Islamic terrorism's useful idiots

In the latest edition of Spectator Australia I have an article on the folly of attempting to equate Islam with any other religion. It should go without saying that not every Muslim is a terrorist or a murderer, but by the same token it apparently needs spelling out that globally there is only one religion in whose name unabated violence is routinely committed. Which is why the best known of the infamous Jyllands-Posten cartoons features Mohammad with a bomb for a turban. And which point is well-made by the shooting by Muslims at the offices of Charlie Hebdo. Not that such obvious clues as shouting "Allahu Akbar" do much to convince some in the media of this.

The response from most of the Australian press to the Charlie massacre, however, has been to keep quiet about the religious aspect entirely. Where "Islam" is mentioned it is almost automatically qualified as "Islamic extremism" or "fundamentalist Islam." But no sooner had I filed my article when I came across a debate of sorts last Monday on Channel 7's Sunrise between Rita Panahi on the one side, and Andrew O'Keefe and Patrick Condren on the other. Pahahi is a straight-shooting columnist for Melbourne's Herald Sun, O'Keefe is the morning television show's relief host, and Condren is a Brisbane AM radio host.

Panahi: It is so inane to pretend that these...terror incidents have nothing to do with Islam...and we need to start discussing why are they happening, why are so many in the wider community displaying some permissive attitudes to this horror and what can we do to bring the Muslim community into the mainstream.

Sound analysis from an Iranian-Australian with a family background in Islam, and frankly, advice which zealots for multiculturalism (such as O'Keefe) should embrace. When a terrorist claims to have avenged the prophet only moments after shooting dead some cartoonists in the name of Allah, to suggest that Islam has nothing to do with it makes you look obtuse. And in that regard O'Keefe appeared happy to oblige.

O'Keefe (smugly): But...every time a bunch of fundamentalist Christians in the U.S. bomb an abortion clinic or a synagogue, do we hold every Christian in the world to account for that?

Ah yes, the old but-what-about-the-abortion-clinics fallacy. I didn't mention it last week because I hadn't heard anyone commit it in relation to the tragic events in Paris. As for Christians bombing synagogues: err, what? But for O'Keefe abortion bombings was pulled out like the trump card it wasn't. From the footage Panahi actually seemed surprised, and no doubt it elicited curiosity and doubtful groans from many viewers. In any case, it proved her point.

Panahi: We've got to stop doing what you just did and pretending that Islam is like every other religion as far as being behind incidents of terror. We are seeing all around the world...Islam at the centre of these terror acts...it's not happening with Christianity...with Buddhism…with Judaism.

I'm not sure he could find it on a map, but…

O'Keefe: Well it is happening with Buddhism in Burma.

Thankfully, Panahi didn't even flinch.

Panahi: But there's only one religion which is at the centre of acts of terrorism all around the world, including in Australia, and that's why we need to talk about it.

Talk about Islam? No, but thanks for asking.

O'Keefe: Bombing an abortion clinic is an act of terrorism based upon your religious belief.

So, forget the Lindt Café, and the "radical" imams in Lakemba and Auburn, and however many would-be Islamic terrorists have now been arrested by the Australian Federal Police; we evidently don't "need to talk about" such things as they impact Australians. Not at this time, anyway.

Panahi: When's the last time an abortion clinic was bombed, Andrew, by Christians?

O'Keefe confesses his ignorance, but takes the question on notice. Of course, had the question been "when was the last time Islamic terrorists or militants killed innocent people?" he wouldn't have needed to search for it on his phone. But at least he's a quick googler.

O'Keefe (again, smugly): On abortion clinic bombings, the last one was in 2009.

We have a winner! But I wonder how many days there have been since 2009 when Islamic groups haven't shouted "Allahu Akbar" and avenged blasphemy against the prophet. Or killed shoppers and staff at shopping malls or chocolate cafes. Or strapped bombs to children.

And I wonder how quickly O'Keefe could find a church that promotes or approves of abortion clinic violence? Or a group? Or a bishop? Or a PDF magazine? Maybe he's not that quick a googler after all.

Anyway, Condren was getting bored, sitting there listening to O'Keefe getting to say all the stupid stuff.

Condren: I'm in the Andrew camp…Where was this conversation when the IRA was bombing London and parts of Ireland on the basis of their Catholic religion? Where was all the moral outrage?

Oh boy. When, precisely, did Gerry Adams or Martin McGuinness or Sinn Féin or the IRA ever use the Catholic faith to justify their terrorism? It was part of a specific campaign for an independent, unified Ireland – as opposed to a caliph, or what Catholic theologians call a theocracy - which explains why their targets were always political, and why they didn't extend to, say, Australia. But as you know, sir, there was still plenty of moral outrage, including from outraged Christians.

Inexplicably the radio man then tried to back up his argument that Islam shouldn't be held responsible for the majority of terror acts globally by citing an Islamic terror organization (I know, very awkward).

Condren: We're very, very focused on what's happened in Paris…but Boko Haram has killed up to two thousand people in the last couple of days in north-eastern Nigeria.

And you're in the Andrew camp?

While Channel 7 was encouraging useful idiots like Patrick Condren and Andrew O'Keefe to mock the intelligence of most of its viewers, Boko Haram had just finished up a busy week of indiscriminate killing in the name of its religion. Its macabre coda was to explode a device word by a (probably unknowing) 10-year old girl in a bustling marketplace in Maiduguri, Nigeria. The Telegraph says that "Boko Haram is now a mini-Islamic State, with its own territory."