NewsGuy
04-29-2002, 03:42 PM
The New Fascism
Frightening extremist rhetoric from America’s critics
By Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online (http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson042602.asp)
April 26, 2002
Watching televised clips from a recent pro-Palestinian rally in Washington, along with other such demonstrations over the last few weeks, can be a chilling experience. One woman chanted, "Israel will be no more" — apparently a call for the abject and utter destruction of the Jewish state. On posters the Star of David was juxtaposed to a swastika — the sick subtext of that message lost on no one. Many openly condemned the "Jews" and "Zionists" in a manner reminiscent of Nuremberg circa 1936. The past few days their government-sponsored supporters in the Arab world talked of Jews as "monkeys," and called for the "termination" of Israel.
During a time of war, with a still-damaged Pentagon not far in the distance, the United States was roundly denounced on television as imperialistic and a promoter of terror and international murder...
The murderous regimes of Iraq, Libya, and Iran were the favored nations of many of the speakers. Threats against Sharon's person and Israel were frequently voiced — all broadcast live on C-SPAN. What are we to make of this recent, and very odd, coalescence of the new anti-American Left with radical Islamicists and pro-Palestinian extremists?
...
History and facts mattered little, and so were not mentioned. Suicide murdering; bound and gagged Palestinians executed by their own comrades; booby-trapped homes and corpses; ambulances used as terrorist vehicles; bomb factories at U.N. camps; ample U.S. military aid to Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine; and the long history of the region that has witnessed three wars against Israel launched from the Arab-controlled West Bank to destroy the Jewish state never came up. Nor did the current popularity of Mein Kampf in Arab bookstores.
...
The truth is that a lunatic fringe similar to Hitler of the early 1920s is also active now in America, and has tried to galvanize resistance to the Untied States by using the events of Sept. 11 and the recent fighting in the Middle East. But this time the racists, fascists, and faux-victims are from the purported Left and not the Right... They are not progressives, not even socialists, communists, or anarchists. Rather, their language is pure hatred — as well as anti-Semitic and fascistic.
...
The only way to confront the new fascists is to speak honestly about them and not remain silent. Each time a Palestinian extremist uses the word "Jew," each time an activist praises Libya, Iraq, or Iran and either condones or praises suicide murderers, each time a screaming protestor slanders the present president of the United States as a killer, terrorist, and war criminal, each time we hear of conspiracies that explain our aid to Jewish Israel, we must all simply remonstrate, "Hitler would smile at every thing you say."
And, of course, he would.
* * *
Any reactions to this?
Frightening extremist rhetoric from America’s critics
By Victor Davis Hanson
National Review Online (http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson042602.asp)
April 26, 2002
Watching televised clips from a recent pro-Palestinian rally in Washington, along with other such demonstrations over the last few weeks, can be a chilling experience. One woman chanted, "Israel will be no more" — apparently a call for the abject and utter destruction of the Jewish state. On posters the Star of David was juxtaposed to a swastika — the sick subtext of that message lost on no one. Many openly condemned the "Jews" and "Zionists" in a manner reminiscent of Nuremberg circa 1936. The past few days their government-sponsored supporters in the Arab world talked of Jews as "monkeys," and called for the "termination" of Israel.
During a time of war, with a still-damaged Pentagon not far in the distance, the United States was roundly denounced on television as imperialistic and a promoter of terror and international murder...
The murderous regimes of Iraq, Libya, and Iran were the favored nations of many of the speakers. Threats against Sharon's person and Israel were frequently voiced — all broadcast live on C-SPAN. What are we to make of this recent, and very odd, coalescence of the new anti-American Left with radical Islamicists and pro-Palestinian extremists?
...
History and facts mattered little, and so were not mentioned. Suicide murdering; bound and gagged Palestinians executed by their own comrades; booby-trapped homes and corpses; ambulances used as terrorist vehicles; bomb factories at U.N. camps; ample U.S. military aid to Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine; and the long history of the region that has witnessed three wars against Israel launched from the Arab-controlled West Bank to destroy the Jewish state never came up. Nor did the current popularity of Mein Kampf in Arab bookstores.
...
The truth is that a lunatic fringe similar to Hitler of the early 1920s is also active now in America, and has tried to galvanize resistance to the Untied States by using the events of Sept. 11 and the recent fighting in the Middle East. But this time the racists, fascists, and faux-victims are from the purported Left and not the Right... They are not progressives, not even socialists, communists, or anarchists. Rather, their language is pure hatred — as well as anti-Semitic and fascistic.
...
The only way to confront the new fascists is to speak honestly about them and not remain silent. Each time a Palestinian extremist uses the word "Jew," each time an activist praises Libya, Iraq, or Iran and either condones or praises suicide murderers, each time a screaming protestor slanders the present president of the United States as a killer, terrorist, and war criminal, each time we hear of conspiracies that explain our aid to Jewish Israel, we must all simply remonstrate, "Hitler would smile at every thing you say."
And, of course, he would.
* * *
Any reactions to this?