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Why We Want to Kill You: The Jihadist Mindset & How to Defeat it (Hardback) - Common
The most powerfu and authoritative book written on the causes of terrorism. Walid Shoebat, who is a self-confessed, former Islamic-inspired terrorist, reveals all the reasons why he and his former colleagues commit these acts of violence and genocide while they 'lay in wait' for the next opportunities. In this book, Shoebat not only gives insight into his own thinking but carefully analyzes the mindset of many intellectuals on the cause of terrorism. He also explain the key problems and how to defeat terrorism; he substantiates his argument from a fascinating and unique perspective. A MUST READ for out political leaders, as well as Americans and people of the Western world who believe in our way of life and freedom.
276 pages, Hardcover
First published March 3, 2007
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May 9, 2024
A PALESTINIAN CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY LOOKS AT JIHAD, AND OTHER TOPICS
Walid Shoebat is a Palestinian-American critic of Islam, speaker and author. He was born in the West Bank to an American mother, and converted to Christianity from Islam. He has claimed to be an ex-PLO terrorist, who firebombed the Israeli bank Bank Leumi. [NOTE, however, that his claims to be a former terrorist have been seriously questioned by CNN, the Jerusalem Post, and other sources.]
He wrote in the ‘Acknowledgements’ of this 2007 book, “Over the last few years I have been compiling information and making many interesting observations and solutions concerning the threats of Islamic fundamentalism. In December 2006 I decided to write this book, as we believe that we need to face the realities of the fundamentalist Islamic threat now. Iran is fast moving to nuclear capability and our freedoms could not only be eroded but the lives of millions of people could be at tremendous risk. We must change our thinking and actions in order to deal with this real threat.”
He states in the Foreword, “The question I get asked all the time is, ‘What makes a Muslim fundamentalist?’ What is Islamic fundamentalism? What makes Jihadists burn Americans in Fallujah, Iraq and drag their charred corpses through the streets?... What makes Muslim fundamentalists blow themselves up or decapitate civilian hostages in front of a camera so that the whole world can see? Is it poverty? It is an issue of human rights?... Is it possibly a reaction to the occupation of their country?... I should know this subject well, after all, I used to be a terrorist. I changed my mind in 1993 and decided to fight against Islamic fundamentalism… I documented my reasons in my book, ‘Why I Left Jihad.’ Here, I will share my story and my findings of ow Western[ers] misconceive the terrorist psychology and the motives of terrorists… The question I am asked most often is… Why would someone strap on a bomb and destroy his or her body to kill others? When I explain it, people get it…” (Pg. xi)
He provides his story, including, “I am a terrorist who never paid for my crimes. You might ask why. Well, the Israeli government has released thousands of terrorists back to the streets as a result of international pressure. Israel releases more terrorists back to the street than any other nation on earth. I have family members who had life sentences, but they have been able to return to their activism. I myself have confessed my terror connection, yet Israel does not want to press charges. Thousands of terrorists have been imprisoned, then released. I was influenced to become a terrorist by my religious education at … the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Some of the teaching that I recall in my Islamic studies at Dar Jaser Hich School in Bethlehem was given to us by Shaikh Zakaria and Naim Ayyad. Both were influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and the Jihad ideology was greatly emphasized by them.” (Pg. 1-2)
He explains, “The participation of women in Jihad has no age limits… In the few known cases of Muslim female suicide bombers, most of the females were related by family to the male suspects and terrorist leaders… Despite the recent participation of Muslim women in attacks, a Muslim woman’s primary role is to offer moral and ideological support to male Jihadists.… [They] demonstrate their support … through their communiques and statements in jihadi magazines… In short, women are increasingly being called on for jihad. No longer invisible, Muslim women, with support from a new generation of male terrorists, are able to utilize modern technology and proclaim their voices on the global jihadi landscape.” (Pg. 8-9)
He states, “it took me hears to realize that I had to deal with my untruthful nature, and recognize this habit of lying was still acceptable with most of my countrymen. As a Muslim, how could I understand that I had a serious problem? This realization came after I was out of Islam and had adopted a different faith. I became a Christian in 1993. To my Muslim brethren, of course, this was my first crime… I quickly learned that once you were labeled a Christian you were considered a RADICAL. Many have accused me of going from one extreme to another.” (Pg. 21-22)
He argues, “[If] the bombers commit suicide as a result of expectations for a homeland, then where are the Palestinian Christian suicide bombers? They simply do not exist. Christians live in Iraq, where the desire is to get rid of the American occupation, yet only Muslim Iraqis, and Muslims from surrounding countries, commit suicide bombings.” (Pg. 30)
He explains, “Jihadism is a message of salvation. For one to die in the cause of Allah is an assurance of salvation and entry to paradise… Dying in Jihad is the ultimate way to ensure one receives instant passage of one’s soul to paradise.” (Pg. 51)
He adds, “The reason Westerners do not get this is simple, and I will repeat this throughout the course of this book---what Muslims say in English is usually different from what is said in Arabic. [Yasser] Arafat’s words in English at Oslo were completely opposite from his words in Arabic. The same is true for all the Iranian ambassadors and such. Also, expressions and agreements made with non-Muslims are usually considered by Muslims to be non-committal.” (Pg. 55)
He says, “The fundraising for terrorism uses of the holiest tenets of Islam---Zakat... [which] is intended for charity and Jihad and the cause of Allah… Starting in the late 1980s---after the dual shocks of the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet war in Afghanistan---Saudi Arabia’s quasi-official charities became the primary source for funds for the fast-growing Jihad movement… The money was used to run paramilitary training camps, purchase weapons, and recruit new members.” (Pg. 67-68)
He asserts, “A Muslim fundamentalist mind-set has no real ammunition with which to argue. Almost always, as soon as you start a dialogue, make an argument, state a fact, or expose Islamic injunctions, they will write you off… I spent ten years attempting to reason with them to no avail. I was always accused of being a … Zionist agent spy, lunatic, Islamophobe. I was even accused of being paid by Zionists.” (Pg. 91)
He states, “Most Westerners think that recruitment merely occurs in recruitment centers and through messengers who seek out available and willing souls. In reality, the recruitment centers are already visited daily, when Muslims voluntarily visit the local mosque, especially of Fridays. The local mosque has been the best place to recruit.” (Pg. 130-131)
He argues, “academics in the Middle East are calling on other Muslims to become suicide bombers. If these pro-terror academics are wrong in their interpretation of Islam, then why are their critics not fighting them? Instead, the critics are busy fighting us, the ‘Islamophobes.’ They simply counter that this madness is small in number. How many Sudanese Christians must die for us to realize how big their number really is? How many ‘Irans’ must evolve before we wake up? How many 9/11s must be repeated until we’ve had enough? How many Hamas- or Hezbollah-style government must be established before we comprehend the threat?” (Pg. 147-148)
He contends, “it’s a myth that the Palestinians are the underdogs in this conflict. It’s not an Israeli-Palestinian war, but an Israeli-Islamonazi war. This issue is not land or a Palestinian state. The hypocrisy is striking. Where are the accusations when it comes to true aggression? The world is basically silent when more than a million Sudanese are dead from starvation and mass execution, silent when Christians die in Indonesia, silent then Turks kill Cypriots.” (Pg. 158)
He asserts, “One… organization which fights Islamophobes is CAIR [Council on American-Islamic Relations]. The true purpose of CAIR is to legitimize the activities of Islamic militants and to neutralize opposition to Islamic extremism. They serve as perception management, in support of fundamentalist Muslim terrorists…” (Pg. 166)
He states, Since the beginning of 1996, and certainly following the completion of the redeployment from Nebron in January 1997, ninety-nine percent of the Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have not lived under Israeli occupation. By no conceivable stretching of words can the anti-Israel violence emanating from the territories during these years be made to qualify as resistance to foreign occupation. In these years there has been no such occupation.” (Pg. 188)
He says, “The Palestinians have lived in poverty for one reason: Arafat stole their money and kept the masses under his control. Millions in financial aid came flowing in, but he and his cabinet, who called the Jews thieves, pocketed much of the money donated by American tax dollars and by the United nations. Again, what they accuse others of, they are guilty of themselves.” (Pg. 198)
He argues, “The West… instead of keeping its hands out of Iraq or Palestine, interceded in the name of their global efforts to establish democracy, and the end result was aiding the very system they were fighting against… in Palestine we pressured Israel to allow Arabs in Jerusalem to vote, and now we have Hamas. So how can America deal with the Middle East and, at the same time, deal with its global desire to establish free societies and democratic governments? This effort is viewed by the Muslims as a Western and International Zionist aspiration to occupy the Middle East and rob it of its resources, especially oil.” (Pg. 209)
He asks, “Are we hearing from moderate Muslims? If so, where are their Arabic websites? If there are a few, how many are there? Why are they only in English? Why, when they make statements about certain Muslim jurisprudence, will you find only parts of all that was said---just what is palatable to Western minds.” (Pg. 234)
He concludes, “The civil war, now in its early stages in Iraq, was no caused by the American presence. It could not have been prevented by anything done, or not done, by the Americans… It reflects the new demographic balance… the Shia Arabs have outnumbered the Sunnis… They no constitute sixty to sixty-five percent [of the Iraqi population]… Americans need to stop listening to Barbara Streisand, Michael Moore, and Brad Pitt. Our duty is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” (Pg. 259)
He adds, “The West thought that everyone wanted democracy. It ignored a major factor that, in the Muslim world, democracy was never in existence. And even today, in the fifty-five Muslim nations, democracy was never established. What did the West expect when they insisted that Arabs in Jerusalem vote? Did they expect that a mini-America would be established? Can’t they see what we have is a mini-Iran instead?... These days especially, if democracy is introduced in the Middle East, the majority would elect Islamic fundamental states…. the United States is fighting a terrible war [in Iraq] in order to institute a Shiite government that will soon become a proxy for Iran.” (Pg. 260)
This book is a very pro-Israel, anti-Islamic work, and will appeal to some for that reason. But ‘caveat emptor’ for anyone depending on Shoebat’s claims to be a former terrorist.
Walid Shoebat is a Palestinian-American critic of Islam, speaker and author. He was born in the West Bank to an American mother, and converted to Christianity from Islam. He has claimed to be an ex-PLO terrorist, who firebombed the Israeli bank Bank Leumi. [NOTE, however, that his claims to be a former terrorist have been seriously questioned by CNN, the Jerusalem Post, and other sources.]
He wrote in the ‘Acknowledgements’ of this 2007 book, “Over the last few years I have been compiling information and making many interesting observations and solutions concerning the threats of Islamic fundamentalism. In December 2006 I decided to write this book, as we believe that we need to face the realities of the fundamentalist Islamic threat now. Iran is fast moving to nuclear capability and our freedoms could not only be eroded but the lives of millions of people could be at tremendous risk. We must change our thinking and actions in order to deal with this real threat.”
He states in the Foreword, “The question I get asked all the time is, ‘What makes a Muslim fundamentalist?’ What is Islamic fundamentalism? What makes Jihadists burn Americans in Fallujah, Iraq and drag their charred corpses through the streets?... What makes Muslim fundamentalists blow themselves up or decapitate civilian hostages in front of a camera so that the whole world can see? Is it poverty? It is an issue of human rights?... Is it possibly a reaction to the occupation of their country?... I should know this subject well, after all, I used to be a terrorist. I changed my mind in 1993 and decided to fight against Islamic fundamentalism… I documented my reasons in my book, ‘Why I Left Jihad.’ Here, I will share my story and my findings of ow Western[ers] misconceive the terrorist psychology and the motives of terrorists… The question I am asked most often is… Why would someone strap on a bomb and destroy his or her body to kill others? When I explain it, people get it…” (Pg. xi)
He provides his story, including, “I am a terrorist who never paid for my crimes. You might ask why. Well, the Israeli government has released thousands of terrorists back to the streets as a result of international pressure. Israel releases more terrorists back to the street than any other nation on earth. I have family members who had life sentences, but they have been able to return to their activism. I myself have confessed my terror connection, yet Israel does not want to press charges. Thousands of terrorists have been imprisoned, then released. I was influenced to become a terrorist by my religious education at … the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. Some of the teaching that I recall in my Islamic studies at Dar Jaser Hich School in Bethlehem was given to us by Shaikh Zakaria and Naim Ayyad. Both were influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and the Jihad ideology was greatly emphasized by them.” (Pg. 1-2)
He explains, “The participation of women in Jihad has no age limits… In the few known cases of Muslim female suicide bombers, most of the females were related by family to the male suspects and terrorist leaders… Despite the recent participation of Muslim women in attacks, a Muslim woman’s primary role is to offer moral and ideological support to male Jihadists.… [They] demonstrate their support … through their communiques and statements in jihadi magazines… In short, women are increasingly being called on for jihad. No longer invisible, Muslim women, with support from a new generation of male terrorists, are able to utilize modern technology and proclaim their voices on the global jihadi landscape.” (Pg. 8-9)
He states, “it took me hears to realize that I had to deal with my untruthful nature, and recognize this habit of lying was still acceptable with most of my countrymen. As a Muslim, how could I understand that I had a serious problem? This realization came after I was out of Islam and had adopted a different faith. I became a Christian in 1993. To my Muslim brethren, of course, this was my first crime… I quickly learned that once you were labeled a Christian you were considered a RADICAL. Many have accused me of going from one extreme to another.” (Pg. 21-22)
He argues, “[If] the bombers commit suicide as a result of expectations for a homeland, then where are the Palestinian Christian suicide bombers? They simply do not exist. Christians live in Iraq, where the desire is to get rid of the American occupation, yet only Muslim Iraqis, and Muslims from surrounding countries, commit suicide bombings.” (Pg. 30)
He explains, “Jihadism is a message of salvation. For one to die in the cause of Allah is an assurance of salvation and entry to paradise… Dying in Jihad is the ultimate way to ensure one receives instant passage of one’s soul to paradise.” (Pg. 51)
He adds, “The reason Westerners do not get this is simple, and I will repeat this throughout the course of this book---what Muslims say in English is usually different from what is said in Arabic. [Yasser] Arafat’s words in English at Oslo were completely opposite from his words in Arabic. The same is true for all the Iranian ambassadors and such. Also, expressions and agreements made with non-Muslims are usually considered by Muslims to be non-committal.” (Pg. 55)
He says, “The fundraising for terrorism uses of the holiest tenets of Islam---Zakat... [which] is intended for charity and Jihad and the cause of Allah… Starting in the late 1980s---after the dual shocks of the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet war in Afghanistan---Saudi Arabia’s quasi-official charities became the primary source for funds for the fast-growing Jihad movement… The money was used to run paramilitary training camps, purchase weapons, and recruit new members.” (Pg. 67-68)
He asserts, “A Muslim fundamentalist mind-set has no real ammunition with which to argue. Almost always, as soon as you start a dialogue, make an argument, state a fact, or expose Islamic injunctions, they will write you off… I spent ten years attempting to reason with them to no avail. I was always accused of being a … Zionist agent spy, lunatic, Islamophobe. I was even accused of being paid by Zionists.” (Pg. 91)
He states, “Most Westerners think that recruitment merely occurs in recruitment centers and through messengers who seek out available and willing souls. In reality, the recruitment centers are already visited daily, when Muslims voluntarily visit the local mosque, especially of Fridays. The local mosque has been the best place to recruit.” (Pg. 130-131)
He argues, “academics in the Middle East are calling on other Muslims to become suicide bombers. If these pro-terror academics are wrong in their interpretation of Islam, then why are their critics not fighting them? Instead, the critics are busy fighting us, the ‘Islamophobes.’ They simply counter that this madness is small in number. How many Sudanese Christians must die for us to realize how big their number really is? How many ‘Irans’ must evolve before we wake up? How many 9/11s must be repeated until we’ve had enough? How many Hamas- or Hezbollah-style government must be established before we comprehend the threat?” (Pg. 147-148)
He contends, “it’s a myth that the Palestinians are the underdogs in this conflict. It’s not an Israeli-Palestinian war, but an Israeli-Islamonazi war. This issue is not land or a Palestinian state. The hypocrisy is striking. Where are the accusations when it comes to true aggression? The world is basically silent when more than a million Sudanese are dead from starvation and mass execution, silent when Christians die in Indonesia, silent then Turks kill Cypriots.” (Pg. 158)
He asserts, “One… organization which fights Islamophobes is CAIR [Council on American-Islamic Relations]. The true purpose of CAIR is to legitimize the activities of Islamic militants and to neutralize opposition to Islamic extremism. They serve as perception management, in support of fundamentalist Muslim terrorists…” (Pg. 166)
He states, Since the beginning of 1996, and certainly following the completion of the redeployment from Nebron in January 1997, ninety-nine percent of the Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have not lived under Israeli occupation. By no conceivable stretching of words can the anti-Israel violence emanating from the territories during these years be made to qualify as resistance to foreign occupation. In these years there has been no such occupation.” (Pg. 188)
He says, “The Palestinians have lived in poverty for one reason: Arafat stole their money and kept the masses under his control. Millions in financial aid came flowing in, but he and his cabinet, who called the Jews thieves, pocketed much of the money donated by American tax dollars and by the United nations. Again, what they accuse others of, they are guilty of themselves.” (Pg. 198)
He argues, “The West… instead of keeping its hands out of Iraq or Palestine, interceded in the name of their global efforts to establish democracy, and the end result was aiding the very system they were fighting against… in Palestine we pressured Israel to allow Arabs in Jerusalem to vote, and now we have Hamas. So how can America deal with the Middle East and, at the same time, deal with its global desire to establish free societies and democratic governments? This effort is viewed by the Muslims as a Western and International Zionist aspiration to occupy the Middle East and rob it of its resources, especially oil.” (Pg. 209)
He asks, “Are we hearing from moderate Muslims? If so, where are their Arabic websites? If there are a few, how many are there? Why are they only in English? Why, when they make statements about certain Muslim jurisprudence, will you find only parts of all that was said---just what is palatable to Western minds.” (Pg. 234)
He concludes, “The civil war, now in its early stages in Iraq, was no caused by the American presence. It could not have been prevented by anything done, or not done, by the Americans… It reflects the new demographic balance… the Shia Arabs have outnumbered the Sunnis… They no constitute sixty to sixty-five percent [of the Iraqi population]… Americans need to stop listening to Barbara Streisand, Michael Moore, and Brad Pitt. Our duty is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” (Pg. 259)
He adds, “The West thought that everyone wanted democracy. It ignored a major factor that, in the Muslim world, democracy was never in existence. And even today, in the fifty-five Muslim nations, democracy was never established. What did the West expect when they insisted that Arabs in Jerusalem vote? Did they expect that a mini-America would be established? Can’t they see what we have is a mini-Iran instead?... These days especially, if democracy is introduced in the Middle East, the majority would elect Islamic fundamental states…. the United States is fighting a terrible war [in Iraq] in order to institute a Shiite government that will soon become a proxy for Iran.” (Pg. 260)
This book is a very pro-Israel, anti-Islamic work, and will appeal to some for that reason. But ‘caveat emptor’ for anyone depending on Shoebat’s claims to be a former terrorist.
May 10, 2009
This is the first Shoebat book that I've read. I thought he did a good job giving detail and insight into the islamicist mentality. He was not afraid to say and to show, that Islamic families, culture, society, and the religion itself unfortunately often supports violent radicalism.
He decisively dispells the often stated idea in the west that suicide bombing is related to poor and poverty stricken upbringing, arguing that instead, it is unique to Islam.
He gives great insight into the strategy of radicals as it relates to Europe and the United States, and the integral importance of blaming others, particularly Jews, for failings in Islamic Society.
In his conclusion, he does give some ideas for dealing with Islamic Fundamentalism, and they are good as far as they go, but they do not give me much hope that Islamicist violence will soon wane. Perhaps this is what Shoebat intends, and perhaps it is the correct prognosis. But still, I hope and pray not.
October 10, 2012
Good Quick EASY Read that , explains how Americans are being PLAYED
December 29, 2017
Only three stars, but I'll still call it required reading for right, for left, for members of all religions and cultures.
I am very thankful for the Nonie Darwishes, Ayaan Hirsa Alis and Walid Shoebats of the world. Who better to lift the veil (ha ha) on this mindset than those who used to be part of it?
The history is correct, the psychology is enlightening, the interlocking of situation, religion and family is perfect. The recommendations are great too: boldness that no one really will want to attempt until it's too late. And with 200 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities, it pretty much is too late for the US. Radical Islam is only a forcing function.
So why only three?
- He's not necessarily who he says he is. "Palestinian jihadist" can be anyone from a 20 kg plastique vest wearer to some chump rock thrower. He may be in the latter category. Or not.
- Issues with punctuation and mechanics, but hey - watch me write Arabic and laugh.
- Organization. It might not sell more books, but put in a chart of bad guys and who they're connected to. It needs more to grab attention (though the title is awesome in that regard).
Overall, the people who need to read it, i.e. all of us, won't. And the people who do read it will not listen at best and issue fatwas at worst.
Keep up the good work Mr. Shoebat and get yourself a better editor. I volunteer.
I am very thankful for the Nonie Darwishes, Ayaan Hirsa Alis and Walid Shoebats of the world. Who better to lift the veil (ha ha) on this mindset than those who used to be part of it?
The history is correct, the psychology is enlightening, the interlocking of situation, religion and family is perfect. The recommendations are great too: boldness that no one really will want to attempt until it's too late. And with 200 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities, it pretty much is too late for the US. Radical Islam is only a forcing function.
So why only three?
- He's not necessarily who he says he is. "Palestinian jihadist" can be anyone from a 20 kg plastique vest wearer to some chump rock thrower. He may be in the latter category. Or not.
- Issues with punctuation and mechanics, but hey - watch me write Arabic and laugh.
- Organization. It might not sell more books, but put in a chart of bad guys and who they're connected to. It needs more to grab attention (though the title is awesome in that regard).
Overall, the people who need to read it, i.e. all of us, won't. And the people who do read it will not listen at best and issue fatwas at worst.
Keep up the good work Mr. Shoebat and get yourself a better editor. I volunteer.
Read
March 31, 2015thought provoking -- it's not a "hate" book but an informative book about the vast differences between Western and Middle Eastern thought -- scary concepts. makes me sad for those who believe in Islam but really don't follow what their belief teaches--they have on blinders
February 18, 2008
I felt this book just reiterated everything I already knew. It seemed to be very redundant and at times a difficult read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews