By Ryan Jones
Nov 06, 2005
Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini suggested at the weekend that rejection of Israel's right to exist is the driving force behind Islamic terrorism against the Jewish state and Jews everywhere.
?Not recognizing Israel's right to exist is an incentive for terrorism, because the moment you don't recognize a state's right to exist you don't recognize a people's right to exist,? Fini told the Milan daily Corriere della Sera.
Fini was reacting to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's recent statement that Israel should be ?wiped off the map.?
The Italian noted, however, that Ahmadinejad is not alone in thinking this way, and said other regional leaders have simply ?not always dared to speak with such brutality? what is in their hearts.
Despite these words, Fini skipped a pro-Israel rally outside the Iranian embassy in Rome Thursday for fear of diplomatic repercussions. He encouraged others to attend.
His stance marks a departure from the West's traditional siding with the Islamic world's assertion that Israel's ?occupation? of ancient Jewish lands once under the dominion of Islam is the root cause of all terrorism.
US President George W. Bush also recently broke with that viewpoint.
Islamic terrorists ?have used a litany of excuses for violence? including ?the Israeli presence on the West Bank [sic] ,? Bush noted in a speech he delivered twice last month.
But, the president explained, ?We?re not facing a set of grievances that can be soothed and addressed. We're facing a radical ideology with inalterable objectives: to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world.?
?No act of ours invited the rage of the killers - and no concession, bribe, or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans for murder.?