The Middle East is the Testing Ground for Freedom or Fascism
The Benjamin Netanyahu regime and Donald Trump are enemies of freedom. Support for either of them in the United States is a harbinger of fascism at home.
Israel is not the only inhumane and anti-democratic regime around the world. It stands out because its genocidal behavior is directly enabled by the United States. If, as it claims, the U.S. stands for freedom, it will use its only leverage: Stop providing arms to Israel immediately.
If voters stand for freedom, they will defeat Trump and his congressional supporters resoundingly.
The utter inhumanity and brutality of U.S. military support for Israel's murder of tens of thousands of Gazans and destruction of its infrastructure violate the morals of the majority of Americans, including its Jewish population. Yet, unwavering support for arms provision continues. The consideration of campaign contributions apparently trumps the will of citizens. Our respect for freedom must not be selective.
Rejection of the murder of innocent civilians is enough (Dayenu*) to warrant a dramatic shift in U.S. policy. But there is more. In the United States, we face the dire threat of fascism. Its hallmarks include the cult of personality surrounding Donald Trump as a savior, the demonization of our LGTBQ+ and immigrant neighbors, the celebration of violence to return to a glorified past, the embrace of Christian nationalist domination, the rejection of democratic and legal norms and procedures, and stated willingness to use any means to suppress dissent.
Continued U.S. armaments translate to acceptance of Israel’s messianic and political assertion of Jewish hegemony at the expense of the freedom of Palestinians. This acquiescence abets fascism and opposes freedom, enabling the appeal of nothing-left-to-lose terrorism or Iran’s autocratic theocracy to oppressed people.
Netanyahu is a fascist. Palestinians are murdered and deprived of their rights with impunity. The presumed right to resurrect return to an ancient Jewish homeland and defense against all declared external enemies falsely justifies inhumanity and illegal displacement of others. Inevitably, fascism degrades perpetrators and victims, promoting deadly circumscribed empathy.
We do not have to speculate about where the failure to stop the empowerment of fascists and unrestrained authoritarians leads. History is rife with terrible examples.
In 1936, freedom-loving people from around the world, especially leftists, mobilized to thwart Franco’s overthrow of the Republican government in Spain. An estimated 40,000 men and women from 53 nations left home to defend the Republic. These volunteers correctly saw the ensuing Spanish Civil War as the testing ground for the victory of fascism in Germany and Italy. Germany, Italy, and Portugal supported Franco. To its enduring shame, the United States remained neutral, even trying to block the anti-fascist effort. Franco prevailed, as did Hitler and Mussolini. The Salazar and Franco dictatorships lasted another three decades after the Allied defeat of fascism in the rest of Europe. While the Soviet Union helped defeat the Axis powers in World War II, it did not defend democratic freedoms. Dictatorship and anti-democratic aggression have reemerged in Russia and Hungary with the ascent of the Trump-admired dictators Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbán. Anti-freedom, fascism admirers were with us in the past and are still with us today among Trump’s coterie, including his would-be vice president Vance. The threat was defeated before and must be defeated again.
Israel’s Gazan genocide and “river-to-the-sea” claim of Israeli sovereignty across all of historic Palestine is today’s testing for whether freedom or fascism will prevail. The stakes are as high now as they were in 1936. Netanyahu’s Congressional address is the go-ahead green light to fascism in violation of all international law and norms.
Freedom-living Americans must demand a red-light full stop to fascism abroad and simultaneously on our shores with the unambiguous defeat of our new fascist party, the Republicans.
* Dayenu means to celebrate each step toward freedom as if it were enough, then to start out on the next step. (Boston Workers Circle Passover Haggadah)
Arthur taught and led science professional learning and curriculum and assessment development projects for 50 yrs. He writes about education and social justice. He loves spending time with friends and family, hiking, and gardening.
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