Daniel Greenfield / Sultan Knish Articles at DanielGreenfield.org

99 percent of Muslims are Muslims because their many times over great-grandfather was living in a village someplace when a group of men with swords marched in, and declared that they were all going to become Muslims now, or die horribly. Unless he was smart enough to get on board by being one of the men with the swords, and take home his share of the loot and slaves. Today these people would be known as Muslim extremists. Back then they were just known as Muslims. But there's a new Gold Rush in the West now as Western scholars, academics and politicians look around for something that isn't there-- a way to co-exist with Islam. Except it's not a Gold Rush but a Fool's Gold Rush, because when it comes to Islam, co-existence has never been on the table. Islam is a religion that from its earliest days was spread by the sword of Mohammed, and then by various Caliphs, Emirs, Sultans, assorted warlords and rulers. Religions that spread like that are no more interested in

Valkyrie's arrival in theaters is only the latest entry in the "Good Nazi" genre, a liberal cinematic preoccupation that is symptomatic of liberalism's inability to come to terms with evil. On the rare occasions that a film or TV show will depict Muslim Terrorists, there will almost invariably be a "good terrorist" who rejects the way of the "bad terrorists" and turns on them. The "Good Nazi" myth lives on. Swap Communist for Nazi for Muslim, and you get the same results. When popular culture deals with evil, its creators time and time again think that the most important message to convey, is that evil people are basically good. There are different sources for this mindset. First and most basic there is naivete. Many forms of Denial are rooted in a Denial of Evil. If you can't believe that there is really such a thing as evil, the world seems like a much more hopeful place. And all that is required is understanding. The other side is

Want to open fire on a passing family sedan? How about setting off a bomb in a crowded pizzeria? How about beating in a 4 year old girl's head with a rock? Or hijacking a jet plane and flying it into a crowded skyscraper killing thousands? If you're a terrorist, the one thing you can count on is always being the victim. Shoot, stab, bomb, kill, maim and massacre-- but when your victims get tired of taking it and come after you, they'll be the bad guys and you'll be the victim. It's easy, just run to a populated area where you have plenty of supporters and hide. After the raid meant to take you out is over, grab a body, hold it up to the cameras and scream that you're the victim. And if that fails and you actually get captured and stuck in a cell somewhere, the moment they let you see a lawyer or reporter, scream that you're been tortured and abused-- because when you're a terrorist, you're always the victim. When the terrorist kills, his vic

Once again Israeli planes are bombing terrorist targets and IDF troops will make a foray into terrorist held territory-- only to then be swiftly ordered home again. This type of operation has become a regular feature of the Post-Oslo Israeli military, pointless engagements that lightly wound terrorists, and then leave them to nurse their wounds, while giving the politicians who ordered them a brief boost in their poll ratings. This particular operation neatly precedes both the Israeli election, and Obama taking office, which means that it is a very expensive ad campaign for Kadima and Labor, combined with a futile attempt to shake a threatening fist at Hamas, before terrorism's good time girl Barack is ensconced in the White House. The Pre-Oslo Israeli military had as its objective to defeat the enemy and secure strategic territory. Post-Oslo, Israeli continues giving up strategic territory, and occasionally carrying out operations whose objective is never to defeat, but to s

"Without a rifle you are nothing, worthless, you are waiting for death, any minute, any second." Aron Bielski "My father sent my mother a revolver as a gift, which for her was the symbol of what any young girl wants in a marriage, this was for her the means to stay alive, to kill herself or to die fighting." Assaela Bielski Last week I had the opportunity to attend a screening of Defiance , based on the Oxford Press book, Defiance, the Bielski Partisans by Nechama Tec. For those who have the time, I would recommend the book over the movie, as the former is a real history of events, and the latter is a fictionalized Hollywood adaptation of them. Nechama Tec's book, Defiance, the Bielski Partisans is a realistic but excellently written retelling of how the Bielski Otriad operated in the real world, its dedication to rescuing Jews, from refugees in hiding, to reaching inside Ghettos themselves, as well as dealing with its controversies. In contrast to t

The holidays have made this week feel oddly abrupt, and between Obama mourning his grandmother on a sunny beach to avoid talking to reporters, and Rahm Emanuel leading the transition team to Africa, the Office of the Tyrant Select has been ruthlessly ducking questions, while dumping their report claiming that they did nothing wrong on the press at the last minute in the holiday season. Meanwhile Kadima is preparing for the election with a limited incursion into Gaza for show. Everyone knows the script by now, the truce lapses, some rockets are fired, Livni and Barak pretend to be tough and send IDF units for a few days into Gaza, Hamas terrorists go underground, there are a few exchanges of fire, and a week later everything is back to normal-- but Kadima will be set to win the election, particularly with Feiglin's supporters angry at the Likud. The script is an old one, and it's just as meaningless. But Netanyahu's refusal to call outright for a retaking of Gaza makes i

They're rich, they're famous and they're better than you are. Why? Because they're famous, and that means they're entitled to it. Meritocracy is the fundamental difference between a functional Democratic Republic and a society of elite classes that don't work, don't accomplish anything useful-- but nevertheless rule. Meritocracy insures a system where those who can do, do. Systems of entitlement insure that those who have no useful skills or abilities tell others what to do, or collect money from them. The American Revolution threw the dead weight of nobility overboard, stripping away titles and kicking out men with titles, in favor of men with skills. The reason why the American Revolution succeeded, where so many others failed or turned into homicidal purges, is that the American Revolution was a revolution of skill over ideology. And as much as Jefferson or Paine might have pushed ideology, the Revolution was begun, carried through and completed by men wh

1. Force Justifies Faith - The miracle of Chanukah happened because the Macabees refused to accept the perversion of their religious and national values, and fought to resist those who would impose it on them by force. Had they not fought their way to Jerusalem, the Menorah would have remained only another decoration in a sanctuary defiled by secularism and paganism. Only once the Temple was liberated, it could serve as a vessel for a divine miracle that rewarded the sacrifices of those who fought to liberate it. Violence is often described as contradictory to faith, but it is no more contradictory than a police officer's gun is to a civil society. Ideally there should be no violence, but in the real world, force is a necessary tool for making faith possible. Had Moshe not struck the Egyptian taskmasters forcing him to flee for his life, had the Jews refused a second time to enter Israel under Joshua, had King David proven just as incapable of defending his land as Shaul did, righ

Chanukah is coming again, and by that I don't mean the secularized Chanukah of electric bulb Menorahs, plush teddy bears wearing Yarmulkes and foil wrapped chocolate coins, that has as much in common with the real Chanukah as the holiday shopping season has with any real religious holiday. By the real Chanukah, I mean the life and death struggle for the survival of the Jewish people under which a small band of Jewish extremists known as the Macabees employing by turns violence and political maneuvering, forced out the Syrian-Greek conquerors of their homeland and their Hellenized Jewish collaborators determined to embraced a secular identity in a prolonged struggle, and reclaimed the capital city of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple. Today the modern Jewish Hellenists who relearned in the 20th century, what the Hellenists of Macabees' days knew, that the best way to destroy authentic Jewish religious and national values, was to gut them from the inside leaving only a hollow shell.

In seeking to be appointed to a Senate seat, Carolyn Kennedy has exactly two advantages, her last name and her close ties to Barack Hussein Obama. And no honest person could ever claim otherwise, or seriously argue that if both of these factors were not present, that Carolyn Kennedy would have any more of a chance at being appointed to a Senate seat, than being appointed Queen of Denmark. Never has a man who is not even a seated President, or even the President Elect, tried to dictate two Senate appointments. Compounding that is Biden's own plot to reserve his Senate seat for his son, using his advisor as a seat warmer, much as JFK did when he used a family friend to fill his seat until Ted Kennedy would be old enough to take it. Hope nobody accidentally confused the Democratic party with Democracy. Even as the Democrats in Illinois are frantically trying to avoid a special election, because they fear that a public backlash against the Democratic party might lose them a saf

It's in human nature to learn through positive and negative reinforcement. People desire positive outcomes and learn to avoid negative outcomes. And it is the negative outcomes that are extremely vital to the learning process. Understanding that hot things burn is vital for a child to avoid serious injury. It is also vital that the functioning adult once have been a child who learned that hot things burn. Subtract the negative outcome and what remains is a desire for gratification unchecked by any understanding of negative consequences. Self-help gurus often encourage people to accentuate the positive, and to recognize how much good there is in their life, rather than highlighting how much is wrong or lacking. But that is contrary to human nature and even basic biology. Our own safety and self-preservation requires that we notice what is wrong, while learning to take the good things for granted. Constantly being happy that we are breathing is all very well in a philosophical so