The murder of 18 bus-riding Israelis by a militant Islamic terrorist on August 19 met with the expected joy in the Palestinian and Lebanese street ("Several hundred young men poured into the streets of a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon on Tuesday and handed out sweets to celebrate a suicide bomb attack on a Jerusalem bus," reads one account). More noteworthy is the public, English-language celebration of this atrocity at a Chicago-based website with the innocuous name SoundVision.com. At a teenager's forum, "Teen Table," a thread titled "Martyrdom Operation Kills up to 20 and Injures more than 80," contains comments such as these:
Allahu Akbar wa lillah el hamd! [God is the greatest and to Him blessings]
Inahu Jihaad..Nasr aw Istishhaad. [It is Jihad . . Victory or Martyrdom]
Looking at such pictures makes me feel good. It feels good seeing them go through the pain were going through.
If they dont want to get busted up, why are these "civilians" staying there when they know they're occupying the land illegally.
For the palestinians every single Israeli child poses a threat, because for them each one will grow up to live to kill. Upto 50 years of oppression has taught them there is no difference between a civilian and a soldier.
Everyone who was killed in that attack shouldn't have been there in the first place. Children. Women. Adults. Whatever. They are all occupiers. Its better for the children to die now, because they will go straight to Jannah (insha'Allah), and the adults, straight to HELL (insha'Allah)..and that also means less Zionists living. Its all good. Please brother, they are not innocent civilians. THEY ARE OCCUPIERS. They deserve to be burnt up in hell.
They [the Zionists] are clearly violating everything. They are the worst. And they don't hesitate to kill muslims. They are totally fair game to me. Their children? Allahu Alam [God Knows]
I can't even describe how good i feel when i see a successful martyrdom operation whether it is in Palestine or Iraq.
Hitler was right about you, he said you were thives, he said you were two faced, he said you were liards, NOW 50 YEARS ON ITS COME TRUE. You are NAZI'S YOU ARE DOING TO THE PALESTININ PEOPLE WHAT THE NAZI'S DIDTO YHE JEWS.
For good measure, the site contains a dash of anti-Americanism:
WE are IMMIGRANTS, we came to American for DAWA we honour the native American spirit by being here, you are the LEGACY of COLONIALOISM your forefathers were MASS MURDERORS the native Americans will NEVER have justice until you remanin in America
Some Muslims protest this dominant strain, but not many.
These attitudes are particularly worrying the now-young generation will determine the future course of Islam in the United States. As Khalid Durán and I wrote a year ago:
Because the [American] immigrant Muslim community is so new, it is still very much in formation. Which way will the first generation of immigrant children turn? Will their dual identities as Americans and Muslims be complementary or contradictory? Will they accept or reject the Islamist program of changing the United States? Will they control the urge toward violence? More broadly, will they insist on adapting the United States to Islam, or will they agree to adapt Islam to the United States? Much depends on the answers. (August 20, 2003)
