The terrorist Islamist regime of Iran has threatened to attack the U.S. and Israel and is actively killing its own people, who are rising up to unseat an evil regime.

The threats made against the U.S. and Israel are not idle ones, as demonstrated by the ballistic missile attacks on U.S. bases and Israel which were miraculously defeated.

We are blessed to live in a free and open, diverse, and democratic society, where we enjoy, among other things, freedom of religion and speech, as well as equal protection under the law.

The United States Constitution provides for separation of church and state, as well as recognizing our G-d given rights and freedoms.

Islamists threaten the U.S. and the constitutional protected American way of life we treasure. Their brand of Islamism is a case of a parasitic political ideology subverting the host religion.

They misuse the cloak of religion as a guise in which to pursue a malignant agenda that is antithetical not only to the US, but to Islam, as well.

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the U.S. later this year, we would do well to remember one of the earliest jihadi Islamist threats we faced, known as the Barbary Pirates.

It was the precipitating cause for the rebirth of the U.S. Navy and deployment of the newly re-established Marine Corp to meet the challenge, as well as the meaning of the phrase "To the shores of Tripoli," in the Marine Anthem.

The Barbary Pirates were predominantly Muslim and operated out of the North African Muslim ruled Barbary States.

A major part of their operations, in the period 1500-1800 CE, involved targeting, capturing and enslaving non-Muslims and especially Christians.

It's estimated that approximately one million Christians were enslaved.

They raided ships and coastal villages across the Mediterranean Sea and even ranged as far north as England, Ireland and Iceland and east to the Canary Islands.

They promoted their terrorist activities as a sacred struggle against the non-Muslim world.

Their belligerent raids were often framed as naval Jihad against Christian powers.

In a famous meeting in March of 1786, between Tripoli's Ambassador Sidi Abdrahaman and Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, in London, they inquired as to why the U.S. was being attacked, when it had done no injury to the Barbary States.

The ambassador responded that it was a religious duty under Islam.

This exchange reportedly convinced Thomas Jefferson that paying protection money to secure the illusion of the peace would not actually stop the attacks.

When he became president, he refused to pay protection money to the Barbary States and Tripoli declared war on the U.S. in 1801.

The military intervention by the U.S. ensued in 1801-1805 (First Barbary War), under President Thomas Jefferson and then again in 1815 (Second Barbary War), under President James Madison, to defeat this scourge.

Ultimately France effectively ended Barbary terrorism, when it conquered Algeria in 1830.

Our modern decision-makers must be mindful of the cogent lessons of this important first encounter between the U.S. and Islamist powers.

As citizens, we must also become more enlightened about the many threats we face from a world not embracing our American values, seeking to undermine our interests.

Islamists seek to undermine Western culture and Judeo-Christian beliefs and ethics and conquer the world, as well as enforce their version of Sha'ariah.

We must beware not to be manipulated into empowering evil, by ignoring the problem or even condoning their nefarious pretenses and justifications.

Director of Natioal Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard presented the issue and our need pro-actively to deal with it, in a speech she gave on December 20, 2025.

She said, "But there is a threat to our freedom that is not often talked about enough, and it is the greatest near and long term threat to both our freedom and our security, and that is the threat of Islamist ideology . . . it is the ideology that fuels terrorist groups like al Qaida and ISIS and Al-Shabaab and Hamas and Boko Haram and others, and they must be defeated militarily. . . "

She goes on to note that the Islamist ideology is a direct threat to our freedom because at its core it is a political ideology that seeks to create a global caliphate, governed by what Islamists call their Islamic principles.

They enforce these dictates by any means necessary, including violence.

There are also more insidious means used by Islamists to infiltrate and undermine the US, our freedoms and way of life.

DNI Gabbard warned that CAIR issued a call to action to use American legal and political systems to implement Sha’aria law.

The concern about aspects of Shariah Law being incompatible with U.S. law is real.

Here's an example of a most disturbing case in New Jersey. It would appear a lower court judge refused to grant a restraining order against a Muslim husband who was accused by his wife of forcing her to have sex with him.

The husband defended himself against the charge of rape by asserting he was just exercising his right as a husband under Islamic law to have marital relations.

Thus, he was acting in accordance with his religious beliefs, albeit wholly inconsistent with U.S. law that viewed his actions as nothing more than rape.

Fortunately, the New Jersey appeals court intervened and overturned the lower court's decision to deny the wife the protection of a restraining order.

The New Jersey appeals court found that the case "presents a conflict between the criminal law and religious precepts."

The appeals court went on to say "In resolving this conflict, the judge determined to exempt (the husband) from the operation of the [s]tate's statutes as the result of his religious beliefs. In doing so, the judge was mistaken."

The good people of Iran are revolting against their Islamist masters, who are a plague to them and the world. We must support them in their noble quest for freedom.

Leonard Grunstein, a retired attorney and banker, founded and served as Chairman of Metropolitan National Bank and then Israel Discount Bank of N.Y. He also founded Project Ezrah and serves on the Board of Revel at Yeshiva University and the AIPAC National Council. He has published articles in the Banking Law Journal, Real Estate Finance Journal, and other publications. Read more Leonard Grunstein's Insider articles — Click Here Now.