disarmed them; the third attempt went off at the entrance to Glasgow Airport but injured no one except the terrorist himself. With amazing speed, Scotland Yard rounded up the terrorists and we all discovered the prophetic implication of the reported threat “Those who heal you will kill you.” The perpetrators were all Muslim doctors.
I have always firmly believed that Islamic terrorism has nothing to do with economic position or status in life. This event in Britain reinforced these views as my heart went out to a nation of people facing days of fear and uncertainty. During the Lebanese war, doctors in Lebanon slaughtered hand in hand with the terrorists in the name of jihad. This is a very difficult concept for Western minds and especially Western intellectuals to accept and understand or even believe. I remember when I started speaking out about my experiences during the war, I would share how our neighbors—doctors and lawyers who we had known for years—became radicals overnight and started massacring us the next day. People looked at me with disbelief as if I were making things up just to make the Muslims look bad.
Both my experiences in Lebanon and the UK bombings planned by doctors strongly bolstered my opinion that Islamic terrorism is a religious, jihad doctrine-driven effort to murder or subdue and subjugate non-Muslims. The familiar arguments of Western liberals that “it’s a class struggle” or “the West is bad and economically oppressive” no longer have purchase.
Not only did doctor terrorists shock the world, but radical Islam also turned parents into coldhearted terrorists bent on mayhem. What else could drive a mother and father with their six-month-old child to willingly carry liquid explosives onto an airplane, hiding the liquid in the child’s baby bottle? This scenario unfolded in August of 2006 when police arrested twenty-four British-born and -raised Muslim citizens who had plotted to blow up as many as ten planes headed to the United States using liquid explosives. Officials say details of the plan were similar to other schemes devised by al Qaeda. Accounts such as these remind us of just how determined our enemy is.9
Back at home in America, a group of ten Islamic radicals conspired to kill U.S. servicemen at New Jersey’s Fort Dix Army Base. The plot was disrupted thanks to the FBI infiltration of the terrorist cell. In January 2007, a vigilant video-store worker contacted the FBI after a customer brought in a DVD to be duplicated that showed ten young men in their early twenties “shooting assault weapons at a firing range in a militia-like style while calling for jihad and shouting in Arabic Allah Akbar (God is Great)."10
Within six months, the FBI had placed two cooperating witnesses within the terrorist cell, and they recorded meetings and phone conversations with the plotters. The terrorist cell reportedly surveyed Fort Dix, the Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station and Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, and a Coast Guard building in Philadelphia. They also reportedly considered an attack timed to the annual Army-Navy college football game in Philadelphia.
One of the charged conspirators, Serdar Tatar, was familiar with Fort Dix because his family owns a pizzeria nearby and he delivered food to the base. He used his position as a pizza delivery boy to become a terrorist undercover agent committed to kill those to whom he brought food. The potential jihadists often viewed terror training videos, clips featuring Osama bin Laden, and a tape containing the last will and testament of at least two of the 9/11 hijackers. They also viewed tapes of armed attacks on U.S. military personnel and erupted in laughter when one plotter noted that a Marine’s arm was blown off in one such ambush.11
Shortly after, on June 4th, a terror plot unfolded at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. Three Muslim men living and working in the United States planned to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport, its fuel tanks, and a jet fuel artery. One of the plotters was a former JFK air cargo employee.12
In all of these events, one striking similarity shines through: the terrorists' belief in an ideology that is based on the belief, faith, and teachings of Islam as it is written in the Koran. The common denominator within all the plots mentioned above is that these people were Muslims dedicated to becoming martyrs, to advance Islam, and to kill infidels regardless what country they came from, what culture they were raised in, what society there were living in, or what level of education they had.
Unless we understand the source from which this ideology of hate toward our Western cultures and nations is coming from, we will not be able to fight the cancer that is plaguing our international body. This cancer is called Islamofacism. This ideology is coming out of one source: The Koran.
What all terrorists are trying to achieve is the advancement of Islam and the establishment of an Islamic caliphate throughout the world ruled by sharia or Islamic law. Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the number two man of al Qaeda, repeatedly states that “Our cause is one cause, and we have the responsibility of unifying this umma (Islamic Nation), Allah willing, and establishing Allah’s religion on his earth . . ,"13
Polls taken around the world show that a majority of Muslims in large Islamic countries support the establishment of a sharia-based Islamic caliphate regardless of their approval of al Qaeda or any other Islamic terrorist organization.14 Their loyalty is to Islam and not to any specific organization. This flies in the face of the image presented to us by leaders in the Western world that most Muslims are mainstream and do not share al Qaeda’s
convictions that have hijacked a peaceful religion and twisted it to serve their purpose. Our elected officials continuously ignore the jihad teaching of pure Islam. Our Western leaders continuously ignore the fact that most Muslim countries in the twenty-first century are moving more and more into radicalism in their culture, which oppresses women and minorities and is pushing to impose sharia law as it is written and instructed in the Koran.
In his September 2007 video address Osama bin Laden wanted you to believe the lie that it is our presence in Iraq and our foreign policy that is causing Muslims to be enraged worldwide and wage jihad on us, and that if we just withdraw from Iraq and repent of our evil foreign policy ways and convert to Islam we will all live peacefully ever after. What most people miss here is that Osama bin Ladin wants us out of not only Iraq and Afganistan, but also out of every base, every presence we have on Muslim soil regardless what country we are in. That means our infidel U.S. soldiers must be out of Bahrain, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia. He does not want any Western influence or any Western cooperation between us and most Muslim leaders whom he despises. This will give Al Qaeda the opportunity to topple those regimes which Al Qaeda considers not Muslim enough, and establish an Islamic caliphate linking the umma (Islamic nations) together as one. By asking the West to convert to Islam, Osama was following the teaching of the Koran. Muslims are mandated by the prophet Mohammad in the Hadith to invite the enemy to convert to Islam before you attack.
Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war. . . When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them. . . . If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the jizya [the tax on non-Muslims specified in Qur’an 9:29]. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them. (Sahih Muslim 4294)15
Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America Page 2
