Mark Haugen
Regional Director for Senator John Thune
North Dakota
Hi Mark,
Friends of mine in Rapid City suggested that I try connecting with Senator Thune through his Regional Director, Qusi Al-Haj. I wasn’t asking for a contact, but was intrigued by a name I hadn’t heard before. I looked up Qusi online and read an article about a speech he made in Spearfish shortly after the October 2023 Hamas massacre in Israel.
Qusi’s take on the conflict passes for much of what is mainstream opinion these days, which is woefully off the mark and thereby unable to deal with the root cause of the problem. It’s lamentable that society and our political class has in any measure taken on an Islamic narrative created in the deceitful tradition of Muhammad with its dismissal of foundational Biblical truths and principles.
As a Jew, I also inherited lies. But not from the actual authentic and truthful teachings of the Torah. The lies I was born into came from the prevalent Jewish religious power structure and its man-made Biblical interpretations, rejections and additions. It was this ungodly spirit of independence that persecuted the Hebrew prophets and Anointed One Himself, Yeshua HaMashiach.
When Yeshua, the Lord Jesus Christ, revealed Himself to me, it began a transformation from my carnal inheritance to becoming a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, where truth prevails and there’s no distinction by race or gender. The same happened with Paul the apostle, who wrote:
“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:27-28).
By God’s grace, I’ve been given sight and objectivity from above to see clearly and articulate for the sake of all. His will isn’t for the Arabs and Jews to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
The truth does indeed set free.
Please forward the below letter to Senator Thune, Qusi, Phil, and any others you deem appropriate.
Thanks, Mark.
Paul B. Cohen
Rapid City
Black Hills Pioneer Article: “Bringing Clarity to Conflict”
Qusi Al-Haj speaks in Spearfish on Middle East
By Sierra Ferguson, Black Hills Pioneer
Nov 21, 2023
(Paul Cohen’s comments italicized in blue.)
SPEARFISH — On Saturday, Qusi Al-Haj, Regional Director for U.S. Senator John Thune, R- S.D., spoke at the High Plains Western Heritage Center in Spearfish, offering his insights on the current war between Israel and Hamas.
Al-Haj described a region with “too much history, and not enough geography,” focusing on the last 100 years of conflict between Israeli and Palestinian interests.
Division of geography has never been the issue in the Arab Islamic hostilities against Israel. The issue has always been that no matter what the size, the State of Israel isn’t acceptable to Islam. That’s why Israel has been repeatedly attacked since 1948 (and before) both militarily and even more pervasively, with non-stop propaganda aimed at weakening and destroying the country.
The goal of Muslim hostiles has never been to form a new or viable state in the region but to eliminate the State of Israel.
This conflict well precedes 100 years, going back to Muhammad’s claim of inheriting the covenant God made with Abraham through Isaac and Jacob (Israel).
To cement his authority and ability to nullify or pervert any and all of the Scriptures, Muhammad also claimed superiority over the Son of God and Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ, Whom Muhammad labeled “a prophet.” Jesus was thereby demoted from God in the flesh and deemed inferior to Muhammad’s status as the self-proclaimed “final prophet.”
What this means to Muslims is that whatever Muhammad is reported to have said nullifies all statements by Jesus and the Hebrew prophets and apostles that contradict Muhammad.
Thus the word of man is elevated over the Word of God. This is the definition of an anti-Christ – one who puts himself in the position of God.
“Let not anyone deceive you by any means. For that Day shall not come unless there first comes a falling away, and the man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself forth, that he is God” (2Th 2:3-4).
How can the truth be honored and profited from where lies bear rule? Lies, coming from the pit of hell, lead to death and destruction. This is the legacy of Muhammad witnessed in Gaza. Every drop of blood shed in Gaza is on the heads of Muhammad’s Hamas followers along with their supporters and enablers. The latter includes the “useful idiots” of the West who think their protests and forced ceasefires will stop the bloodshed.
Born in Jordan, Al-Haj is widely recognized as an authority on the Middle East.
On Saturday, he told the audience his goal was to provide context for understanding the war in Gaza, and offer some of his personal perspective and analysis.
Al-Haj pointed out, Gaza is only about 25 miles long and 6 miles wide. The area controlled by Hamas could fit inside the state of South Dakota many times over. Against that small geographical backdrop is a population of nearly 2 million people. South Dakota’s population, in contrast, is less than 900,000.
We need a telescope here, not a microscope. Israel fits inside South Dakota several times over and is surrounded by hundreds of millions of Muslims in huge territories and nations inimitable to the State of Israel.
Al-Haj said the Palestinian and Jewish people have been on a collision course for thousands of years. Both groups, Al-Haj said, could claim the region as an ancient homeland.
The reason for a collision is that Islam has been on the warpath since Muhammad declared war on the “infidel” world in the 7th century AD. As for claims on the land of Israel, God has given the children of Ishmael huge tracts of land outside of the land He’s allotted to Israel. Not only that, the children of Ishmael already live in Israel with a better quality of life than in their neighboring countries that have become largely “Jew-free” through their own history of discrimination.
The plain fact that’s evident for all to see is that Israel has become a successful nation that contributes to the welfare of everyone. Arabs will thrive when their energies are directed to receiving this with thanksgiving as a blessing from God rather than fighting against it and cursing themselves with the covetousness, lies, and murderous hatred of Muhammad.
He explained how the region, often referred to as the Holy Land, was partitioned into modern day Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank of Palestine. He discussed the migration of Jewish people from around the globe to Israel, in the lead up to the state’s independence in 1948. He talked about the subsequent tension between established Palestinians and Israelis, and the ways in which territorial disputes have played out on the international stage.
Previous to the partition, Ernest Bevin, Foreign Secretary overseeing the process, surveyed all “Palestinians” (Jews and Arabs so-named as inhabitants of the territory under British control) to help form an understanding of how to proceed. Bevin asked the Jews what their number one priority was, and received the answer “to obtain statehood” (which explains the Jews ready acceptance of a diminished offer from what had been originally promised). For the Arabs, their number one priority was “there would be no State of Israel.” This explains all the “tension” and “territorial disputes” till this day.
“There’s never really been a peace time,” Al-Haj said. Instead, he said, the temperature of conflict seems to change over time.
Al-Haj described Hamas’ Oct. 7 as a “grotesque and evil attack on Israel.” On that day, Hamas militants kidnapped hundreds, and murdered about 1,200 Israeli citizens across the country.
Al-Haj said the attack was well executed militarily, but ill conceived. Now, Gaza is the target of Israel’s ire, and with the dense population in the area sets up a situation in which heavy civilian casualties are difficult to avoid.
There has never been “a peace time” because as noted, Israel has never been defeated and eliminated according to the aim of Islam (not that this would bring peace to the Arabs).
And is Gaza the target of Israel’s ire or of a necessary campaign to finally defeat a monstrous entity dedicating its resources and the lives of its citizens to destroying Israel? Is Israel just reacting emotionally or are they doing what any sane and rational people would do under such circumstances, only not waiting decades to do it? Isn’t tolerating such assaults with great patience and restraint the opposite of reacting with ire? To characterize Israel as behaving out of emotions is patently false and counterproductive.
As for the matter of avoiding “heavy civilian casualties,” there’s a simple solution at hand. Hamas could have surrendered any minute after the Israeli counterattack following October 7th attack, returning the hostages and laying down their arms. Then it would have no longer been necessary for Israel to hunt down the militants hiding behind a population they’re supposedly serving, instead offering them as human sacrifices for propaganda purposes. This insidious campaign of self-destruction has the current US administration and its allies pressuring Israel into a premature ceasefire that amounts to Israel’s rather than the terrorists’ surrender.
Wittingly or unwittingly, this is the path Qusi’s rhetoric supports, promising more war and devastation for Jews and Arabs.
Israel’s military campaign is aimed at recovering hostages, and retaliating against Hamas.
He said, in approaching the conflict as an ally of Israel, the US has to walk a careful line. Al-Haj said if the US appears to be complicit in civilian deaths that limits our ability to act as a force for diplomacy.
To frame the Israeli war effort as “retaliation” mischaracterizes and maligns the actual mission of eliminating an inveterate hostile force that has attacked Israel ceaselessly over two decades in power. If the necessity for and legitimacy of Israel’s war aims were recognized, acknowledged, and unequivocally supported by the US, there would be no pressure to abandon them.
Furthermore, it’s already well documented by objective third party observers that the Israeli campaign, being conducted in the most complex urban warfare setting to date, has the lowest civilian to militants casualty ratio ever seen. And this has been achieved when civilian causalities are the goal of the enemy.
To give daylight to the obvious slander that Israel wages war in a manner anything akin to genocide is a craven capitulation to outright evil. Genocidal intent is demonstrably acted upon by Hamas along with other Iranian proxies and Islamist entities.
He added Israel has both moral and military [responsibility] to try and keep civilian casualties to a minimum. Even if Hamas is defeated as a concept, heavy civilian casualties could provide ideological fuel for “Hamas 2.0.”
Again, this frames the conflict on wrong terms, putting the responsibility for the cause of hostilities and welfare of Gazans on Israel when those rightly belong not only on Hamas, but the Gazans themselves who have avidly solicited and supported a barbaric death-cult that indoctrinates the world with lies calling for the eradication of Israel.
Why aren’t Hamas and the Gazans being called to moral responsibility? And what does this say for the morality of those in the US and others who, whether knowingly or ignorantly, in part or wholly, justify and aid their evil cause?
Al-Haj said he thinks Iran’s interests helped to catalyze the October attacks. He pointed out that a good chunk of Hamas’ funding comes from Iran, and that Israel’s position on the cusp of a peace accord with Saudi Arabia might have been derailed by the new conflict with Hamas.
“No one knows how the situation will play out, there likely won’t be a military solution,” Al-Haj said. “The region is flammable.”
There’s ample proof that Iran firmly supports and aided October 7th and the ongoing attacks against Israel. The US has abdicated its responsibility to enact a solution to the ongoing Iranian issue since Jimmy Carter’s disastrous policies of 1979, when the mullahs took over and vowed to destroy the “great Satan” (USA) along with the “little Satan” (Israel).
Instead of putting the fire out as begun during the Trump administration, the Obama/Biden-Harris administrations have poured gasoline on it.
During a Q&A session at the end of Al-Haj’s talk, several community members asked if peace was possible.
He said peace talks may only happen if both sides are willing to be uncomfortable with outcome. Because of the area’s long history of bloody territorial disputes, there is no way to “solve” the conflict’s source, Al-Haj said. Rather, peace will come only with compromise and solutions to some of the two party’s grievances.
“Both sides” implies equivalence, which is mistaken and misleading. This situation is like the West’s conflict with Nazi Germany and worse. The Nazis were aggressors set on conquest, as are the Islamists. The former, however, had some foundation in the Judeo/Christian ways of law, rationality, and justice, and were returned to their senses. The Islamists, however,are steeped in the “superior” ideology and spirit of Muhammad that forever inflames unquenchable hatred through a victim mentality that propels endless jihad.
Peace won’t come by settling the alleged grievances of Islamists, because Islamists aren’t after justice but total domination. If they were after justice, they wouldn’t have attacked Jews from before the creation of Israel till this day. If they were after justice they would repent of the evils they’ve committed and intend to commit.
It’s documented that Islamist leaders openly supported and collaborated with Hitler on his Jewish extermination program. They haven’t given up their aspirations for Jewish genocide as advocated by Iran and its proxies, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. Indeed, the Islamists are immensely encouraged by anti-Israel support for their cause in the West.
The focus on Israel as a major player and instigator of violence in the Middle East is unwarranted and way out of proportion regarding the actual violence that’s taken place over the past several decades.
In 1970 Jordan killed more Arab Palestinians in 11 days than Israel killed in the over 20 years since its founding, over several wars of aggression initiated by the Arabs.
In the larger picture, Islamic internecine conflicts among the Arabs and their warring factions since the founding of Israel in 1948 till 2007, yielded 40,000 Muslim casualties in their wars against Israel. This compared to the 11,000,000 Muslim deaths otherwise. (https://www.meforum.org/4466/arab-israeli-fatalities-rank-49th).
The cause of the conflict with Israel lies with Arabs and Muslims steeped in the Islamic doctrine of superiority that demands the obliteration of Israel and world domination. To speak in terms of equivalent blame on Israel is totally unjustified and unrealistic. This lie must be vigorously renounced rather than augmented by “reasonable” sounding proclamations such as presented in this speech.
“Bringing Clarity to the Conflict”? No, “Muddying the Waters.”