You wonder why they hate you? Look at Gaza

Now let’s stop there and think for a second. I repeat: the Israeli war machine has killed around 100 innocent civilians. Some children died bleeding in their mother’s arms, others were burned alive.

Worse than 9/11
Please try to understand want this means. Try to grasp the scale of this slaughter, too. Gaza’s population is around 1.5 million. The population of the United States is 200 times more than that. So, in order to understand the scale of the loss in Gaza, you need to multiply the number of its innocent victims with 200. (That is a method often used by Israelis to explain to the Americans the level of their sufferings.)

That will give you 20,000 dead bodies. As you can figure out, this six times more than the carnage that innocent Americans fell victim to on Sept. 11, 2001.

So, six 9/11’s in only six daysÉ That’s what the poor, imprisoned and humiliated people of Gaza have just suffered. And it is still going on. As I was writing this piece, the Israeli army was preparing a ground offensive.

Now, those Westerners, especially Americans, who have been asking, "Why do they hate us," in the face of radicalized Muslims, should find an answer here. Because while all the bloodshed is going on, the world, and especially the United States, is apparently doing nothing to stop it. In the eyes of the Muslims of the world, this is a clear and present proof that the West does not give a damn about the lives of their co-religionists.

I know how you would object to me. You will say that Israel does not target civilians on purpose and this is all "collateral damage." Unfortunately, most of the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims don’t understand such delicate terms. They just see what is all-obvious: Israel’s U.S.-made helicopters are bombing houses and apartments, and killing unarmed civilians.

I also know that Hamas has a responsibility in all this. They mindlessly started those firing those Qassam rockets into Israel, which has killed four civilians up to now. (As a side note, let me remind that those rockets had not been lethal until Israel started its attack on Gaza.) But, for God’s sake, that is why we define Hamas -- or at least its military wing -- as a terrorist organization. The fact that they are killing Israeli civilians is what makes them illegitimate. So, how are we supposed to define the Israeli army, which had killed 25 times more civilians than Hamas in the past six days?

It doesn’t matter whether you convince me or not to "understand" Israel. I am actually trying to convince fellow Muslims that I can reach to tell that the Hamas way is the wrong way. This week, I wrote a column in Turkish criticizing Hamas for refusing to join the peace process and ending the cease-fire. I also talked to a group of 300 conservative Muslims in Istanbul at a foundation and made the same argument. Even those who agreed that Hamas is subscribing to terrorist methods and is doing wrong, shouted out loud that Israel is "the real terrorist."

And this is Turkey, for God’s sake. Imagine how millions of other Muslims in other nations are thinking all about this. Imagine what if some of the most radicals among them decide to take revenge from "the Jews and Americans?" You see why do we have 9/11’s, London bombings, and Mumbai mayhems?

To be sure, Islamist terror groups such as Al Qaeda have fanatical ideologies that would drive them even if there were no state of Israel. But this bleeding problem in the Middle East is the main item on their agenda and the most compelling catalyst in their propaganda.

The United States, and especially the office President-elect Barack Obama, should see that this is a highway to hell. The more Israel acts ruthlessly in the Holy Land, the more radicalization in the Muslim World deepens. Pro-Israeli propagandists such as Alan M. Dershowitz can persuade the American public that everything the Jewish State is doing is just perfectly fine. Yossi Klein can continue tell us in The New Republic how laudable the Israeli army is. (His recent piece titled "Why Gaza Matters" starts like this: "It was Israel at its best. In response to random attacks aimed at its civilians, Israel launched precise attacks aimed at terrorists." Alas, he does not even bother to mention that a hundred of these "terrorists" were babies, kids and mothers.)

Yet Muslims don’t listen to Dershowitz, Klein, or even the CNN. Some even wouldn’t listen to their co-religionists who call for restraint. The more Israel kills, the more hatred is reaped among them. And we know what the harvest is.

Obama should step in
Arguments like "oh, sorry, what can Israel do, its enemies fire rockets from cities," do not work. As Zbigniew Brzezinski wisely said the other day on MSNBC, if your enemy is within a civilian population, then you should not hit. Israel tried the same ruthless and mindless tactic in Lebanon; what did she gain?

From the experience of my own kind country, I know that living in a constant milieu of military conflict can militarize a nation. The Israelis -- except their dovish minority -- seem to have a high dose of that combined with ideological steroids. Obama should force them, and Hamas of course, to stop killing the innocents and make concessions to achieve peace. Otherwise, we are all doomed.