Review Of David Horowitz's October 15, 2008, Speech At UVA (Part Two)

(Part One of this review is HERE)

Mr. Horowitz, accompanied by a bodyguard whose eyes constantly surveilled the audience throughout the entire two hours, spoke primarily about the fascist orientation of Islamic radicals. He cited the connection between Hassan al-Banna, author of The Way of Jihad and propagator of genocide against the Jews. Of course, Mr. Horowitz also mentioned the Muslim Brotherhood, the Holy Land Foundation, the Muslim Student Union, the Islamic Society or North America, the Muslim Student Association, and CAIR during the course of his lecture and elaborated on these organizations' ties to various acts of terrorism and the suppression of freedom.

Much of Mr. Horowitz’s speech was a debunking of what he called “The Big Lie,” specifically, the false teaching that so-called Palestine was stolen from the Arabs, and he offered numerous historical facts to prove his point, including The Palestinian Mandate, established after World War I. He stated that he wanted the students present to hear what university professors refuse to or cannot speak of because of the pervading leftist administrations at most universities. He advised the students to read The PLO Charter on the Internet and to watch video presentations posted at The Terrorism Awareness Project for additional understanding of the points made during the speech. Two of those videos: What Really Happened in the Middle East and The Islamic Mein Kampf.
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Most of the Mr. Horowitz’s speech did not deal with the specifics of Islamic doctrines. As he stated when he began speaking, he is not an authority on Islam per se and advised consulting a good source of information about Islam itself, namely, Robert Spencer. Mr. Horowitz did point out that the jihadists derive their hate from the Koran and the Haditha, leading jihadists to preach and teach as follows: “Death in the service of Allah is our highest aspiration.” Therefore, in Mr. Horowitz's view, radical Islam should be recognized for what it is – a fanatical death cult and an ideology rife with racism.

Following his lecture, Mr. Horowitz took many questions from the audience. One student, a young Moslem woman wearing the hijab, attempted to take him to task for his advocating carpet bombing the Gaza Strip so as to create a wide enough barrier preventing short-range rockets from reaching Israel. She attempted to twist his words and accused him of promoting "ethnic cleansing." He told her that such had not been his point at all, but she persisted that he had indeed advocated genocide. Mr. Horowitz managed to control his impatience and re-explained, prefacing his second explanation with “I know what I said, and I know what I meant.” She clearly lost any point she was trying to make when Mr. Horowitz called her hand for lying.

Another Moslem student claimed that she was unfamiliar with one of the quotes Mr. Horowitz had mentioned early in the lecture, the quote about the rock crying out that a Jew was hiding behind that rock and the rock summoning the Muslim to kill the Jew. Her self-proclaimed ignorance of that passage, “I’ve never heard that verse,” fell flat.

From beginning to end, Mr. Horowitz's speech was effective. He spoke without notes, thus showing his extensive knowledge of the subject matter. Moreover, Mr. Horowitz's stopping early enough to allow for at least one half of the allotted two hours in Minor Hall so as to conduct a lively question-and-answer period speaks to his willingness to discuss, thereby make the evening an exchange of ideas and opinions. As he pointed out during his presentation, getting only one side of an issue, be that side left or right, leads to a incomplete education and the suppression of the ability to think for oneself.

Perhaps the best testimony to the excellence of the evening was Mr. AOW's reaction: "The trip to hear this man speak was worth the long drive" — high praise from my husband, who typically takes little interest in the subjects in which I've been engrossed ever since 9/11.

Additional information on The Terrorism Awareness Project