(posted on http://nehama.newsvine.com/ Aug 13, 2009)
I was at the pro-peace demonstration in 1995 when Rabin was murdered. I remember well the toxic environment in which we were living.
Like with the healthcare reform "debate" Leftists, such as myself, were skeptical yet onboard with beginning a process that was to bring an end to the occupation, and peace to Israelis and Palestinians.
The Right wing was toxic. Demonstrations were violent, images of Rabin with Nazi or Arab nationalist symbols at every rally. They openly called for his and Shimon Peres' death. They would show up at pro-peace rallies, armed and belligerent, shouting and making a racket to drown the voices of the speakers. At synagogues throughout Israel, the occupied territories, and around the world, Rabbis would explain to their congregations that the people leading peace negotiations are bringing the destruction of Israel, and therefore should be seen as, and treated as, traitors.
It was during this time that Baruch Goldstein entered a Mosque in Hebron and massacred 29 praying Muslims, changing the nature of the conflict forever (the first Palestinian suicide bombing occurred exactly 40 days after this event, the end of the Muslim mourning period).
As the inflamed rhetoric became shriller, and displays of hate increased, so did the death threats against Rabin, Peres, and members of their cabinet.
After the assassination, all those voices on the Right feigned shock and disgust from the actions of the assassins, and vehemently protested any hint connecting their rhetoric with the actions of the assassins.
But they got what the wanted, not only was their archenemy eliminated, the peace process itself was assassinated.
Fast-forward 14 years, cross the Atlantic, I am observing the wild rhetoric over the healthcare "debate". I see Glen Beck "poison" Nancy Pelosi on live TV, or explain how our President hates 'white people'; I see demonstrators show up at rallies armed, with clear or coded death threats aimed at publicly elected officials; I hear Bill O'Reilly protest that calling Dr Tiller a killer had anything to do with the Dr's assassination; I read Sarah Palin reduce healthcare reform to 'death panels'; I see middle-aged women cry that "their America" is being taken away, and they want it back.
We know that the number of death threats against the President has increased 400 percent; we know that there has been a surge of militias around the country; we know that what we hear on Fox, or from Rush Limbaugh, pales in comparison to the viral emails and other off-radar communications. We know that amongst the 300 million of us there is at least one person who is willing and capable of assassinating the President.
For reasons that are unclear to me both in Israel and here in the US there is amazing tolerance towards hate speech aimed at some perceived other (Arabs, African Americans, Illegal immigrants), yet zero tolerance to towards the Left wing critique.
This hate mongering needs to stop. Glen Beck needs to be taken off the air, weapons need to be banned at demonstrations, signs or images calling for the death of public officials should be banned (if they can arrest Code Pink for wearing T-Shirts, they can remove some threatening signs).
This is no longer about free speech, this is about the boundaries of open and free debate in a democracy. And the Right has crossed this boundary.
If Obama, or any other public official is murdered because of this "debate", rest assured no one on the Right will take responsibility. And in the name of 'bringing the nation together', and 'reconciliation', health care will be sacrificed as well.
And we will be left with the lone voice of Reverend Wright citing Malcolm X, saying "the chickens came home to roost". (I am sure he will be silenced)
Like with the healthcare reform "debate" Leftists, such as myself, were skeptical yet onboard with beginning a process that was to bring an end to the occupation, and peace to Israelis and Palestinians.
The Right wing was toxic. Demonstrations were violent, images of Rabin with Nazi or Arab nationalist symbols at every rally. They openly called for his and Shimon Peres' death. They would show up at pro-peace rallies, armed and belligerent, shouting and making a racket to drown the voices of the speakers. At synagogues throughout Israel, the occupied territories, and around the world, Rabbis would explain to their congregations that the people leading peace negotiations are bringing the destruction of Israel, and therefore should be seen as, and treated as, traitors.
It was during this time that Baruch Goldstein entered a Mosque in Hebron and massacred 29 praying Muslims, changing the nature of the conflict forever (the first Palestinian suicide bombing occurred exactly 40 days after this event, the end of the Muslim mourning period).
As the inflamed rhetoric became shriller, and displays of hate increased, so did the death threats against Rabin, Peres, and members of their cabinet.
After the assassination, all those voices on the Right feigned shock and disgust from the actions of the assassins, and vehemently protested any hint connecting their rhetoric with the actions of the assassins.
But they got what the wanted, not only was their archenemy eliminated, the peace process itself was assassinated.
Fast-forward 14 years, cross the Atlantic, I am observing the wild rhetoric over the healthcare "debate". I see Glen Beck "poison" Nancy Pelosi on live TV, or explain how our President hates 'white people'; I see demonstrators show up at rallies armed, with clear or coded death threats aimed at publicly elected officials; I hear Bill O'Reilly protest that calling Dr Tiller a killer had anything to do with the Dr's assassination; I read Sarah Palin reduce healthcare reform to 'death panels'; I see middle-aged women cry that "their America" is being taken away, and they want it back.
We know that the number of death threats against the President has increased 400 percent; we know that there has been a surge of militias around the country; we know that what we hear on Fox, or from Rush Limbaugh, pales in comparison to the viral emails and other off-radar communications. We know that amongst the 300 million of us there is at least one person who is willing and capable of assassinating the President.
For reasons that are unclear to me both in Israel and here in the US there is amazing tolerance towards hate speech aimed at some perceived other (Arabs, African Americans, Illegal immigrants), yet zero tolerance to towards the Left wing critique.
This hate mongering needs to stop. Glen Beck needs to be taken off the air, weapons need to be banned at demonstrations, signs or images calling for the death of public officials should be banned (if they can arrest Code Pink for wearing T-Shirts, they can remove some threatening signs).
This is no longer about free speech, this is about the boundaries of open and free debate in a democracy. And the Right has crossed this boundary.
If Obama, or any other public official is murdered because of this "debate", rest assured no one on the Right will take responsibility. And in the name of 'bringing the nation together', and 'reconciliation', health care will be sacrificed as well.
And we will be left with the lone voice of Reverend Wright citing Malcolm X, saying "the chickens came home to roost". (I am sure he will be silenced)
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