The radical Islamist hatred of America and Israel is incomprehensible to many of the fortunate souls who live in these verdant, free, and prosperous United States.  It is very difficult to understand life under the boot of a totalitarian regime, in which the smallest utterance of dissent can result in prison, torture, or death.  Many countries in the Middle East are such dark places, and these dictatorships show little impetus towards reform.  Why should they change?  Vast sums of money flow through these countries from the sale of oil; any hint of freedom would only divert riches away from the ruling class. History has shown that ruling elites do not gracefully decline.

Take the Soviet Union as an example: Mikhail Gorbachev began to reform the all-encompassing Soviet bureaucracy with “restructuring” and “openness.” Ronald Reagan added fuel to the fire by declaring Soviet Communism an evil empire: a complex theoretical excuse to oppress a nation with promises for a utopian future.  The next thing Gorbachev knew, the wall was down, he was no longer in charge, and the ruling elite lost its stranglehold on wealth, political power, education, groceries, and foreign goods.  The Soviet Union was an oligarchy, Marx’s “dictatorship of the proletariat,” and when the slightest whiff of freedom came, all walls came tumbling down.

So it has gone throughout history, and so it will go in the future.  The 20th century saw democracy and freedom rise up from many dubious foundations: Russia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Asia, South America.  At an excruciatingly slow pace, fraught with hurdles, land mines, and suicide bombers, the process is unmistakable: all people crave freedom—only the most brutal means will keep freedom away from a nation.

Today’s Islamo-fascist threat is only slightly different from those of the past, cloaking itself in a particular religious habit, accomplishing the same goals of subjugation and bellicosity.  Germans fought for the master race, fuehrer, fatherland, and the thousand-year Reich.  The Japanese fought for the Emperor and the supremacy of the Japanese race. Soviets fought for the triumph of international communism as capitalism self-destructed.  These movements, imbued with rabid zealotry, inspire their legions to unspeakable acts of atrocity—scores of millions have died.

It’s disturbing to read the words of misinformed critics of the United States.  They claim somehow the U.S. is responsible for the viciousness of our enemies: if only we changed our foreign policy, peace would sprout up and everyone would love us.  Were U.S. policies responsible for Nazism, Communism, and Imperial Japan as well? Of course not, and we are not responsible for the barbaric excesses of the Middle East either.

America has a duty to actively support and defend democracy, freedom, and pluralism. There is only one free country in the Middle East: Israel.  On a tiny sliver of land with no oil fields, surrounded by hostile enemies, infiltrated by homicidal maniacs who kill Jews and celebrate—Israel continues to thrive.

Refugees from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East emigrate to Israel because of the bigotry they endured in their native land.  French Jews are leaving due to anti-Semitism not seen since World War II—this time perpetrated by Arabs.  Jewish communities in Morocco, Syria, Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran trace their origins back thousands of years, yet the last fifty years have seen their populations driven out by prejudice, violence, and hostile governments.

It’s not U. S. policy that causes certain people to hate Jews and America, but it will be our fault if—through timidity, weakness, or misguided political notions—we let them win.

This article first published in St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Donald Meissner

Editor, Grateful Right