On Extremists as Democrats

I am a lifelong Democrat, and often that can be hard, particularly when it comes to matters of international relations and law. 

Over at Israel Thrives is a post, The Moral Bankruptcy of the Progressive-Left, in which it states:

For me, personally, the real wake-up call came during the Mavi Marmara incident. There were two groups of people aboard that vessel. There were the violent Jihadis seeking martyrdom... which progressives referred to as "peace activists." And the second group? Well, they definitely weren't Tea Party people. They were, in fact, progressive-left activists from around the world. Progressive-left activists literally, physically, morally, and financially supporting Jihads in an effort to kill Jews, while lying to the world that their mission was humanitarian.

It is an interesting post and got me to thinking.  When Operation Cast Lead occurred in late 2008, I began to see that many on the Left had no clue when it comes to the law of armed conflict, also known as humanitarian law. They instead use human rights norms to declare war crimes, and by doing so, show how unqualified they are to make such determinations. This happens more frequently, I suppose, when people are apt to make decisions based predominantly on theories, rather than specific rules that prevail to scrutinize conduct while in armed conflict.

What I saw was driven home further with the 2010 Flotilla Incident. As noted above, there were "humanitarians" in common cause with jihadists.  It is an eye opener to see people filled with such rage that they justify any hatred.  The incident involved Israel and Jews directly, but it was so much more.

This extremist element that must be repudiated, in the Democratic Party and elsewhere.  It is incumbent that all ideas to be presented, not just one sided ideas, and to confront the extremists as extremists, to illustrate those with whom they break bread, such as dedicated antisemites who even make calls to incite genocide, a crime under international law, which states undertake to prevent and to punish under the Genocide Convention, and which is now recognized as customary international law binding on states regardless of their conventional obligations.

Those extremists will hopefully be noticed by their own efforts or from the events that take place daily repudiating their claims and illustrating the forces they help enable, intentionally or as dupes.  Fortunately, even if one assumes that Obama has proven inept in his foreign policy, among other things, he is constrained because there is deep support for Israel among Democrats that see matters as Americans, first, and know that Israel is perhaps our strongest ally.  For that reason, unlike some others, I am not yet ready to abandon my Democratic roots.  Republicans, for whatever reason, may stand with Israel, but that is not all they stand for, which is problematic.  Democrats may be incompetent compared to Republicans, but Republicans have domestic priorities that are antithetical compared to Democrats.  It's almost a lose-lose.

The larger political clash, however, is not principally between the two Parties.  It involves those who believe capitalism is the root of evil, who cannot apparently see that totalitarianism is not limited to capitalists, and that even socialists can have a bad streak when it comes to treatment of others.  The extremists share common ground with those Muslims that wish to subjugate the West as we know it, despite that it entails destruction of universal human rights in favor of a version per the Cairo Declaration, promoted by the OIC), where "All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari'ah." (Article 24.) 

Islamic human rights will subjugate the leftist extremists beyond their wildest imaginations, as they remain among the corrupt, even if they think otherwise.  Blind to this reality, they somehow believe that all of humanity sees the world just like them.  Except, for example, the neocons, right wingers, Likudniks, and Islamophobes they love to demonize.  Solidarity is what matters!  Israel, the collective Jew of the international community, is where it all comes together.  It is the front line of the struggle.

Then there are some who just seem to hate Jews, yet hide behind the anti-Israel and anti-Zionist banner.  I would put Norman Finklestein, Richard Falk, Lars Gule, Deborah Orr, Philip Weiss, among those in this group. (Apologies to those omitted.)  I could name some bloggers, as well, but it would serve no purpose.  We all know they exist.  

It is mindblowing to watch extremists' obsession with Israel and the plight of Palestinians while paying lip service to countless more that suffer at the hands of repression, including most Palestinians at the hands of their leaders and Arab brothers and the rest of the inferior according to Islamic human rights, such as women and children who are to be accorded special protection under designated human rights treaties.  I suppose because their cause is weighty enough to the extremists, nothing else matters, not even universal human rights.

It is the lack of conviction to what they purport, to individual human dignity, where I parted company with the extremists and now seek to expose them for who they are and that they and those they support ultimately seek.