PAUL HOLLANDER 15
were moved by a consuming hatred and determination to deal a stag–
gering blow to their perceived enemies and their material incarnation.
This was a classic hate crime against the United States and all that it
symbolizes: modernity, global power, Western values, and support for
Israel. Such intense hatred can only be appeased by murderous violence,
and those consumed by it do not mind destroying themselves. That is
what distinguishes this act from other acts of terror. Members of the
Red Brigades, the Baader-Meinhof gang, the IRA, the Basque terrorists,
the Weathermen, and the Black Liberation Army were not animated by
religious beliefs promising generous otherworldly rewards. By contrast,
the suicide pilots (and suicide bombers in Israel) expected paradise to
await them for their good works of killing.
Religious beliefs, although powerful, are only a part of the explana–
tion; there is also a political culture of murderous hatred that Arab
countries produce and maintain. In Palestinian refugee camps and reli–
gious schools children are taught to hate Israel and its supporters; the
mass media routinely disseminate this hatred-blessed by religious
authorities-even in more moderate Arab countries like Egypt and
Saudi Arabia.
In these political cu ltu res violence is glorified, suicide bombing is a
sacred mission, and people dance on the streets at the news of mass
murders such as those committed at the World Trade Center. In such set–
tings individual killers joyously show their bloody hands on television
(as when two Israeli soldiers were lynched on the West Bank), celebrat–
ing without embarrassment violence against their enemies. A good
visual representation of this political culture may be found in pictures
(often seen on television) of Arab crowds demonstrating with faces con–
torted with hatred, wildly gesticulating and screaming for the blood of
their enemies.
In Hungary, a former Communist country, it was especially tempting
to speculate on the connections between "theory and practice," that is,
Islamic beliefs and the violence they seemingly inspire. I think there is a
similarity between the relationship of Marxism to Communist states
and Islamic religious teachings' relationship to the political violence
they apparently inspire and legitimize. To be sure, Marx cannot be held
responsible for Stalin, the KGB, the Purges, and the Gulag. But there
was
some
connection between the great ideals he articu lated and the
ruthlessness employed on their behalf by the Communist leaders seek–
ing to implement them. Likewise, Islamic beliefs may not explicitly
demand or justify the indiscriminate killing of non-combatants, but they
certainly encourage crusades, merciless struggles against the numerous
