No Difference?

Submitted by Joan Swirsky (United States), Sep 12, 2014 at 23:55

Dear Mr. Pipes,

Many thanks for addressing in your article, "There's No Difference between ISIS and ISIL," the issue of Mr. Obama and his henchmen's preference for referring to the targets of America's upcoming military action in the Middle East as ISIL – the Islamic State in the Levant – as opposed to ISIS – the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria.

You stated that Levant today consists of the island of Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and part of southern Turkey.

So let me get this straight: The U.S. does not consider that its military might be targeted solely on Iraq and Syria, where the Islamic State is flourishing and gaining strength, but instead that its focus should also be on the countries you listed as comprising the Levant, including Israel.

That doesn't sound like "no difference" to me. That sounds like a profound and disturbing and unsubtle similarity, in which Israel, a longtime and reliable ally and westernized country the values of which echo America's in profound ways, has now been included as fair game in Mr. Obama's and his henchmen's gun sights.

No difference? What am I missing?

Sincerely yours,

Joan Swirsky

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".