I think that the quotation came into my head because I was remembering the points made by two historians. Denis Mack Smith was the university tutor of my school history teacher. That is why I read so much of his work on late Italian history, the glamorous Garibaldi and the boring but essential Cavour.
Mack Smith upset postwar Italian historians by emphasising the normality of Mussolini. They wanted him to be classified as, ‘will never happen again, a one-off.’
The other historian I have in mind is Alan Taylor, AJP Taylor. He upset fellow historians by saying the same about Hitler and the Nazis. Do not, he told us, believe that he and they were abnormal.
And, do not believe that the trends and events of government and politics will never again lead us to something like Fascism and Nazism.
Reading the words of Netanyahu supporters I see so many people finding fulfilment in a shared release of their inhumanity; in a celebration of genocide; and a glorification of torture.
For years Israelis tried to present themselves as a rather nice European country in the Middle East, just think of the Eurovision Song Contest. And they somehow persuaded the EU, including the U.K., that they should be treated as ‘one of them’.
But not only are we witnesses to extreme genocide but also to fake history and an utter disrespect for international agreements and definitions of crime.
When Starmer and Biden tell us that “Israel has the right to defend itself” we are actually hearing would-be defenders of democracy saying that Hitler has the right to shove people into death camps and turn on the gas.
Mussolini and Hitler made Fascism and Nazism Normal. Netanyahu and his mates have not only made Zionism normal but persuaded us to fund, arm and diplomatically endorse it.
Be careful when you march in support of Palestinians. Starmer does not appreciate people who think differently from him. And Israel funds him.
Light slapping of the Zionist wrist is actually an endorsement of genocide and land theft.
“Next time you turn on the gas Adolf can you make it smell nicer?”
Sorry, if that is the right word, there is now no way to make Israel behave decently. It simply has to be stopped. And that means closed down.
It is not a farce that we are looking at, it is an utter tragedy.
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