Some people did something [on 9/11] and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties. ‒ Rep. Ilhan Omar, 2019
What do I mean by blood libel? I’ll tell you. Throughout the Middle Ages, Jews were accused of murdering Christian children and using their blood to bake Passover matzos. This accusation has survived to the present day, when Middle Eastern fanatics merely substitute Muslim children as the alleged source of blood.
Needless to say, the charge is not only a lie, it is a big lie. Observant Jews not only drain all blood from meat before cooking it, but they also eat only well-done meat with no pink color at all. This is based on Leviticus 17:10-14, which forbids eating blood. Moreover, matzos must be made only with flour and water, nothing else.
Despite the absurdity of the accusation, countless Jews – perhaps some of my ancestors – were murdered by mobs, and the hatred and murder still continues in the Middle East. So when I use the term “blood libel,” I am not speaking figuratively. I mean a false accusation of bloodthirstiness that is designed to generate murderous hatred against a group − whether that group is Jews in the Middle Ages, or Americans today.
America founded on racism? Capitalism built on oppression? Minorities suffer in America? And so on ad nauseam. But if all this were true, why are people including minorities rushing to come to America rather than leave it? Why are we building barriers to keep people out rather than keep them in? And if Israel is so hateful to Arabs, why do about 1.5 million Arabs live there when they could leave at any time?
The direction people move, or want to move, tells a great deal about their idea of the place in question. Not the elite’s idea, not the leftist idea, but the people’s idea.
And what about the terrible things said about American troops? Are all our troops saints? Of course not – they are recruited from the human race. During World War 2, some troops were imprisoned for crimes, and 141 were hanged for rape or murder ‒ not bad considering that 16 million served. Yet no one, not even the harshest critics of President Roosevelt, used these rare exceptions to condemn the vast majority of troops who served with honor.
But now, critics of President Trump use the rare exceptions – and even fabrications – to condemn all the troops, their leaders and the war itself.
What has changed since World War 2? It is not our troops who have deteriorated. They are better trained and more professional than ever. No, it is the critics who have deteriorated. They are not merely anti-Trump or anti-war. Some of them are frankly anti-U.S. military and anti-American.
If America were attacked by extraterrestrials, I believe these people would side with the Klingons. They would accuse us of torturing Klingon prisoners. They would assert that we were to blame for the Klingon attack, and declare that we should see things from the Klingon point of view. After all, Klingons have “legitimate grievances.” Who doesn’t?
Victim of U.S. imperialism
Perhaps the makers of anti-American films assumed their films would be seen only by Americans, in whom the films would evoke anti-war, anti-military feelings. That would be bad enough. Returning troops be should be greeted with admiration, gratitude, and support, and not with suspicion, contempt, or even hatred. Why should they be falsely accused of being uneducated losers who have been turned into drug-addicted, alcoholic, hair-trigger psychopaths who murder at the least provocation? These accusations are untrue.
But even worse, most films make a good deal of revenue from foreign viewers. When Hollywood portrays Americans in this repulsive manner, how do you suppose foreign audiences are affected – in Latin America, Europe, Asia, and especially the Middle East? How do you suppose Muslim audiences react when American troops are shown deliberately running over a Muslim child?
How many potential terrorists will be enraged by such images? How many people in other countries will be repelled by the thought that if Americans stab, dismember, and incinerate their friends, what will they do to strangers? (“In the Valley of Elah.”)
For that matter, how many of the planners and terrorists of 9/11 got much of their opinion of Americans from these anti-American films? We can never know, but we can at least ask the question.
When I use the term “blood libel,” I mean exactly what I say. Deliberately or not, some leftists in Hollywood and elsewhere are endangering the lives of our troops, and to a lesser degree the lives of all Americans, by fanning the flames of anti-American hatred. They are telling lies that defame and endanger the bravest and most selfless among us.
No, I do not use the blood of children to bake Passover matzos. America is not, and never was, the most racist of nations. Our troops are not, and never have been, the worthless losers and drug-using, bloodthirsty, homicidal maniacs that Hollywood depicts with such regularity, and that leftist politicians try to use for political advantage.
But those who spread such lies are exposing our troops, and to a lesser degree all Americans, to hatred and violence. That is the very definition of blood libel.
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Contact: dstol@prodigy.net. You are welcome to publish or post these articles, provided that you cite the author and website.