Parallel Universe
by Steven Plaut
Mar 14, '04
 
It was like a parallel universe, not the one we are familiar with. The "activists" and "militants" were suddenly referred to as "terrorists". Even CNN and the BBC discovered the "T" word.

The governments of Europe, which ordinarily spend their days insisting that Israel deal with terrorists through capitulation, were suddenly enraged, expressing their disgust. It was suddenly not a legitimate form of protest against occupation to mass murder civilians.

The newspapers did not issue special editions documenting the abuses of human rights by Spain, nor bemoan the "grievances" of those angry at Spain. Not a single Euro-politician made a speech denouncing the illegal Spanish occupations of Ceuta and Mellila. The World Court in the Hague did not begin an indictment of Spain for the conditions of its occupation of the Basques region, Galicia and Catalonia. Museum and convention hall exhibits were not opened documenting the social and economic inequalities that prevail in Spain, which obviously are what really drive the bombers.

And the world did not demand that the Spanish re-examine their own behavior, to discover which manifestation of their arrogance provoked the Al-Qaida savages. The networks were not full of messages about how Moslems regard Andalusia as their own holy lands and that only their liberation can bring peace.

For almost a full day, no politicians declared Islam the religion of peace.

The US did not dock from aid to Spain the costs of security fences the Spanish were considering building. No one declared that the walls around Ceuta and Melilla made Spain an apartheid country and were forcing North Africans into Warsaw Ghettos because the walls are on Maghreb soil.

The European parliament did not send millions of euros to fund political organizations in Spain devoted to encouraging Spanish soldiers to refuse orders and to desert and refuse to serve in the army.

There were no protests against Spanish plans to implement "profiling" at its airports and train stations. The Scandinavians did not demand that the Spanish open up dialogue with the bombers, and Spanish leftists did not lecture their countrymen about how there are no police nor military solutions to the challenges of terrorism. Human rights groups did not demand that any captured terrorists be treated as prisoners of war with full Geneva Convention privileges and good lawyers.

And unlike Israel, Spanish leftist professors did not march in solidarity with the bombers and demand that the world establish a boycott of Spain and Spanish universities. Spanish poets did not sing the praises of the bombers. Students on Spanish campuses did not march with Al-Qaida banners and posters of Saddam Hussein, nor did they chant, "In blood and fire we will redeem thee, Andalusia." Spanish schools did not begin teaching the poetry composed by Al-Qaida poets, nor did the Opposition in the Spanish and EU parliaments demand that the Spanish national anthem change its words to make Moslems feel more welcome and less alienated in Spain. Spanish citizens who engage in espionage for Al-Qaida are not declared candidates for a Nobel Peace Prize, nor have they had their posters carried in peace marches.

The State Department in Washington did not threaten trade sanctions against Spain if it took military action against the bombers. No one demanded that Toledo and Granada be restored to their rightful Moslem owners. Not a single newscast referred to Cordoba as a settlement.

The Spanish Left did not send reps to Geneva and Oslo to negotiate secretly with the bombers. French politicians did not puff themselves up and lecture the Spanish about their cruelty and insensitivity. Kofi Annan did not demand that talks begin.

The International Solidarity Movement failed to send crews to protect Al-Qaida facilities in Syria and in North Africa. Spanish churches were not torched around the world. Yale students did not announce a campaign to divest from Spain. Tikkun magazine did not devote a special issue to the suffering and pain of the bombers. Special teach-ins on human rights abuses by Spain were not held at Berkeley, nor did the students re-enact street theater in which cruel Spanish policemen bully poor Arab passengers getting on to trains with large suitcases.

The press did not count the Taliban and al-Qaida members killed the same week in Afghanistan as part of this week's Spanish death toll. Jimmy Carter did not offer to serve as liaison between the government of Madrid and the bombers.

But let us in Israel not now behave like the Europeans.

For the past few years, the EU has been financing generously the activities of the PLO, including its overseas PR public relations activities. It has also pumped huge amounts into the Israeli treasonous Left, the radicals working for the destruction of their own country.

Let us not behave like the Europeans. Let us not now pump money into the terrorist groups who have targeted Madrid and the EU. Let us not pay for their ads and publicity campaigns. Let us not issue statements endorsing the goals of the bombers and "understanding" their grievances. Let us not refer to the bombers as activists and militants.

Let us not send money to the treasonous extremist leftist organizations in the EU who will cheer the bombings. Let us not seek sanctions and boycotts against Spain. Let us not seek to have Spain indicted in the Hague. Let us not grant the ETA observer status in the UN.

Let us not issue demands that Al-Qaida and the government of Spain conduct negotiations. Let us not finance a mission by Spanish leftists to Geneva, where they will meet with Al-Qaida.

Let us not denounce Spaniardism as a form of racism. Let us not indict the Prime Minister of Spain in Brussels as a war criminal. Let us not denounce the illegal Spanish "occupations". Let us not refer to the Spanish residents of Seville and Granada and Malaga as "settlers".

Let us not present treasonous Spanish leftists as representative of their country and invite them to appear with Al-Qaida terrorists at symposiums to create political balance.

We will know when the world reverts to normality; when it discovers that the Madrid bombings were all somehow the fault of the Jews.