Islamic terrorism. This phrase was commonly heard after the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001. But in 2025, it has become uncommon. Why?
After the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, college campuses — including the University of North Carolina — erupted almost immediately in favor of Hamas. How many college students understand that Hamas stands for Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyyah (meaning the “Islamic Resistance Movement”) and that it’s a recognized Islamic terrorist organization, like Al Qaeda, which was behind 9/11?
Students may be unaware that on 9/11 of 2001, 19 Islamic terrorists hijacked four commercial planes, crashing two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and a third into the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field, thanks to heroes aboard who kept it from its intended target, which was likely the White House. The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and injured thousands more.
President George Bush’s response was to claim that “Islam is peace.” He expanded Title VI funding for instruction regarding Islam and the Middle East. Money came from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Gulf states and the US government. Oversight of the program was lax and often promoted anti-Western and anti-Israel messages.
Pro-Islam and anti-Western indoctrination have been accelerating for decades. In 2003, Gilbert Sewall of the American Textbook Council, published “Islam and the Textbooks.” He said “on significant Islam-related subjects, textbooks omit, flatter, embellish, and resort to happy talk, suspending criticism or harsh judgements that would raise provocative or even alarming questions.”
The follow-up report in 2008 came to the same conclusion, revealing an “idealized, often glamorized (and inaccurate) depiction of Islam; they [textbooks] are also brimming with misinformation and biases that misrepresent Islam’s theological principles.” Much of this misrepresentation was at the behest of the Council on Islamic Education.
Even before 9/11, investigators like Daniel Pipes in 1995 called attention to the infiltration of anti-Western and Marxist ideology into Middle East studies. Leftist phrases such as “petty bourgeois hegemony” and “neopatriarchal discourse” were introduced into academia. As Pipes said, “Marxism has become the opiate of the Middle East specialists.”
Why is the role of Islamic extremism in promoting terrorism so often ignored today? In a society that prides itself on free speech, why do we get shy when it comes to discussion about Islamic terrorism?
That has not always been the case. For those who remember 9/11, there was free and open discussion about Islamic terrorism after that horrible day. Americans tried to understand the ideology behind the attacks, and the Islamist’s determination to take down our country.
Clearly things have changed since then. Years of propaganda have cajoled Westerners into a fear of being called racist Islamophobes. The term “Islamophobia” was invented in the late 1970’s by Islamic fundamentalists in Iran. It was, and still is, used to prevent honest discussion and concerns regarding Islamic doctrines on the use of violence to achieve political ends. A phobia is an irrational fear. Given the prevalence of Islamic terrorism, that fear is rational. As such, Islamophobia does not exist.
The ruse of “Islamophobia” has permeated all levels of American society, including our government. Islamic activists like Farhana Khera of Muslim Advocates, successfully pushed then-Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism John Brennan into purging any federal government training materials that Khera considered biased (i.e. not flattering to Islam). Whitewashing of Islamic terrorism is also a regular feature of education in North Carolina, including Duke’s 2024-2025 Initiative on the Middle East.
It’s critically important to live up to our free speech ideals and speak honestly about the impact of Islamic extremism on this country. Not only have we endured the violent jihadi attacks of 9/11, and other smaller attacks (including January this year), but the political and cultural delegitimization of America, the West, and Israel in their fight against these extremist threats is ongoing.
The Jewish community has witnessed activism and intimidation in multiple cities in our state from those who appear more sympathetic to Hamas’ goals than to Israel and its right to exist. Likeminded activists, like Zohran Mamdani in New York, are running for office throughout our country, and in North Carolina too.
For the sake of our children, our state, and our country, it’s time to face this reality and fight back.