By Daniel Greenfield ——Bio and Archives--August 17, 2010
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This structure behind me --very controversial because it is the Jewish synagogue in the middle of Netzarim. The Israeli cabinet, of course, voting to leave those synagogues standing, very much angering the Palestinian Authority, because they know that these buildings are seen very much by the vast majority of Palestinians as potent symbols of the Israeli occupation and could not be protected or even left standing. And so we're seeing very sensitive scenes here over the past few hours as the Palestinian security forces move the civilians out of that synagogue and move their bulldozers in to take away these structures, again, seen as hated symbols of the Israeli occupation.A mere 5 years ago, CNN justified the destruction of Jewish synagogues because they're offensive. It described the destruction of a House of Worship as "take away these structures", a lovely euphemism that Goebbels probably couldn't have improved on. A euphemism that suggests the synagogue was being taken somewhere for a walk. Or maybe to a better place. Instead of being crudely demolished, after it had been burned and ransacked by a Muslim mob. But today CNN can't fathom the media that someone would find building a house of worship offensive, particularly when it's built next to a virtual cemetery of the victims of that particular brand of worship. Yet in 2005, CNN was willing to justify the actual destruction of a house of worship because it's "offensive". What a difference 5 years and a different religion makes. But perhaps CNN could extend the same "sensitivity" they displayed for the mobs of Gaza, to their fellow Americans, who might conceivably view a mosque near Ground Zero as "a symbol of occupation". One that would have to be taken away very sensitively. Perhaps all the way back to Mecca. Sensitively, of course. And this wasn't some sort of bizarre CNN fluke either. This is how Reuters gleefully painted the scene: "Attacking symbols of the hated Israeli occupation, youths set ablaze several of the synagogues". And here's a lovely one from the London Telegraph: "The skies were yet to be lit by the rising sun when the first flames from burning synagogues could be seen, set alight by Palestinians incensed by years when the Israeli army ruthlessly defended the settlements." It's amazing how much poetry is called up from the journalistic soul at the sight of burning synagogues. If you didn't know any better, you might actually think they enjoyed seeing synagogues destroyed. But of course that would be ridiculous. I mean just take a look at this excitable chunk of prose from Ken Ellingwood and Laurie King: "Many vented their fury over the occupation by laying waste to the synagogues that Israeli authorities chose to leave standing. At the Neve Dekalim synagogue, a hulking Star of David-shaped building visible from miles away, a club-wielding crowd had descended by early morning to smash every window and tear insulation from the walls and ceilings." You get the feeling that Ken and Laurie would have been just as excited to be up and about during Kristallnacht. And if Ken or Laurie had decided to take a club to that hateful Star of David shaped building, surely no one would have been too surprised. But I direct your attention to more than just the purple prose. When Ken and Laurie and CNN and Reuters and the Telegraph don't like synagogues, then they're "hulking", destroying them becomes a matter of "sensitively" "taking them down" and the synagogues have it coming, because those damn Jews "chose to leave them standing." It's clear that the media has no problem understanding resentment toward a "House of Worship". As long as it's Muslim resentment toward a non-Muslim house of worship. The same blatant dishonesty and historical revisionism that was on display when Muslims destroyed 26 Jewish synagogues in Gaza, was also on display when Muslims destroyed 150 churches in Kosovo. Or the 170 Hindu temples destroyed in Kashmir in the last 20 years. If a Koran falls into a toilet somewhere, it will be on the front page of the New York Times. If a 100 churches or synagogues burn, look for it somewhere on page A18, under the Grey Goose ad and just above a story about nesting pelicans in Bangalore. Three paragraphs. No photo. Today the same people who whitewashed, excused and even celebrated the Muslim desecration and destruction of synagogues, churches and temples are absolutely shocked that anyone would object to building a mosque near Ground Zero. What kind of people would dare object to a house of worship. I mean besides Muslims anyway. It's Un-American. And you know what is American? Putting up a massive building dedicated to an ideology of murder, where the ashes of its victims drifted on the cold September wind. That my friends is American. Not the "American" of George Washington or Theodore Roosevelt or the firefighters and police officers who somehow made it up a hundred stories to rescue people they had never met. No, it's the "American" of Benedict Arnold, Norman Cousins and the ACLU board of directors. And of course that great All-Time Champion of Americanism, Barack Hussein Obama. Barry, who thinks the Muslim call to prayer is the prettiest sound on earth. And the Constitution is a dim buzz in his ear. Just the Facts, Imam. Here 3,000 Americans were murdered. For working in offices or visiting them. For being members of the NYPD or the PAPD or the FDNY. For putting on a uniform or a suit. For living their lives. And then the walls and floors and furniture around them burned. The papers in their hands burned. Their bodies burned. The ashes drifted down narrow streets. Streets where George Washington and his men once passed to visit Fraunces Tavern and toward Broadway where the Iranian hostages rode back in a ticker tape parade on their return. Now the money that nourished their killers, will help erect a mosque. A temple of death by the ashes of the dead. And the media is outraged that we won't allow it. That we won't stand for it. The same media that stood and grinned while Muslims burned synagogues, churches and temples. That tells us that the Muslim terrorists who try to kill us are not really Muslims. Just going through a midlife crisis, picked up some PTSD from some bad coffee or was just having a bad day. Because we are not equal. On their farm, some animals are more equal than others. Some have the right to kill, others only have the right to be killed. Some have the right to build houses of worship, others have the right to build and to burn what others labor to build. Some have the right to be offensive, others only the right to be silent. The dead of 9/11 are silent now. Or rather they have been silenced. As countless millions have before them were silenced. With flame and sword. In mass graves and at spearpoint. Tortured and mutilated. Torn apart with bombs. The dead cannot speak out against their murderers, but we can. The dead cannot protest, but we can. It is our duty to stand up and speak out. This is our place. Our land and our city. These are the streets where they tried to kill us. These are the streets where they will try again. To speak out is to defy those who would kill us and claim our cities as their own. Who would build monuments to their own victory over the ashes of our dead. First they bomb. Now they occupy. We have lived through the bombing. And now we rise to defy the occupation.
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Daniel Greenfield is a New York City writer and columnist. He is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and his articles appears at its Front Page Magazine site.