About two months ago, France expressed solidarity with Germany, which was dealing at the time with an influx of refugees from Syria and North Africa. The French sent large buses to Munich, as well as translators with speakers and megaphones, making a plea to convince the migrants to leave Germany and settle in France. The Economist reported that the goodwill mission ended in disappointment. The buses returned half-empty. The refugees preferred Germany. There is no mathematical equation to, God forbid, equate refugees with terrorists. Even the small minority that seeks violent revenge against their host country only does so in the second or third generation. Nevertheless, there is some sort of correlation between the Muslim population that settled in France and the rate of terrorist attacks within its territory. And a convincing sociological explanation is necessary to understand this phenomenon. It's enough just to mention the murder at the Jewish school in Toulouse, at the kosher supermarket in Paris and at the offices of satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo to understand that the horrific attack on Friday is not simply another painful act of terrorism that Western culture has become accustomed to suffering at the hands of extremist Muslims -- this was something especially serious. Everybody's hearts go out to the victims. They didn't even have a glimmer of hope that their hostage-takers would do anything other than pen them up and murder them. The terrorists wanted only blood -- a miniature Babi Yar in the middle of a concert hall. The growing strength of terrorism is simply the other side of the coin of weakness, which has been cast from three major developments since World War II: the shock over the Nazi atrocities that led to humanitarian legislation and practices to help those considered to be disadvantaged -- and the West's justifications for their violence; the embourgeoisement of the West (and also of Russia, until President Vladimir Putin's policy change); and the unbearable mistake made by enlightened countries with anti-Semitic pasts in their tendency to believe that if only the Jews clipped their wings, order would resume. When I wrote the introduction to the Hebrew edition of Professor Samuel Huntington's "The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order" a dozen years ago, I quoted our sages: "When calamity strikes the world, it is not felt immediately, only afterward." Terrorism has already stricken the world, but in Western Europe, there are those still stuck in the past. In its effort to acquire a semblance of calm, the West believed (and still believes) that terrorism will begin and end with Jews. On Friday, the West once again was given to opportunity to understand that disowning the Jews will not free it from the threat of terrorism nor will it save it the trouble of a war on terror. Yes, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas did avoid serious negotiations, but punishing Israel by marking products from the settlements will not solve the problem and is nothing more than an attempt to win favor in the eyes of those who threaten and terrorize. It will not work. With this as context, and out of deep sympathy for the French, I posted on Twitter on Saturday that we must rush to help them, we must gather medical and emergency supplies specifically from the settlements and send them over. This would be a condemnation of terrorism with a diplomatic note for the Foreign Ministry on the Quai d'Orsay, just as the French and others condemn the murder of Jews by Palestinians while reminding Israel to do some soul-searching. The extreme Left did not take kindly to this suggestion. They are angry because they are wrong.
