ZGram - 5/22/2002 - "Sobran: The New Believers"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

ZGRAM - Where Truth is Destiny

May 22, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Another Sobran treat - few have his skills and insight!

Enjoy!

[START]

The New Believers

May 7, 2002

by Joe Sobran

      A new religion is sweeping Washington's elites.
Never has the nation's capital witnessed such pious zeal
-- at least, not since it was singing, in throaty chorus,
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

      Adherents of the new sect may be observed on their
prayer rugs, five times a day, in prostrate supplication
facing Tel Aviv. Or is it Jerusalem? No matter. Wherever
Israel says its capital is, they direct their orisons.

      The latest manifestation of this new faith appeared
last week, when both houses of Congress passed
resolutions in total, unquestioning support of Israel and
its recent measures against Palestinians. Setting aside
old scruples about separating church and state, the
votaries pledged to increase support for Israel. The
Senate was unanimous, the House nearly so. Both
resolutions freely scolded "Arabs"; neither used the word
"Jews."

      Apparently Jews have nothing to do with the new
religion, which is composed entirely of gentiles, some of
whom claim, oddly enough, to be Christians. The
resolutions spoke of "Israelis," but it seems that Arabs,
even peaceful Arabs who live in Israel, don't count as
"Israelis."

      Congressman Dick Armey, the Texas Republican and
House majority leader, told Chris Matthews of HARDBALL
that he favors driving all Arabs out of Israel and the
occupied territories. Armey is a well-known champion of
limited government and property rights, except when it
comes to chasing Palestinians from their homes; then his
new religion kicks in and his old principles more or less
evaporate.

      The chief tenet of this new faith is that Israel is
holy, and that anything Israel does to the Arabs is
legitimate self-defense and deserves American assistance.
For example, the United States must prevent Arabs from
getting a single nuclear weapon; but it's fine if Israel
has hundreds of nukes.

      Another tenet of the faith -- beyond the scope of
the resolutions -- is that all criticism of Israel
springs from prejudice and anti-Semitism. George Will, a
top theologian of the new faith, says that Europe as a
whole is anti-Semitic and always has been. Evidence? If
there were as many Jews alive today in proportion to the
number who lived during the Roman Empire, Will says,
there would be 200 million Jews; whereas in fact there
are only 13 million. The rest, he implies, were
exterminated -- 187 million victims of anti-Semitism!

      Of course an unbeliever might argue that it's normal
for large populations to disappear over time, through
attrition, migration, conversion, intermarriage, and
linguistic and cultural change. By Will's logic, there
should be several billion Zeus-worshippers today. Where
are they? Were they all exterminated too? They don't even
have a memorial, let alone their own country!

      A third article of the faith is that the 9/11
attacks had nothing whatever to do with U.S. support for
Israel. A fourth article is that the way for Americans to
stop terrorism is to make war on Israel's enemies. It
just happens to be the case that Israel's enemies are,
almost by definition, America's enemies. Such twisted
people hate good, free, democratic countries with an
irrational hatred that makes them impossible to appease
or reason with. Any concession of Palestinian rights,
according to the new faith, may lead to the annihilation
of the Israelis.

      Even if you disagree with the new believers, you
have to admire their raw courage. While they stop short
of suicide, believing it to be immoral, they court
martyrdom. Heedless of their own careers in journalism
and politics, they defy the Arab tycoons, the powerful
Arab lobby, the huge Arab voting bloc, the Arab-
controlled media, the Arab advertisers, and the peer
pressure of the countless Arab-Americans who try to
monopolize public debate in this country. They can't be
bought -- not with Arab money, anyway. They snap their
fingers in the faces of the Arabs who sign their
paychecks.

      At great risk, these brave souls try to see to it
that the case for beleaguered Israel at least gets a
hearing, despite the Arab blackout. In New York City,
some of them, throwing caution to the winds, even oppose
anti-Semitism! Others, equally hardy, are unafraid to
point out the pro-Palestinian bias that pervades the
media.

      Yes, the new religion is a fighting faith! It's not
for cowards, time-servers, hypocrites, or prostitutes.

(Source:  http://www.sobran.com/columns/020507.shtml

[END]

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