Sorry to Remind You, but Golda Meir Was Right - Part IV of IV
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In Turkey however, the protests were not peaceful. They included smashing a sculpture than was neither Jewish nor Israeli.Finally, Adolf Hitler is a Turkish hero! With the current pace of events, a boulevard in Ankara can be named after him.
It was the usual "We-Muslims-can-kill each other-but-Jews-cannot" hysteria.
If Turkish crowds were protesting against Israel in a political dispute, why Koranic slogans? Why were they protesting in Arabic rather than their native language? Do Turks chant German slogans to protest nuclear energy?
But the Turks' newfound Holocaust-fetish is not a euphemism for one of the 20th century's greatest crimes; nor is their love affair with the funny moustached little man because he did, after all, kill Hitler.
The Fuhrer also once said something that might perfectly fit Turkey seven decades later: "I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few."
Turks love Hitler because they hate Jews (not Israelis or the Israeli government). Why, otherwise, would Turks be targeting, in every way possible, Turkish Jews -- who are full Turkish citizens like themselves?
Bulent Yildirim, for instance, one of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's favorite Islamists, said that, "Turkish Jews will pay dearly for Israel's actions."
According to Prime Minister Erdogan, Israel, with its offensive on Gaza, which has killed more than 2000 people, "has gone beyond Hitler." Mr. Erdogan knows that 2000 is not greater than 6 million. So what makes him think that the deaths of 2000 Palestinians is "genocide" but the killing of hundreds of thousands by his good friend Omar al-Bashir in Sudan was not genocide? Well, Mr. Erdogan once explained that Muslims don't commit genocide. Good.
Mr. Erdogan's top Islamic cleric, however, has offered a different -- and, no doubt, more accurate account -- about Muslim deaths. Professor Mehmet Gormez, head of the Religious Affairs Directorate, said: "A thousand Muslims are being killed each day, and 90% of the killers are other Muslims."
If Professor Gormez is not a Zionist agent, Mr. Erdogan's (and half the Turks') Jewish witch-hunt cannot be a response to "Muslims are being killed": no one, for instance, has even attempted to destroy the diplomatic missions of Iraq where the latest Gaza death toll could be merely any month's count.
It was the usual "We-Muslims-can-kill-each-other-but-Jews-cannot" hysteria. In a way, "it's religion, stupid."
During the past few weeks, there have been democratic protests against Israel's Operation Protective Edge in many cities across the world -- except in Arab cities.
In the West, protesters marched, chanted slogans, carried placards and protested Israel peacefully -- over political disagreements. Because for them this is a political dispute and they side with the Palestinians. That's all perfectly democratic.
In Turkey, however, the protests were not peaceful. They included smashing a sculpture that was neither Jewish nor Israeli. But the Turkish protests featured something different from the others and quite revealing: they were constantly accompanied by Koranic rehearsals, Muslims prayers and the famous Arabic slogan "Allah-u akbar" [Allah is the greatest].
Anti-Israel protesters in Istanbul are shown waving the flags of Hamas and the PLO, as well as the black flag of jihad, July 19, 2014. (Image source: PressTV YouTube video screenshot)
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If the Turkish crowds were wherever they were to protest against Israel for killing Palestinians in a political dispute, why Koranic slogans? Why were they protesting in Arabic rather than their native language? Do Turks chant German or Portuguese slogans when they gather to protest nuclear energy, or negligence regarding the deaths of more than 300 miners in Soma? So, what makes Arabic the lingua franca at every anti-Israel (more realistically, anti-Jewish) protest? Is this a mere coincidence that repeats itself every time, everywhere?
The title of this four-part series was intended to be a forceful reminder at times like this that Hitler was right to think that (religious) emotion is reserved for the many and reason for the few.
Golda Meir, the fourth prime minister of Israel, had a perfectly realistic point when she said that peace in the Middle East would only be possible "when Arabs love their children more than they hate us." I now think her line was incomplete: Peace won't come just when Arabs love their children more than they hate Jews; it may come when they also love their children more than they hate 'other' Muslims.
Burak Bekdīl, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily News and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
