Gerstenfeld is not done. If the communist regime of Stalin can be deemed a "perverse" form of progressivism, so can Hitler's National Socialism. He notes that the Nazis put into effect regulations against cruelty to animals, and that these were supposedly "precursors of current animal protection movements that are usually considered progressive." This is the equivalent of saying that a psychotic mass murderer is a progressive because he was kind to his dog (as Hitler was reported to have been). It is an obscene suggestion.
This is what happens when you have reduced your world to a single, truly perverse ideology that sharply defines all friends and foes. You can't see the rest of the world in any clear fashion and you certainly can't see your own assertions and actions in an objective way.
Part III -- The Method Behind the Madness
Why is Gerstenfeld denigrating progressives, some of whom have been dead for 500 years? The answer lies in the fact that his effort is part of a larger attack on the post-World War II attempt to rein in state behavior through enlightened and forward-looking international laws. More specifically, these laws seek to criminalize the imperialist and colonialist practices of the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. The attempt includes such measures as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), international treaties and laws such as the one that makes apartheid a crime against humanity (2002), and the International Criminal Court system (1998).
The problem for Gerstenfeld and his Zionist fellows is that these measures set standards for international behavior that conflict with Israel's ongoing conquest of Palestine and the ethnic cleansing and/or racist subjugation of the Palestinian people. Modern progressive standards judge this sort of behavior as criminal.
Thus Israel, among other states, can be identified as a country out of step with modern norms of behavior. Obviously, this upsets the Zionists who envision Israel as Western civilization's foothold in the Middle East. There are only two ways they can respond: either (1) Israel gives up the racist practice of a state for Jews only and instead embraces a form of democracy accessible to all its people regardless of religion or ethnicity, or (2) Israel must attempt to sabotage modern progressive international laws and force the world to once again accept at least some of the colonial discriminatory practices of the pre-World War II era. Gerstenfeld's effort is part of the latter strategy.
Part IV -- Conclusion
You might think that Israel and its Zionist supporters are fighting a losing battle here. However, don't be so sure. So far, Israel has only been emboldened by the support it receives from the United States and the feeble response to its crimes coming from Europe. No serious effort has been made by other states to pressure Israel, as was done in the case of white-ruled South Africa, to reform its apartheid system. That effort is being made by private organizations and individuals such as those supporting the boycott Israel movement. Zionists are pushing hard to have this effort criminalized.
The truth of the matter is that the Zionists are hell-bent on moving the world backwards: back to the days when racist conquest was mistaken for the spread of civilization, when efforts to institutionalize standards of human and civil rights were seen as impingements on sovereignty, back to the days when no one gave a second thought to oppressed peoples (including oppressed Jews). Yet, who is there to say that such a retrograde effort is horribly wrong? Well, there are any number of past and present progressives. The Zionists now seek to defame such people, and promoting this effort is one Manfred Gerstenfeld, an Israeli researcher attached to the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, who is looking to recruit a "competent and ambitious historian."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
8
5
5
