What You Can’t Say About Islamism by Paul Berman
In our present Age of the Zipped Lip, you are supposed to avoid making any of the following inconvenient observations about the history and doctrines of the Islamist movement:
You are not supposed to observe that Islamism is a modern, instead of an ancient, political tendency, which arose in a spirit of fraternal harmony with the fascists of Europe in the 1930s and ’40s.
You are not supposed to point out that Nazi inspirations have visibly taken root among present-day Islamists, notably in regard to the demonic nature of Jewish conspiracies and the virtues of genocide.
And you are not supposed to mention that, by inducing a variety of journalists and intellectuals to maintain a discreet and respectful silence on these awkward matters, the Islamist preachers and ideologues have succeeded in imposing on the rest of us their own categories of analysis.
See also National Socialism and Anti-Semitism in the Arab World
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
This can’t be right, Dad, because as we all know it is the Israelis who have become the new Nazis. Neither Europeans nor Arabs need feel any guilt about complicity with the Shoah because the Israelis are no better and it is the Palestinians who have become the new Jews.