The Saudi-based Arab News posts this chilling question and answer, hosted by an apparent Islamic expert:
Q. Could you please tell me whether the Sept. 11 attacks were acts of jihad or terrorism? Would those who were killed in them be martyrs? What about other acts such as those done by Hamas and similar groups?
A. I cannot understand how a Muslim could justify boarding a plane, intending to kill all its passengers by flying it into a building used by thousands of civilians. This is simply terrorism and cannot be justified under Islamic law. The operations launched against Israeli occupation are totally different. They are undertaken against occupiers who have turned the local people, Muslims and Christians, from their homes and lands, desecrated mosques and terrorized the population into leaving their land. To resist Israel by all means available to us is justified under divine and human law. It is indeed Israel and its supporters that are engaged in a gigantic and continuous act of terrorism.
When will an international tribunal begin indicting Arab editors for incitement to murder and genocide, as recently occurred in Rwanda? The judges there recognized:
The power of the media to create and destroy human values comes with great responsibility…Those who control the media are accountable for its consequences.
