Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
President Barack Obama greets State Department employees after Chris Stevens, U.S. Ambassador to Libya, and three others had been killed in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stands at left.

Yesterday, Sept. 11, Islamist mobs attacked the American embassy in Egypt and our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. In Egypt they destroyed our flag and replaced it with a black banner with the shahada written on it, described as “the flag of al-Qaeda.” In Libya, they attacked the building with RPGs or similar weapons, burned it to the ground and killed the U.S. Ambassador, Chris Stevens, and three others.

The pretext for these attacks was rage over a trailer for a film about Mohammad, dubbed into Arabic and posted on Youtube. Here is an English version of a bit of the film, ungrammatically called “Innocence of Muslims.” The creators or funders of this silly movie, which hasn’t appeared in its entirety yet, were variously described as “Jews” or “Copts,” something which inflamed the masses even more.

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Do you think it was an accident that these events happened on the anniversary of 9/11? I don’t. Similar ‘provocations’ against Islam can be found 365 days a year, not just on 9/11. Barry Rubin wrote:

But note well that everyone–except the Western media–understands that holding such a demonstration at the U.S. embassy in Cairo on September 11 means supporting the September 11 attack.

Rubin is only partly correct. The Western media are not the only ones who fail to see the symbolism of raising al-Qaeda’s banner on 9/11. Our President missed it as well. In his statement about the Libyan incident, he mentioned the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks as if it were merely an unhappy coincidence:

Of course, yesterday was already a painful day for our nation as we marked the solemn memory of the 9/11 attacks.  We mourned with the families who were lost on that day.  I visited the graves of troops who made the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan at the hallowed grounds of Arlington Cemetery, and had the opportunity to say thank you and visit some of our wounded warriors at Walter Reed.  And then last night, we learned the news of this attack in Benghazi.

Seemingly determined to get every important point wrong, he also said this:

Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths.  We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.  But there is absolutely no justification to this type of senseless violence.  None.  The world must stand together to unequivocally reject these brutal acts.

While he is at pains to say that it is wrong to “denigrate the religious beliefs of others” he does not even mention our commitment to the value of free expression!

Instead of saying that we will not permit our right to free expression to be inhibited by fear of violence, he distances the U.S. from the film-maker, whose expression we “reject.” Yes, he seems to say, insulting Islam is wrong, but you oughtn’t to kill ambassadors over it.

Radical Muslims believe that it is perfectly acceptable for them to ‘denigrate’ other faiths in the most vile way — their Imams do so regularly, in Egypt, Libya, Pakistan, Gaza, the Palestinian Authority, Iran, etc. — but they also believe that the proper response to “denigration” of their faith is violence.

There’s nothing “senseless” about it — it’s a logical consequence of their belief that Islam is superior to all religions. When infidels “denigrate” Islam, they violate the moral order of the universe, and the violent response of Muslims is demanded to put things right.

The President’s statement is a plea for Muslims to understand that we respect Islam and a reminder for Americans to avoid expressions that could insult them. To those who sympathize with the ‘activists’, the statement is apologetic, submissive.

But he isn’t finished displaying weakness:

And make no mistake, we will work with the Libyan government to bring to justice the killers who attacked our people.

What he should have said, of course, is that the U.S. will apply its considerable power to avenge the murders of Americans, just like we did with their hero, Bin Laden. Not “work with the Libyan government” and not “bring to justice” — avenge.

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Vic Rosenthal created FresnoZionism.org to provide a forum for publishing and discussing issues about Israel and the Mideast conflict, especially where there is a local connection. Rosenthal believes that America’s interests are best served by supporting the democratic state of Israel, the front line in the struggle between Western civilization and radical Islam. The viewpoint is not intended to be liberal or conservative — just pro-Israel.