BY JOHN MUSGRAVE
This weekend, black clad supporters of Islamist violence will clog the streets of a thousand cities. Shouting “Hamas, Hamas, Jews, to the gas” and “Palestine will be free from the river to the sea” their aims are quite clear: Destroy the Land of Israel and kill the Jews. These emissaries of the dark side march on unopposed, trampling faith and reason beneath them. A jihadi fifth column stalks the West emboldened by the useful idiots of the woke-Left.
Decent folk from country squire to schoolteacher, from financier to farmer increasingly understand it is not simply Israel which is in the firing line.
From our green and pleasant shires to the towers and terraces of our cities we hear the strident refrain, “Intifada, intifada, from London to Gaza.” In effect, the black-clad ones are calling for all out war between jihadi nihilism and the Judaeo-Christian tradition which vouch-saved the world freedoms long taken for granted. At particular risk are Free Speech, Habeas Corpus and Democracy.
Free speech is the right to blow a loud raspberry at a government or leader you disapprove of or a religion you consider risible. Habeas Corpus means no one, and certainly no authority, can hold you in prison against your will, without due process of law. Democracy gives us the right to vote out of power the government we elected in the first place.
Israel’s fight against Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah, and the weaponised jihadis of this present darkness must be seen in a wider context.
The invasion of Israel by Hamas terrorists and the subsequent pogrom saw girls raped, babies beheaded and children tied together and burnt to death – Israeli forensic teams can tell this from the evidence of smoke inhalation in their little lungs. Yet this is what awaits us and is the latest episode in a sorry history of Islamist violent attacks on the innocent and powerless. Think of 9/11 in New York, the kidnap of Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram, the London underground killings and the Charlie Hebdo massacre – the list goes on and on, besmirching the streets of almost every free city in the world.
Isis, Al Qaeda, and the various other agencies of evil masquerading as true believers are part of one movement aiming to wipe out free society everywhere after finishing off Israel. It is in all our interests that Israel survives and wins.
What is to be done?
The question gives rise to a certain amount of hand wringing. Worse still is the temptation to explain away Israel as a faraway people of whom we know nothing – echoing the tremulous words of Neville Chamberlain as he betrayed the Czech people in 1938.
In fact, we know a great deal about Israel and Judaism. Many of us still profess to worship a Jew, attesting his presence in bread and wine on Sunday mornings. We read from the Hebrew Bible. All of us light candles at Christmas, unconsciously echoing the attempts by faith to banish darkness at the festival of Hanukkah.
Here are three suggestions:
First, make a point of attending a church service on Remembrance Sunday – the 12th of November. Take part in the solemn commemoration at war memorials up and down the land. Dress up warm and smart and wear a red poppy. Give generously to the British Legion – it may well need extra funds sooner than we think.
Secondly: Be better informed about global jihad, Israel and the threat to the west. Start reading up on Israel. The best selling book in the world provides a useful introduction. Country Squire Magazine has already published several excellent articles. Elsewhere, interviews with Ben Shapiro, Melanie Phillips and Israel’s ambassador to London, Tzipi Hotovely make compelling viewing. Books I recommend are ‘Exodus’ by Leon Uris, the novels of Daniel Silva – starting with ‘The Kill Artist’ and Benjamin Netanyahu’s autobiography, ‘Bibi’.
Thirdly: Come the next general election engage with candidates instead of slamming the door. We get the politicians we deserve. That has to change. Back in the day I would ask any perceived right-wing politician what he thought of Israel and the Jews. This was shortly after I lived in Israel for a year. A shrug of the shoulders and sideways glance was often all I needed to dismiss them as irretrievably far right and fascist. Bizarrely, one can ask the same question of Labour Party candidates these days and receive the same response.
Pin ‘em down on what Israel and the West should do about Hamas and the rest.
It is up to us to spell out what we want. We have stood by long enough watching as our Judeo-Christian heritage gets rolled up. Make no mistake about it, the deranged savants of Hamas and Al-Qaeda are here in our midst poised to strike. Take care on Saturday.
John Musgrave is a writer and, like this magazine, a steadfast supporter of Israel.