The Illiberal Left

I wrote this last year at the height of keffiyah wearing and banner waving, but feel it's something that still has relevance.

I’m worried about what’s happening to the supposed liberal left in this country particularly the dangerously misguided (and often barely concealed anti-semitic) supporters of Hamas. It's been a slow but steady -I hesitate to say progress- toward supposed liberal people going on marches that tacitly support the subjugation of women and killing of gay men. They are also denying support to the liberals who live in Palestine by having anything to do with a march that includes heavy hitting supporters of Hamas.
I would mention at this point that the Israeli government were working closely with Fatah in an attempt to find common ground before Hamas pulled strings to win the election.
There is a facile and frankly adolescent support for the (perceived) “good guy” i.e. the one with fewer weapons and a blanket and illiberal hatred of the “bad guy” the one who has the ear of Washington and is capable of wiping Palestine off the map should they wish to do so (but have not).
I resent the idea that because I don’t follow the fashionable opinion I somehow don’t care for human life. I watch the pictures on the news with tears in my eyes and feel frustrated and angry. Henry Kissinger once said, of the Iran Iraq conflict “it’s a pity they can’t both lose” and that’s how I feel at times, both countries frustrate me.
However, one is a democracy that encourages free thought and is in many ways superior to our own in rights for women and gay people the other is run by a quasi-theocracy who’s avowed intention is to kill every Jewish person on the planet and then start with the rest of us…unless we choose to convert to Islam.
I refuse to add the apparently obligatory caveat about how not all Muslims are like this etc etc if it’s not clear from what I’ve said above that I’m a liberal and do not judge people in groups as all being the same, then so be it.

We have moved from political debate being how we decide what we think to silence because of a fear of offence. Nobody must be offended, even if what they believe is offensive and, yes I’m going to say it…wrong.
If you dissent from the current beliefs and challenge radical Islam you are Islamophobic and fingers are pointed like the witch denouncers in The Crucible.

So we have the bewildering spectacle of supposed liberals on marches under other people’s banners that suggest “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”. When did that become acceptable to people who believe themselves to be supporters of liberal values? That would be a march, I could in all conscience, not be on.

Further reading; I suggest you read Nick Cohen’s books “What’s Left” and “Waiting For The Etonians” both of which give some much needed counter arguments to the prevailing “wisdom”.
Also, the brilliant “The Islamist” by Ed Husain”, an incredible account of how he became enchanted with radical Islam and why he became disenchanted by it.

You can find the Hamas charter below, essential reading if you want to understand where they are coming from.

http://www.mideastweb.org/hamas.htm