Max Blumenthal on Jewish Xenophobia and Nationalism over Gaza

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Journalist Max Blumenthal took his camera crew to a NYC rally in support of the State of Israel's attack on the people of The Gaza.  What he heard was shocking:

From Alternet:

The video is also posted to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FABqq_jjRRo

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On January 11, an estimated 10,000 people rallied in front of the Israeli consulate in midtown New York in support of Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip. The rally, which was organized by UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York in cooperation with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, featured speeches by New York’s most senior lawmakers. While the crowd was riled to righteous anger by speeches about Hamas evildoers, the event was a festive affair that began and ended with singing and joyous dancing.

But hatred was plentiful at the rally Paterson addressed. Right in front of the stage, a man held a banner reading, “Islam Is A Death Cult.” Rally attendees described the people of Gaza to me as a “cancer,” called for Israel to “wipe them all out,” insisting, “They are forcing us to kill their children in order to defend our own children.” A young woman told me, “Those who die are suffering God’s wrath.” “They are not distinguishing between civilians and military, so why should we?” said a member of the group of messianic Orthodox Jewish Chabad-Lubavitch group that flocked to the rally.

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While it is fair to reference examples in Arab media such as Iranian television dramas centred on fictional Jewish plots to take over the world, such media is clearly anti-Jewish rather than anti-Zionist.  Anger over issues like Occupied Palestine have become very nasty in the past 20 years and in the Arab world it is reflected in their popular and news media.  Of course there is no justification for such biases, but it is necessary to point out the origin of such attitudes.  The numberous violations of the human and territorial rights of Arab Palestinians having gone unchecked since 1948 have psychologically placed Palestinians in a no-win situtation.  And populations that are faced with such odds generally do engage in demonisation of the oppressor.  We see this with Homophobia and racism as well.  After a while, your oppresor grows a tail.  

The racism and extreme nationalism displayed in Mr. Blumenthal's story differs little from the extremist anti-Jewish racism prevalent in Arab media.  According to these people, all Arabs deserve to be wiped out.  Ann Coulter has said similar things and no one other than the progressive punditry said anything about it:

Wikipedia:Comments on Islam, Arabs and terrorism

"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren't punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That's war. And this is war."

He goes further to point out that belligerent attitudes towards Arab Palestinians was as unfounded as similar bias against Jews yet no one app:

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No one I spoke to could seem to find any circumstance in which they would begin to question Israel’s war. No number of civilian deaths, no displays of extreme suffering -- nothing could deter their enthusiasm for attacking one of the most vulnerable populations in the world with the world’s most advanced weaponry. There are no limits, no matter what Israel does, no matter how it does it.

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