This is not an intifada; Abu Mazen is merely a pawn. This is a global jihad whose great gang leader is ISIS – an organization whose emergence signifies a dramatic historical turning point.

The tens of thousands of volunteers from around the world who joined the Communist brigades that fought in the Spanish Civil War were the answer to the resounding title of Hemingway's book, For Whom the Bell Tolls. In an unsurprisingly similar vein, so too are the tens of thousands of recruits – the unstoppable flood of Muslims and converts to Islam – who are coming to Al-Dawla al Islamiyya (previously known as ISIS) through Turkey. This organization has restored their lost identity and dignity – as it has for Muslims throughout the world – along with the hope of realizing their religious vision.
The attack on the Twin Towers in 2001 may have been a warning, but the West could still have defined and contained the attack as the act of an international terrorist organization. The emergence of ISIS and proclamation of the Caliphate under Abu Bakr's leadership is an entirely different story. It is a turning point of historic proportions, whereby Islam seeks to reinstate its original way of life as a religious society that upholds modesty and the beheading of infidels. This is an offer the average Sunni cannot refuse, for it is premised on the principles of Islam, at the heart of which is jihad in the name of Allah.
"We have successfully awakened many dormant cells," explained one of the leaders of ISIS regarding their takeover of large segments of the army. Such cells have been latent for 1400 years, like burning embers among many Muslims; ISIS rekindled them, igniting the imagination and offering a sharp sword to make the dream a reality. The pledge of allegiance to the Caliph (the "bai'a") of groups in Nigeria, Libya, and Sinai are the harbingers; the ancient bells are tolling, and Muslims from Morocco to Iraq are awakening from the echo. So are their brothers in New York, Marseille, and Haifa.
Within the context of this historic turning point, cousins Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal can work as ordinary citizens in the local grocery store, and the next day carry out their requisite religious duty of slaughtering infidels – especially those whose very presence and sovereignty desecrate the Waqf. The Abu Jamals did no wrong when they murdered Jews praying in a synagogue in Har Nof – on the contrary: they did a great deed, as their proud relatives in Jabel Mukaber explained quite well.
Israel, like the West – and especially the United States – must deal with political Islam just like it would with Nazi ideology or any other ideology that endangers the free world. Calling it a religion doesn't grant it legitimacy.
The first task is to give a detailed definition of the nature of religion in the "freedom of religion" protected and upheld by the first amendment to the US Constitution, as well as that specified in Israel's Independence Charter. Religion can mean a faith that encourages a connection with God, charitable acts, or living modestly and honestly. That kind of religion deserves full freedom of worship in the private sphere, and that was the logical conclusion of the Puritans who fled religious persecution in England. A religion that does not recognize the power of the state and its sovereignty; that is fundamentally opposed to the social contract in the spirit of Locke and Rousseau, which is the basis of a democratic society and government; and seeks to destroy it in order to merge it with the Caliphate, does not fit this definition.
Such a religion, or aspects thereof, must be denounced and outlawed, as was the intention of the Founding Fathers. "Religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God," wrote Thomas Jefferson in his letter to the Danbury Baptists Association in 1802. Accordingly, freedom of religion as defined in the Constitution serves as "a wall of separation between Church and State." Jefferson's definition of religion was in line with Judeo-Christian values: "give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
Perhaps Muhammad's Meccan doctrine can somehow be included in the above definition of religion, for it preached mainly acts of charity, humility, and religious devotion. But Muhammad's later doctrine, from his arrival in Medina, which made him political and military leader and eventually sanctioned as lofty religious acts the murder, robbery, and rape of departing convoys as well as the murder of three Jewish tribes in Medina and its outskirts, is certainly not included in Jefferson's definition. That is not a religion worthy of being called a religion, and even if it is, according to some, it should not be given free rein in a liberal state.
The ritual of slaughtering human sacrifices with butcher's knives and axes, rape, and barbaric robbery of other's property – in Mosul as in London, Madrid, or Har Nof, Jerusalem – should indeed be recognized as a religious Islamic practice: it has its basis in the Koran and the Hadith. But the constitutional and legal attitude toward it must be entirely different, and must include the revoking of citizenship; closing of mosques and religious organizations preaching such a discourse; eliminating parts of the educational curriculum; a zero-tolerance approach toward Islamic propaganda; deportation following sentences served for such crimes; and the interment of the bodies of murderers like the Abu Jamals, similar to that of Bin Laden's – far out at sea. Religious freedom – like all natural rights – cannot be "in opposition to man's social duties," as Jefferson concludes the aforementioned letter.
It is unlikely that the West will lead this campaign: its postmodern trends and the inherent weaknesses festering in its Christian theology render it impotent in coping with Islam's solid religious identity and determination. The most it can do, it seems, is to allow the building of a mosque near Ground Zero instead of at the actual site...
Unlike Europe, which is unwittingly doing itself in, the US still has hope – provided it contends with the influx of Muslim immigrants and Islam's "stealth jihad." To do so, the US must free itself from its postmodern trends and the inherent weaknesses festering in its Christian theology, which render it impotent. By joining forces with Israel the US can begin to cope with Islam's solid religious identity and determination. And the sooner the better: the bell is tolling far too loudly and painfully for us to ignore.