Despite this, Netanyahu’s recent statements seem to reflect a dangerous optimism about the potential for deradicalizing the Muslim enemy in our midst, specifically, the Arabs in Gaza. While his intentions are undoubtedly rooted in a desire for peace and coexistence, his approach appears increasingly disconnected from the harsh realities on the ground and more focused on appeasing the Western world.

Former President Donald Trump recently stated that if elected, he will work towards deporting jihadi sympathizers from the United States. Trump believes that to keep America safe, he must deport jihadi sympathizers. Shouldn’t Israel work on deporting terrorists, and those supporting and advocating for the annihilation of the state as well?

The idea that radical elements within an enemy Muslim population can be reformed or deradicalized is a dangerous delusion. Netanyahu’s statements suggesting that peaceful coexistence with a de-Nazified Muslim population is feasible seem to ignore a painful historical and contemporary reality.

The Muslim Mufti of Jerusalem—Haj Amin al-Husseini—in the 1930s and 1940s met with Adolf Hitler and partnered with the Nazis in a bid to annihilate Jews, showcasing the deep-rooted antisemitic currents that run through some segments of Muslim ideology. And that has nothing to do with the establishment of modern-day Israel, Jewish settlements, or Jews living in their ancestral and biblical lands in Judea and Samaria.

The concept of Palestinian national identity offers no real potential for deradicalization. As spoken about by former Soviet Union intelligence officers, the Palestinian national identity was invented by the Soviets in the 1960s as a tool to undermine the Jewish people and the destruction of the State of Israel. From a young age, Arab children in the Gaza Strip, as well as Judea and Samaria are taught in schools sponsored by the U.N. Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and encouraged by their parents to aspire to martyrdom by killing Jews.

The basis of the Palestinian national identity systematically erases all Jewish connection to our ancestral homeland. Jewish holy sites are reassigned as Muslim landmarks, denying any Jewish connection. It lacks any unique historical, cultural or archaeological significance of its own and instead focuses on denying and negating Jewish history and heritage. The ultimate aim of this identity is to destroy Israel and replace it. The ideology that underpins the Palestinian national identity is fundamentally opposed to the existence of Israel and is entirely based on the erasure and killing of the Jews.

This opposition is not merely a political stance, but a deeply ingrained theological conviction within Islamic jihadi thought. The existence of a Jewish state is seen as a direct challenge to the supposed supremacy of Islam. How does one go about “reform” if this is a cornerstone of both national and religious identity?

In contrast to the vision that Netanyahu seems to hold, the reality is that many of our enemies are educated from a young age to harbor deep-seated hostility towards Jews. While some recognize the freedom, equality and opportunities available in Israel to anyone of any faith, including Muslims, the majority remain entrenched in a worldview that sees the Jewish state as an existential threat that must be destroyed.

The data on growing radical Muslim populations in Western countries further illustrates the challenge. The woke culture and social pressure against radicalism in the West have had no effect on lowering the hate and rhetoric. Instead, the growth of the jihadi Muslim community in countries like the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany, has led to increased social tensions and security concerns. 

Lebanese-Christian American commentator Brigitte Gabriel has eloquently described the futility of dismissing radical elements within the Muslim community. She argues that even a minority of extremists, numbering in the hundreds of millions globally, poses a significant threat to the whole freedom-loving world. Her view underscores the challenge of addressing radical ideologies that are not confined to a small, isolated group but are widespread and deeply ingrained.

While Netanyahu’s intentions to present a hopeful narrative of deradicalization are surely well-intentioned, they are based on an unrealistic assessment of the situation. The ideological battle against radical jihadi Islam is not merely about changing minds but about confronting a worldview that sees the destruction of the Jewish state and developing a global caliphate under Sharia law to control all infidels as a religious imperative. This cannot be easily overcome by goodwill and diplomatic efforts alone.

Facing this reality requires respect for the impact of religious Islam on geopolitics, not ignoring it. A more practical approach is recognizing that the road to security and peace involves confronting radical ideologies head-on rather than relying on improbable dreams of reform. By Avi Abelow, JNS

Unending layers of secret deals by the Kenya Kwanza Government, and its management of dissent cast the nation into frightful Frankenstein situation. 

From the edible oils saga, to mysterious fertilisers experience, and now the Adani affair, the emerging picture is a portrait of an avaricious State, in the lap of a people whose philosophy of government and goals are at odds with the welfare of citizens.

In the portrait is an eating State that has defined self-service as its primary agenda. Underlying this self-service is quest for grotesque self-enrichment, no matter what it takes. There are no scruples, no holds barred, and no capacity for embarrassment, no matter what comes into limelight. The end justifies everything. 

The unfolding Adani saga at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has all characteristics of disgrace. The Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Davis Chirchir, has recently been hard placed to speak to origins and character of this deal. A seemingly ill-reputed corporate wheeler-dealer entity has been given a multi-billion shilling contract, “to refurbish JKIA.” 

Appearing before Senate a few days ago, the CS hemmed and hawed. Chirchir chewed his tongue, where it was not tied in his mouth. He said things even he should find difficult to believe.  He concurrently knew everything and nothing about Adani and Kenya’s latest multi-billion state saga. This Adani affair is only the latest pointer to a State hostile to those who gave it life.

The William Ruto regime, in its first two years, is mirrored in Mary Shelley’s 1818 horrendous allegory of a creature that hates its maker. For two years, Kenyans have been shunted from the phantasmagoria to the fantastic. From the wild they have been taken to the nightmarish.    

The Kenya Kwanza State that we gave ourselves in 2022 conjures up proto-Kafkaesque images from 19th Century Gothic world. Strangers have scanned our eye irises for gain, in the full glare of State. We have been sold stones and donkey dung, in a State driven exercise. We have eaten millions of defective cooking oils, as State looks on. Our children wallow in a confused and hurriedly introduced education system. Nobody seems to know where its head is, or tail.  

The university system is collapsing, as State plays the flute. The software of the meeting point between advanced training and preliminary artisanal competence based training has not been defined. The university fees funding model is in a spin, courtesy of uneducated experiments by the ministry.

Public health insurance is in similar dire straits, as a factor of suspect State promptings. A sinister affordable housing saga has reached a Bermuda Triangle. It’s cast precariously in a bundle of opacity, gluttony and stasis. The triangle seems set to swallow it.   

Forced disappearances became order of the day for those who protest against State driven Bermuda of fiscal decadence, splurge, and creeping autocracy. We are abducted by balaclava wearing individuals. We are teargassed by inhumane police officers, even when we writhe on the ground, in pain; our limbs broken. We are disappeared. Our judges are intimidated and blackmailed with horror and terror, if they ask authorities to produce us before the courts.   

I am Victor Frankenstein. I created the sadism that torments us with astronomical cost of living, and squanders our taxes. I created the beast that beats us up in the streets, disappears us, dumps our cadavers in garbage quarries, while splurging our resources, when not auctioning us to foreigners. We are collectively in the horrific place in Mary Shelley’s Gothic allegory, Frankenstein.   

Mary’s Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist, creates “a human being” in his laboratory. He soon finds he has given life to a revolting monster. It hates him. It hates human beings. It vows revenge against him for creating it. Frankenstein refers to his sapient creation as “the beast, monster, thing,” et al.

I am one of the scientists who made this thing. Like Frankenstein, I am horrified by what I made. Once again, I abjure all affinity. 

Mercifully, this creature is in free fall. Internal public spats by the captains attest. These internecine quarrels are not to be framed as “William Ruto versus Rigathi Gachagua,” nor as “Gachagua versus Ichung’wa.” They should be seen as what they are.

The implosion of the Frankenstein thing. For a while, it will teargas us, abduct us, disappear us, and dump us. But it will not last forever. Even Adani will come to pass. Kenya will go on as a better place. Thanks to the spirit of the people, especially the youth. By Baraka Muluka, The Standard. Dr Muluka is a strategic communications adviser. www.barrackmuluka.co.ke