It is clear that the political failure to uphold the dignity and inherent value of the lives of the residents of Gaza — the refusal to call for a reprieve from Israel’s relentless bombing campaign and ongoing daily acts of violence and humiliation — gives a greenlight to others to enact a violence and oppression of their own.

September 11 did not dramatically alter what it means to be a Muslim or an Arab in the Western world. It is perhaps more accurate to say that September 11 heightened the intensity of the discrimination and the alienation Muslims in the West have long endured.