New York, Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Berlin: Over the past three decades, these cities have been, at different times and with varying intensities, caught in a wave of terror that soon spread throughout the West. It has turned different groups within the population against each other and made everyone fear for their lives. The attacks are similar, though they differ in details. Sometimes the attackers act alone, sometimes in cells. Often, they strike randomly; other times, they act after months of careful planning. But overall, the terror has one name. Not Islam, but Islamism – political, messianic, totalitarian. On October 7, 2023, it struck again in Israel, when Hamas murdered hundreds of innocent Jews and kidnapped many others. There are numerous parallels between last year’s massacre and its precedents in New York and Paris. As with the 9/11 attacks, the horrors of October 7, 2023, were initially followed by shock and then calls for massive retaliatory measures.
And, as after 9/11, an immediate anti-Israel and antisemitic backlash ensued. Over the past twelve months, universities and streets in Western cities have seen an unprecedented wave of anti-Zionism, surpassing even the early 2000s’ anti-Americanism fueled by leftist outrage. Two decades ago, American invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq sparked large-scale protests, with calls to keep the troops home, much like the current calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon. And, as after September 11, the backlash has been complex and ineffective. The United States held on in Afghanistan until 2021. Today, Israel is engaged in expanding its war against Hamas to Lebanon – and possibly soon to Iran.
But the strongest parallel between these past atrocities and October 7 is not the violence, nor the reactions or the ensuing escalation. It is Islamism and the way the West consistently refuses to name its true enemy: the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Hamas originated, along with other extremists ready to join this jihad.
On September 12, 2001, the United States declared a “War on Terror.” But terror is a tactic, not an ideology. In later years, as the enemy spread and began attacking us at home in many Western cities, we called it “violent extremism” and lumped it together with fascism and other forms of domestic extremism.
This occurred, first and foremost, because the enemy claimed to be fighting in the name of Islam. We categorically refused—and still refuse—to wage a war against an ideology of one of the world’s great religions. Secondly, we thought we could use our enormous military and intelligence resources to weaken and destroy the enemy without falling into the trap of waging a war against a fifth of humanity. We made a grave mistake: we failed to distinguish between Islam and Islamism – between Muslims and the Muslim Brotherhood.
By failing to identify Islamism as our enemy, we allowed it to spread. Consider what happened in Afghanistan. For twenty years, the West fought this nameless enemy, spending trillions of dollars. But after thousands sacrificed their lives, we left the country to the Islamist henchmen of the Taliban. It was one of the most shameful retreats in American history, masked by shabby political expediency. We looked the other way as Islamists plunged Afghan women and minorities back into a new dark age.
There were other consequences, often much closer to home. While we remained silent, the Muslim Brotherhood and its numerous offshoots quietly entrenched themselves in Western cities, from Australian universities to the suburbs of Manchester. Our silence allowed them to build mosques, take over schools, and pose as the supposed representatives of all Muslims in the West. This continued reluctance to see and name the enemy has allowed it to take root in more and more hearts. As increasing numbers of desperate people arrive from war-torn countries, many find solace in new communities within these very mosques and schools, as well as on the internet.
For those of us unwilling to turn a blind eye to this new reality, Islamist sympathizers are ready with familiar accusations of Islamophobia. They skillfully fuel suspicion against their critics to prevent any discussion of the true nature of the threat posed by Islamism. Any critic of the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates is labeled as racist and intolerant. Those exposing hateful Islamism are accused of hate and discrimination under the guise of Islamophobia.
In their efforts to stifle discussion, Islamists find support and encouragement from the ideological left. In Europe, this camp proclaims its belief in multiculturalism, which serves as a pretext to discredit criticism of Islamism. In America, it is the “social justice warriors” on campuses and in neighboring institutions who take up this cause.
Currently, we are at an impasse. More than twenty years after the attacks on the World Trade Center and just a year after October 7, many in the West still refuse to clearly identify the enemy. The irony is that not everyone is as indecisive about Islamism as we are in the West. Just think of Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and the guardian of Mecca and Medina, which has nonetheless banned the Muslim Brotherhood.
A number of other Muslim countries have achieved the same: Syria, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt. This is a remarkable shift. In the last century, the Saudis welcomed the Muslim Brotherhood, entrusted it with managing schools and mosques, and funded Islamists to spread their ideology throughout the region and beyond. At first, Riyadh believed they and the Brotherhood shared the same ideology. But the Islamists eventually revealed their true face and attempted to overthrow the royal family. In response, Saudi princes rounded up Brotherhood representatives and removed them from schools, mosques, and newspapers, ultimately expelling them from the country.
Israel, like Europe, must learn from past mistakes. The danger will only pass once the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood is destroyed. To achieve this, we must first recognize the enemy within us, and that begins by naming it.
