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17 September 2010 By Jeff Gates Hate is a harsh word. As the counterpoint to
love, hate reigns supreme among the emotions that
the faith traditions seek to expunge from the human
heart. Hate we’re told is the face of evil seen in plumes
of smoke and ash on 911. Yet hate also serves a
purpose for those adept at catalyzing conflicts. In the aftermath of that horrific event, hate we’re
assured is a desired emotional state. Yet induced hate
led us into two unwinnable wars. Hate may yet take us
into Iran or Pakistan. That hate is also bankrupting us both financially
and psychologically. This 4-part series identifies those who induce us
to hate—and describes how. As the “how” of hate mongering becomes transparent,
its common source will become apparent. With
transparency comes accountability. That’s when you can
watch for hate to emerge yet again to shield those who
hide behind the toxic charge of “anti-Semitism.” With the shared knowledge of how hate is evoked and
sustained, those induced to hate can say with
confidence “Never Again” to those complicit in
inducing this evil. Timing is Everything Hate can be personal or geopolitical. Those who
induced us to war in the Middle East made it personal.
The murderous provocation of 911 was emotionally
wrenching and highly personal. Our gut reaction
ensured that support for the war would become
widespread. In the aftermath of that mass murder on U.S. soil,
Martin Peretz, editor of The New Republic,
summed up the situation: “We are all Israelis now.” So now we can all be persuaded to hate Muslims—even
if we’ve never met one. The shared mental environment was flooded with what
then seemed like plausible justifications for the
invasion of Iraq: Iraqi WMD; Iraqi ties to Al Qaeda;
Iraqi meetings with Al Qaeda in Prague; Iraqi mobile
biological weapons laboratories; Iraqi purchases of
yellowcake uranium from Niger. We now know that all those rationales were fixed
around a preset agenda. Yet a critical mass of false
beliefs sufficed to take us to war. For those skilled
at inducing hate, consensus beliefs need not be true,
they need only be credible—and only for a limited
time. With a corrupt consensus ruling the day, anyone
offering proof that Iraq was not a threat was
dismissed as unpatriotic or soft on terrorism. This 911-prompted hate fest started with Iraq, a
former ally, as a U.S.-led invasion kicked off The
Clash of Civilizations. The bravado of “bring ‘em
on” quickly became “shock and awe” as a vicious war
was pursued with a relaxed “Aw Shucks” attitude
supported with photo ops of a commander-in-chief
nonchalantly clearing brush at his home in Crawford,
Texas. Brand America became “We’re still the world’s
biggest and baddest in the war-waging business. Just
you watch.” And watch us go broke as America led an Atlantic
coalition that alienated the bulk of the Muslim world. An Invalid War Plus there’s another strategic problem: our reason
for invading Iraq was “invalid.” That’s the assessment
of Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He should know.
After the invasion, the storyline quickly shifted to
Saddam the Evil Doer as our rationale. How can the rationale really be invalid? If we;re
all Israelis now, surely that entitles us to invade
lands belonging to Muslims, kill them, turn them into
refugees and, with impunity, create widespread outrage
among the broader Muslim population. Let’s fast-forward to nine years after a
high-profile slaughter in Manhattan and survey our
success in the stark light of hindsight. Are we more
secure? Are we more prosperous? Are Americans facing a
brighter future? Israel has occupied Palestinian land for more than
six decades. The September 13th issue of
Time magazine captured the Israeli sentiment:
“Why Israel Doesn’t Care About Peace.” Israelis are too busy prospering to care. Outraged
Muslims are a nuisance but they’re now largely
marginalized and manageable. Is that what happened to
us? Have Americans become Israelis? Not long ago an internal poll of friendly foreign
intelligence agencies ranked our best and worst
allies—those who behave as friends to the U.S. versus
foes. Israel ranked dead last as a reliable ally.
Though their brazen theft of technical and industrial
secrets is well known among those in the know, the
broader U.S. public remains deceived or in denial. Most Americans still see Israel as an ally. The
facts confirm that’s a dangerous delusion. Meanwhile Mossad agents are recruiting
Arab-Americans to spy on their neighbors in the U.S.
Though Tel Aviv is called on the carpet three times as
often as other nations, Israel still ranks third in
the aggressiveness of its U.S. operations, behind only
China and Russia. That ranking may well be out of date with Israel
now first in U.S. operations. Other Telling Signs Zionist Jews deployed terror and intimidation to
occupy Muslim lands long before Harry Truman was
induced in 1948 to recognize an extremist enclave as a
legitimate nation state. Disputes over land remain at
the heart of the expansionist agenda for Greater
Israel. On September 7, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas
asked that the U.S. settle a dispute over the Israeli
expansion of settlements that threaten to derail
Mideast peace talks. Those talks have dragged on since
1967. Settling those disputes would disrupt the
Israeli agenda. In a telling rebuke, on September 12, Tel Aviv
rejected a proposed visit to Israel by the foreign
ministers of France, Spain, Britain, Germany and
Italy. Why? These senior diplomats sought to remedy
that dispute in order to achieve a long-evasive peace. Therein lies Israel’s strategic strength. Absent
this sustained provocation, hatred might subside and
peace may become a possibility. That’s a danger Tel
Aviv works hard to avoid. September 12th saw the release of a new
report indicating that 2,066 new homes would be
constructed in the West Bank as soon as the temporary
freeze expires September 26th. Meanwhile back in the U.S., Americans remain
unaware of how many contracts for Homeland Security
were awarded to Israeli firms or to firms owned by
pro-Israelis. Nor do Americans know how many Homeland
Security outlays have been directed to Jewish
community centers. That’s all the more reason for Zionists—both Jewish
and Christian—to create an uproar about an Islamic
Community Center planned for construction two blocks
from the 911 site. And all the more reason for a Christian-Zionist
preacher to announce that the ninth anniversary of 911
will be “International Burn a Koran Day” at his
50-member church. The Koran gambit gained global attention, stoked by
a media dominated by Jewish Zionists. High profile
political personalities ensured that this
hate-mongering stunt was kept in the forefront of
international news coverage in the lead-up to the
anniversary of modern history’s best-known
hate-mongering provocation. |