One of the great disappointments of the current United States administration is that in the sixteen months since Sept. 11 the initial sympathy for the United States and solidarity expressed for it by its European allies has dissipated. Delay does have its price, and the US slowness in mobilizing its forces for any direct assault on Saddam Hussein?s regime of evil has given time to anti?American forces to mobilize. There is thus not only resistance from parts of a large share of the European population to any possible American action, but opposition from once staunch American allies, such as the new Germany. Even more alarming is the knowledge that numbers of people not only throughout the Islamic world, but in Europe, and even to a certain, if far lesser, degree in the United States, openly sympathize with Osama bin Laden and the terrorist forces of darkness, which would overthrow Western civilization entirely.
The hatred of America is, of course, built in great part on envy and resentment. It is built on the sense of American hegemony, the single superpower that is able to act throughout the world is resented for its capacity to interfere, direct and control. It is, in a time of economic downsizing, hated for its prosperity. Culturally, there are traditional worlds, especially within the Islamic world, which hate America for its freedom, openness and contradiction to traditional familial and sexual norms. The US represents an alternative evil culture in the eyes of those who would remain closed in their own worlds.
The hatred of Israel is, in one sense, the hatred of what is taken to be a kind of extension of the United States? dominating power. But the hatred of Israel centers now on the conflict with the Arabs, and most importantly the Palestinians. The Israelis are seen as ?America?s pet?, the ?little Satan? that does the ?Big Satan?s? work. Israelis are seen as the oppressors and occupiers of Palestinian land, the harassers and killers of Palestinian civilians, the strong military power that oppresses a weak civilian power. Tied in with this are themes of traditional anti?Semitism, which have been adopted by the Islamic world. The Jews are taken to be mysteriously powerful controllers of much of the world?s media . The hatred of Israel is, throughout the Arab world, a state?supported activity, whose ultimate aim is to so de-legitimize Israel that expediting its destruction will take on a moral urgency .
Here it should be noted that there are certain groups, especially the Saudis, Egyptians and other groups who eat at America?s table, whose whole purpose is to connect the two hatreds, by claiming that Israel is responsible for America?s being hated throughout the world. This group works to destroy Israel by detaching it from US support. Its success has been to this point very limited , for most Americans see Israel as a democracy, a natural ally, which shares fundamental values with the United States. Most Americans understand that their enemies and the enemies of Israel are, in most cases, the same people, the same totalitarian terrorists and evildoers. But the scapegoating of Israel is a major danger, of which all real friends of Israel must be continually aware.
Israel?s smallness and diplomatic isolation make it a more convenient target than America, precisely because of its greater vulnerability .On the other hand, the spread and stretch of America, its very greatness, means that it has connections and extensions in places where Israel does not reach .The US is, for instance, hated in the Far East in a way Israel is not , simply because the US presence there is conspicuous and significant.
What is most important to remember, however, is that those who hate the U.S. and those who hate Israel are by and large the same people. And they share what might be called the ?value system of Evil.? They are against the open society, freedom, democracy, a society based on respect for the rights of the individual. They are the societies and groups that have small tolerance for the ?other?, for views outside their own. And they are an increasingly visible part of European societies, which they threaten to destroy from within.
In this sense, the haters of the United States and Israel are the forces that would bring mankind into a new Dark Age; they are the force of Evil that must be soundly defeated if mankind is to move toward greater freedom, prosperity and well- being.
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Shalom Freedman is a freelance writer in Jerusalem whose work has appeared in a wide variety of Jewish publications.
The hatred of America is, of course, built in great part on envy and resentment. It is built on the sense of American hegemony, the single superpower that is able to act throughout the world is resented for its capacity to interfere, direct and control. It is, in a time of economic downsizing, hated for its prosperity. Culturally, there are traditional worlds, especially within the Islamic world, which hate America for its freedom, openness and contradiction to traditional familial and sexual norms. The US represents an alternative evil culture in the eyes of those who would remain closed in their own worlds.
The hatred of Israel is, in one sense, the hatred of what is taken to be a kind of extension of the United States? dominating power. But the hatred of Israel centers now on the conflict with the Arabs, and most importantly the Palestinians. The Israelis are seen as ?America?s pet?, the ?little Satan? that does the ?Big Satan?s? work. Israelis are seen as the oppressors and occupiers of Palestinian land, the harassers and killers of Palestinian civilians, the strong military power that oppresses a weak civilian power. Tied in with this are themes of traditional anti?Semitism, which have been adopted by the Islamic world. The Jews are taken to be mysteriously powerful controllers of much of the world?s media . The hatred of Israel is, throughout the Arab world, a state?supported activity, whose ultimate aim is to so de-legitimize Israel that expediting its destruction will take on a moral urgency .
Here it should be noted that there are certain groups, especially the Saudis, Egyptians and other groups who eat at America?s table, whose whole purpose is to connect the two hatreds, by claiming that Israel is responsible for America?s being hated throughout the world. This group works to destroy Israel by detaching it from US support. Its success has been to this point very limited , for most Americans see Israel as a democracy, a natural ally, which shares fundamental values with the United States. Most Americans understand that their enemies and the enemies of Israel are, in most cases, the same people, the same totalitarian terrorists and evildoers. But the scapegoating of Israel is a major danger, of which all real friends of Israel must be continually aware.
Israel?s smallness and diplomatic isolation make it a more convenient target than America, precisely because of its greater vulnerability .On the other hand, the spread and stretch of America, its very greatness, means that it has connections and extensions in places where Israel does not reach .The US is, for instance, hated in the Far East in a way Israel is not , simply because the US presence there is conspicuous and significant.
What is most important to remember, however, is that those who hate the U.S. and those who hate Israel are by and large the same people. And they share what might be called the ?value system of Evil.? They are against the open society, freedom, democracy, a society based on respect for the rights of the individual. They are the societies and groups that have small tolerance for the ?other?, for views outside their own. And they are an increasingly visible part of European societies, which they threaten to destroy from within.
In this sense, the haters of the United States and Israel are the forces that would bring mankind into a new Dark Age; they are the force of Evil that must be soundly defeated if mankind is to move toward greater freedom, prosperity and well- being.
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Shalom Freedman is a freelance writer in Jerusalem whose work has appeared in a wide variety of Jewish publications.