Right-wing extremists equally dangerous

For the first time, the US State Department has designated settler assaults on Palestinians as terrorist attacks, but such labels have previously been cavalierly ignored by the right-wing powers-that-be. What is most alarming is an apparently growing trend: hardline Israeli teenagers are more militantly anti-Arab than their parents, and more radically prone to rejecting democratic values.

Anti-Islam ads on New York City buses refer to Arabs as “savages” in an affront to human dignity which goes far beyond free speech: “In any war between the civilised man and the savage, support the civilised man. Support Israel, defeat jihad.” The Pamela Gellers, Ayn Rands, Sheldon Adelsons and Joe Liebermans of the “Land of the Free” expose themselves for what they are – venom-spewing, holier-than-thou, demoralising right-wing extremists. Opponents to their virulent, fear-stoking propaganda have inverted their message to read: “In any war between the coloniser and the colonised, support the oppressed. Support the Palestinian right to return.”

In fact, many pro-Israel organisations from J-Street to the Reform Movement in Judaism favour ending the bullyrag occupation and oppression with the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, living together in more neighbourly, peaceful co-existence. The overwhelmingly decent, intelligent Israeli citizens, more than any other people on this Earth, should recognise the Palestinians’ need to have their own sovereign homeland. How about an ad campaign that rejects harassment, humiliation and hatred, and instead fosters tolerant empathy and compassionate understanding among all people?

Charles Frederickson    

Bangkok