A War of Civilization which we will Win Together

Gardjola:

The following is the speech delivered by Magdi Allam ( Egyptian-born top columnist for Il Corriere della Sera) at the pro-Israel and anti-Islamic Republic rally held in front of the IRI's embassy in Rome, on November 3,2005 Magdi is a prominent investigative journalist and an Italian citizen since 30 years. Currently, he lives accompained by bodyguards because of some death fatwas issued by Islamist clerics. He is a Secularist, pro-US, pro-Israel and outspokenly anti-Islamist.

Dear friends, I won’t hide my emotions as an Italian citizen, a Muslim, a layman in stating my defense of Israel’s unequivocal right to its existence. My dear Israeli and Jewish friends, your fight for Israel’s right to exist is also my fight for the right to life of all, including that of Palestinians who aspire to an independent state, including the many, too many, Muslim victims of barbaric acts of Islamist terror. On the foundations of the right to life, we all build our homes. It is a war of civilization which we will win together.

What is happening this evening in Rome, is, in my opinion, a crucial development in Italy’s attitude to the crucial theme of the fight against global, Islamist terrorism, and the negative, nihilistic ideology which feeds it by denying the right to life of all. And it is this very ideology which lies at the root of the denial of Israel’s right to exist.

This is a negation which has been “elevated” to a Nazi strategy by the Iranian President Ahmadinejad, a strategy to be followed by threatening the use of WMD’s which Iran already possesses while it follows its “nuclear dream”. Thanks to your massive participation in this vigil promoted by “Il Foglio” of Giuliano Ferrara, you have broken the wave which washed up on our Italy, when, in the days following the heinous attacks on Madrid and London, only a few hundred people answered to the invitation of the mayor of Rome Walter Veltroni to protest in the Campidoglio against a terrorism which is similar in its brutality to that which makes Israel, Iraq, and many other Muslim countries bleed.

It’s sad to note that it needed the Nazi threats of Ahmadinejad to create a strong Italian front which usually never misses an occasion to divide itself on every subject. This time, the good sense which our Italy so badly needs prevailed. Just how, after the Second World War, the de facto recognition of the State of Israel was the parameter to gauge the ethics of those who had in some way been responsible, accomplices or connivers in the holocaust, today in the era of global Islamist terrorism the recognition of the right of Israel to exist is the parameter to gauge the ethics of those who have in some way been responsible, accomplices or connivers in an ideology which legitimizes the massacre of innocents by instrumentalising and offending Islam.

This is why I ask the Italian political classes, which this evening have given a clear sign of ethical and political maturity; to continue to take coherent attitudes.

This means that it is no longer possible to shake hands with and reach agreements with those who deny the right of Israel to exist. This in the knowledge that legitimizing and strengthening the enemies of the right to life of all, one continues to foment insecurity and conflict all over the world.

This evening we must all thank Israel, beacon of democracy and indeed, freedom in the Middle East. The tenacious and resolute fight for life is a clear example which must inspire us. It is truly a battle for the life of Israel, and also one for the life of the Palestinians and for the Arab peoples of the area.

Whether one likes it or not, it’s a historical fact that the Palestinians could make progress towards their dream of an independent state only thanks to the good will of Israel, when on 13th September 1993 Rabin shook Arafat’s hand. On the other hand, whether one likes it or not, the Arab states have always hindered the creation of a Palestinian state. From the moment when, declaring war upon the fledgling Jewish state in 1948 they buried U.N. Resolution 181 which provided for the creation of a Palestinian entity; and then by sharing out the Palestinian territories with the annexation of the west Bank by Jordan in 1949, and the Egyptian administration of Gaza until 1967. Why didn’t the Arabs allow a Palestinian state to take root in those territories? Why have more Palestinians been killed by Arab armies than have been killed in anti terrorist operations by the Israeli army?

Those Italian political movements who deserted our magnificent demonstration are mistaken in imagining that recognition of the right of Israel to exist without ifs and buts can be in some way harmful to the right of the Palestinians to their own state. The truth is exactly the opposite. Because those who impede the birth of a Palestinian state are the very people who deny Israel’s right to exist. This is proved by the fact that Palestinian suicide terrorism exploded in October 1993, exactly in the days following the historic handshake between Rabin and Arafat. From that day, via a long trail of innocent Israeli blood, in the first place the peace process was blocked by extremist Palestinian groups who, in denying Israel’s right to exist, blocked the birth of a Palestinian state. Today more than ever, those who sincerely want a state for the Palestinians must above all, support, without ifs or buts, the right of Israel to exist. Today more than ever, all those who sincerely want the Arab and Muslim world to be free and democratic must above all, support, without ifs or buts, the right of Israel to exist. Today more than ever, all those who hold dear the idea of a common civilization of all men, where the right of life for all is paramount, must above all, support, without ifs or buts, the right of Israel to exist.

Magdi Allam

3rd November, 2005.