“Suicide Killers” Screening at Aish New York

Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week (IFAW) will take place on campuses throughout the nation starting on Monday and throughout the week of October 22nd and it is already achieving its intended effect of raising awareness and debate on a politically incorrect issue, taboo on campus, but nonetheless a vital national security concern that warrants comprehensive examination. The war of words is already escalating as the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and other campus pressure groups, as well as Fox News Channel’s Alan Colmes have been denouncing the coming events as “racist” and “Islamophobic.” The Revolutionary Communist Party called it a “Nuremberg Rally for the 21st Century.” In an attempt to ban the IFAW events and brand them as forums for “hate speech”, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee plans to send threatening letters to university presidents nationwide. Columbia Spectator Editorial Board has become stymied over language in advance of next week’s forum with David Horowitz hosted by the College Republicans. Using thought and speech quashing tactics to shut down debate before it has even begun, they echoed the recent “hate speech” talking points expressing their resentment of any discussion concerning the threat of Islamic terrorism and the use of terms like “Islamofascism” to pinpoint the enemy. Horowitz clarified that the term “Islamo-Fascism” was coined by Algerian Muslims fighting for democracy in the 1990s who were victims of the widespread murder crusade by the armed Islamic fundamentalist forces linked to Al Qaeda seeking to purge Algeria of impure Muslims and establish an Islamic theocracy. But as revealed by a late breaking press release from the Islamic Republic News Agency entitled, University of Columbia students oppose Hatred Week in US there is something more sinister lurking behind the Columbia free speech censors. Evidently Iran’s Ministry of National Guidance that runs the country’s official news agency has endorsed the “Not On Our Campus” counter-event in conjunction with Columbia's Intercultural Resource Center and professors of the MEALAC department in order to protest IFAW with the blessings of Ahmadinejad. Will tenure-bound assistant anthropology professor Nadia Abu El-Haj, who makes a scholarly case that Israel was never on the map, show her face at the rally?

The idea for IFAW was inspired by the example of courage and determination demonstrated by Pace Hillel President Michael Abdurakhmanov when he succeeded in showing the documentary film Obsession on campus after Hillel’s plans for screening the film were met with vicious protests by MSA and censorship by Pace administrators. This story broke and went public from here on Democracy Project rousing a nationwide flood of support from concerned citizens outside the monolithic walls of academia, who pressured the Pace Film Police to ultimately recant. Recently I met with faculty from Kingsborough Community College who find themselves in a similar intolerant climate of vile antipathy toward anyone who expresses a pro-Israel point of view that diverges from the mainstream political agenda of the campus censors. I assured them that they would garner similar support from principled people who would stand up with them, once their stories are brought to light.

Here in New York City, besides featuring Horowitz, Columbia University will host a panel with Phyllis Chesler, Ibn Warraq, and Christina Sommers. Pace University will be screening documentary films at the campus dorms and hosting open discussions to “break through the barrier of politically correct doublespeak that prevails on American campuses” as Horowitz mentioned as one of the objectives of IFAW. People who have been asking me how to participate and support these events in New York can attend an off campus screening of Suicide Killers by documentary filmmaker, Pierre Rehov. This Pace sponsored screening is open to the public and will be held on October 25th at 8PM at the Aish New York Center. Abdurakhmanov, the organizer of the Pace events, will hold an open discussion after the film and welcomes all viewpoints without prejudice. I will be attending this event and I look forward to a fruitful discussion.

The film delves deep into the motivation and psyche of suicide bombers. In a Counterterrorism Blog interview, Rehov discusses the psychology behind suicide bombings and warns us about the spread of this deadly Islamic cult.

People don't understand the devastating culture behind this unbelievable phenomenon. My film is not politically correct because it addresses the real problem—showing the real face of Islam. It points the finger against a culture of hatred in which the uneducated are brainwashed to a level where their only solution in life becomes to kill themselves and kill others in the name of a God whose word, as transmitted by other men, has became their only certitude.