By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine

A few weeks ago, a supposedly religious activist, probably from one of the Gulf States, suggested to me that Muslims shouldn't confine our attacks to Zionists; we ought, he said, to attack Jews as Jews, on the grounds that the vast majority of Jews support Israel.

I treated this "advice" with great caution, suspecting that he might be one of those overzealous fanatics who are duped by Zionist circles to malign Jews so that Israeli hasbara (propaganda) operatives such as MEMRI and Honest Reporting [sic] would be able to use his extremist rhetoric to their best advantage. They highlight "Muslim anti-Semitism" and con the world into thinking that the conflict in the Middle East is not really over the Israeli occupation of Palestine and oppression of its Christian and Muslim people, but is rooted in deeply-held Arab racism against the Jews.

After some investigation, I found out that the website used by that extremist was actually a Mossad front used to attract religious radicals in order to serve Israeli propaganda purposes. Needless to say, Zionist groups just love Muslims like this and they usually have no shortage of such imbeciles to use; when there is, the Mossad hasbara department simply creates or recruits a few more.

Today, one of Israel's major propaganda goals is to exacerbate the ancient dispute between Shiites and Sunnis over events that took place immediately after the death of Prophet Muhammed, more than 1,400 years ago. It is widely believed that dozens of fanatical "Shiite" and "Sunni" websites are run or influenced by Mossad and its hasbara tentacles. The main function of these sites is to have the two main Muslim communities demonize, vilify and dehumanise each other. Aside from fanning the flames of ancient hatreds, Mossad also uses some of these sites to recruit fanatics and infiltrate their ranks. In the final analysis, it may well be that some of the most fanatical and extremist, supposedly "Islamist", groups may actually be serving the Zionist agenda, probably unwittingly.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Ariel Sharon placed Palestinian "terrorism" under the "war on terror" banner in a canny move that pulled the world's attention away from the legitimate nature of Palestinian resistance to Israel's military occupation. It is one of Israel's strategic goals to induce the so-called clash of civilizations between Islam and the West. This is the reason why fascist Europeans such as Geert Wilders, for example, are often more popular in Israel than in their own countries. Israel and its political ideology calculate that an artificially-induced West-v-Islam conflict would be the ultimate red herring that would allow Zionism to pacify and conquer all of occupied Palestine and complete the ethnic cleansing of the non-Jewish population from their ancestral land.

I know for sure that some Israeli circles are using Muslim names to malign the West, even to incite violence against European targets. In fact, one of the dearest goals of Israeli propaganda operatives is to see people bearing Muslim names embark on acts of violence and terror in Europe. In doing so, these gullible stooges, who think they are serving the cause of Islam, help Israel by besmirching Islam and portraying Muslims as barbarians hell-bent on sowing death and destruction in the capital cities of Europe. I am sure that the CIA and other Western agencies are aware of all of this. However, criticism of Israel is a taboo amounting to political suicide or more.

I am not suggesting, of course, that there are no bona fide Muslim extremists; there are. However, it is true that many of these extremists, especially the nihilistic type, provide fertile ground for recruitment by Israeli intelligence services or, at the very least, carry out acts that overshadow Israeli criminality against the Palestinians and portray Islam in a bad light in the eyes of many who would otherwise support the Palestinian quest for justice.

Without such a scenario, it is impossible to understand what Islam or Muslims have to gain from the massacre at a Church in Iraq, not to mention the many acts of carnage at Shiite and Sunni places of worship in that unfortunate country. Such crimes are without doubt violations of the most essential teachings of Islam not to judge and act upon our often hastily drawn opinions because "God will judge between men on the Day of Judgment".

Although extremism may be seen as an attractive option, especially in the face of Zionist provocation and crimes, it is imperative upon all Muslims to be vigilant and not be tricked or confused by Israeli agents who are hell-bent on besmirching the image of Islam. It is Islam, not Arabism or Palestinian nationalism, which remains as the main challenge to Israel's hegemony in the Holy Land. We must keep this in mind, keep our wits about us and beware of the extremists.

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By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine. Source: Middle East Monitor http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/middle-east/1834-beware-of-the-extremists