England under siege: 1580 and 2005

In the rich history of England one other period compares to the current
state of siege that England is under from religious extremists. In the
period of 1580 the succession of the Protestant monarchy under Elizabeth I
was threatened by the possibility of a reversion to the Catholic religion
that her father, King Henry VIII, had famously rejected. The Catholic
monarch Mary Queen of Scots, imprisoned by Elizabeth, was the focus of many
plots, and several other Catholic aristocrats were pretenders to the throne.
At that time Britain became a real police state, with many men acting as
informers and agents of the Queen's Secretary of State, Sir Francis
Walsingham.
All the while England was being infiltrated by English Catholics who had
been trained and indoctrinated on the Continent. The most famous plot
against the life of Queen Elizabeth was the "Babington Plot" named after
Anthony Babington who was a page to Mary. At that time it was forbidden to
carry out a Catholic mass, and any one caught doing so would be arrested and
most likely tortured. In that way, incriminating evidence was found against
many others, and public executions of Catholics were common, including that
of Mary in 1587.
In 1588 King Phillip of Spain sent the Spanish Armada to invade Britain, but
with the intervention of Sir Walter Ralegh's British navy and bad weather,
the Armada was defeated and dispersed and the threat faded. Later other
Catholics tried to carry out attacks against the British Government, but the
plot by Guy Fawkes to blow up the Houses of Parliament was foiled in 1605.
Nevertheless, this period of infiltration by religious fanatics and threat
of invasion had a long term effect on England's history, and led to a period
of consolidation and reaction.
Currently the enemy is not Catholicism of course, but militant Islam. Of
course, there are many differences, now Britain is a multi-ethnic country
with a constitutional monarchy and not only Catholics and Jews have freedom
of religion but also Muslims, Hindus and others. But, all the political
correctness in the world cannot wipe out the fact that over 50 people died
horribly and that the police forces had no clue of the group of British
Muslims that were responsible. The infiltration of Muslim fanatics from
abroad is a real and present danger.
Over here the suicide bombing in Netanya has now claimed 5 lives, and the
continued shelling of Israeli targets by Hamas, resulting in the killing of
one woman, have destroyed the so-called "truce." The IDF is now reacting
with its own tactics, and things are getting worse. Meanwhile the
disengagement is looming and both the Palestinian and Israeli opponents are
getting more activated.
During this, PA Pres Abbas has called a meeting with the terrorist groups to
once again try to restore calm. He received a strong message from Secty. of
State Rice warning him that he must act to stop this renewed wave of
terrorism and bring those responsible to justice. At the same time there was
a clash in Gaza between PA security forces and Hamas gunmen when a car
carrying them refused to stop at a PA roadblock and 5 gunmen were wounded.
Fighting is currently going on between the PA forces and Hamas in Gaza.
Whether Abbas can restrain it and allow calm for the Israeli disengagement
or whether the IDF will have to expand its role there remains to be seen.