Do you know when the Islamic terrorists first declared war on the United States? If you guessed September 11, 2001, you're wrong!

It began in the eighteenth century, not long after the American Revolution. In 1784, President George Washington created a Presidential commission to investigate the possibility of marketing American-made products in Europe. Upon approval from the first Congress of the U.S., Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin were confirmed and dispatched to France.

After much research, the Commission realized that the biggest obstacle to exporting American goods overseas was the "Barbary Pirates."

Jefferson observed that these "pirates" were peculiar. They neither drank rum, cavorted with women., nor sought treasure. On the contrary, the booty that they acquired from looting ships was sorely used to procure guns and ammunition to further their holy war. Their motives for piracy were purely religious. Similar to the terrorists of our day, they envisioned themselves in a jihad and called themselves "mujahidin."

Jefferson inquired of his allies as to how they dealt with this serious problem. He was appalled to discover that France actually paid ransom to these "pirates," who inturn used the money to buy more arms, hijack more commercial liners and capture more innocent civilians.

This made absolutely no sense to Jefferson. He realized that "money for peace," much like "land for peace," doesn't work. Eventually the Muslims would always find an excuse to break the treaty, blame the Europeans and demand more money.

Upon his return to the United States, Jefferson advocated a different policy to deal with terrorism. Realizing that in gaining its independence from Great Britain, America had lost her protection provided by the greatest navy in the world, and had become a vulnerable target. He promulgated the building of an American navy to ensure the protection of its citizens abroad, and to serve as a deterrent to future terrorist attacks. Sadly, Jefferson's strategy was dismissed.
 
Nine years later in 1793, as Jefferson was about to retire as the first Secretary of State, America's first "September 11" transpired. The Algerians had seized eleven U.S. Merchant vessels and had taken hostage more than one hundred Americans.
 
When news of the attacks reached New York, the stock market crashed. Every major port was shut down, sailors were laid off, and ship builders went out of business. What 9/11 did to the sound U.S. economy of 2001, you can certainly imagine what the mass shipjackings did to the fledgling economy of 18th century America.

Congress immediately ordered the building of a fleet of warships. But, once again, Jefferson's counsel was ignored. Instead of a declaration of war, Congress sent envoys to Algiers for negotiations. Upon conclusion of the talks, the U.S. ended up paying one million dollars and gave the Pasha of Algiers a brand new warship, "The Crescent," to secure the release of the surviving American hostages.

It wasp 't Lint] I 1801, that then President Thomas Jefferson initiated a four year war against Libya. And it wasn't until 1830, when France occupied Algiers, Tunisia and Morocco, that terrorism on the high seas finally came to an end. France didn't withdraw from North Africa until the 1960s and look what happened-terrorism all over again!

What the Maccabees knew in 265 BCE, holds true today. Capitulation to terrorists never works. May the flaming lights of the Menorah, which serve as a beacon of hope and liberty for all who are oppressed, usher in a new era of peace and tranquility for all mankind.


      --Rabbi Rachmiel Liberman