Just as Bill Kristol is castigating Glenn Beck for his hysterical fear-mongering, along comes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a speech to the European Friends of Israel Conference:
I have some bad news for you: Jose Maria, you’re in the caliphate. They talk about a new caliphate. There’s anyone here from Romania? Borderline. Sweden? You’re out of it for now.
They say they can’t possibly mean this, it cannot be that in the 21st century people speak of caliphates, of new-found empires, of an ideology that is suited not for the 21st century but for the 9th century. I urge you not to underestimate this threat to our common civilization. It’s hard for people to understand, especially for Westerners. It’s hard for them to understand fanaticism – especially if sometimes it wears a suit and a tie, or a suit without a tie. It’s very hard to understand that. But it’s there.
Beck guest and former Netanyahu advisor Joel Rosenberg is pleased that Netanyahu is warning of threats to Western civilization:
Netanyahu did not say these threats would inevitably come to pass. To the contrary, he stated clearly, “The good news is that nothing is inevitable. We have the power to protect our common civilization, to roll back the forces of radicalism and to advance a secure peace. One of the keys to defeating this fanaticism is to be able to distinguish friends from enemies.” Well put, Mr. Prime Minister. Let us pray more people have ears to hear, eyes to see and hearts to understand.
Three years ago, Rosenberg was on Beck’s show wondering if former President Jimmy Carter’s visits with Hamas were a fulfillment of biblical prophecy, and warning that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “believes his life destiny is to kill millions of Jews and Christians and usher in an Islamic caliphate.” As I’ve said before, Beck’s promotion of the caliphate paranoias is nothing new.
Meanwhile, David Horowitz (whose “Islamofascism Awareness Weeks” on college campuses were agitating as early as 2007 about the supposed caliphate’s threats to Western Civilization and “Christendom“) is defending Beck. Just last year, at his Restoration Weekend, Horowitz’s Freedom Center hosted Christians United for Israel’s John Hagee, long a crusader in this supposedly epic battle, who told the audience:
[W]e must snap out of this politically correct fog and admit that we are at war with radical Islam.This is a war of survival. This is a war of good versus evil. This is a war of light versus darkness. This is a war between those who love life and those who worship death. It’s an easy choice. But that’s the reality. And the reality is, like it or not, you and your children and your grandchildren are in this war. There will be a winner, and there will be a loser. And to the winner goes our children and our grandchildren.
And tonight, we must commit ourselves to absolute victory over radical Islam. No exception.
Horowitz’s Freedom Center is a “participating organization” at tomorrow’s Conservative Political Action Conference; Horowitz’s Front Page has promoted the work of “creeping shari’ah” agitator Frank Gaffney, who has been excluded from CPAC. There’s been a lot of attention paid to the conservative split over allowing gay groups at CPAC, but the Islamophobia feud is just as fascinating.
