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Another excellent column from Spiked Online's Chief Political Writer Brendan O'Neill.
A fascist rally in Washington, DC; That protest against Benjamin Netanyahu was riddled with classic anti-Semitism.
"What would you call a gathering of angry people marching behind a giant, grotesque effigy of a horned Jew with blood dripping from his mouth? A gathering at which one attendee held up a placard calling for a ‘Final Solution’ for ‘the Zionists’? A gathering at which people giddily waved the flag of a movement that is devoted to the murder of Jews? A gathering at which there were banners and speedily daubed graffiti on public monuments singing the praises of this Jew-killing outfit? I would call it a fascist rally. And yet, bizarrely, when just such a rally took place in Washington, DC yesterday, the liberal media called it an ‘anti-war protest’. Were they watching something else?
"Let’s speak frankly: yesterday’s protests in Washington, DC against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, were deeply disturbing. They were riddled not only with the febrile Israelophobic bigotry we’ve come to expect from the supposedly progressive left, but also with open anti-Semitism. With classic anti-Semitism. With expressions of virulent contempt for the Jew as blood-drinker, the Jew as child-killer, the Jew as such a key source of the world’s ills that a ‘solution’, ideally a ‘final’ one, must be found to his continual ailing of the human race. This was a hate-fest masquerading as concern for Palestinians.
"Consider what many in the press are referring to as ‘the Netanyahu puppet’. What cowardly euphemising. This was no mere mocking likeness of the Israeli PM – it was a repulsive caricature of The Jew. Displayed outside Congress, where Netanyahu was speaking, it contained almost every anti-Jew trope. Blood-spattered horns sprouted from the Jew’s head. His hands and mouth were generously smeared with fake blood, as if this creature had freshly feasted on human flesh. His white shirt was red with blood, too – the spillage from his vampiric gorging.
"It was right out of Medieval Europe, where eruptions of anti-Semitism were fuelled by ‘folk beliefs’ about Jews having ‘horns and big noses’. And being blood-drinkers, of course. The blood libel that was the trigger for so many medieval pogroms held that Jews killed Christian kids to use their blood in the baking of Matzah bread. To see such Dark Ages-style hatred and hysteria on the streets of DC in 2024 – to see a mob in modern America gather to mock an effigy of a blood-drinking Jew with horns – is horrendous. There were other effigies of Netanyahu, too. One was set on fire outside Union Station to the cheers and cackles of the crowd. It was like a medieval purging. It brought to mind the centuries-old practice of ‘Judas burning’ at Easter, also known as the ‘Burning of the Jew’, when effigies of that ‘Christ killer’ would be set alight.
"To call these caricatures ‘Netanyahu puppets’, to refer to them as ‘larger-than-life puppets’ of a PM,
represents an unforgivable suspension of critical thinking. When
Netanyahu is given horns and a blood-filled mouth, it should be clear he
has become a stand-in for something else – for The Jew, for the toxic
influence of that most problematic of peoples. And yet the media spoke
of the effigy as if it was no big deal. The Guardian’s report
said ‘a giant effigy of Netanyahu with horns on his head and blood
dripping from his mouth was on display’, like it was perfectly normal to
see a Borat-style Jew-head
on the streets of DC. Would that paper have been so breezy if racist
toerags had displayed an effigy of a black politician made to look like a
monkey? A reporter for Sky News did his entire report on the ‘angry’
protests from in front of the vile effigy. Mate, this isn’t ‘anger’ – it’s sick, glaring anti-Semitism.
"Elsewhere, a keffiyeh-adorned protester was seen proudly displaying the Hamas flag outside the Capitol building. This is a movement whose founding charter committed it to the murder of Jews. And which on 7 October carried out the worst mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. And yet here was a ‘progressive’ waving its flag, with seemingly little pushback from her fellow agitators who no doubt hilariously think of themselves as anti-fascist.
"Protesters scrawled graffiti all over the Columbus statue in Union Square. One of the scribbled defacements said: ‘Hamas is coming.’ Seeing self-styled radicals applaud a reactionary army of Jew-haters who would hurl every they / them from a 10th-floor window faster than you could say ‘Queers for Palestine!’ would be funny if it were not so revealing of the crisis of our own civilisation. Writing ‘Hamas is coming’ on a public monument is not protest – it’s Jew-taunting. It’s a gross threat to the Jews of DC that the monsters who killed a thousand of their co-religionists nine months ago might come for them next. It’s the moral equivalent of writing ‘The KKK is coming’. It’s worse, in fact, given that the last time racist Klansmen lynched a black person was in 1981, whereas the racists of Hamas lynched a thousand Jews as recently as October.
"There was more pro-fascist gloating at the Freedom Bell at Union Station. Someone wrote on the bell, ‘Qassam, Qassam, make us proud’, in reference to the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, which organised the mass murder, rape and kidnap of Jews on 7 October. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you are praising fascist killers, and goading them to kill more, you are not a radical – you’re a racist. ‘Long live the Intifada!’, others scrawled on the bell. ‘Abolish Israel’, some said, making it clear that their hope for the Middle East is not a two-state solution but a no-Jew solution. ‘Fascists will burn’, said one especially ominous scrawl. Big talk for activists who’ve climbed into bed with fascists.
"Then came the most chilling sight of the DC protest: a man waving a black Islamic flag and a placard that said: ‘Allah is gathering all the Zionists for the “Final Solution”.’ Here we had actual Nazi hate, the Hitlerite dream of Jew extermination, being publicly expressed in the capital of the United States. No doubt some ‘pro-Palestine’ leftists will rush to distance themselves from this vile fascistic statement, and claim it was just ‘one person’ on a big demo. But that stuff doesn’t wash any more. It actually makes sense – sick sense – that on a protest at which it was seemingly acceptable to praise the Jew-killers of Hamas, and to depict Jews as blood-supping cloven beasts, and to demand the obliteration of the world’s only Jewish nation, that someone would essentially say: ‘You know what? Let’s just get rid of the Jews.’ Such Nazi dreaming is the gross logical conclusion to the modern left’s unhinged hatred for Israel and its feverish loathing of Zionists. ‘All Zionists are bastards’, someone wrote on a monument in DC. Kill them, then. Liberate humanity from these horned demons.
"When tiki-torch-waving alt-right racists marched in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017, chanting foul slogans like ‘Jews will not replace us’, the left and the liberal media had no qualms about calling it a fascist rally. And yet they’ve been far more coy, if not outright supportive, in relation to yesterday’s ugly, effigy-burning gathering in DC. Even though, it was more fascist-like, in terms of tone and slogans, than the Charlottesville horror. To depict Jews as blood-consuming freaks, to demand the destruction of the Jews’ homeland, to propose a ‘Final Solution’ to Zionism – this is objectively even worse than what most of those white supremacists said in 2017.
"Yesterday’s anti-fascists are today’s fascists. Antifa is now, well, ‘fa’. The kind of radicals who were horrified by 2017’s cries of ‘The Jews will not replace us’ now say worse – far worse – on the streets of DC. What this fascist rally disguised as a ‘pro-Palestine’ protest really confirms is that today’s hatred for Israel is an extension of the fashionable hatred for Western civilisation itself. So protesters didn’t only burn likenesses of The Jew – they also burned the American flag. They didn’t only damn Zionism – they also damned the American republic and its evil leaders. It might be Jews they’re most feverishly mocking and attacking right now, but it’s the West they have in their sights. We have just witnessed a howl of rage against civilisational values. It’s time those of us who love Western civilisation, and hate anti-Semitism, howled back."
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This column is by the great writer Douglas Murray:
The flag-burning, terrorist-supporting anti-Israel protesters are proving Netanyahu right
"On Wednesday, I was down in DC to hear Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu give his address to the joint session of Congress.
"I don’t think I have ever seen a case made so forcefully — not just by the speaker but by the people who had come to town to oppose him.
"As I waited to get into the heavily guarded Capitol, I chatted with two very friendly and professional police officers.
"As we were there, a number of groups of “anti-Israel protesters” started to march past.
"Many of them were so proud of their views that they covered their faces — as usual — with COVID masks.
“You c–k-sucking motherf–ckers. Get the f–k out of our city,” they screamed at the policemen.
“White supremacists,” they also screamed through megaphones at the boys in blue who were (incidentally) black.
"The protesters continued on their way, screaming abuse and profanities everywhere they could.
"Inside Congress, the Israeli prime minister made many points, but one was especially relevant to the American public
"Netanyahu addressed the complete moral inversion that we have seen from some people in America since the attacks of Oct. 7.
"Referring to those people who immediately turned on Israel when its citizens had been raped, butchered and burned alive, he said people have to be able to make the moral distinction “between those who target terrorists and those who target civilians, between the democratic state of Israel and the terrorist thugs of Hamas.”
"He mentioned the fact that the US director of national intelligence recently confirmed that Iran is funding anti-Israel protests in America.
"This explains why the surge in radical anti-Israel protests — from the streets of our cities to the nation’s campuses — has been so coordinated and organized.
“They want to disrupt America,” Netanyahu said.
“These protesters burned America flags even on the 4th of July. If you remember one thing from this speech, remember this: Our enemies are your enemies, our fight is your fight, and our victory will be your victory.”
"Prominent Democrats — including Nancy Pelosi, who had boycotted the prime minister’s speech — promptly took to social media to denounce Netanyahu for these words.
"How dare the Israeli prime minister suggest that these protesters are bigots, useful idiots of the Iranians and much more?
"As if on cue, the mobs outside on the streets of Washington immediately proved Netanyahu right.
"Outside Union Station, these terrorist supporters ripped down the American flags that were flying there.
"And then the mob burned them. Right on the streets of the nation’s capital.
"The flag that American servicemen throughout the generations, and to this day, have fought for, bled for and died for was burned and trampled upon by people who no longer even pretend that their problem is with Israel.
"The Liberty Bell replica outside Union Station was another object of their rage. “F–k Israel,” “F–k capitalists” and “Abolish the USA” the protesters graffitied all over it.
"Another inanimate object on which they concentrated their fury was the Christopher Columbus monument. By the end of the afternoon, the monument was completely covered in graffiti.
"Were the people who attacked it interested in peace?
"Did they simply want a cease-fire in Gaza?
"Apparently not.
"The biggest legend written in red graffiti on the monument was simple: “Hamas is coming.”
"These terrorist supporters even had the temerity to hoist up a Palestinian flag in Washington where the American flag had once flown.
"At the end of the day, when the business of democracy was done, a group of members of the House, fresh from voting, went to Union Station.
"There, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and many other veterans raised the American flag once again.
"Thank goodness they did.
"It was a moment of cleanliness after a day of pollution — literal and moral.
"There are still some people — like Kamala Harris (who also boycotted the speech) — who seem to think that they can pander to these extremists on their side.
"They imagine that if they just give in to them a bit, and let down their allies a lot, the situation will de-escalate and right will prevail.
"Events in Washington on Wednesday suggest otherwise.
"What concessions can you possibly make to people who act like this?
"At the Watergate Hotel, where the Israeli prime minister was staying, protesters gathered day and night.
“Jewish motherf–kers. We’re gonna kill all of you,” said one.
“We’re gonna burn you. Allahu Akbar. Hamas!” shouted another.
"Other “activists” decided to make their views even clearer.
"The evening before the speech, they let loose a swarm of maggots and cockroaches into the Watergate Hotel.
"That is some lovely, dehumanizing behavior right there.
"I wonder if the “Love is love” brigades have anything to say about it?
"What do Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi imagine they can do to placate these people?
"I am sure that they do deplore the people who walked around Washington on Wednesday openly flying the flag of the terrorist organization Hamas.
"I am sure they do disagree with the people who burned a Jew in effigy in the heart of DC.
"Or who carried signs saying “Allah is gathering all the Zionists for the ‘FINAL SOLUTION’ ” and depicting a mushroom cloud above the Israeli flag.
"Harris herself issued a statement yesterday criticizing some of the “despicable acts by unpatriotic protestors.” But these extremists couldn’t be clearer in what they want. And there is no compromising with them.
"If someone is condemned for saying “Kill all Jews,” does anyone think they will settle for just killing “some” Jews?
"If people say “Abolish the USA,” do Kamala and others think these extremists might settle for just abolishing “some” of the USA? Anyone who thinks that these protesters are merely anti-Israel or anti-Netanyahu really have another think coming.
"On Wednesday, one protester wrapped in a keffiyeh was filmed screaming, “We don’t like white people.”
"I’d have thought that’s an example of divisive racism right there.
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"But the people who would normally call out such things are silent.
"Netanyahu gave an important speech to the joint session on Wednesday.
"But it was the protesters outside who really proved his point."