Saturday, January 24, 2009

Support the Palestinians, Support Israel

Below is an op-ed by Poul Højlund from yesterday’s Jyllands-Posten, translated from the Danish by Henrik Ræder Clausen:

Support the Palestinians, support Israel

The brutal truth is that Gaza has become a lawless Hell on Earth, and that Hamas is guilty of making it so. Exclusively. We’d better abandon the idea of “but on the other side…”, writes Poul Højlund.

Hamas constitutes a horrible pestilence on the Palestinian society in Gaza. Anyone still harboring doubts concerning this is encouraged to review some of the many videos found on the Internet and on YouTube. What can be found there defies description.

A collection of raving mad killers terrorizing their own population and killing indiscriminately, senseless in their lust for blood, out of their minds in insanity. Please go see for yourself, but be prepared to face some deeply unpleasant ethical questions.

How can we bring this gang of madmen under control? This is worse than the worst of the Taliban, Hell of Medieval dimensions, but lacking the angels. They roam Gaza City in brand new SUVs paid for by the European Union, shooting at will.

Music, dance and alcohol are, Taliban-style, banned. One video shows a traditional wedding with singing. It triggers a bloodbath. The Hamas bullies suddenly appear in large Jeeps, shoot people, beat them more or less to death (hard to ascertain due to video quality), destroying anything in their way. The Medieval legal system called Sharia has been adopted by parliament, and even Crucifixion has now been adopted as a punishment.


No Arab state wishes to deal with Hamas. The Palestinian Authority withdrew from Gaza after a bloodbath barely known in the West. There exists no ‘moderate’ Hamas, and no effective central command able to order a ceasefire. There is only a gang of insane killers far astray from humanistic thinking.

One can watch the leaders of Hamas encourage murder, terrorism, the elimination of Jewry, the conquest of Rome, of Western Europe, worldwide holy war, the sacrifice of their own women and children in the struggle against the Jews. The total indoctrination of children of kindergarten age, complete with using real guns for toys, gender segregated schools, and veiled women. It would seem that Taliban has conquered Gaza.
- - - - - - - - -
How shall we ever succeed in reining in Hamas?

Decent people — and who is not? — believe in ceasefires, peaceful solutions, and some are still trying to make Israel and Hamas equivalent partners in a dirty battle. Or one simply closes one’s eyes, repeating “There is always trouble in the Middle East.” Even some Danish politicians, like Margrethe Auken [Socialist Peoples’ Party], claim that “Israel is the criminal.” No greater lie can be found.

We hear, again and again, that Hamas was voted in by democratic means. Ole Sippel on DR [Danish national television], claims that election to be the most democratic ever held in any Arab country. But he conveniently forgets the ensuing coup d’état, where the members of Fatah were either killed or expelled from Gaza. Even if Hamas is democratically elected, so what? Not even the largest of majorities can transmute a terrorist organization into anything other than the terrorist organization it is. The Nazis of Germany also came to power after so-called democratic elections. Does that justify even the smallest of their crimes?

The brutal truth is that Gaza has become a lawless Hell on Earth, and that Hamas is guilty of making it so. Exclusively. We’d better abandon the idea of “but on the other side…”, of moral equivalence.

We are facing what constitutes a complete collapse of anything we relate to ‘society’ and ‘civilization’. And there is no reason to believe that Israel has any part in the calamity.

Neither should one believe the Norwegian doctor, who amidst all his surgery always has ample time to provide comments to any and all television stations, courtesy of Hamas ‘journalists’. He is a hardcore old-school communist, who actively applauded the terrorist attacks on World Trade Center in New York. His purpose is so obvious that some serious self-scrutiny should be shown by the media who uncritically pass on his propaganda.

The only news coming out of Gaza is that controlled and endorsed by Hamas. Every single time a newspaper brings pictures from Gaza, one can be certain that it is part of the Hamas propaganda effort. This does not imply, of course, that it is fun to be a Palestinian in Gaza in these weeks. Quite to the contrary. War is awful, war in a city indescribable.

The Israelis distribute flyers encouraging civilian Palestinians to get to safety. Hamas blocks them from doing so, and instead pushes them in front of themselves as human shields. Hamas desires and creates a maximum of civilian suffering and death, which subsequently is used by uncritical media worldwide as ‘evidence’ of the just battle of Hamas and the cruelty of Israel.

The Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza are locked into this inferno. The borders are closed, there is no way out. Suspicions of insurgency are punished by executions on the spot, or in milder cases with the infamous ‘Hamas shot’, vertically through the knee and the lower leg leaving through the foot. The victim will never walk again.

Israel has taken on the dirty job of breaking Hamas. Commentators from DR claim this is due to the upcoming Israeli elections. The Danish minister of foreign affairs claims that Israel is using excessive military force. The United Nations talks about ‘proportionality’. Norway supports Hamas. The European Union is making payments to Hamas under the cover of ‘humanitarian aid’. Those SUVs are not coming out of nowhere, for sure.

Israel needs every kind of support we can provide them. Margrethe Auken talks of the Hamas rockets as ‘paper rockets’, as opposed to the professional army of Israel. She supports Hamas, while she takes cover under the grand shield of Christianity and humanism. Her party chairman, the amazingly popular Villy Søvndal, systematically claims that Israel is performing ‘carpet bombings’ of Gaza. He also supports Hamas.

Why is the Left so systematic in its support of the vilest scum of the Earth? Probably not due to inability to recognize a terrorist when they face one. But then, why? Ignorance, perchance? But where does it come from? Why are the journalists and editors not relating what really goes on?

I can’t find any other plausible explanation than creeping anti-Semitism, lurking right below the humanitarian surface. This, of course, is a harsh accusation. Thus, let me repeat it: Behind the inexplicable goodwill towards Hamas hides a creeping anti-Semitism. There is no other rational explanation.

Where were all the soft leftist well-meaning humanitarians and the enraged journalists when the Chechens were killed by the thousands by the Russians? Where are they when the population of Darfur is murdered by Arab militia? Where are they with regards to the rampant killings in Congo?

Nowhere, for in these cases it is not Israelis on the other side. To put it briefly. As long at it is not the Israelis (read: “Jews”), these nice humanitarians are not reacting. They are mum, they see nothing, they plainly do not care. But as soon as Israel (read: “the Jews”) are on the other side, they react.

This is probably not something they will realize themselves. We have, after all, all been inoculated against anti-Semitism. But then I suggest them to ask deep within: Why is this police action, by military means, of such importance when you know about the scum on the other side?

Israel, on the other hand, is proceeding with all possible precautions. Perhaps 800 were killed after 14 days of action in one of the most densely populated areas on Earth, the vast majority of those killed being Hamas militants. Some of the ‘civilians’ are Fatah staff, or simply critics, killed by Hamas, others still have been used by Hamas as human shields to hide behind.

The democratic state of Israel lost 1176 citizens, with an additional 9,000 wounded, due to Hamas terrorism in the years 2000 through 2008. None of these were terrorists. Nor were they terrorist sympathizers. Not a single one of them. Their ‘crime’ consisted of riding a bus, queuing up at the bakery, dancing at a discothèque or simply being around in their own country.

What did the gentle humanitarians say back then? Nothing. Why did they close their eyes towards the murderous inhumane behavior of Hamas towards both Israel and their own population, and why is their conscience constructed in such a peculiar way as to turn Israel into the crook here?

Why don’t we help the Palestinians by helping those taking action to rid them of the criminal regime they are subjected to? Why do we not support the only state on Earth willing to do the hard work here? Why do we even imagine there can be a genuine ceasefire as long as Hamas remains in power?

But no. We see support demonstrations for Hamas, with leftwing party Enhedslisten tailing along. We see violent ‘peace demonstrations’ solely against Israel. Our foreign affairs committee is called in (by the possibly well-meaning Jeppe Kofoed) solely to protest against Israel. We face a national and international press almost in unison failing to report on the atrocities of Hamas.

It is about time that Denmark and the Danes came to their senses regarding what goes on in the world. To help the Palestinians, we should support Israel.

17 comments:

Pierre said...

Excellent commentary.

Euro leftists care more about destroying Western status quo than anything positive or logical. They jump in bed with Hamas because when Hamas fights Israel it also fights the West.

When will the European population vote the lefties out of office? Will there be enough time to save Europe from the inevitable Euro/Islamic civil war?

Afonso Henriques said...

"Why is the Left so systematic in its support of the vilest scum of the Earth? Probably not due to inability to recognize a terrorist when they face one. But then, why? Ignorance, perchance? But where does it come from? Why are the journalists and editors not relating what really goes on?
I can’t find any other plausible explanation than creeping anti-Semitism..."

I am very skeptical about Anti-Semitism.

However I was instructed (through reading Evola) that we will face some forces meant to destroy us and it does not really matter's their reasons. He called them, metaphysically speaking "The Occult Forces".

And that it is. The Left has the goral to destroy European Civilisation in order to create their one perfect world on Earth.
They see Israel as somewhat Western, and Israel, being the last bastion of white colonialism opressing brown people puts itself in a good position to be merciously attacked by those forces who work to destroy European Civilisation.

Just imagine the Jews were white... and the anti Semitism will suddently disapear despite the same reactions...

Good article in my opinion though.

Unknown said...

Can I just say that one of the things I really dislike about discussions of Islam is that savage Muslim warfare is always referred to as "Medieval"? Medieval Christians are maligned in this way.

If you take away all the technology, preening non-discrimination and democracy-worship from the 21st century Western world what is it that makes Europeans (and European-Americans) of today so incredibly superior to their Medieval ancestors?

Have we produced a Boethius? Are we likely to?

filthykafir said...

This is the best commentary on HAMAS I've ever read. Thank you Baron for presenting it.

With respect to the "anti-semetism" of the left, I suggest it is real, but more part of the general furniture of their facist-style ideology than any special blood lust of leftists. It just came with the House of Marxism when they bought it.

That is not to suggest it's destructiveness is any less for its relative inadvertance.

Jungle Jim said...

Why do the left side with Hamas against Israel? The left simply hate freedom. They support the Castros in Cuba. They supported the Soviet Union, Maoist China, and the genocidal regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia.

In the USA and Europe, the left are mindless zombies repeating the bromides of the global warming zealots, because it gives them an excuse to place tighter controls on industry. The left have never seen a tax they didn't like.

Henrik R Clausen said...

Islam o' phobe, good point about 'Medieval'. And quite telling that this is usually the worst condemnation most westeners can come up with against fundamentalist Islam.

We hardly have a word in our vocabulary to describe the brutal inhumanity of these people.

Henrik R Clausen said...

Oh. PA complains about Israel - for not finishing the job. They're probably tired of having their people shot through the knees.

Hypocrites. They should have supported Israel vocally during Cast Lead, not merely wait and then complain about it being terminated early...

X said...

From my readings of Lewis I'm certainly starting to appreciate a great deal of mediæval* thought on a lot of things. They had an instinctive understanding of the influences that hang over the world, an understanding that we seem to have lost - a loss that is part of what they, and Lewis, would have called living under the influence of Saturn rather than Jupiter. Not to say that the physical planets cause this becuase that's just daft. It's the metaphysical properties associated with them, used to describe "influences" over the world and individuals. Saturn, as infortuna major, has a particular role to play in life but he should be under the kingship of Jupiter, fortuna major. If a mediaeval christian were to look at the world today he'd say that the roles have been reversed and we have our terribly nihilistic world as a result. I'll try and summarise it at some point but I need to read a few more of his essays.

If anything, the brutality of the muslims is itself saturnine. It's like a cold dark shadow spreading over the world, leaden and heavy and suffocating, blocking out the light of the sun and sucking all the joy from life. For the mediaeval mindset it would be supremely telling that they're having snow in the Arabian peninsula again this year. They're sitting at the centre of their shadowy curse and they've just spread it a great deal further, so of course it would get colder there as they're blocking out the influence of the sun and jupiter with their saturnine cloak.

(*Linux has a "compose" key that lets you make ligatures and other odd linguistic marks very simply. I couldn't resist showing off. :D)

Czechmade said...

I am with Afonso - sceptical about the antisemitic element as primary driving force.

The left looses its raison d´etre if there are no backward suffering oppressed masses around to be given their paternalistic treatment. That is what makes them compatible with Hamas.

They believe in Universal Suffering to be transsubstantiated miraculously into eternal overall social happiness. They are the semi-gods chosen to channel the universal suffering of the passive ignorant "victims" - underhumans into the correct political mould. The result should be something like those narcistic leftists - a grateful class of slightly inferior neo-semi-gods.

Jewish masses do not exist, they cannot produce this expected effect.

The leftist cause is of such a grandeur that they do not have to perform anything and are excused from some inferior activities or work except leading, writing, schooling, ruling and guiding.

Journalistic fraud Robert Fisk put it perfectly in a few words: "I am with the victims". An easy job for a lazy semi-god.

I also avoid the term Medieval in loose connotations - it is like growing our own jahiliya concept.

It is esp. blind of Byzantine culture which never abandoned its Hellenistic roots. Their fault was rather focusing too much on their Greek pride - loosing the grip of the outside world.

It is worth more reading.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

"Why is the Left so systematic in its support of the vilest scum of the Earth?"

Damn good question. As a former South African - now living in Israel - I ask myself the same question post the Cast Lead op in Gaza.

I have encountered anti-sem among a number of my former SA friends - many of whom I kept in touch with via facebook. The bizarre conspiracies and out-and-out hate have surprised me.

I was so taken aback because these are the same people that stood side-by-side with me on traditional Left-wing issues:equal rights for all - men women, homosexuals, etc. regardless or race or religion, education for all, etc.

And yet, today my liberal ex-friends choose to support regimes that have two things in common - their complete disregard for human rights and their desire to eliminate the State of Israel. I just don't get it.

I moved to Israel because it was the polar opposite of the apartheid regime. I can tell the difference! Why can't they?

Or am I just in denial?

Zenster said...

How can we bring this gang of madmen under control?

The same way you deal with any other gang of madmen. Either you physically restrain and then isolate them from all contact with those whom they seek to inflict themselves upon or simply administer high velocity swift onset lead poisoning.

Only monster raving loons like diplomats and liberals actually seek to negotiate with those whose goals are non-negotiable.

No Arab state wishes to deal with Hamas.

Horse hockey! Iran is perfectly willing to "deal" with Hamas. All the more reason why a few cruise missiles need to be launched into a well-attended session of the Iranian Majlis.

How shall we ever succeed in reining in Hamas?

By administering a degree of violence which they are incapable of matching. Islam must be paid in its own filthy coin. Those who refuse to are its next victims.

Decent people — and who is not? — believe in ceasefires, peaceful solutions ...

"[A]nd who is not?" From all accounts, quite a large number of Muslims. Any and all who promote shari'a law rank among the most vile scum on earth for whom the word "decent" has no meaning.

It is the very worst sort of fool's errand to hope that these gangsters might respect "ceasefires" and "peaceful solutions". They want nothing of the sort and scoff at those spineless idiots who do.

Not even the largest of majorities can transmute a terrorist organization into anything other than the terrorist organization it is.

You can paint a skunk any color you want and it will still be a skunk.

We’d better abandon the idea of “but on the other side…”, of moral equivalence.

This applies to Islam as a whole and represents some of the finest survival advice imaginable. Moral equivalence does not apply to the utterly intolerable.

... Villy Søvndal, systematically claims that Israel is performing ‘carpet bombings’ of Gaza.

Were that true, this entire problem, like Gaza, would no longer exist.

Why is the Left so systematic in its support of the vilest scum of the Earth?

It is because sane and rational people have yet to learn that countenancing, much less supporting, such barbarity is an actionable offense that demands harsh punishment.

Behind the inexplicable goodwill towards Hamas hides a creeping anti-Semitism. There is no other rational explanation.

And thus do the hardest learned lessons of World War II slide down the memory hole.

Why is this police action, by military means, of such importance when you know about the scum on the other side?

It is because, like all good little fascists and communists, liberals will always believe that the ends justify the means.

Why did they close their eyes towards the murderous inhumane behavior of Hamas towards both Israel and their own population, and why is their conscience constructed in such a peculiar way as to turn Israel into the crook here?

To do otherwise would require a degree of introspection and autoscopic thought that would bring their entire house of philisophical cards crashing down in ruination.

Why do we even imagine there can be a genuine ceasefire as long as Hamas remains in power?

Again, to do otherwise would require admitting that the fight against Islam is an all-or-nothing proposition. This is a stance that much of the modern world simply cannot bring itself to take. As a consequence, Islam will continue its reign of terror until it is crushed like the ideological cockroach that it is.

Decatur said...

The Left sides with Hamas against Israel because like Islam, it hates the nation state. In the Islamist’s mind there are no nations, these are an abomination to Allah, there is only the Umma. Islam seeks world domination as does the International Socialist movement. Currently, both Islam and Int'l Socialism are seeking to remove national boundaries and install totalitarian government worldwide, and both groups are well on their way to achieving this in much of Europe. Odd bedfellows to be sure, when one considers the Socialists attitude towards Deist religion, gender equality, sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, capital punishment, and so forth, I guess they anticipate sorting the Allah issue and its accompanying restrictions later. Right now, ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ is the way forward.
One cannot reason with madmen and Islamists are truly beyond reason. Re-education of the young and massive use of force against hostile adults is the only way; they will never voluntarily reject their mission.

laine said...

This picture of Hamas as isolated madmen does not ring true with the fact that 250 000 Palestinians, a fifth of Gaza's population turned out recently to celebrate the 26th anniversary of Hamas' founding. Not exactly Mr. Unpopularity, this bloodthirsty organization, is it?

Even Palestinians who have been exposed to the most civilized side of Israelis have not been won over e.g. the Palestinian girl who returned with a bomb belt to an Israeli hospital where doctors had patched up her injuries sustained in Palestine that had nothing to do with Jews.

Palestinians give every evidence of preferring to sit on rubble and eat dirt than build a peaceful nation side by side with Israel.

The thought that they would ever support Israel against Hamas is projection by Westerners who imagine civilization is irresistible. Instead, it is frightening and too much responsibility for primitive cave dwellers who want to kill that which they cannot understand, following the recipe book for violence that is the Koran.

They can follow only the simplest instructions.

Henrik R Clausen said...

This picture of Hamas as isolated madmen does not ring true with the fact that 250 000 Palestinians, a fifth of Gaza's population turned out recently to celebrate the 26th anniversary of Hamas' founding.

At gunpoint, metaphorically. They have no choice.

What we need to do is simple, actually:

Stop supporting these people!

If the West would stop the systematic support to this regime, it would collapse.

It would do so in a sea of suffering - but nothing compared to the suffering that Hamas and other fanatics intend to inflict on Israel and the rest of the world.

Afonso Henriques said...

I would very much like to highlight Decatur's comment. Especially its first half. It only reinforces the notion that Anti-Semitism in particular has few to nothing to due with this.

I'd then go and suggest you to read Olavo de Carvalho (go google it), a Brazilian ex-Marxist (really, he's ex) who is now radicated in America and writes wonderfull "Conservative" pieces in a simple but clear English (and also Portuguese and Spanish).
What this man has in especial is that he *was* a former Marxist and he *is* intelectually brilliant. Henceforth, this man, *KNOWS* how "The Revolution" (his words) works deeply and his words make perfect sense.

Really, I've never been leftist. I have been naive and believed some songs the left sings but that is it. I guess many people here are like me and never have been a true, sadistic, cold leftist.

WE CANNOT THINK IN THEIR TERMS BECAUSE OF THAT. Olavo de Carvalho opens us a window to the Marxist elite way of thinking and the mechanichal structure of the Marxist/Gramscian/Communist/Leftist Revolution "en course".

Go GOOGLE it! "Olavo de Carvalho".

Decatur said...

Henrik R Clausen said: "We need to...stop supporting these people!"
I'm in total agreement with you Sir, but "we" and those in the West who support Hamas are at polar extremes. It is the Left who support Hamas and other oppressive regimes worldwide, and to my mind it is because said regimes hate the United States and its successful Capitalist and democratic society. For this reason too they hate Israel, an ally of the US. The Left, like Islam wants world domination, an unattainable aim as long as the United States exists in its current form, powerful, influential and wealthy. Hence the Left's alliance with the US hating Hamas and with Islamists generally.
With the election of the Socialist Obama and the Democrat's intention to redistribute wealth and destroy the US economy, eliminate conservative and Christian culture, there will be changes in the US that may well appease the world's totalitarians. Obama's paternal family is Islamic which may contribute to a familiarity on his part with a belief system that 'we' find hostile and alien. This may also play a role in the future position of the US towards Islam and Israel.
Zenster is right; there is no way to reach the criminally insane. Reeducate the children, remove/ permanently incarcerate the madmen.
Meanwhile Obama closes Gitmo. Words are not enough!