Customizing Hate: How Terrorism Rhetoric Has Been Used to Shape Anti-Muslim Bias

The United States of America was founded on the lofty principles of freedom, equality and liberty for certain classes of white men.  After two centuries and a half, it has “evolved” from the noble rhetoric of its third president, Thomas Jefferson, to the vile, racist and imperialist diatribe of its 47th office holder, Donald J. Trump. 

The U.S.-Israeli war against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the second in less than nine months, has revealed that the nation of once “honorable ideals” has joined its ruthless counterpart, Israel, to become a lawless, rogue state bent on regional and global hegemony. This latest act of naked aggression reinforces what much of the world already knew or experienced—the U.S. and Israel are the “world’s leading sponsors of terrorism.” 

In this era of state-sponsored terrorism, media disinformation and the manipulation of public discourse, I am heartened by the prescience of America’s revolutionary founders, who, along with their fellow colonists fought to free the colonies from the yoke of British domination. In so doing, they carved a destiny that demands much of us all.   

Now more than ever the timeless insights of the architects of the Republic are increasingly relevant and offer counsel during this evolutionary (or revolutionary) era.  

In a letter, for example, to his predecessor, John Adams, Jefferson wrote, “Bigotry is the disease of ignorance of morbid minds….education and free discussion are the antidotes of both” (1816).

Sam Adams, the mastermind behind resistance to British rule, informed us, “If virtue and knowledge are diffuse among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security” (1779). 

Our forefathers also championed a free press as foundational to liberty.  Jefferson again: “Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe” (1816).  And James Madison, fourth president and Father of the Constitution, reminded us: “A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or perhaps both” (1822).

The founders were keenly aware of the importance of an independent press—considered the “fourth branch of government”— in preserving freedom and self-government.  

Unfortunately, the corporate media today has increasingly been in the business of shaping public perceptions. Rather than hold government to account, they often act as its stenographers and cheerleaders.  This is notably evident in the way U.S.-Israeli policies and actions in West Asia are narrated and in their shielding of both regimes.    

Decades of excusing, downplaying and ignoring Israeli atrocities and crimes against the Palestinians have established a pattern of neglect that continues as Washington commits similar crimes against Iran, Lebanon, Yemen and other regional actors that challenge its geopolitical agenda.  

The U.S. media has, for years, successfully employed a “shell game,” distracting the public with fear-based narratives about “Islamic extremism” and “Islamic terrorism,” while extenuating or ignoring the decades-long U.S.-Israeli war on the Islamic world.   

Bear in mind that the major terrorism arbiters are themselves terrorists.  Washington and Tel Aviv murder children, women and men; then they decide who is a terrorist and what terror is—consider the U.S. carpet bombing of South Asian countries, invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Lebanon and of late, Iran; and the continued genocidal Israeli war against the Palestinians.

One of history’s most calculated and consequential deceptions was constructed by the administration of President George W. Bush, following the deadly attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001.  

The official explanation of events is a glaring example.  It is, to this day, a construction rarely if ever challenged. The inaccurate narration linking the political act of 9/11 with Islam and Islam with terrorism have impacted the lives of 2 billion Muslims worldwide.  The consequences of the deception and manipulation have been globally incalculable.   

President Bush’s interpretation of the catastrophic attack,“they hate our freedoms,” was uninformed and silly.  It did, however, set in motion the Islamophobia that continues to plague the U.S. and many Western countries.  

The causes and origins of the strikes have remained largely hidden and unexplained. Instead, religion, “Islamic terrorism,” became the default explanation, assumed cause and easy target.    

In actuality, the 9/11 attacks were political acts driven by long-standing grievances against the American and Israeli regimes and were aimed at altering their policies in the region.  

Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda, detailed the reasons for hostilities in his 2002, “Letter to the American People,” and in a 2004 video message. In 2004 he accepted responsibility for the terrorist act. In both messages he cited three geopolitical grievances as the primary reasons: 

•      Israeli occupation of Palestine and treatment of Palestinians, and American support for Israel. 

•     The continued permanent presence (since 1990) of U.S. military troops in Saudi Arabia, home to the sacred sites in Mecca and Medina.

•     American economic sanctions on Iraq and U.S. military involvement in Muslim majority countries, such as Lebanon and Somalia.

Rather than analyze the causes of the hostility to guide future policy, Washington invaded the Muslim countries of Afghanistan and Iraq and began surveilling and harassing American Muslims.  

Washington and Tel Aviv continue to leverage the “terrorism” and “existential threat” narratives to justify suppressing Palestinian resistance and to crush regional opposition. The struggle, however, of Muslim, Christian and Jewish Arabs against Zionist occupation, barbarity and genocide is not terrorism; it is genuinely existential. 

Corporate media enforcers are dutifully working to legitimatize the recent unprovoked US-Israeli war on Iran.  Their coverage of Iran, past and present, is replete with bias, lazy research and void of context. The legality of the war is scarcely discussed, much less its morality.  

It is important to recognize that the endless wars in West Asia follow from Israel’s illegal occupation of Arab land in Palestine: 1948-49; 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, 2006, 2023-present.  

For years, the Israeli regime has used biblical references to occupy, demonize and to justify the killing of Palestinians. It employs religious text not to liberate, but to oppress and implement political violence. 

After the 7 October 2023 rebellion, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu turned to the most violent verses in the Old Testament, including the Amalek tale, to launch and incite his genocidal war on the people of Palestine. The state-sponsored savagery of the Jewish state, however, has yet to be labeled “Judaic” or “Hebrew terrorism,” much less deemed terrorism at all.   

Liberation has no religious affiliation.  For centuries, Muslim-majority lands have experienced foreign domination, spanning the Ottomans, British, French and now Israel and the United States. Throughout, they have struggled to liberate themselves from imperial control.  The violent methods employed, were not Muslim, Christian or Jewish tactics.  They were, however, extreme actions meant to cause terror in order to accomplish political ends.    

Although the term “terrorism” did not exist during the American Revolution  (coined during the 1789 French revolution), the largely Christian patriots, who destroyed property, assaulted officials, issued death threats, and tarred and feathered Loyalists, would have been labeled terrorists by imperial Britain; or perhaps, if the word had existed, they would have been designated “Christian terrorists”. 

Historically, people seeking liberation from external domination have used political violence, while drawing on religious faith for inspiration and courage. The political struggle for freedom, independence and self-determination transcends religion, whether carried on by the Sons of Liberty in 1776 or Palestinian liberation movements today.   

The United States is currently in an existential battle over its identity: the vision of the Founders vs. the authoritarian path set by Donald Trump.  In this defining era, the abiding words of Thomas Jefferson clearly forewarns:  “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.” 

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