So Open Minded

Karam



that her marbles must have fallen out of her head entirely.

After the panel discussion the other night a number of people approached the table for commentary and chit-chat as I was packing away my papers. It was all very pleasant and very nice except for one woman who said to me, "I was offended at your insistence on the Nazi influence in the Muslim Brotherhood."

"Offended? Were you offended?," I asked. "But it's historical fact. The Muslim Brotherhood, as an organization, was directly influenced by Nazi Germany."

She said, "Some of them. Not all. Only some of them."

I stopped, stood back for a moment, and looked this woman in the eye.

"They rallied in Tahrir Square the other day," I said. "They were calling for death to the Jews."

"Some of them," she said.

Some of them.

Indeed, as far as I know not every fascist member of the Muslim Brotherhood was in Tahrir Square calling for blood. That woman was absolutely correct and, yet, somehow, I am failed to be impressed by that fact. What's more, I do not understand the inclination of so many liberal Jews to give our enemies a pass.

I suspect that part of it is that liberal Jews are entirely uncomfortable with even the notion of "enemies." How could anyone be our enemy? We only want what is right and fair for everyone involved, right? We don't have enemies. Even the very worst of Qaeda or Hamas or the Brotherhood are potentially friends if we are just nice in the right kind of way.

This is the progressive mindset. Everyone is more or less alike and everyone wants more or less the same thing. We, all of us, want nothing more than to build a decent life for ourselves and our children and if we would simply recognize that this is true for the genocidal maniacs of Hamas then everyone would get along just dandy.

The only problem with the above, of course, is that it is hogwash.

When the Muslim Brotherhood gathered in Tahrir Square and called for the genocide of the Jews it wasn't because what they really want are better jobs and thus better lives for themselves and their families. They call for the genocide of the Jews not because it helps them in any way or because Israel has done this, that, or the other, but because of 14 centuries of theocratically embedded Jew Hatred within Arabic and Muslim cultures.

The reason that they hate Jews is because of al-Sharia, Islamic Law, Allah's Law, and at the center of al-Sharia is dhimmitude. The reason that the Brotherhood is upset is not because sometimes Palestinians have to walk through check-points in Judea and Samaria, but because the Jews have actually managed to slough off so many centuries of second and third class citizenship and now have sovereignty on Jewish land that was once under Arab military occupation.

The inclination among liberal Jews is to assume that the problem is really with us. They try to kill us because we are bad and if only we would stop being bad then they would stop trying to kill us. This notion is at the very heart of liberal Jewish thinking on the Arab-Israel conflict. What can we do to appease these people so that they will want to stop fighting and, instead, seek to raise their children without inciting hatred toward us?

What hoop must we jump through so that they will be nice to us?

The reason that liberal Jews tend to think this way is because it offers the illusion of control. If the problem is really with us then we can fix the problem. We can fix ourselves or we can get rid of those Jews who are causing such grief. If only we got rid of Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman and "the settlers" who insist on living on Biblical lands. We can't do anything about the Palestinians, but we can do something about ourselves and what we need to do about ourselves is pretty much what the Palestinians tell us. They don't like the idea of Jews living in Judea? Barack Obama doesn't like the idea of Jews living in Judea, either? Well, then those Jews are trouble-makers, aren't they?

They are illegal, illegitimate "settlers" and I hear that they do bad things. I am told that they rip Holy Palestinian Olive Trees out of the ground with their bare fangs. I hear that they are violent and fanatical and racist toward their peaceful Palestinian neighbors. It is they, the Bad Jews, who are the problem. As Good Jews we need to oppose the Bad Jews in order to find peace. This is the liberal Jewish mindset. The problem can never really be with the Palestinians or with the larger Arab and Muslim world, but must be with us, because only if the problem is with us can we possibly fix it.

Thus well-meaning liberal Jewish "peace processors" waste their time looking for the watch they lost in the ally under the lamppost nearby because the light is so much better there. They'll never find the damn thing, which remains in the dark ally nearby, but it beats doing nothing.

And thus that woman at the panel the other night could not accept that the Brotherhood is actually a genocidal, fascist organization with an historical provenance that goes to Nazi Germany. If she were to accept that proposition... a proposition that those of us less corrupted by Politically Correct nonsense like to refer to as THE TRUTH... then it would scare the holy daylights out of her.

And that is why she insisted that only some of the Brotherhood are essentially Nazis.

And, when it comes right down to it, who can blame her? I don't like it any more than she does. I guess when they stop screaming for Jewish blood then I will stop saying that they are screaming for Jewish blood.

I wish that I could do so beforehand, but I can't.

What we are witnessing in this historical moment is the rise of Muslim fascism throughout the Middle East as facilitated by the president of the United States and the Democratic Party. It's not just that we are failing to oppose this development, but that the government of the United States is actively encouraging it by suggesting that some Islamists are better than others and, therefore, some are not so bad and can be reasoned with.

Like I said, some people are so open-minded that their marbles have fallen out of their heads entirely.

What's a few marbles if losing them will bring some peace of mind? Whatever else it might bring we will have to wait and see, but at least Hillary Clinton can breathe easily for the moment. The Muslim Brotherhood is moderate, after all.

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