The war in the Middle East between Hamas terrorists and Israel is continuing to cost the lives of untold numbers of civilians on both sides of the conflict. However, the tragic consequences of this war are not limited to the geographical region of the combatants. In some obvious and painful ways the war has been brought home to the U.S.
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Americans of Jewish and Arab heritage are increasingly becoming the victims of vile bigots who are engaging in verbal and physical abuse against innocent people who have nothing to do with the war. Indeed, many of the victims are advocates for peace and tolerance. Even worse, among the blatant racists are leaders in the Republican Party such as their new Speaker, Mike Johnson, who is already callously politicizing the war…
SEE THIS: Republicans in Congress are Holding Israelis Hostage to Aid for Wealthy American Tax Cheats
To no one’s surprise, the GOP’s Ministry of Propaganda, Fox News, is leading the parade of prejudice. On Thursday Jesse Watters, Fox’s Senior White Nationalist since the exodus of Tucker Carlson, unleashed a repulsive rant attacking the entire Muslim population of America. He fumed feverishly that he wanted “to say something about Arab Americans and about the Muslim world.” Then he upchucked the following…
“We made them rich. We got that oil out of the ground. Our military protects all of these oil shipments, flying around the world, making them rich. We fund their military, we respect their kings. We kill their terrorists. OK? But we’ve had it. We’ve had it with them. Obama, Trump, now Biden, have tried to get the heck out of that stupid desert. Just as we’re about to get out, because we have this great balance of power we’re arranging, these crazy Muslim fanatics come in and massacre over a thousand of our allies and hold Jewish people hostage, hold Americans hostage. And so, if you are an Arab American in this country and you ripped down posters of Jewish hostages, American hostages. No. No. No. No. Someone is gonna get punched in the face.”
Fox News' Jesse Watters: "I wanna say something about Arab Americans and about the Muslim world."
Yep, it is pretty much as bad as you think, including Watters saying "we have had it with them" and "we can't live in a country like that." pic.twitter.com/RNUCS3WpeC
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) November 1, 2023
Notice that Watters directed this hostile harangue to Arab Americans. Not to the Hamas terrorists or anti-Semites in the U.S., but to every Arab resident in the country. And his threat of being “punched in the face” was likewise aimed broadly at an entire ethnic community. It is bitterly emblematic of the Islamophobia that infects the hate mongers of the ultra-right.
In response, President Biden had the White House issue a statement condemning Watters’ rancid rhetoric and asking Fox News for an apology. Never mind that Fox would never rise to the level of decency necessary to produce such an apology. To the contrary, they would more likely give Watters a bonus. The White House statement said that…
“These hateful lies about ‘Arab Americans and…the Muslim world’ highlight the urgency of President Biden’s work to ensure hate has no safe harbor in America, and why he committed to the first national anti-Islamophobia strategy in our history. These unacceptable remarks come just weeks after the heartbreaking killing of a 6 year old Palestinian-American child, and during a spike in threats against Muslim and Arab Americans.
“Fox News owes an apology to every single viewer for this sickening attack on the rights and dignity of their fellow Americans. President Biden will always stand up against Islamophobia, antisemitism, and all forms of hate. Fox News should learn from his example.”
Predictably, Republicans and other committed racists attacked Biden’s efforts to diminish bigotry. Across the rightosphere there were complaints that the Biden administration was focusing only on islamophobia and ignoring anti-Semitism. For instance, Fox News anchor Julie Banderas opined that “college campuses have become hot beds for Jew haters.” Then went on to criticize the administration saying…
“But then you have Kamala Harris, the vice president, who just this week launched a strategy to end anti-Islamophobia in this country, almost turning a complete blind eye to the true hatred in this country right now, and it’s anti-Semitism.”
Fox News anchor Julie Banderas: "But then you have Kamala Harris, the vice president, who just this week launched a strategy to end anti-Islamophobia in this country…" pic.twitter.com/yN2qdBZMt1
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) November 3, 2023
Banderas’ Fox colleague, Steve Hilton, agreed insisting that college campuses where students protested attacks on Palestinian civilians need to be shut down. Which is both anti-Palestinian and anti-free speech. However, it’s consistent with the conservative opposition to education, in order to keep their followers stupid.
What’s more, these remarks are not merely racist. They are also flagrant lies. The Biden administration has spoken out repeatedly against anti-Semitism. And just two days prior to this rant on Fox News, the administration announced an initiative to address the growing anti-Semitism in America…
“The Biden administration is unveiling new actions Monday to combat antisemitism on college campuses after an ‘alarming’ uptick in incidents since the Israel-Hamas war started in early October. The departments of Justice and Homeland Security are partnering with campus law enforcement to track hate-related threats and provide federal resources to schools, according to the plan.”
So the cretins on Fox News and in the Republican Party are deliberately lying about the positive efforts by Biden to constrain hate mongering. And they are also lying in order to exacerbate the hatred of Muslim and Arab Americans. That’s because they want these relationships to sour so that they can blame any unrest on Biden and the Democrats. And they just don’t care who gets hurt.
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