Praise for Because They Hate
"Part memoir and part analysis of the social, political, and religious factors that created the current situation in the Middle East, Gabriel issues a clear warning."
—The Tampa Tribune
"A compelling and captivating personal story with a powerful lesson about threats to freedom in our time."
—R. James Woolsey, Director of Central Intelligence, 1993-1995
"Brigitte Gabriel’s story is at once intensely personal and possessing global significance. . . . the story of her family and her childhood encapsulates the threat that faces the entire free world today. Brigitte Gabriel’s words should be read, and studied carefully, by all the law enforcement and government officials of the West—as well as by everyone who values freedom."
—Robert Spencer, author of The Politically Incorrect
Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)
"Her writing is eloquent and her passion tremendous."
—Publishers Weekly
"Gabriel believes the West is complacent about the threat posed by radical Islam. She learned while growing up Christian in Lebanon that Islamofascists are serious—and if we want to survive we better take them seriously. She speaks with the passion of a survivor who has seen death and destruction firsthand—and doesn’t want America to suffer the same future as Lebanon."—
World Magazine
"Brigitte Gabriel eloquently reminds America what is truly at stake in this struggle against terrorism: our families, our way of life, and our hopes. Ms. Gabriel’s personal account of her own experience is riveting, compelling, and spellbinding. This is a must read for the entire American public . . . Because They Hate contains monumental revelations that will shock and disturb you. But it is also a story of an indomitable spirit—Brigitte’s—that will move you."
—Steve Emerson, author of American Jihad:
The Terrorists Living Amongst Us, executive director, the
Investigative Project on Terrorism
"Because They Hate is powerful, passionate, and full of divine purpose."
—Dr. John C. Hagee, senior pastor, Cornerstone Church,
author of Jerusalem Countdown: A Warning to the World
"Because They Hate should be read by all to understand radical Islam.. . . This book gives dire warning of what is to come if the democratic and Western world does not take responsible action to protect its people and societies. The United States is the primary target as Islamic radicalism attempts to spread its worldwide dominance."
—Paul E. Vallely, Maj. General U.S. Army (Ret.), FOX News
Channel Military Analyst, and coauthor of Endgame:
The Blueprint for Victory in the War on Terror
” [Brigitte Gabriel’s] writing is a critical wake-up call to Americans as we face the threat of takeover by jihadists. We are glad to be able to help her share her story with God-fearing, patriotic Americans who care about the truth and want to learn about the threat every nation throughout the world is facing from radical Islam."
—Paul F. Crouch, Jr., vice president of administration,
Trinity Broadcasting Network
"Gabriel makes her case, but also offers a sound and powerful program of what we have to do as a nation and as individuals to stave off defeat by radical Islam."
—The Bulletin
BECAUSE THEY HATE
BECAUSE THEY HATE
A SURVIVOR OF ISLAMIC TERROR
WARNS AMERICA
Brigitte Gabriel
St. Martin’s Griffin New York
BECAUSE THEY HATE. Copyright © 2006 by Brigitte Gabriel. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gabriel, Brigitte.
Because they hate : a survivor of Islamic terror warns America / Brigitte Gabriel.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-35838-9
ISBN-10: 0-312-35838-5
1. Terrorism—Lebanon. 2. Victims of terrorism—Lebanon. 3. Terrorism— Religious aspects—Islam. I. Title.
HV6433.L4G33 2006
956.7204'4092—dc22
[B]
2006013500
First St. Martin’s Griffin Edition: January 2008
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
IN HONOR OF
My mother, Bahia, my father, Nicholas, and
all the victims of religious-bigoted terror.
DEDICATED TO
My pride and joy, Jessica and Virginia,
in the hope that their generation may live
under freedom and democracy.
Contents
Introduction to the 2006 Edition
Introduction to the 2008 Edition
1. Peace Before the Rage
2. My 9/11
3. Life Under Terror
4. Hopeless Existence
5. A Life-changing Experience
6. Rebuilding Our Lives
7. Clash of Civilizations
8. Terrorists Among Us
9. The Toxic Tsunami of Hate
10. The Ivy-Covered Fifth Column: Islamic Influence Alive and Well on American Campuses
11. Bull’s-eye of the Middle East
12. Societies Are Not Created Equal
13. Is Islam a Peaceful Religion?
14. Political Correctness Gone Mad
Notes
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
TO THE 2006 EDITION
Radical Islam’s modern war of world domination has been picking up momentum, with its universal rallying cry of “Allahu Akbar” accompanying each act of terror and destruction. It first began after the Arab nations that were artificially carved out after World War II settled into internal despondency under despots and monarchs appointed by the Allied powers. It slowly fermented through the 1950s and 1960s. By November 1979 it was well on its way when the Iranians took over the American embassy in Tehran.
But no one really noticed or cared.
I noticed when I was a ten-year-old girl in Lebanon, and Muslim rockets exploded in my bedroom on a November night four years before the American hostages were taken. With my life on the line, I really cared, while the rest of the world just watched. My problem was that I wasn’t an American, the marines weren’t coming to save me, and we Lebanese Christian—non-Muslim infidels—were being labeled the aggressors by the press. Muslims dominated and now control Lebanon. Christian infidels paid the price then; and for their indifference and shortsightedness, infidels worldwide are paying the price now.
The civil war in Lebanon was pushed off U.S. front pages by the hostage situation in Iran; the obsessive media exposure turned the 444-day captivity of diplomats and embassy workers into a nationwide trauma and a national disgrace. Finally, the marines came to Lebanon and got bloodied, and the U.S. went away to lick its wounds. Despite extensive news coverage and obvious implications, the war in Lebanon and the hostage crisis were never recognized for what they were: declarations of war on Western civilization by radical Islam.
Today, radical Islam’s war rages with varying degrees of intensity throughout the world, not just against Christians and Jews in the West, but also against Hindus, Buddhists, Copts, indeed all non-Muslim infidels. The radical Islamists'
degree of zealotry even has them attacking other denominations within Islam itself. Islamic radicals are instigating and perpetuating terrorist campaigns, insurgencies, civil wars, minority suppression, and ethnic cleansing and/or genocide in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Chad, Chechnya, Dagestan, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Gambia, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kashmir, Kenya, Kosovo, Lebanon, Macedonia, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, the Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, territories administered by the Palestinian Authority, the Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, Spain, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States of America, Yemen, and Zanzibar. The rest of the world is held hostage to fear.
From Saudi-funded madrassas and mosques worldwide, to the parliament of Iran, to the cabals of al Qaeda and Hezbollah, radical Islamists have repeatedly declared and demonstrated that their goal is to impose Islamic rule throughout the world, by the sword or by the suicide bomb. Numerous radical Islamic “scholars” have declared that it is every Muslim’s religious duty to dominate or exterminate all infidels.1 What they write and say is what they are going to do. All we have to do is read and listen.
The United States has been a prime target for radical Islamic hatred and terror.2 Every Friday, mosques in the Middle East ring with shrill prayers and monotonous chants that call down death, destruction, and damnation on America and its people. The radical Islamists' deeds have been as vile as their words. Since the Iran hostage crisis, more than three thousand Americans have died in a terror campaign almost unprecedented in its calculated cruelty, along with thousands of other citizens worldwide. Even the Nazis did not turn their own children into human bombs, and then rejoice at their deaths as well as the deaths of their victims. This intentional, indiscriminate, and wholesale murder of innocent American citizens is justified and glorified in the name of Islam.
And yet, there are still Americans who are unable or unwilling to recognize the nature or the extent of the threat presented by radical Islam. Whether motivated by naive wishful thinking or rigid political correctness, they assert that Islam is a “moderate,” “tolerant,” and “peaceful” religion that has been hijacked by “extremists.” They ignore the repeated calls to jihad, Islamic holy war, emanating from the government-controlled mosques of so-called moderate Islamic countries such as Egypt, Pakistan, and Indonesia. They refuse to accept that in the Muslim world, extreme is mainstream.
American citizens have been murdered in this terror war for thirty years. However, America cannot effectively defend itself in this war unless and until the American people understand the nature of the enemy that it faces. Even after 9/11 there are those who say that we must “engage” our terrorist enemies, that we must “address their grievances.” Their grievance is our freedom of religion. Their grievance is our democratic process. Islamic religious authorities and terrorist leaders repeatedly state that they will destroy the United States and Western civilization, and replace it with the only true religion, Islam. Unless we take them at their word, and defend ourselves accordingly, they will succeed. For the sake of our children and our country, we must wake up and take action. In the face of a torrent of hateful invective and terrorist murder, America’s learning curve since the Iran hostage crisis has been so shallow that it is almost flat. The longer we lie supine, the more difficult it will be to stand erect.
Like the Christians in Lebanon, Americans today are not realizing the power of the Islamic call to jihad. The Islamic takeover of Iran and its subjugation of Lebanon were strategic victories in Islam’s war for world domination.
This book is in part my personal story and my observations. It is written in the hope that Americans and the West will recognize this imminent threat to their way of life and make the correct philosophical, legal, governmental policy, and military decisions to protect themselves from suffering the same fate as the Lebanese infidels.
INTRODUCTION
TO THE 2008 EDITION
In July 2006, four weeks before the scheduled release of this book in hardcover, a bloody war broke out in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Israel. The history described in Because They Hate suddenly came alive. History repeated itself in the same South Lebanon towns I wrote about—the villages in which I grew up and experienced the Lebanese war between 1975 and 1982. In 1982 we saw Israel push into Lebanon, fed up with the rockets that had been raining down on Northern Israel; they invaded Lebanon in order to push back the the PLO and Syrians. Similarly in 2006, Hezbollah captured Israeli soldiers and again sent rockets into Northern Israel. The world was upset with Israel in 1982, but in 2006 the situation had changed and the international community gave Israeli forces time to hit Hezbollah before the UN Security Council called for an end to hostilities by unanimously adopting resolution 1701, on August 11, 2006. The resolution called for a permanent cease-fire to be based on the creation of a buffer zone free of armed personnel other than the UN and armed Lebanese forces.1 The intervening twenty-four years of Muslim mayhem had knocked some sense into the world and altered its thinking and response to radical Islam. My publisher, St. Martin’s Press, released Because They Hate two weeks prior to its scheduled date, so it was available for readers who wanted to understand the situation in Lebanon in terms of its underlying conflict and sources.
The tragic summer conflict opened the doors for me with the media and launched Because They Hate along with hundreds of media interviews. I was one of the most knowledgeable experts on radical Islam in Lebanon—not only was I a survivor who lived through the Lebanese war but I was also a journalist who covered the area in the 1980s.
As I travel worldwide, I have been overwhelmed with the love and appreciation I receive when I speak at churches, synagogues, business and political functions, and private organizations. I have met many thousands of Americans who are frustrated with the current situation and who are all supportive of fighting Islamofacism no matter what it takes. Many have told me that they have been made to feel isolated in their thinking and appreciate my clear presentation of the realities and danger of radical Islam. In the many and varied communities in which I have spoken, hundreds and thousands show up to hear me speak. I have seen people from different backgrounds and religions who have come together to form friendships and associations that support their involvement in fighting radical Islam—a movement that threatens our freedoms and way of life. These gatherings are very heartening and have inspired me even more to continue with my vision for American Congress for Truth (ACT for America), which is not only to educate millions of Americans about the threat of Islamofascism, but also to mobilize millions of patriotic citizens into a national grassroots force—to give power to “we the people” and empower every concerned citizen to become a voice affecting their community and our great nation. ACT for America (a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization) is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing a powerful American grassroots citizen action network, and is committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America’s national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam.
ACT for America was founded to unify the voice of Americans who are not only concerned about the threat of Islamofascism but also understand that “political correctness” is causing government action— and inaction—that compromises American security, safety, and liberty.
ACT for America is now in the process of setting up chapters nationwide to network and organize citizens by empowering them and giving them the tools by which they can make a difference on their own level in their own community.
To be honest, I was not surprised by the positive reactions Because They Hate received. I had expected it. I have been an activist since 2002 and have been communicating since then with different groups and people through the activities and community on www.americancongressfortruth.org. I knew there were thousands of people nationwide who had become fed up with poli
tical correctness and were hungry to hear the truth regarding our enemy and our national security. Patriotic Americans were tired of journalists putting our country down, standing up for our enemy, and all the while sabotaging our government that was doing everything in its power to protect us and disrespecting our soldiers who were putting their lives on the line. The disdain, ridicule, and extreme posturing from the far left and some Congressional committee members toward General Petraeus during his Iraq report to Congress in September 2007 were typical of the uniformed position of the blind left. The whole performance was disgraceful to our country and helpful to our enemy.
But I knew there were readers out there who wanted the truth. One reader told me that when he went to a bookstore and inquired about “the book that is number one under terrorism on Amazon .com,” the store clerk reacted in disgust and answered with a scowl, “The author did something recently on C-SPAN and we keep running out of stock."
Readers such as this one put Because They Hate on the New York Times bestseller list as the readers flocked to buy copies, pushing the number of copies in print to ten times the initial printing. C-SPAN, which aired one of my Washington, D.C., presentations at the Heritage Foundation, was so overwhelmed with requests for the DVD of the presentation that they aired the interview multiple times on multiple weekends. Because of book-related publicity, over twenty thousand people signed up and joined my organization American Congress for Truth, asking to receive our e-mails and action alerts.
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