A Slow Motion Train Wreck
April 13, 2016 Phyllis Chesler
Watching the end of Western civilization unfold.
The four horsemen ride again; no, the bloody beast is back, slouching its' way towards Bethlehem; no, it is an ancient genie unbound and its’ foul breath smells of more and more blood and human anguish as it grows ever-closer.
Yesterday, I screened a superb film about terrorism and anti-Semitism: "Watching the Moon at Night." It is written and directed by two Swedes: Joanna Helander and Bo Persson. We see, on camera, the late, great Robert Wistrich and Andre Glucksman—and Walter Laqueur, Anthony Julius, Vladimir Bukovsky, Zuhdi Jasser, Ramin Jahanbegloo, Hannah Rosenthal—and Dan Alon, one of the Israeli athletes who survived the Palestinian massacre in Munich in 1972.
We see and hear from the victims of terrorism, those who survived an attack, those who lost loved ones, and we see scenes of carnage in Algeria, Spain, Jerusalem (not identified as Israel in the press materials), New York, Russia, Northern Ireland, Colombia, Norway. We are lulled by the words of Polish Nobel laureate Wislawa Symborska and by bewitching cinematography.
My great good friend Richard Landes has come to visit. He tells me that these Swedish filmmakers have been censored in their own country. (I have had no time to check this out but will do so).
Then, he describes our lives, specifically his and mine: "We are watching a slow motion train wreck and we can do nothing to stop it."
"Ah, Richard," I say, "The train is gathering speed even as we speak.”
"Where have we gone wrong? Why didn't they listen to us?" Richard asks.
"Shall we consult Isaiah or Jeremiah on this? Far greater prophets than we two have not been heeded."
"But why don't those who care about Israel and Judaism and Western Civilization listen? Why do they always tell me that I should be doing something else, something that I know is beside the point, something that will make no difference?"
"Richard, those who are on our side are as blind and as arrogant as our opponents are. Ignorance, smallness of vision surrounds us. That is our challenge, our dilemma, our task, possibly our downfall."
I've been writing about what was to come from the moment the two Israeli reservists were lynched in Ramallah in 2000. I saw the handwriting on the sky long before 9/11.
Actually, I've been fighting for Israel since the early 1970's. Back then, I knew that the UN-led scapegoating would lead to something far, far worse--but I did not foresee the end of Western Civilization--and by its own multi-culturally relativist hand. That took a decade. I said so but was not heeded in 1980; Richard said so too, but was not heeded in 1990.
Richard was all over the Al-Dura Blood Libel because he understood that cognitive warfare was fully upon us--and as he says, "Just because an idea is wrong does not make it inconsequential." (I am paraphrasing him here).
The wrong idea is that of Islamic supremacism, Islamic Jihad, radicalized, apocalyptic Islam.
We two are not funded to work on this or on the true meaning and nature of rising anti-Semitism. Others are; some are worthy, most are treading water as fast as they can.
"So-and-so would not fund me because, I was told, he did not much like women."
Richard, tall and male, tells me: "He would not fund me either. He just said: "Nah, I'm not gonna do this."
Back to the drawing board.
“Maybe we see ahead before others do, is that our problem?”
We sure have swelled heads…but we are also pretty sober.
Richard and I have been talking about an Institute for Cognitive Warfare for more than a decade, possibly longer. And here we still are, sitting on our hands, doing what we can, doing everything we can, while knowing that we cannot stop what is coming; that the West is strangely paralyzed and the East is on a murderous rampage
How many more terrorist massacres will it take? When will the West decide to save itself? When will Muslims of good will decide to risk torture, jail, death in order to stop the death-eating Jihadists? How long will it take?
How much blood will have to be spilled before the forces of Good say: Enough! And take down the forces of Evil at least for another five hundred years.
How long?
A Slow Motion Train Wreck | Frontpage Mag
